Read Japanese Literature

@readjapaneseliterature.com

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a podcast about Japanese fiction + some of its best works | posting updates on new Japanese fiction | apologies for the typos | blocking new follows that look like bots | DON’T buy or read AI translations | all stories are political

A black-and-white photo of Yuriko Miyamoto. Miyamoto is a serious-looking, heavy, middle-aged woman in a dark, patterned kimono with a light, floral patterned obituary. She's looking into the distance behind the camera, holding a pen or calligraphy brush, and sitting in front of a bookshelf.

A low-resolution, black-and-white photograph of Chiyo Uno sitting on a tatami mat in front of a dark wall and a spiky house plant. Her long hair is parted in the middle and pulled back. She's wearing a light-colored top with ruffled sleeves, as well as a necklace of large, light-colored beads and a bracelet of dark-colored beads. She's staring into the camera with a neutral, unsmiling face.

A cover image for RJL Episode 16—Writing about Japan's "Have-Nots". It comes from the cover Lauren Peters-Collaer designed for the English-language translation of Tokyo Ueno Station. The clipped portion shows simplified, abstract elements evoking Tokyo's Ueno Park on a purple background—a blue brick wall, two layers high; a red bench; and a yellow, Japanese-stylized chrysanthemum. The words "Ueno Station" from the title appear along the right side.

A black-and-white photograph of Nobuko Yoshiya. She's a youthful woman wearing a jaunty hat with a dark ribbon and a collared, patterned top. She's also smiling showing her teeth.

The cover image for RJL Episode 15—Translating Japanese Women. The image comes from the Japanese cover of Konbini Ningen (Convenience Store Woman). It depicts a large structure, possibly made of gray stone, with items sticking out. Items include a dripping drainpipe, a cloud of smoke, a doorknob, and a lightbulb.

An overexposed, black-and-white photograph of Kanoko Okamoto. She has very dark, bobbed hair, dark eyebrows, outlined eyes, and dark lipstick.

A cover for the RJL Episode 14— Banana and the Bubble. It's adapted from Shuzo Ikeda's (1922-2004) print Girl and Grasshopper. The visible portion of the print shows a stylized girl with long brown and yellow hair pulled back with a yellow headband. Her eyes are closed and she's wearing a dreamy expression, her face resting on her right hand. She's wearing a pink shirt, outlined in white, that contrasts with the purple background. The choice of the print is supposed to evoke Banana Yoshimoto's use of girls' culture (shojo) in her writing.

A black-and-white photograph of Toshiko Tamura, a woman in a smart, collared fur coat and a jaunty hat. She's wearing glasses and a titled smile.

A list title card for "Japanese Feminist Writers". Photos are in columns. Right top to left bottom: Yumiko Kurahashi, Saou Ichikawa, Kaho Nakayama, Taeko Kono, Takako Takahashi, Harumi Setouchi, Nobuko Yoshiya, and Mieko Kawakami.

The header from Read Japanese Literature's Bookshop.org page for Japanese Literature by LGBTQ+ Authors.

Covers on display include Our Colors by Gengoroh Tagame, Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima, This Monk Wears Heels by Kodo Nishimura, My Brother's Husband by Gengoroh Tagame, By Your Side by Erica Friedman, Twelve Views from a Distance by Mutsuo Takahashi, Our Dining Table by Mita Ari, and Solo Dance by Li Kotomi.

Aum Anxiety in Japanese Literature
RJL Episode 50

This episode's artwork comes from the cover of the 2001 Vintage International printing of Underground. I haven't been able to identify a cover artist. It shows a map of the Tokyo subway superimposed on the musculature of a human torso.

A 2009 color photograph of Mutsuo Takahashi taken by translator Jeffrey Angles in Ashiya, Japan (via Wikimedia Commons). Takahashi is an attractive-looking Japanese man in his early seventies with gray hair and a thin, closely-shaved gray goatee. He's wearing a green, collared sweater under a heavy blue winter coat. He is looking into the camera.

An episode card for RJL Episode 50: Aum Anxiety in Japanese Fiction. The artwork comes from a cover of Haruki Murakami's Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche. (I could not identify the cover artist.)

A black-and-white photograph of Nobuko Yoshiya’s face and shoulders. She’s staring into the camera with an uncomfortable smile. She has short, bobbed hair, shaped eyebrows, and slightly crooked teeth. She’s wearing a rounded straw hat with a broad ribbon above the brim in a 1920s style.

A 1964 black-and-white photograph of Masako Togawa. She's wearing a sharp-looking, short-sleeved women's button down with pockets over both breasts and smiling into the camera. She has full, styled eyebrows and magnificent hair in a short style framing her face. She's standing in front of a column and a tree.

A sepia-toned, 1940 photograph of Shinobu Orikuchi in a traditional Japanese room. He is wearing kimono and hakama, as well as a pair of thick, round framed glasses. His attention is focused on items on a kotatsu heated table in front of him.

A black-and-white photo of Yukio Mishima. He is wearing a tightly-patterned checked jacket with his hands shoved in his pockets, a white collared shirt, and a dark tie with lighter stripes. He is looking a the camera with an enigmatic expression on his face.

A confident-looking Taiwanese woman stares straight into the camera with a small smile on the steps of the New York Public Library. Her long, dark hair is cut across her brow line, and falls at her bust, where the sun gives it red-blond highlights. She's wearing a black top with pearl buttons. A light-pink handbag is slung over her left shoulder.

A Japanese man in kimono and hakama sits and smokes a cigarette while staring into the distance. He’s sporting round, wire-rimmed glasses frames and a mustache.

A black-and-white photograph of Inagaki taken in his late 40s. He's wearing a baggy jacket, partially buttoned, a pair of baggy trousers, and sandals. He's also wearing a cap, jauntily askew, and dark, round glasses. In the background, you can see a quiet, Japanese city street with both Japanese- and "Western"-style buildings and a contemporary car.

Celebrate Indie Bookstore Day with Free Shopping on Bookshop.org

A clip from the cover of a Japanese edition of How Do You Live? featuring a young man in glasses and a casual kimono looking determinedly above the horizon. The clip includes the text "Japanese Writers Standing Up to the State" and "RJL Episode 43".

The North American cover of Strange Pictures is solid, lime green page with clips of the titular art work.

The cover of Yasuhiko Nishizawa’s The Man Who Died Seven Times shows a sort of M C Escher universe of crime scenes in bold, primary colors.

The UK cover of Natsuo Kirino’s Swalows (my fave of these three), shows an egg cracked open with the title and author name inside. I like the colors and the scalloped border. Hooray for naming the translator on the cover.

The RJL episode cover art for episode 47, The Japanese Cell Phone Novel. It shows a piece of Shift_JIS art of a man flailing toward a Tokyo subway train. (TLDR—Shift_JIS art is like ASCII art, but includes characters used in Japanese writing like hiragana, katakana, and kanji.)

The Japanese cover of Napoleon Dynamite, showing the dorky hero wearing an outdated suit and standing in front of a yellow American school bus covered in his bad doodles. The translated title reads "Bus Man". His name appears in his own sloppy (English-language) cursive on a clipping from a piece of lined paper taped over his leg.

A photograph of goods at Kanya Brush in Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan. Brooms of various sizes hang from wire racks on the wall. Scrub brushes fill baskets along a low shelf.

A photograph of a stack of Japanese-language, cat-related magazines at a cafe near Gotokuji Temple. The titles are written in the Roman alphabet (romaji) and include Nyaera and Brutus. All the covers show close-up photographs of house cats.

A photograph of maneki neko ("welcome cats" or "lucky cats") of different sizes from Gotoku-ji Temple near Tokyo, Japan. These traditional maneki neko are white cats with red collars and bells. The "whites" of their eyes are yellow and the insides of their ears are red. They have slightly-raised eyebrows, whiskers, and almost-neutral smiles. These particularly maneki neko range in size from the length of an adult's forearm to so small they can nestle between the ears of the largest cats. Some are new and clean; others show spots of mildew and/or chipped paint from exposure to the elements.

