Category Archives: culture

Book Announcement: Three-Dimensional Reading: Stories of Time and Space in Japanese Modernist Fiction, 1911-1932

Posted on October 20, 2013 by LM

Via University of Hawai’i Press. Three-Dimensional Reading: Stories of Time and Space in Japanese Modernist Fiction, 1911-1932 Editor: Yiu, Angela; 280pp. July 2013 Paper – Price: $25.00 ISBN: 978-0-8248-3801-0 Cloth – Price: $55.00 ISBN: 978-0-8248-3662-7 A 29th-century dystopian society seen … Continue reading →

Posted in announcements, culture | Tagged Angela Yiu, anthology, book announcement, books, fantasy, fiction, Japanese literature, meiji, scifi, short stories, Showa, translation | Leave a comment

Fun Link Friday: Shoraida – The Rice Paddy Ghosts

Posted on October 18, 2013 by LM

We’ve featured Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai on Shinpai Deshou before, but in the spirit of Halloween, I’d like to highlight a story from the region where Hokuriku meets Chubu: The great Hida mountain range of stretches between Gifu and Nagano prefectures. In … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, fun links | Tagged fun link, fun link friday, ghost, halloween, Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, scary story, shoraida, translation | Leave a comment

Book Announcement: ‘Brewed in Japan: The Evolution of the Japanese Beer Industry

Posted on October 13, 2013 by Paula

Brewed in Japan: The Evolution of the Japanese Beer Industry Jeffrey W. Alexander www.brewedinjapan.com. Summary: Spanning the earliest attempts to brew beer in Japan to the recent popularity of local craft brews, ‘Brewed in Japan’ charts beer’s steady rise to become … Continue reading →

Posted in announcements, culture, Uncategorized | Tagged beer, book announcement, books, culture, industry, Japan, Japanese beer, modern history | 4 Comments

Book Announcement: Shinto Studies in Prewar Japan and the West

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Paula

Bernhard Scheid, ed., with Kate Wildman Nakai Kami Ways in Nationalist Territory: Shinto Studies in Prewar Japan and the West. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2013. Publisher’s blurb: Shinto, literally the way of the kami (gods), is often regarded as Japan’s indigenous religion … Continue reading →

Posted in announcements, culture, Uncategorized | Tagged book announcement, books, essays, Japan, nationalism, nativism, prewar, religion, Shinto, state | Leave a comment

Book Announcement: Negotiating Censorship in Modern Japan

Posted on September 29, 2013 by Paula

http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415520782/ ed. Rachael Hutchinson, Routledge Contemporary Japan Series no. 45 Censorship in Japan has seen many changes over the last 150 years, with each successive system of rule possessing its own censorship laws, regulations, and methods of enforcement. Yet what … Continue reading →

Posted in announcements, culture | Tagged art, book announcement, books, censorship, Japan, Japanese culture, Japanese law, law, modern Japan | 1 Comment

Fun Link Friday: Banana Peel Tattoos

Posted on September 27, 2013 by Paula

It seems like every time I flip through my articles of the day I find something neat semi-related to a previous Fun Link Friday we’ve done. Much like the banana art that was all about carving out the insides of … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, fun links | Tagged art, banana, banana art, culture, fun link friday, Japan | Leave a comment

Book Announcement: Technology, Ideology, and Empire in Japan’s Wartime Era, 1931-1945

Posted on September 22, 2013 by Paula

Technology, Ideology, and Empire in Japan’s Wartime Era, 1931-1945 (Stanford University Press, 2013) For more information: http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=22812 Table of contents: http://www.sup.org/pages.cgi?isbn=0804785392&item=Contents_pages&page=1 The conventional understanding of Japanese wartime ideology has for years been summed up by just a few words: anti-modern, … Continue reading →

Posted in announcements, culture | Tagged book announcement, books, empire, history, ideology, Japan, Japanese history, technology, war, World War II | Leave a comment

Book Announcement: Mabiki: Infanticide and Population Growth in Eastern Japan, 1660-1950

Posted on September 15, 2013 by Paula

Title: Mabiki: Infanticide and Population Growth in Eastern Japan, 1660-1950 (UC Press, May 2013) Author: Fabian Drixler Summary: This book tells the story of a society reversing deeply held worldviews and revolutionizing its demography. In parts of eighteenth-century Japan, couples … Continue reading →

Posted in announcements, culture | Tagged book announcement, books, children, culture, early modern Japan, fertility, infanticide, Japan, Japanese culture | 1 Comment

Fun Link Friday: Inakadate Rice Field Art

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Paula

Have you guys seen the latest rice field art this year? It looks spectacular! It takes about 1,200 people from the community to bring projects like this together every year, but man, what a fantastic payoff! I love seeing the … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, fun links | Tagged art, community, environmental art, fun link friday, Inakadate, Japan, Japanese art, rice, rice field, rice field art, rural community | Leave a comment

Book Announcement: Japan Since 1945 From Postwar to Post-Bubble

Posted on September 8, 2013 by Paula

Does Japan really matter anymore? The challenges of recent Japanese history have led some pundits and scholars to publicly wonder whether Japan’s significance is starting to wane. The multidisciplinary essays that comprise Japan Since 1945 demonstrate its ongoing importance and relevance. Examining … Continue reading →

Posted in announcements, culture | Tagged book announcement, books, bubble economy, history, Japan, modern Japan, postwar, postwar Japan | Leave a comment