Japan Earthquake Charity Literature Part 2

Since posting on this charity project two more short stories and an essay have been added to the Waseda Bungaku webpage. Nakamura Fuminori, whose Kenzaburo Oe Prize winning novel The Thief is due out in March from Soho Press, has the essay and observational piece 'When the Earthquake Hit', translated by Michael Staley, in which he recounts the day of the earthquake. From Jungo Aoki, who has been described as the Japanese Thomas Pynchon, comes the short story, Special Edition - Sack-toting Turtle Spotted in West Ikebukuro, translated by Ian McDonald, and Yoshikawa Yasuhisa's penetrative short story, Snow Dusk, Death Dusk, is translated by Lucy North.

Please remember to donate something via the Japanese Red Cross or through your country's Red Cross Society.

March Was Made of Yarn - Edited by David Karashima and Elmer Luke is published by Vintage in the USA in March, and also in the UK by Harvill Secker.

Japan Earthquake Charity Literature at Waseda Bungaku Department

Japan Earthquake Charity Literature Project

As it approaches being nearly a year since the events of the March Tsunami last year it's still difficult to comprehend and take in the scale of the disaster. Waseda Bungaku Department have organised the Japan Eartquake Literature Project and compiled a collection of stories by contemporary Japanese writers giving voice to their reactions and reflections, offered free to download in English translation as PDF's, but please remember to make a donation!. The stories will be published in book format edited by David Karashima and Elmer Luke in the U.S and in the U.K. under the title of, March Was Made of Yarn: Reflections on the Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Meltdown of 2011, some of the stories featured are avilable to read through the Department's web page, please read through the introduction by Makoto Ichikawa, (director of Waseda Bugaku), to these stories and author profiles and make a donation to the Japan Red Cross or alternatively through your own country's Red Cross Society, and please remember to purchase a copy of the book when it is published.




The stories featured -




Ride on Time by Abe Kazushige, translated by Michael Emmerich


Poola's Return by  Hideo Furukawa, translated by Satoshi Katagiri


March Yarn by Mieko Kawakami, translated by Michael Emmerich


Almost Everything in the World by Shin Fukunaga, translated by Michael Emmerich


Silverpoint by EnJoe Toh, translated by Jocelyne Allen


Planting by Aoko Matsuda translated by Angus Turvill


The Day the World Ends, We...2011 by Akio Nakamori translated by David Boyd


Signals by Mayuko Makita translated by Allison Markin Powell


Japan Earthquake Charity Literature Project


Japanese Red Cross Society


Many thanks to the editor of Waseda Bungaku for allowing me to post a link to these stories and their webpage.