A cover of a hardcover book:

Nobuo Suzuki
Forward by Héctor Garcia

Maneki Neko
The Japanese Secret to Good Luck and Happiness

Tuttle

The cover also features a fairly abstract drawing of what English-speakers often call a “lucky cat” but what more literally translates as a “welcome cat”—a cat waving at the onlooker. It’s surrounded by other Japan-associated imagery, four drawn koi and a number of drawn pink sakura (cherry) blossoms.

A photograph of a public service announcement poster from the Tokyo subway based on the Chinese classic, Journey to the West.

It’s illustrated in light-hearted, comic style with soft tones highlighting important details.

Several figures appear
On the inside of a subway train.

The Monkey King offers his seat to an elderly lady.

She say, “Thanks!”

Monkey’s ill-mannered companion Pigsy, an anthropomorphic pig, sits by and doesn’t help.

A fourth figure stands benevolently at the left, holding up
His hand in blessing. I *believe* he is dressed like a Buddhist monk. He is wearing a white robe, covered in a gold outer layer, as well as leggings and sandals. He carries a staff with three rings affixed. Perhaps it’s the monk Tang Sanzang from Journey to the West?

A kappa, hangs out in the lower right, otherwise unrelated to the scene. He is green and almost duck-like, with an indentation on the top of his head, surrounded by a rim of straight black hair. He is also wearing a necklace of what appear to be human skulls. He holds up his hand like he’s offering a pointer. He says, “Let’s help each other.”

(Happy to receive corrections.)

A badly-taken photo of an ad from the Tokyo subway that highlights the anthropomorphic train Gordon from the British TV show Thomas and Friends—“Gordon: The Big Express Engine”.

A collage of six images in the shape of a flower. In the center, “LGBTQ+ Stories from Japan.”
Across the bottom, “RJL Episodes 39-40.”

This episode’s artwork comes from multiple sources. Clockwise from “1:00”:

A tryst between a samurai and his wakashu in a painting on silk by Issho Miyagawa, cs. 1750. (via Wikimedia Commons)

The cover of Hana Monogatari, an edition of Nobuko Yoshiya’s early stories. (via HistoryIsGayPodcast.com)

A photograph self-portrait of Yukio Mishima posing as Saint Sebastian. (widely available online)

A print illustration from Nanshoku Yamaji no Tsuyu of a man kissing his young, male lover—presumably a kabuki actor—by Sukenobu Nishikawa from 1715. (via Timelessmoon)

“Butterfly Hunting”, an illustration by Shigeru Shudo of a Class S story from 1926. (via Wikimedia Commons)

An unattributed January 1928 issue of the Japanese journal Hentai Shiryo (via Wikimedia Commons). (The same illustration appears on the cover of Mark McLelland’s Queer Japan from the Pacific War to the Internet Age.)

A brown tabby cat with green looks up from the bottom of a collapsible white and black striped Ikea laundry hamper. She doesn’t seem bothered by the fact she doesn’t know how to remove herself from the laundry hamper.

RJL's 2024 podcast stats:

26k downloads in 125 countries. 11 episodes. 559 minutes of content. Top 25% of podcasts.

(Buzzsprout only notes 'top 50%', 'top 25%', 'top 10%', 'top 5%', and 'top 1%'.

A graphic for "RJL's Holiday Gift Guide from Read Japanese Literature, www.readjapaneseliterature.com". The graphic is a 5x3 collage of book covers from titles included on the list, topped with a bow.

Li Kotomi takes a selfie in front of the New York (City) Public Library. She’s wearing a blousy, v-neck button down. Her dark brown hair falls well below her shoulders and her bangs/fringe almost covers her eyebrows. She’s smiling tightly, not showing her teeth.

Hiroko Oyamada in a candid shot at a speaking engagement. Her black hair is up in a bun. She's wearing black, thick-framed glasses and an over-the-ear microphone as well as a button-down, collared dress with splashes of pastel color. She's also holding a book.

Sayaka Murata in a color photograph from a public talk. She's wearing a blousy, forest green top with a tie across her breastbone as well as a skin-colored microphone headset. She's looking away from the camera to her right.

A extremely well-dressed Mieko Kawakami participates in a public talk.

