January theme read - JAPAN

I was offered to start up the Japan theme read for January 2009 but I must admit this is the first time that I start a thread of this nature.

Being a huge fan of Japanese literature I thought I would separate this wonderful country into several categories. I read mostly in French so I will try and make sure most of these are available in English and will make a note if not.

Although Japan has a great history of literature, most of the novels translated into English are from the modern era. So we'll start there.

m,f after the names stands for male or female for those who many not be familiar with Japanese names.

Powerhouses of modern Japanese lit (and in English translation):
Yukio Mishima, m
- probably most known for his Sea of Fertility tetralogy including Spring Snow, Runaway Horses, The Temple of Dawn and The Decay of the Angel
Haruki Murakami, m
- having gained a huge success in the states, he is known for such titles as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kafka on the Shore and Sputnik Sweetheart. He also has a great array of fabulous short stories which can be read in After Dark. His most famous short story though would have to be "The Elephant Vanishes"
Natsume Soseki, m
- some common themes include "ordinary people fighting against economic hardship, the conflict between duty and desire, loyalty and group mentality versus freedom and individuality, personal isolation and estrangement, the rapid industrialization of Japan and its social consequences" (wiki)
- most famous for Kokoro, Botchan and I am a cat.
- I can personally recommend Sorekara (And Then) although a bit difficult to find
Junichiro Tanizaki, m
- most famous work in English is The Makioka Sisters, about four daughters of a wealthy Osaka merchant family in World War II who are slowly losing their wealthy style of life
Kenzaburo Oe, m
- awarded Nobel Prize
- I can personally recommend Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids, a Japanese take on Lord of the Flies
Banana Yoshimoto, f
- of great wit and humor, Kitchen is her most famous novel
Yasunari Kawabata, m
- Nobel Prize winner
- known for his subtle grace in describing Japanese nuance in the most lyrical of ways -- truly stunning

Other modern authors of worth:
Kazuo Ishiguro, m (although he lives in England and writes mostly about Chinese life)
Osamu Dazai, m (for The Setting Sun)
Kobo Abe, m (Woman in the Dunes is gorgeous)
Ryu Murakami, m

Classic of classics:
Murasaki Shikibu's, f The Tale of Genji - considered one of the first novels in history
Sei Shonagon, f The Pillow Book
The Tale of the Heiki (medieval Japan)

For historical fiction:
Eiji Yoshikawa, m

Particular titles of interest that I have enjoyed:
Masuji Ibuse, m Black Rain - discusses the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing
Junichiro Tanizaki In Praise of Shadows - although often used in architecture/interior design school as a means of studying Japanese design, it has a subtext of Japan's fear of being modernized by Western style. Read between the lines on this one.
Fumiko Enchi, f The Waiting Years
Yasushi Inoue, m The Hunting Gun - a bit more difficult to find in English translation I was told but absolutely stunning (my favorite author actually)
Yasushi Inoue Shirobamba - hard to find in English but worth it!

A few resources:
Wikipedia has an excellent article about the development of Japanese fiction including a rich list of Japan's more famous authors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_literature

Kodansha International is an excellent source of Japanese works
http://www.kodansha-intl.com/contents/top.php?plang=en

Kinokuniya is another resource available for getting Japanese books although a little bit of knowledge in Japanese might be needed
http://www.kinokuniya.com/

Most books are easily found on amazon.com

There are books by non-Japanese people about Japan or Japan-related but I must admit I have not read much. One book that was interesting though was The Roads to Sata by Alan Booth which is a travel book where Alan Booth documents his 2000 mile walk along the north of Japan and his experiences being a foreigner in Japan but who speaks fluent Japanese. A truly comical book that really delves into the Japanese mindset.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden is another book written about Japan by a non-Japanese person although this book is purely fictional and has been criticized by some Japanese as being not altogether to the fact. Still a well written novel.

John Hersey's Hiroshima is an excellent insight into the bombing of Hiroshima.

Also, if you would like to have a taste of Japanese authors and enjoy short stories, The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories is, at 450 pages, an excellent collection of short stories by a huge variety of Japanese authors. Most of the authors I mentioned above are sampled in this book. Including: Natsume Soseki, Junichiro Tanizaki, Akutagawa Ryunosuke's "In the Grove" (very famous), Fumiko Enchi, Yasushi Inoue, Kono Abe, and Haruki Murakami's famous "The Elephant Vanishes".

I hope this is what you guys were looking for. I had so many other ideas of how I wanted to organize the thread (one thought was to organize it via common themes in Japanese literature) but I had to make sure this went out. Otherwise I would have kept on going and we would never have done Japan in January!

So if anybody needs more details or has a particular idea of what they'd like to read but don't know which author would suit them, feel free to ask. :)

I think that I'm going to read In Ghostly Japan. I haven't read it yet, but it's apparently a compilation of short stories by Lafcadio Hearn who moved to Japan and married a woman of a professor there. Though he never entirely assimilated, he never learned Japanese, he was fascinated with folklore and folk stories from Japan. I thought that it was be an interesting read for January.

Thanks for all the good book suggestions, lilisin! I'm going to have to go exploring before I choose! :)

>1 lilisin: You're off to a great start! I read The Hunting Gun in English this summer; it was quite good (can't remember who the publisher was).

