Read Japanese Literature

In this episode, we take a look at the Japanese proletarian writers' movement of the 1920s and early 1930s. We also take a deep dive into the life of author Genzaburo Yoshino—not a proletarian writer, but a man who spent prison alongside them and for some of the same beliefs—and his novel How Do You Live?.Notes and sources on the episode page.  Transcript available.Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.)Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2024 Read Japanese Literature.

For the first time ever, RJL brings you information from an interview with a Japanese author—Akutagawa-winner Keiichiro Hirano. This episode takes up his life and work, the influence of Yukio Mishima on his fiction, and his most-recently-translated novel, Eclipse.CW: attempted suicide in a discussion of Yukio Mishima's The Temple of the Golden PavilionNotes and sources on the episode page.  Transcript available.Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.)Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2024 Read Japanese Literature.

Happy holidays! And, in the interest of today's episode, merri kurisumasu!Today we're going to start with the origins of Christmas, especially why Christmas is celebrated in Japan at all. We'll move on to how Christmas is celebrated in Japan. And we'll end with some examples of what part Christmas seems to play in Japanese literature—or at least Japanese literature that gets translated.Notes and sources on the episode page.  Transcript available.Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.)Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2024 Read Japanese Literature.

RJL is excited to bring you this two-parter about LGBTQ+ stories from Japan. Part two covers Taisho Japan (when women finally enter the stage) through through contemporary LGBTQ+ writing, especially the life and work of Nobuko Yoshiya, Edogawa Ranpo, Yukio Mishima, and Li Kotomi. We also spend a little time on the role of queer manga.Part one covered some of the earliest writing in Japanese through the end of the Meiji Period in 1912.Notes and sources on the episode page.  Transcript available.This episode is rated mature. CW for the two-part series: historical accounts of practices today recognized as pedophilia and pederasty, mentions of suicide and suicidal ideation (fictional and historical), rape, homophobia, harassment of a trans authorLet RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.)Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2024 Read Japanese Literature.

RJL is excited to bring you this two-parter about LGBTQ+ stories from Japan. Part one covers some of the earliest writing in Japanese through the end of the Meiji Period in 1912.Part two (coming soon) covers Taisho Japan (when women finally enter the stage) through some of Japan's contemporary queer writers.This episode is rated mature. CW: homophobia, brief mentions of suicide (fictional and historical), historical accounts of practices today recognized as pedophilia and pederastyNotes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.)Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2024 Read Japanese Literature.

Today, we're talking about crime and mystery novels from Japan. We'll start with the development of the crime and mystery genre in the English-speaking world. We'll move on to Japanese crime and mystery writing—how it was inspired by Anglo-American crime and mystery writing and how it evolved in its own way. And we'll end with the life and work of writer Seishi Yokomizo, especially his novel The Honjin Murders, translated into English by Louise Heal Kawai.Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.CW: murder (obviously!) and a brief mention of a fictional character's narcotics addiction(Apologies for small pronunciation issues of English and French surnames. They've been corrected in the transcript.)Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.)Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2024 Read Japanese Literature.

This episode is marked mature.In this episode, we take a look at Japanese writing about the American bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that killed as many as 215,000 people in August 1945. We'll start with the history of the atomic bomb, its use, and its effects on the hibakusha who survived. Then we'll take a look at atomic bomb literature itself. Our focus text is "Masks of Whatchamacallit" by Kyoko Hayashi (follow the link to read for free), translated by Kyoko Selden.CW: war, illness (historical and fictional), suicide (historical), forced abortion (fictional), emotional abuse (fictional)Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.)Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2024 Read Japanese Literature.

In this episode, we take a look at the history of Koreans writing in Japan. We'll start with the history of Koreans in Japan, including anti-Korean prejudice before and after WWII. We'll move on to Zainichi Korean writing. And we'll finish with a look at Kazuki Kaneshiro's Go, translated into English by Takami Nieda.Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.Please note that this is the final episode of season 3. RJL will be back in August.Send us a Text Message.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Send us a Text Message. Note that RJL cannot respond directly.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2024 Read Japanese Literature.

In part three of this episode, we'll finish our story of Japanese apocalyptic and dystopian fiction. First, stories from the mid-90s and 20-aughts. Then, stories from after the March 2011 Triple Disasters. We'll end with a look at the life and work of author Yoko Tawada who has written several apocalyptic stories, including one of the most important works of post-3/11 apocalyptic fiction available in English translation—The Emissary, also known at The Last Children of Tokyo.CW: brief mentions of historical and fictional violence and rapeNotes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2024 Read Japanese Literature.

