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Issue 74 (April 2018, Volume 13, Number 2)

Issue 74 (April 2018, Volume 13, Number 2)

The cherry blossom season has come and gone both in Japan and the UK, but the experience of enjoying the beauty of nature can always continue, for example, visiting parks or gardens, or reading about them. The April issue of The Japan Society Review opens with a book examining the origins and deeper meanings of Japanese gardens as an art-form.

In The Japanese Garden, Sophie Walker addresses the question of ‘What is a Japanese garden?’ in relation to Japanese culture, religion and philosophy, illustrating her research with colourful images of gardens around Japan.

In our literary section, we have included reviews of two novels by contemporary Japanese writers. Seventeen is the latest translated work of Yokoyama Hideo, a writer specialising in mystery novels and author of the celebrated Six Four. Original, dramatic and thought-provoking, Seventeen is based on the JAL flight 123 crash in 1985. At the time, Yokoyama was a journalist at a local newspaper and was one of those who saw first-hand the crash site in Gunma prefecture.

Kawakami Mieko’s Ms Ice Sandwich is a summer love story that segues neatly toward a comical (and at times tragic) coming of age tale offering a fine societal critique of contemporary adulthood.

Japanese documentary and visual culture have also found space in this issue of The Japan Society Review.

Roger Macy reviews the new film by legendary documentary filmmaker Hara Kazuo, Sennan Asbestos Disaster. In this work, Hara follows a group of ex-workers during their eight-year struggle to get compensation from the government for their health problems caused by asbestos.

The exhibition Shapeshifter by Yamashiro Chikako has opened a 12 month programme of solo exhibitions and projects by contemporary Japanese artists at the White Rainbow’s art space in London. The multimedia work of Yamashiro focuses on questions of identity and politics concerning Okinawa and the problematic issues of cohabitation with US military bases.


Contents

Contributors

Editor
Alejandra Armendáriz-Hernández

Reviewers
Silvia Caso, Morgane Chinal-Dargent, Graham Hardman, Christopher Hood and Roger Macy

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