I have read a fair amount of Japanese literature and I ordered a collection of three novellas by Yoko Ogama titled the Diving Pool for January's reading, although I do have more Tanizaki and Murakami here in the TBR pile (loved The Makioka Sisters, btw).

eta: you may wish to start a separate "discussion only" thread for this theme, as Squeakychu has done for the February theme. Sometimes the recommendations alone take up a whole thread:-)

Might I also recommend As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams by Lady Sarashina. I also enjoyed Blue Bamboo: Japanese Tales of Fantasy by Osamu Dazai. I have also heard good things about Rivalry: A Geisha's Tale by Kafu Nagai. It is on my wishlist.

avaland -

As per your suggestion I have created a separate post as the discussion thread. This thread will be our recommendations thread. Or perhaps it should be called the "TBR pile's worst nightmare" thread. :)

lilisin, thank you for such a wonderful introduction to Japanese literature. In looking over my TBR, I find I have 10 books, fiction and non-fiction. Of those, I'll choose The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami.

Not literature but a book I read and enjoyed several years ago is Pictures from the Water Trade by a man who went to study at the Language Research Institute of Waseda University. A nice introduction to some aspects of Japanese culture which can help when reading some of the literature. I lent it to my brother-in-law who was hoping to go to Japan on holiday paid for by an educational grant. He later told me it was too "hard"! As he's a teacher I wasn't impressed and it was as well the trip never materialised as I imagine others would be better equipped to benefit from such a marvellous opportunity.

I just finished After Dark by Haruki Murakami last week. I expected not to enjoy it because I'm a person who tends to be repelled by hype and Murakami is certainly hyped. Of course, I loved it. I hear it isn't his best, but it is a relatively easy read filled with empathy. If I can fit in another group read in January, I'll probably pick another of his.

I am going to try to read Rashomon and Other Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa and possibly something else that fits into this category. I was terrible at participating in these group reads in 2008, but I hope to do a little better now.

I just picked upa copy of Kokoro by Natsume Soseki from the book shelf of my library today. Perhaps I'll read that.

All I read is Japanese fiction in translation. I have worked my way through the recommendations of Thomas J. Rimer through his book A Reader's Guide to Japanese Literature. A number are not so easy to procure such as The Factory Ship and A Certain Woman. Rimer's book was published in a new updated version in '99. There is no change to the base list, but an additional section "After Oe" is included that lists and gives information on newer writers such as Yoshimoto Banana and Murukami Haruki.

My readings have branched off of each of the writers I was the most moved by in Rimer's List. So after reading his Kafu reference I proceeded to hunt down everything else available in (or out!) of print. Likewise with Hayashi Fumiko and a few others.

Currently I'm reading here and there as whim moves me in two very large anthologies, each in two volumes: Traditional Japanese Literature edited by Haruo Shirane and Modern Japanese Literature edited by Thomas J. Rimer and Van C. Gessel. Both published by Columbia University Press.

I know the whole idea of "book reading" generally doesn't include poetry, but Rimer considers the poetic legacy of Japan critical. So here's Rimer's full list:

Twenty Classical Works

1 - Record of Ancient Matters, A (Kojiki)
2 - Anthology of Ten Thousand Leaves
3 - Collection of Old and New Japanese Poetry / Kokinshu
4 - Tales of Ise
5 - Tale of Genji - Murasaki Shikibu
6 - As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams - Lady Sarashina
7 - Pillow Book - Sei Shônagon
8 - Tales of Times Now Past
9 - Poetry of Saigyô - Saigyô
10 - An Account of My Hut - Kamo no Chômei
11 - Essays in Idleness - Yoshida Kenkô
12 - Tale of the Heike
13 - Nô Theatre
14 - Five Women Who Loved Love - Ihara Saikaku
15 - Narrow Road to the Deep North - Matsuo Bashô
16 - Love Suicide at Amijima - Chikamatsu Monzaemon
17 - Treasury of Loyal Retainers (Chushingura) - Kateda, Miyoshi, Namiki
18 - Tales of Moonlight and Rain - Ueda Akinari
19 - Poetry of Ryôkan - Ryôkan
20 - Year of My Life - Kobayashi Issa

Thirty Modern Works
21 - Drifting Clouds (Ukigumo) - Futabatei Shimei
22 - Wild Geese - Mori Ôgai
23 - Poetry of Masaoka Shiki - Masaoka Shiki
24 - Kokoro - Natsume Sôseki
25 - Encounter with a Skull and Other Stories - Kôda Rohan
26 - Comparing Heights - Higuchi Ichiyô
27 - Before the Dawn - Shimazaki Tôson
28 - Certain Woman - Arishima Takeo
29 - Strange Tale from East of the River - Nagai Kafû
30 - Poetry of Santôka - Santôka
31 - Poetry of Takamura Kôtarô - Takamura Kôtarô
32 - Dark Night’s Passing - Shiga Naoya
33 - Poetry of Ishikawa Takuboku
34 - Howling at the Moon - Hagiwara Sakutarô
35 - Some Prefer Nettles - Tanizaki Jun’ichirô
36 - Rashôman and Other Stories - Akutagawa Ryûnosuke
37 - Poetry of Miyazawa Kenji
38 - Spring Riding in a Carriage and Other Stories - Hokomitsu Riichi
39 - Black Rain - Ibuse Masuji
40 - Snow Country - Kawabata Yasunari
41 - Twentieth-Century Theatre
42 - Factory Ship - Kobayashi Takiji
43 - Counterfeiter - Inoue Yasushi
44 - Setting Sun - Dazai Osamu
45 - Fires on the Plain - Ôoka Shôhei
46 - Silence - Endô Shûhei
47 - Woman in the Dunes - Abe Kôbô
48 - Temple of the Golden Pavilion - Mishima Yukio
49 - Doctor’s Wife - Ariyoshi Sawako
50 - Silent Cry - Ôe Kenzaburô

