Issue 77 (October 2018, Volume 13, Number 5)

The October issue of The Japan Society Review includes a variety of topics and authors showing the diversity of Japan- related publications, which have arrived at bookshops and libraries this year. On this occasion, the Review concentrates on Japanese literature, cinema and food aiming to also cover the wide-ranging interests of our readers.

The issue opens with a review of the most recent novel by Murakami Haruki, Killing Commendatore, an epic work in which the renowned author breaks from first-person narration for the first time in almost ten years. Our reviewer Beau Waycott explores the narrative, characters and style of Murakami’s novel reflecting on its achievements and failures.

The Bear and the Paving Stone is a collection of three works by award-winning author Horie Toshiyuki. A celebrated scholar of French literature, Horie sets two of the stories in France, often emphasising the emotional memories of the protagonists. The titular story won the Akutagawa Prize in 2000.

A more recent Akutagawa-winner (2016), Murata Sayaka’s Convenience Store People, closes the literary section of this issue with the story of an unconventional female character who has been working in a convenience store (konbini) for eighteen years. Written in a simple register, but touching complex issues related to the labour economy, consumerism and social expectations for women, Convenience Store People is the first translation of a novel by Murata.

Regarding Japanese cinema, this issue includes the review of an academic volume examining the life and career of female actor and director Tanaka Kinuyo. As Kate Taylor-Jones details, Tanaka Kinuyo: Nation, Stardom and Female Subjectivity studies Tanaka’s work, not only in her outstanding career in front of the camera, acting for celebrated directors such as Mizoguchi Kenji, Ozu Yasujiro or Kinoshita Keisuke, but also in her pioneering role as a film director. Tanaka directed six films between 1953 and 1962 and was the only female director during the post-war golden age of Japanese cinema in the 1950s.

To conclude, our review of Robata: Japanese Home Grilling sheds lights on a popular form of Japanese grilling originating from the Hokkaido region. Written by chef and food consultant Silla Bjerrum, this cookbook is a perfect introduction to Japanese cooking, while simultaneously teaching the history and theory behind robata.

Editor
Alejandra Armendáriz-Hernández

Reviewers
Harry Martin, Niraja Singh, Kate Taylor-Jones and Beau Waycott

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