In part two of this three part episode, we're looking at the apocalyptic and dystopian fiction of Japan. We'll begin with the evolution of the idea of "the end of the world" in Japan, especially after Japan started importing American and European science fiction. We'll move on to Japanese apocalyptic stories, especially between 1945 and the 1970s and then during the 1970s and 1980s. Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.This episode's artwork is adapted from a photograph by Du Truong, “The Student of Gunkanjima”. Gunkanjima, also known as Hashima Island, is an abandoned island in Nagasaki Prefecture. Truong's work is available under a Creative Commons license.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2024 Read Japanese Literature.

In part one of this three part episode, we're looking at the apocalyptic and dystopian fiction as a genre. Their origins in Western and Central Asia. Their evolution in Western Europe. And a history of English-language apocalyptic and dystopian storytelling that will provide us with context and a basis for comparison when we turn to Japanese stories in part two.Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.This episode's artwork is adapted from a photograph by Du Truong, “The Student of Gunkanjima”. Gunkanjima, also known as Hashima Island, is an abandoned island in Nagasaki Prefecture. Truong's work is available under a Creative Commons license.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2024 Read Japanese Literature.

In part two of this two-part episode on misogyny in Japanese literature, we're talking about the life and work of Yukio Mishima, especially by way of his I-Novel, Confessions of a Mask.Check out part one for400 years of attitudes about women in JapanWoman in modern Japanese literature, especially in the work of some of its most important writersNotes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.This episode is rated mature. CW: misogyny, fictional rape, internalized homophobia, suicideJoin Patreon to support the podcast and access bonus content.Support Wajima and the urushi industry with the Matsuzawa Urushi Workshop.Support this podcast by buying from Bookshop.org.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2024 Read Japanese Literature.

In part one of this two-part episode, we're talking about misogyny in Japanese literature. 400 years of attitudes about women in JapanWoman in modern Japanese literature, especially in the work of some of its most important writersCheck out part two (coming soon) for the life and work of Yukio Mishima, especially by way of his I-Novel, Confessions of a Mask.Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.This episode is rated mature. CW: misogyny, fictional rape, internalize homophobia, suicideJoin Patreon to support the podcast and access 10 minutes of bonus content.Support Wajima and the urushi industry with the Matsuzawa Urushi Workshop.Support this podcast by buying from Bookshop.org.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2024 Read Japanese Literature.

There is no one quite like Kenji Miyazawa. Born into wealth, he longed to be “a real peasant”. One of Japan's most influential children's writers, he sold only one story during his lifetime.Read Japanese Literature takes a look at Miyazawa's colorful biography through three of his beloved stories.Miyazawa produced the artwork for this episode. It's a painted titled Power Pole in the Moonlight.Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2024 Read Japanese Literature.

To celebrate the overseas release of The Boy and the Heron (aka How Do You Live?) RJL delves into the stories that inspire animator Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, especiallyNausicaä of the Valley of the WindHowl's Moving CastleMy Neighbor TotoroWe'll end with a deep dive into Kiki's Delivery Service—the Ghibli film and the novel by Eiko Kadano (as translated by Emily Balistrieri).Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.*25,000 total episode downloads! Thanks for your support!*Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2023 Read Japanese Literature.

In this episode, we're talking about one of the most important voices in modern Japanese literature, Haruki Murakami.His biographyWhy so many people have such strong feelings about his writingAnd his short story "TV People"We'll end with what I like best about this much loved (and much hated) author.Notes and sources on the episode page.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2023 Read Japanese Literature.

In this episode, we're talking about Japanese children's literature.The history of children's literature in generalThe history of children's literature in JapanAnd Sachiko Kashiwaba and Temple Alley Summer—a story that is about Japanese children's literature (at least a little bit!)Notes and sources on the episode page.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2023 Read Japanese Literature.

How does a book make it from the mind of a Japanese author into the hands of an English-language reader?In part 2 of this 2-part episode, we'll tackle the question, “How do Japanese books get translated into English?" What kinds of choices do translators make when they present a Japanese-language text to English-language readers?We're still looking at at Minae Mizumura's An I-Novel, translated into English by Juliet Winters Carpenter, and we'll end with some philosophical and ethical questions about translation. Notes and sources on the episode page.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2023 Read Japanese Literature.

How does a book make it from the mind of a Japanese author into the hands of an English-language reader?In part 1 of this 2-part episode, we'll tackle the question, “Why do some Japanese books get translated into English?" How do publishers decide what gets translated? How do they decide what doesn't get translated. And we'll take a look at Minae Mizumura's An I-Novel, translated into English by Juliet Winters Carpenter.Please note that this episode mistakenly claims author Astrid Lindgren and her Pippi Longstocking series are Norwegian. They are Swedish.Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode page. Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2023 Read Japanese Literature.

