books for the reading diary - 2020

A list in progress of books I'm looking forward to -


January

The Chronicles of Lord Asunaro - Hanawa Kanji trans. Meredith McKinney Red Circle

February

Where the Wild Ladies Are - Matsuda Aoko trans. Polly Barton - Tilted Axis Press
The Inugami Curse - Yokomiso Seishi  trans? Pushkin Press
The Man Without Talent - Tsuge Yoshiharu trans. Ryan Holmberg NYRC (amazon)

The Aosawa Murders - Riku Onda trans. Alison Watts - Bitter Lemon Press

March

The Swamp - Tsuge Yoshiharu trans. Ryan Holmberg - Drawn and Quarterly 

April 

The Running Boy and Other Stories - Megumu Sagisawa trans. Tyran Grillo - Cornell University Press

May

Breasts and Eggs - Kawakami Mieko trans. Sam Bett David Boyd - Picador

A Man - Hirano Keiichiro trans. Eli K.P William - Amazon Crossing

June

Echo on the Bay - Masatsugu Ono trans. Angus Turvill - Two Lines Press

August

Sachiko - Endo Shusaku trans. Van C. Gessel Columbia University Press
People From My Neighbourhood - Kawakami Hiromi trans ? Granta (Amazon)

Reconciliation - Shiga Naoya trans. Ted Goosen - Canongate

October

Earthlings - Murata Sayaka trans. Ginny Tapley Takemori -  Granta

November 

There's No Such Thing As An Easy Job - Kikuko Tsumura trans. Polly Barton - Bloomsbury 

Prefecture D: Four Novellas - Hideo Yokoyama trans. Jonathan Lloyd Davies 

books for the reading diary - 2019

a brief glance at some titles bookmarked for 2019, more forthcoming -



January -

Murder in the Crooked House - Soji Shimada trans. Louise Heal Kawai - Pushkin Press
The Beauty of Everyday Things - Soetsu Yanagi trans. Michael Brase - Penguin Books
The Little House - Kyoko Nakajima, trans - Ginny Tapley Takemori - Darf Publishers
Sacred Cesium Ground and Isa's Deluge - Kimura Yusuke trans. Doug Slaymaker - CUP

March -

Prefecture D - Hideo Yokoyama trans. Jonathan Lloyd Davies - Quercus

April -

Star - Yukio Mishima trans. Sam Bett - Penguin Classics
The Forest of Steel and Wool - Natsu Miyashita - trans. Philip Gabriel - Doubleday
The Frolic of the Beasts - Yukio Mishima - trans. Andrew Clare - Penguin Classics

May -

Fukushima Fiction: The Literary Landscape of Japan's Triple Disaster Rachel DiNitto HUP

June -

The Ten Loves of Nishino - Hiromi Kawakami trans. Alison Markin Powell - Europa Editions
Somehow, Crystal - