Issue 75 (June 2018, Volume 13, Number 3)

The summer season is always a promising time to enjoy reading in a relaxed atmosphere. Part of the ritual of preparing for the holidays, whether at home or travelling somewhere around the world, often includes preparing our “summer reading list” and choosing the books that will accompany us in our well-deserved free time. In the June issue of The Japan Society Review we would like to offer you five extra choices for your summer reading, a selection of books dealing with different topics and formats, from robotics to gardens, from fiction to historical essays.

Georges Bigot and Japan, 1882-1899 is the first comprehensive study in English of French artist and caricaturist, Georges Ferdinand Bigot (1860-1927). As our reviewer Peter Kornicki points out, this lavishly-illustrated and beautifully-produced book makes the output of this talented artist presenting high-quality reproductions of many of Bigot’s sketches, watercolours and engravings.

Following the transnational approach to Japan and Japanese culture, Spaces in Translation – Japanese Gardens and the West discusses how Japanese gardens in places such as New York, Berlin, London, are often considered representative of the essence of Japanese culture and how this idea has less do to with Japan’s history and traditions, and more to do with its interactions with the West.

Issues of sociocultural history are also at the heart of Robo sapiens japanicus, an ethnographic study of the relationship between robot visions and politics, society and culture in Japan. As it emerges from the book and our review, the discourse on robots is far more than just a high-tech vision of the future.

This issue also includes two reviews of fictional works by female writers Zelda Rhiando and Una Rose. Both of them deal with the trauma and dramatic consequences of the triple disaster which occurred in Japan on March 11, 2011 intertwined with the personal and family stories of the protagonists. Fukushima Dreams and The Tokyo Express offer another example of the global impact and influence of contemporary Japan in English language literature.

• Georges Bigot and Japan, 1882-1899: satirist, illustrator and artist extraordinaire by Christian Polak with Hugh Cortazzi
  
  
• Spaces in Translation – Japanese Gardens and the West by Christian Tagsold
  
  
• Robo Sapiens Japanicus. Robots, Gender, Family, and the Japanese Nation by Jennifer Robertson
  
  
• Fukushima Dreams by Zelda Rhiando
  
  
• The Tokyo Express by Una Rose

Contributors