In this episode, we're talking about Japanese science fiction.The history of the genre. SF in Japan. Breakthrough feminist sci-fi writer Izumi Suzuki.Plus loads of SF stories, including Suzuki's “Night Picnic”.CW: suicideTranscript, notes and sources at the podcast episode page. Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2023 Read Japanese Literature.

In this episode, we're talking about writing from Okinawa. The history of the Ryukyu Islands, especially the Battle of Okinawa. The evolution of writing from Okinawa. And the life life and work of author and activist Shun Medoruma, especially his Akutagawa-winning story "Droplets".CW: forced suicide (historical), violence (historical and fictional), historical rapeCorrection: This episode claims Hokkaido is Japan's largest island.  I know better and misspoke. My apologies.Honshu is Japan's largest island.Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode page. Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2023 Read Japanese Literature.

On March 11, 2011, at 2:46pm, one tectonic plate forced its way on top of another 45 miles (or 72 km) off the Eastern coast of Japan. It caused a 9.0 magnitude megathrust earthquake that lasted about six minutes.The Great East Japan Earthquake triggered a tsunami—a great wave—that may have reached heights up to 133 feet (more than 40 meters). The earthquake and tsunami also disabled the reactor cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, causing several reactors to meltdown.The government of Tokyo released official death numbers around the tenth anniversary of 3/11 in 2021. It reported 19,759 deaths. 6,242 injuries. And 2,553 missing. Most of the missing are presumed dead.Hundreds of thousands of people who evacuated the area still haven't returned home—many never will.In this episode:Tohoku and its place in Japan's history and cultureThe response by Japanese writers to the 3/11 disasterHiromi Kawakami's life and work—especially her stories "God Bless You" and "God Bless You, 2011"Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode website. Donate to support Tohoku:Soso Volunteer (Japanese)Support Our Kids (Japanese)The Taylor Anderson Memorial Fund (English)Become an RJL supporter for ten minutes of bonus content.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2023 Read Japanese Literature.

This episode is marked mature.Today we'll explore two trends in contemporary Japanese fiction:Protagonists who don't want to have sexAnd women who want to have babies anyway.To take a closer look at these trends, we're going to ask a couple of questions about contemporary Japan:What is “celibacy syndrome”? Does it even exist?What role does motherhood play in a shrinking society?And how do sexlessness and motherhood play out in 21st-century Japanese fiction?We'll end with a closer look at Mieko Kawakami's best-selling novel, Breasts and Eggs.Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode website. Become an RJL supporter for ten minutes of bonus content.Support this podcast by buying from Bookshop.orgGet in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2023 Read Japanese Literature.

The Akutagawa Prize is probably Japan's most celebrated literary award.To better understand the Akutagawa Prize and its place in modern Japanese literature, we'll start with an introduction to the history of “literary” fiction in Japan.Then we'll move on to the history of the Akutagawa Prize itself, from its creation in 1935 through its most recent winners.And then we'll finish with a look at the life and career of Kobo Abe including his most famous book, The Woman in the Dunes.(CW: suicide, attempted rape in a novel)Notes and sources at the podcast episode website.Become an RJL supporter for ten minutes of bonus content.Support this podcast by buying from Bookshop.orgGet in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2023 Read Japanese Literature.

Magical realism is a literary genre famous for unexplained fantastical encounters that pop-up in the otherwise everyday world.Today, we're going to take a look at magical realism in Japanese fiction.We'll start with defining magical realism, including a look at why that term is difficult and why some people think of it as controversial.Then we'll turn to the history of magical realism in Japan and take a closer look at the work of Tomihiko Morimi, especially The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl.(CW: brief mention of fictional suicide attempt)Notes and sources at the podcast episode website.Become an RJL supporter for bonus content.Support this podcast by buying from Bookshop.orgA Reading List of Japanese Magical Realism

Today, we're going to look at cats in Japanese literature.We'll start with the history of cats in Japan.We'll move on to cats in Japanese folklore and fiction, including the work of Haruki Murakami.And finally we'll end with a discussion of our readers' choice, “The Town of Cats” by Sakutaro Hagiwara.Notes and sources at the podcast episode website.Become an RJL supporter for seven minutes of bonus content.Support this podcast by buying from Bookshop.org

In this episode…Is she a man-eating crone?Is she a lonely wanderer?Or is she a sensual matriarch?However you define her, she's the yama-uba—Japan's legendary mountain witch.Notes and sources at the podcast episode website.Donate to RJL's Patreon.

In this episode…Post-bubble Japan.The history of socially-conscious Japanese literature.And Yu Miri's Tokyo Ueno Station, a powerful examination of Tokyo by one of the most invisible people imaginable—the ghost of a homeless day laborer.Notes and sources at the podcast episode website.Donate to RJL's Patreon.