-- Gerry

Facing the 999 Challenge, I decided to go with The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruka Murakami, a book I chose primarily for its cover, but didn't get past the first chapter. I'm really looking forward to our discussions as the few books I've read have been too subtle for me.

Re: 316

"Too subtle". Is that code for boring?

-- Gerry

No! :) Believe me, I'd say boring, if I thought they were boring. I just think that the people of every culture have so much shared history, experiences, expectations, and expressions that they bring to their reading--and I feel more than usual that I'm missing important cultural references. I'm talking about a writing style that so far I haven't enjoyed that much. But now, this feels very UNCOMFORTABLY similar to the biases that people have had/still have about Asian-Americans, so I hope I'm not making this all worse?! (Hmmm...How do I show chagrin with a smiley face?!)

Is an author like Amelie Nothomb who grew up in Japan of Belgian parents appropriate for this read? Her book The Character of Rain I think is laid in Japan. She currently lives in Paris.

vpfluke -
Amelie Nothomb's books would work well yes. That one in particular is really interesting in how she describes her very very early childhood in Japan. However, it won't really tell you much about Japan itself insomuch as her childhood perception of what she knew of Japan. Stupeurs et tremblements (Fear and Trembling) would be a better book because it discusses her adult work life in Japan and is quite hilarious and apt at showing you the Japanese mindset versus the foreigner.

But your choice is quite a delightful read so I think you should go for it. :)

I'd say go for Amelie Nothomb, one of my favorite authors! She was born in Kobe, Japan. Another book by her that is very amusing is Fear and Trembling which is a satire on people working their way up in business.

ETA: Oops! I answered post #19 before reading post# 20. At least we think alike, lilisin. :)

I've recently read two translated mysteries by Miyuki Miyabe that were very good.
All She Was Worth and Shadow Family

I'm not sure what I'm going to read yet. I'm going to try to find either Sayonara Gangsters or Abe's The Ark Sakura of The Ruined Map at my local bookstore. If it doesn't have any of those, however... well, we'll see when that happens.

I have to recommend The Makioka Sisters to any fans of Jane Austen out there. It's one of my favorite books. I read it with a group of other people, and a handful of us loved it and the rest absolutely hated it because it was "too lifelike," meaning there were too many "everyday incidents." The realism was why I adored it though... hmm... maybe I can just reread that one?

#23, I have to admit you enticed me with "to any fans of Jane Austen". I'll have to add it to my "want to read" list.

I really shouldn't even think about this read for a number of reasons, but I really want to do it! I realize that I am woefully lacking in this area of literature. When I go back to the library on Jan 5, I plan to take out something by Murakami or Fear and Trembling by Amelie Nothomb. If I can find a quick read, I can fit this challenge in. It sounds like fun!

#15 I seem to recall reading somewhere, that of all poetry, Japanese is the most difficult to read in translation and the reader can rest assured that she will miss most of the nuances. Suggestions for translators?

#26 Re: Japanese Poetry

"The most difficult to read in translation?" I don't imagine so, no. It's a tough guess though, because in order to validate that you'd have to read the original and the translation in a number of different languages and then also across many different types of poets and poems to come to a rational conclusion.

I find it no more difficult or easy to read Japanese poetry (translated) than of poetry that was originally in French or Spanish. Admittedly poetry is not a dominant pursuit of mine.

I doubt that anyone who is fluent in Spanish and English would say of the work of Octavio Paz, "Ahh, it's the same in either language". I assume many people think there is an inherent loss of some "authenticity" or meaning when translating poetry however subtle it may be, regardless of the original language. I think translating Gregory Corso into tagalog would be an interesting exercise.

So a reader will certainly miss some of what was left out of any translation. In Japanese, there may be more to be lost, even when the translation is exceptionally good. The Japanese have a sort of "short hand" that they use to refer to much larger concepts. I've seen highly footnoted poetry that indicates references to other famous poems. The intent in using, say the phrase "the weight of velvet" is a specific reference to a well-known poem that uses the phrase in relation to the waning days of an old man's life.

So these kinds of cultural references once missed, deny all the secondary references that are implied. The well-educated Japanese reader, I am told, has a vast backlog of experience with classical poetry acquired in school and culture. I think that's one of the reasons that reading the Kojiki, Kokinshu or Anthology of Ten Thousand Leaves is recommended by Rimer in his list--to accrue some of that back-reference material.

But how true is all of this today, not only of a poet's activity but of the average Japanese poetry reader? And when did it dissipate as a common tool of a poet? I'm unsure that the kind of poetry that leverages this secondary material has remained throughout their history, or that all poets use it so very much, but it is definitely there, and the footnotes I see on much academic work certainly underscores it, at least pre-Meiji.

