Issue 72 (December 2017, Volume 12, Number 6)

The December issue of The Japan Society Review closes a wonderful year of publications, films, performances and events which have brought Japanese culture, arts and history to a UK audience. In 2017, the Review has featured over 30, from the latest anime hits to academic books and stage plays, combining familiar topics with new approaches and authors. Some additional reviews appear online only on our website. All this has been possible only thanks to our enthusiastic reviewers who have always managed to transmit their knowledge and passion about Japan in their articles. This issue is especially dedicated to them with our most sincere gratitude.

In this issue, Sir Hugh Cortazzi reviews The Art of Shiguchi, which focuses on Japanese art and architecture exploring the beauty and craftsmanship of the traditional methods of construction, in particular the joins or shiguchi which keep together the pillars and the beams of old Japanese farm houses.

Next, Trevor Skingle reviews Shimazaki Satoko’s academic work Edo Kabuki in Transition in which she examines the developments and changes in kabuki theatre taking as a case study one of its most famous plays, Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan.

Japanese literature is also represented in this issue with the latest translations of books by celebrated Japanese authors such as Abe Kobo and Murakami Ryu and with the debut novel of British writer James Buckler.

Abe’s short novel Beasts Head for Home, reviewed by David Boyd, is set in war-torn Manchuria after the collapse of the Japanese Empire, where a teenage male protagonist looks for his identity in the new post-war reality.

69 by Murakami Ryu, reviewed by Beau Waycott, focuses on Japanese counter-culture in the titular year seen through the eyes of a seventeen year old living in rural Japan.

Finally, Last Stop Tokyo by James Buckler is a thriller set in contemporary Tokyo in which an English teacher is drawn into increasingly complex and ultimately dangerous circumstances around commercial art galleries.

Our December issue concludes with a review by Alex Rees of Katsura Sunshine’s rakugo show which ran for two weeks this autumn at the Leicester Square Theatre in London’s West End.

Thank you for joining us this year to discover the latest Japan-related writings and productions available in the UK. We look forward to having your company again in 2018 and, in the meantime, wish all our readers a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Editor
Alejandra Armendáriz-Hernández

Reviewers
David Boyd, Sir Hugh Cortazzi, Alex Rees, Trevor Skingle and Beau Waycott

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