Issue 108 (March 2025, Volume 20, Number 1)

The March issue of The Japan Society Review presents a diverse selection of reviews that explore Japan’s civil society, urban history, postwar literature, and contemporary cinema, offering new insights into both past and present.

We begin with the Handbook of Civil Society in Japan, edited by Simon Avenell and Ogawa Akihiro. This volume brings together leading scholarship on civic engagement, exploring how civil society in Japan has evolved and responded to changing political and social conditions.

Timon Screech’s Tokyo Before Tokyo traces the early development of Edo, highlighting how urban planning, aesthetics, and political authority shaped the foundations of Japan’s modern capital.

Japan’s tradition of mystery fiction has produced some of its most iconic postwar literature. In The Coincidental Murders, Sakaguchi Ango delivers a darkly ironic crime story that reflects postwar disillusionment and the ambiguity of justice. Point Zero by Matsumoto Seicho offers a more procedural narrative, using the detective genre to expose systemic corruption and the moral complexity of modern society.

Kubo Misumi’s So We Look to the Sky offers a quiet yet profound exploration of adolescent disillusionment and resilience. Through delicate prose and introspective characterisation, Kubo captures the emotional turbulence of youth as her protagonists navigate family, identity, and the pressures of a rapidly changing society.

Concluding this issue is the review of Black Box Diaries, a powerful documentary directed by Ito Shiori. Blending personal testimony with investigative journalism, Ito recounts her pursuit of justice in the aftermath of sexual assault. The film confronts societal silence and institutional barriers, offering a courageous and unflinching portrayal of gender, power, and resistance in contemporary Japan.