Still, one can find beauty and depth in poetry that has no reference whatever to what the poet initially meant. One of the great things about poetry is how the reader makes it his/her own while reading it.

-- Gerry

I'm reading The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa, translated by Steven Snyder, my LT Early Reviewers pick from November.

By the way, Gerry (message 27), you said exactly what I wanted to say about poetry and translation, especially the last sentence. As a native English speaker, when I studied French I became more aware of "sense and sound" in poetry, but when I studied Chinese I found the intersection of sense, sound, and visual image (in the written characters), plus more historical allusion (which of course all cultures have). One must always seek out the best translations which will give consideration to all these things and more, but in the end the result is the unique experience of the reader "making it his/her own" as you said.

Re: Msg 28:

Thanks, NoBooksNoLife. And I'd like to underscore your last sentence: "One must always seek out the best translations...". Though thinking generally of fiction, rather than poetry, there are a number of guys who have very big names in translating Japanese to English, Donald Keene, Edward Seidensticker being two of the most noteworthy.

Recently a couple of translators I've bumped into were involved in some very good work, at least in terms of it's flow and beauty. It's tough to know whether it came from the original author which they may have channeled admirably, or whether they brought "too much" of themselves to their work, making average work compelling! Tough to know, but it's great stuff. These are Lane Dunlop and Dennis Keene.

-- Gerry

I can highly recommend The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura. I thought it a light philosophical read. It's been a few years now since I've read it, so I am considering re-reading it. As I recall there is much to be gained from its calm perceptions.

I went to the bookstore to buy As I Crossed the Bridge of Dreams (Sarashina Nikki), The Pillow Book, and Tale of Heike, but they had to back-order them from the warehouse. The only book on my list they had was the Makioka Sisters. I will start reading it tonight as this group has recommended it and it sounds interesting.

I recently read Kafka On The Shore by Murakami and must say it was a really good read. A bit violent at times and certainly a bit provocative, but riveting nonetheless.

This website has a few short stories by Japanese authors. I did not know if any of you may enjoy it.

http://www.kcc.zaq.ne.jp/dfeea307/

I think I might read Fires on the Plain by Shohei Ooka. It has been on my TBR pile for a while and it seems greatly interesting. Known to be his best work, it is "of the postwar period, and based loosely on his own wartime experiences in the Philippines, it explores the meaning of human existence through the struggle for survival of men who are driven by starvation to cannibalism". (wiki) It'll also be a Japanese author I have not read yet.

With time, I would also like to read another TBR book, The Setting Sun, by Osamu Dazai (this would also be a new author for me) about the decline of Japanese nobility after WWII.

13, fannyprice -

If you are going to be reading Rashomon, make sure to read both "Rashomon" and "In the Grove" which are companion pieces. Then watch the movie "Rashomon", the movie by famed director Akira Kurosawa. Not only will you be getting an introduction to a very famous short story but also one of Japan's most famous directors (I say introduction with the assumption you may not know of Kurosawa but you may obviously already know of this director).

This would be a wonderful opportunity to read The Tale of Genji but I probably should have started it in November if I was to finish it in time to discuss it in January. So as a result I will probably wuss out and read the other Japanese book in my TBR pile: After the Quake, a Murakami.

Another novel people might want to consider reading is Silence by Shusaku Endo, which I found to be quite a powerful and perplexing read. It's the story of a missionary who arrives in Japan during the seventeenth century when Christians were persecuted. It raises some interesting moral questions as well as meditating on whether it's possible for a western religion to take root in such a different cultural background. Unsurprisingly, it stirred up some controversy in the Japanese Christian community when it was published in the sixties.

Regarding Silence, I don't know what to think of the question of how Christianity takes root in some Asian countries (Korea and the Philippines) and not in others. I read it some years ago. My favorite novel of Shusaku Endo is Deep River: however this is not set in Japan.

I think I'll read Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima, and Mishima's Sword by Christopher Ross.

I'll start with Shirobamba by Yasushi Inoue for starters; Lilisin speaks quite highly of it elsewhere.

I'll likely migrate through Saiichi Maruya's Singular Rebellion and Twilight Years by Sawako Ariyoshi as well, if the month lasts that long. My stack of Japanese fiction is about 4 shelves long.

Admittedly, I'm new to this thread, Reading Globally, but normally I'm lodged in Japan lit. anyway. In this case my local is y'all's "Global"!

-- Gerry

#26, 27, 28, 29 and wonderful comments by Gerry re translation

I have mused on another thread about the difficulties of translation. My totally fluent languages are Slovak, Czech and English and I have done some translation to and from them. There is a popular mythos in Czech that the level of translation in Czech is so high, that the works of say Faulkner or Saroyan are in fact "better" in Czech than they are in the original language. While "better" is of course a stretch, it IS true that the translators INTO Czech are great sensitive artists themselves who have created great living texts with nuances which the author might not have originally conceived and yet be happy with if he were to have them explained to him. I am currently struggling with Dostoevsky. My Russian certainly does not allow the appreciation of the text in the original. English translation from the Russian leads to great gaps, although a number of translators do a commendable job (bows to Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky). I am reading now some passages in a Czech translation, which, because of the proximities in the languages, as well as cultural proximities, glosses more precisely than the English.