In all our episodes so far, we've talked almost exclusively about what Japanese literature looks like in Japan.But we're English-speakers and English-readers on an English-language podcast about Japanese literature in English.In honor of Women in Translation Month, we're talking about why there is such a wealth of contemporary books by Japanese women available in English.Notes and sources at the podcast episode website.Donate to RJL's Patreon.

In this episode, we're talking about Japan's bubble economy of the 1980s and the work of Banana Yoshimoto.Runaway consumer spending.Everything kawaii.A Nobel laureate's contempt.And a young author whose career challenged the publishings powers that be.Content warning: This episode addresses transphobia as well as hate crimes against Asian Americans and trans women.Notes and sources at the podcast episode website.

Today, we're talking about the literature of change in the 1960s—how writers took on questions about what it meant to be Japanese in the post-war era and what was the continuing role of Japanese tradition.We're looking especially at Yukio Mishima and Kenzaburo Oe.Content warning: This episode addresses fascism and suicide.Notes and sources at the podcast episode website.

Today we're talking about the 1930s and 40s in Japan—fascism, World War Two, and the American Occupation.In particular, how did 20 years of censorship shape Japanese literature?We're also taking a look at the life and work of Akiyuki Nosaka, whose novella, "Grave of the Fireflies" inspired the classic anime film. We'll discuss his short story, "The Cake Tree in the Ruins".Notes and sources at the podcast episode website.

Today, we're talking about the I-Novel—the highest form of literature in Japan in the 1910s and 20s.It's a genre one American scholar describes as “perhaps the most striking feature of modern Japanese literature.”And it's a genre Haruki Murakami claims to have an allergy to.We'll also be looking at the life and work of Osamu Dazai and asking, “What does it take to get disqualified as a human being?”Content warning: This episode addresses addiction, rape, suicide, and misogyny.Notes and sources at the podcast episode website.

The father of the Japanese short story shares his dark vision about what it means to be an artist.We're taking a look at Japan in the 1910s and 1920s, the era of the Taishō Democracy and the heyday of Japan's literary magazines and serial novels.Content warning: This episode addresses addiction, suicide, and sexual assault.Notes and sources at the podcast episode website.

Last episode, we talked about the coming of the West and the way it impacted Japanese literature.This time we're talking about women as they take up a prominent position in the story of Japanese literature for the first time in almost 1000 years.Special focus on Ichiyō Higuchi and her best-beloved story "Takekurabe".Notes and sources are available on the podcast episode webpage.

In this episode, we're looking at the Meiji Era of Japanese history and its literature.The shogunate is replaced.Japan looks outward to the West and inward toward itself.And a man named Natsume Sōseki chronicles it all from the perspective of a stray cat.Notes and sources are available on the podcast episode webpage.

In this episode, we'll be talking about Ueda Akinari and his Tales of Moonlight and Rain, some of the most influential Japanese ghost stories ever written.- A raging intellectual debate- A supernatural party game- And a friend just dying to keep his promisesFor notes, links to the suggested reading, and an illustration of Okiku, please visit the episode's webpage.

How does “this fleeting world” transform from a Buddhist precept to a name for the red-light district?What did reading look like in early Modern Japan?And how many dildos does a man need to pack for a trip to the Island of Women?For notes, links to the suggested reading, and an illustration of sailing to the Island of Women, please visit the episode's webpage.

Enjoy the story of a vengeful would-be lover who turns into a 40-foot snake, a sharp-witted woman with criticisms of her husband's equipment, and a curmudgeonly Buddhist priest who learns to love poetry. In this episode, we're talking about setsuwa—medieval Japanese anecdotes. Many of them originate as Buddhist preaching, so we'll also take a look at “Kamakura Buddhisms”: Pure Land, Zen, and Nichiren. For notes, links to the suggested reading, and a great picture of Kiyohime as a fire-breathing snake, please visit the episode's webpage.

We're talking about two central genres of Medieval Japanese literature—the warrior ballad and Noh drama. We'll see two characters from The Tale of the Heike again, including the valiant female warrior Tomoe. This time, she's a mournful ghost.https://readjapaneseliterature.com/2021/12/22/episode-4-yoshitsune-ballads-and-tomoe-drama/

The great samurai epic and the rise of the samurai class.Visit this episode's webpage for information on buying the book and resources for further reading.

The world's oldest novel. A hero who is a paragon of beauty with an extreme Oedipus complex.(CW: sex, rape, incest, pedophilia.)

Gods having sex, founding of the imperial dynasty, and some of the origins of WWII. Plus thoughts on the role of women in early Japanese history.