Tag Archives: Japan
* Seppuku by Andrew Rankin
Rivers of blood flow from the first page of this slim volume, most appropriate matching its title of Seppuku: A History of Samurai Suicide, but it’s not the gore that left me unsatisfied with the reading. Indeed, while I naively … Continue reading
Filed under Non fiction
**** 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Just a couple of months ago, I announced a new rating system for the blog that ranges from no stars to three — but today I’m using four because 1Q84 is not just the best book of the year for … Continue reading
Filed under New fiction
Hotel Iris by Yoko Ogawa
Having loved The Housekeeper and the Professor for its delicate touch on an unlikely friendship I was ready to savor Hotel Iris. Instead, I was horrified. I don’t get horrified easily. But the “friendship” this time is between an aging … Continue reading
Filed under New fiction
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
The Housekeeper and the Professor is a short Japanese novel that describes the unlikely, arms-length friendship between a math professor with Alzheimer’s and his housekeeper and her son. It made me think of The Elegance of the Hedgehog but perhaps … Continue reading
Filed under New fiction
Tokyo Fiancee by Amelie Nothomb
I very much like Amelie Nothomb’s novels, although they get somewhat repetitive (how many “young Belgian woman in Japan” adventures can we take?) but I found this memoir, or pseudo-memoir, of, naturally, a young Belgian woman in Japan, tedious. Tokyo Fiancéeflows nicely … Continue reading
Filed under True story
The Commoner by John Schwartz
The Commoner tells the story of Empress Michiko of Japan, a commoner (actually called Haruko) who married into the imperial family after WWII agaisnt the advice of her parents, and had to endure a most rigid life and a hateful … Continue reading
Filed under New fiction
When you are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
Do you like David Sedaris? Then you will enjoy When you are Engulfed in Flames, his latest collection of essays that, as usual, mixes old and new, hilarious and embarrassing, and many countries including France (again) and Japan (new and … Continue reading
Filed under True story
My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki
My Year of Meats has a unique, loopy premise: the Japanese Beef Board, in an attempt to increase meat consumption, sponsors a series of TV documentaries on “average” US housewives who, in the course of a thirty-minute episode, will cook … Continue reading
Filed under New fiction