Forgive this ramble, which is only tangentially related to your discussion of Japanese translation and its difficulty. I am trusting that the Japanese poetry I plan to read and comment on this month is translated by sensitive artists. I cannot have an opinion on the quality of their translation and will therefore proceed on faith, hoping that the spirit of Basho, Buson and Issa will be approximated in the translation.

>37 polutropos: Andrushka,

I wonder if Czech translators are good because the Czechs also love music. Let me explain. The first time I went to Prague, I was amazed by the number of high quality (and inexpensive) musical venues there. Every night I was there, I went to a different little cathedral and heard exquisitely performed, world-class classical music. My hosts told me the Czechs have a saying: "every Czech is at heart a musician." Having an ear for language is like having a ear for music. I have spent years grading endless piles of freshman compositions. The chief difficulty I find is that the students have no ear for the language they speak. While they can create grammatically correct sentences (on a good day), they usually cannot create graceful sentences. Your thoughts?

P.S. I've said this before. I'm starting to feel as if I must learn Czech. Suggestions for good grammars and readers?

I am loving my brief excursion into Japan and feel I must share my enthusiasm, in the light of an earlier post about Japanese society. Japanese literary criticism holds that Basho, Buson and Issa represent three types of poet: the ascetic, the artist, the humanist. Here is a wonderful example of each:

Deep autumn --
my neighbor,
how does he live, I wonder?

Basho

Tethered horse;
snow
in both stirrups.

Buson

Don't worry, spiders,
I keep house
casually.

Issa

I am thrilled.

>39 polutropos: Lovely poems Andrushka. Thanks for sharing.

An interesting sub-thread on translation/transition above.

When moving to Prague in 1992 to start a new life, I spent three months re-wiring my linguistic brain with crude tools: In a room by myself, learning from the few instructional guides I could find. It was excrutiating. Then it happened in a blinding flash of light: A friend introduced me to woman, I fell in love and was compelled to stay in Southern California. My burden vanished, as I started a new life dramatically closer to home.

Fifteen years later, in a garage/library pogrom, I had a poignant moment when the Czech studies slid into the dumpster, one of my many dreams made proxy by bound paper. Ah well. One ant can only move so much dirt in a single lifetime.

I think making a book "better" during translation is an interesting and convenient perspective. Especially when via a beautiful, musical language--only incidentally your own. I can certainly make a book better by translating it from one version of English into my own "better" version of English. Many writer's just don't get stuff right in the original. I could help! :-) Can't we all?

Different is different, and it's everybody's call what "better" might mean. There is no such thing as a translation that doesn't effect the tone, meter, push-and-pull, formality vs informality and all the rest. Sometime dramatic, sometimes subtle. Let's just assume all translations are better after the fact, since that view only provides some positivism; a little hope.

On the other hand, with any kind of direct fiction, I can't imagine that over the course of hundreds of pages the character that begins to take shape and the arc of their story is vastly different in any translation. Certainly small nuance at line-level could be profoundly different, but if the character is a slovenly, misguided person, obsessed with balloons and yearning to woo a gypsy, I'd hate to see a translator botch that!

When we come to poetry though, it's more like changing a recipe for a canape into one for a cookie: Let's just hope that in the end it at least tastes good.

-- Gerry

Very aptly put, Gerry. :)
I especially appreciate the "positivism"--being positive is my watchword for the New Year.
Cheers.

Well, Urania, there is a solution for you. If you truly wish to master Czech, the answer is to fall in love with a Czech man, and you will learn it together.

I think that perhaps neither you nor Robbie are much in favour of that solution. :-)

Gerry's, ultimately, is much easier still: drop the idea altogether.

#43: Well, Urania, there is a solution for you. If you truly wish to master Czech, the answer is to fall in love with a Czech man, and you will learn it together.

---------

Ha ha ha ha. I was given that advice when I was trying to learn French. I never found the French guy, but I also wanted to learn Italian, and I did find an Italian guy. Not only was he fluent, he spoke Tuscan and not dialect. Twenty years later, three trips to Italy and a year of university level Italian, my Italian is embarrassingly pathetic.

I finished reading The Makioka Sisters just a little bit ago. It was a most satisfying slice of life read. I found the story quite captivating and had a hard time putting it down. Is anyone else reading this at the moment?

>43 polutropos: Andrushka, I do not wish to drop either Robbie or the idea of learning Czech. I am perfectly capable of managing both.

Re: #45

I have not read it, but did recently see the movie, on a decrepit VHS tape from Facets out of Chicago. It was the only place on planet Earth I could find this excellent movie by Kon Ichikawa from 1983. It really has a lot going for it if you happen to put your hands on it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086242/

-- Gerry

Gerry, thank you so much for letting me know that a movie was made in 1983. I did not know that. I checked youtube and they actually have the first nine minutes available to view. It also appears that there was an old black and white serial made, with 14 episodes available. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=makioka+sisters&search=Search

Any time a book is made into a movie they have to change the story a little and this one is no exception, but it does look like a very interesting film. Thank you so much for bringing it to my attention.

One of my favorite parts of the book was the squeaky obi. In the first episode of Sasameyuki they portray this scene. Unfortunately the Sasameyuki episodes have not been translated and this may take away from the enjoyment for some people.

--Angela

>45 coleaj: I read it some years ago and remember it was one of the best of my reads that year. It's probably not fresh enough in my mind to discuss it though.