Yu Miri in what looks like a picture taken from a Zoom call. Yu is centered in the frame, looking directly into the camera, seeming very focused. She sits in front of uncluttered shelves of Japanese books. She's wearing a checkered sweater and purple, oval-shaped glasses. Her dark, wavy hair falls well past her shoulders, and her bangs/fringe are combed over only the left side of her face.

Kaori Ekuni poses for a photograph and stares straight into the camera, a smile playing on her lips. She sits leaning forward, holding her face in her right hand. Her wavy, dark brown hair falls well below her shoulders. She's wearing a plain, heathered gray sweater and a swede bracelet looped around her right wrist. She's sitting on a patterned chair.

An early-career color photograph of young Banana Yoshimoto. She's facing away from the camera, but looking into the lens straight on with a wry expression. Her thick, black hair is bobbed close to her ears. She's wearing a gray-green lace-up dress or top over a black shirt and a ribbon choker with a large, translucent pendant. She's casually slinging a bag over her left shoulder using her left arm. Her thick, round, clear plastic glasses complete the look. The overall effect is of a woman with style and sass.

Yoko Ogawa stares straight into the camera in what looks like a screenshot from a video call. She sits in front of shelves crammed with books. She's wearing a black blazer with a ruffled top underneath. Her thick, dark hair is bobbed and falls slightly below her shoulders.

A candid black-and-white photo of Chiya Fujino. She's wearing a lighter-colored cardigan over a black, v-neck top. She looks off camera to the left, gesturing with her right hand and clearly concentrating on what she's saying. Her dark hair, partially pulled back and with bangs/fringe, falls past her shoulders. She also wears a short, beaded necklace.

A candid shot of Yoko Tawada looking to the right, off camera. She's wearing a pair of headphones. Tawada's salt-and-pepper hair waves loosely past her shoulders. She's wearing a button up, blue floral top. She's smiling with her teeth and looks highly engaged.

A candid shot of Miyuki Miyabe. Miyabe's redish-brown hair is cut in a playful, short bob, side-parted, that frames her face. She wears a pair of rimless glasses. Her gaze is directed to the left of the camera, and she appears to be about to speak. She wears a dark, patterned top over a black turtle neck, as well as two necklaces, earrings, and a watch.

Reiko Matsuura sits in the center of the frame against an off-white background. She wears a women's blazer that *almost* matches the background, buttoned all the way up, with 3/4-length sleeves. Underneath, she wears a purple top. Matsuura's hair is dark brown, parted to the side, and cut to shoulder length. Her gaze is directed away from the camera. A teacup sits on the table in front of her.

Hiromi Kawakami in a candid shot from a live talk. She looks off camera to the left and seems to be deeply engaged in the conversation. She has thick, black hair, barely streaked with gray, is but in a long, shoulder-length bob. Her skin has a sprinkling of freckles and deep laugh lines. She wears thick-framed, oval glasses. She also wears a lilac sweater vest over a white, long-sleeved button down shirt. She's also wearing a multicolored scared wrapped and tied tightly around her neck.

A casual photo of Hiromi Ito. She's looking out of the grams to her left, standing in front of a background of trees—maybe even Japanese maples. Her eyes are mostly closed, and she's smiling with her teeth. She's dressed in layers: a blue and black plaid shawl or over a black sweater or blazer over a black top with a shiny circular pattern.

Izumi Suzuki looks supremely unimpressed in this high school yearbook photo. She's facing the camera head on, wearing a school uniform complete with blazer, collared shirt, and tie, as well as some kind of lapel pin. Her slick, black hair is cut at chin length and parted to the side. The photo is much tamer than most of Suzuki, which come from her work as a model for avantgarde photographer Nobuyoshi Araki. (In those photos, she's usually nude.)

A black-and-white portrait of Yuko Tsushima. She's looking to her right and away from the camera. Tsushima has close-cropped hair, including bangs curled over her forehead. She's smiling and showing her teeth.

Kiyoko Murata sits in front of Akagi Cafe. She is angled away from the camera but facing toward it. Her curly, dark brown hair is bobbed. She is wearing a gray herring bone coat over a grey, high-necked sweater.