Now, here's an interesting question. Can a culture be expressed through the tone of a book/s? I just posted my thoughts of the novellas in The Diving Pool and made the statement that I thought it's Japanness (not a real word) resides chiefly in the quiet tone of the stories. The only thing I have to base this on, is a recognition of it from other Japanese books I have read (but not all, of course).

Re: 49

"Can a culture be expressed through the tone of a book/s?"

Perhaps; if we can agree what "tone" means or does not! :-)

"I just posted my thoughts of the novellas in The Diving Pool and made the statement that I thought it's Japanness (not a real word) resides chiefly in the quiet tone of the stories. The only thing I have to base this on, is a recognition of it from other Japanese books I have read (but not all, of course)."

I can certainly support that on a subjective level. I have come away with much the same thing from 15-20 books by Japanese writers. The reason why this "quiet tone' seems to happen is that they spend so much time (in their "I-Novels" as they call them) contemplating themselves and their inner world. A character has a brief exchange and then works it for a 20 pages or more pondering how they should have responded and what they meant to say with the words they didn't use and so on and on. I find this frustrating at some level but once I settle into it, it begins to calm me. I stop demanding action and character-arc and that sort of stuff. I give up, I roll over.

Frequently my wife will ask me as I'm reading Japanese fiction, "Is it good?" "Hmm," I say pondering it. "Good? I hadn't really thought about that. Yeah, maybe. I guess so." The reality of it is that I have a tendency not to judge-as-I-go with Japanese fiction. I just let it wash over me and frequently the main take-way is a mood or a sense of time and place, and usually a quiet one.

Mori Ogai's Wild Goose, Kokoro by Soseki Natsume, Some Prefer Nettles by Junichiro Tanizaki Mori Ogai are just a few. There are dozen's more that seem to provide this "quiet" thing in the read.

-- Gerry

Gerry, interesting thoughts. Since I posted I have read the intro to the anthology of Japanese women's fiction mentioned on the other thread and got to thinking about how Japanese women have been thought of and how that stereotype has exploded in the last decade or so (just think about how Japanese young women are portrayed in anime). So this has entered the lovely swirling mix in my mind over the Ogawa novellas.

btw, the anthology's intro mentions that the Japanese have the oldest women's writing tradition in the world.

I had some help from friends composing this list in December, when I decided I wanted to read some novels set in Japan. I have been here for the past 10 years, but first came to Japan 20+ years ago. However, this past 10 years I have been busy with small children and not read much.

This is the list and the contributers are all foreign wives of Japanese men, living in Japan.

This includes both Japanese and non-Japanese authors
>
> A Wild Sheep Chase 　by Haruki Murakami
> nip the buds shoot the kids　 by Oe kensaburo　
> a personal matter　 by Oe kensaburo
> Silence 　by Shusaku Endo.
>
> time traveller by Yasutaka Tsutsui
> and two short stories that I think come together; 'time machine'
and
> `joint, by Yasutaka Tsutsui
> (you might enjoy the 2nd in Japanese for the word play after you
> read it in English.)
>
> A Strange Tale from East of the River and Other Stories. by Kafu
> Nagai
>
> All She Was Worth, by Miyuki Miyabe
>
> The Earthquake Bird by Suzanna Jones
>
> Wind-up Bird Chronicles, by Haruki Murakami,
>
>Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami,
>
> Norwegian Wood, by Haruki Murakami,
>
> Ginger Tree by Oswald Wynd
>
> One Chrysanthemum by Joan Itoh (available thru Amazon Canada)
>
> Liza Dalby's Tale of Murasaki -with great annotation
> on what Kyoto must have been like 1200 years ago,
> with a good deal of fiction and poetry mixed in as well
>
> -Hitomi Kanehara's recent book Snakes and Earrings (Not quite a
keitai-
> novel but close.)
>
> -Sara Backer's American Fuji
>
> -Jay McInerney's Ransom
>
> -Kobo Abe's Boxman.
>
> Natsuo Kirino's books. Three of them have been translated into
> English: Grotesque,
> Out, and Real World.
>
> the "tale of genji".
>
> "Losing Kei by Suzanne Kamata
>
> Authors:
> Banana Yoshimoto
> Meira Chand
>Sujata Massey
>
>I don't have time for a review at the moment, but have to add that Losing Kei was brilliant and a very accurate portrayal of contemporary Japan, and that The Makioka sisters remains a favourite, although I haven't read it recently.

Why is it every time I edit all the touchstones revert to ones I don't want?

Hi-- I'm new here. I may have just accidentally sent half a message--please ignore. Hope it's not too late to throw in my two cents.

I concur with the praise for The Makioka Sisters.

Some other Japanese books I've read and highly recommend are:

Akira Yoshimora: On Parole
One Man's Justice
Shipwrecks

Out by Natsuo Kirino: A murder mystery where you know who did it from the beginning. The book portrays the life of a working class woman in present-day Japan as bleak indeed. I also read Grotesque by Kirino, but did not find it as satisfying.

I can also highly recommend Ibuse's Black Rain, about the aftermath of the atomic blasts in Japan. I read it at the same time I was reading Oh Pure and Radiant Heart by Lydia Millet, the premise of which is that the three man 'fathers' of the atomic bomb (Oppenheim, Fermi, and ?) are transposed to the present day, are horrified at what they find, and lead a crusade for nuclear disarmerment. (Despite its premise Radiant Heart is a light-hearted read and provided great contrast to Black Rain.

I should read The Wind-up Chronicle as planned but am sorely tempted by multiple recommendations for The Makioka Sisters.

>53 arubabookwoman: I liked Shipwrecks also, which reminds me that I think I have another of his somewhere around the house.

#54 I enjoyed The Makioka Sisters, but it was definitely a character study and a very slowly paced book set before and during WW II. I'm currently reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which is much faster paced and which I'm finding quite fascinating and is set in the late 1990s. Hope that helps you make your choice.

>56 whymaggiemay:, Oh no, this won't do! LOL! I thought The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle was slow-paced, and as I said earlier, far too subtle for me. I think all this vacillating may be telling me something. As beautiful as that cover may be, I may just have to admire it from afar for awhile longer! Have fun you-all, I think I have too many other books that I really want to read!

>8 urania1:--I am 43 pages into Rivalry: A Geisha's Tale and concur with your recommendation...it is an excellent read so far. This is my first exploration into Japanese lit, so I perused the previous posts trying to find a book that sounded interesting. Of the few I selected, this is the only one my library carried. I'm trying to shrink down my TBR, now I have a new interest and fear it's going to become even more out of control, lol!

>58 CutestLilBookworm: My copy of Rivalry: A Geisha's Tale just arrived today. I intend to start tonight. I'm glad that the recommendations I read are proving true for you. I hope they do for me.

Re: 8, 9

Kafu is one of my favorite Japanese writers. After reading "Strange Tale from East of the River" and Rivalry and a few other things I've been on a quest to find everything I could that he wrote. He is certainly of an other time, but he is so very much of that time...

-- Gerry

Re: 8, 9

Kafu is one of my favorite Japanese writers. After reading "Strange Tale from East of the River" and Rivalry and a few other things I've been on a quest to find everything I could that he wrote. He is certainly of an other time, but he is so very much of that time...

-- Gerry

Well, I didn't have any Japanese authors in my TBR stacks, so I found these at the library today: Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids, Sailor Who Feel From Grace With the Sea, and After the Quake. School has started and I don't really have time for this read, but I'd like to read them all.

Well, I'm rolling on this theme read. I selected The Master of Go by Yasunari Kawabata. I'd read another book, Snow Country, by this author a few years ago and found his writing very soothing. The Master of Go was given to me by a Bookcrosser a few years ago after I read another book called The Girl Who Played Go. By now, I've already forgotten how Go is played! My son has the game, but it was also that long ago when he explained to me how it is played.

I haven't read much of this thread nor the discussion thread. I hope to go back and read both carefully after I've completed reading my chosen book.

--> 62

I've read Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids. It's a very dark novel, but I really enjoyed reading it. The writing was so good that I went out to get more books by Kenzaburo Oe (none of which I've read yet, though).

I'd also like to read The Sailer Who Fell from Grace. Wasn't that once made into a movie? *Pauses to look it up* Yes, it was. I had remembered that Kris Kristofferson was in it! I also remember not liking that movie, but I can't tell you a thing about it. :)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075161/

Lastly, anything by Haruki Murakami is tops in my book. I also have After the Quake (bought it new at full price, too!), but haven't read it yet.

Another Japanese novelist no one here mentioned is Taichi Yamada. I especially liked his book Strangers.

#64

I really enjoyed Strangers as well.

Having just moved house and being very short of money I looked what was available on Read it Swop it and got hold of One Man's Justice by Akira Yoshimura. Looks an excellent introduction to Japanese modern novels from the blurb on the back, so fingers crossed once again this group will take me into previously unexplored areas of the literary world, thank you.

just got my copy of Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe for this month's theme. it looks gorgeous having those fine line drawings along the text, apparently done by his artist wife. can't wait to start it.

Oh, deebee1...Woman in the Dunes is my favorite book of all Japanese fiction. A BookCrosser who knows my reading taste pretty well thought I might like it and added me to his bookray. I *loved* that book. It's so bizarre, but interesting. Enjoy it! Then read The Box Man, also by Kobo Abe - but only if you really want to read an even *more* puzzling book. Ha!

Some of my books arrived today As I Crossed A Bridge Of Dreams, The Tale of the Heike, and The Pillow Book. I think I will start the Bridge of Dreams tonight. I am still waiting for I Am Cat to arrive.

> 68, thanks for the recommendation, SqueakyChu, u can be sure i will look that one up!

Re: 69

My, but that's an ambitious agenda! Which edition/translation of Heike and Pillow Book did you get?

-- Gerry

I am acutally reading Kenzaburo Oe's Rouse Up O Young Men of the New Age! The title is a reference to William Blake. Chapter One is entitled Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience.

I am also looking at a book of stories by Haruki Murakami, Blind Woman, Sleeping Woman. I read two of the shortst stories to see what they are like, but they weren't long enough for me to really get into ("The Mirror" and "Dabchick")

#67: deebee, I loved The Woman in the Dunes!

I started Mishima's Sword last week, but haven't read anything for almost a week. I'll start Spring Snow today or tomorrow.

Re: 71

The Pillow Book is the Meredith McKinney version and The Tale of the Heike is the Helen McCullough edition. Ivan Morris did As I Crossed the Bridge of Dreams. I am half-way through Dreams and just started Pillow. So far, Dreams is really light reading, not much character depth... seems to be an "I" book of sorts. Only into the first 10 pages of Pillow and it seems to have a bit more substance to it. Haven't started Heike yet.

74 -
How does the translation seem on the Dreams book? Ivan Morris translated my pick Fires on the Plain as well and he did quite an excellent job.

Re: 71, Coleai:

I hope the McCullough translation of Heike works good for you. I'm snake-bit on Heike. I got an authoritative and highly-footnoted edition recommended by Thomas Rimer in "A Reader's Guide to Japanese Literature", around '92 and lord it was a tough slog! I bailed early and waited until perhaps back surgery or something worthy of the task. In Rimer's most recent edition ('99) he notes that the McCullough version was was soon to be published.

A few years later I got the version "retold" by Eiji Yoshiwaka, he of Musashi and Taiko fame. That guy can write a page turner, as I flew through both of these hefty tomes. But as translated by Fuki Wooyenaka Uramatsu I realized that it's all in the transation. His translation of the retelling of Heike is just dead weight. A ball and chain. So I bailed on that one too and the both of them glower at me there on the shelf cheek-by-jowel with the "authoritative" 1170-page version of Tale of Genji translated Royall Tyler. The shelf groans.

-- Gerry

For those attacking The Tale of Genji for the theme read, you should note that this year is the 1000th anniversary of Japan's first novel.

Listen as a Murasaki Shikibu robot narrates a passage from the novel.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2009/jan/14/tale-of-genji-robotic

> 3 There are books by non-Japanese people about Japan or Japan-related but I must admit I have not read much. One book that was interesting though was The Roads to Sata by Alan Booth which is a travel book where Alan Booth documents his 2000 mile walk along the north of Japan and his experiences being a foreigner in Japan but who speaks fluent Japanese. A truly comical book that really delves into the Japanese mindset.

Thanks for Roads to Sata tip. Years ago I enjoyed Learning to Bow by Bruce Feiler, a fun read about the author's experiences teaching English in a Japanese school.

I've decided to join this group and read A Pale View of Hills by Ishiguro, based on the great review of it posted by hemlokgang over on the other thread.

So thanks hemlokgang, even though you've just caused me to spend MORE money on books, and join yet ANOTHER LT group!

jbeast- you too? hemlokgang got me over to this group too, which led me to buy Kafka on the Shore despite my decision not to buy any more books for awhile! But I am really enjoying the book and this group so what can I say?

too funny, I guess I make it three referrals in a row via hemlokgang :)

I'm humbled by the reading recommendations here, and the knowledge. I'm excited to begin with Feb's Africa theme. (Till then, maybe I'll read Jamie Ford's Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, about the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII.)

--> 81

about the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII

Another great novel to read about that topic is When The Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka. It follows one Japanese-American family through this time of separation and hardship.

Although of Japanese heritage, this author is American. Her book is an Orange prize winner.

>SqueakyChu, thanks for the recommendation. I've also heard good things about Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas, about an internment camp in Colorado.

But (from the guidelines in the Feb/Africa thread ... I haven't read older threads yet) for the theme read, I'd need to select a novel written by a Japan-born writer AND set in Japan? Or do the guidelines change month to month?

The best theme fit is fiction written by a person born in the country of the theme and whose work is set in that country. Some people choose to deviate from that, but I think that is overall the best starting point from which to choose a theme read.

You certainly may read more than one book. That might be a good point to deviate from the "rules".

Welcome, new Global travellers!

Just reinforcing what Squeak said, we try to read something considered native literature for a specific country and sometimes this is easier than others. We aim to expand our perspectives and broaden our horizons through these theme reads and, if we can, reduce our TBR piles (but that isn't our primary goal).

Thus, I'd encourage readers to try to find some native lit, if at all possible. Certainly, we can bend a little here and there, but if we include too much we run the risk of diluting the discussion. Check out the Japan discussion theme thread to see examples.

#80 PaperbackPirate - glad I'm not the only one. I spend more on books than anything apart from bills, it's like a compulsion, so the last thing I need in my life is LT! And hemlokgang is clearly a bad influence...

How are you enjoying Kafka on the Shore? I read it last year, and thought it was great. Went through quite a Murakami phase and read 7 of them. Really liked them all except Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, though a lot of people like that one best.

I read Kafka on the shore a year ago and really liked it also. Hard Boiled Wonderland and the end of the World was the first novel I read by Haruki Murakami.

86/87
I'm only halfway through Kafka on the Shore, but it's unlike any book I've ever read (in a good way). It's possibly the first book I've read by a Japanese writer so that may explain why. If the ending doesn't disappoint I would definitely like to read more by Murakami.

#87 Did you like Hard Boiled Wonderland? I found it different to his other books, quite a bit more extreme and much more far-fetched. I thought he overdid it.

#88 I think you will continue to like Kafka to the end. Think you would like The Wind Up Bird Chronicles too. And Norwegian Wood, which is really a straightforward love story with Murakami quirks. In fact, read them all!

I liked Hard Boiled Wonderland - I probably read it 15 years ago. I was more into science fiction then, such as Frank Herbert's Dune, which is probably just as far-fetched.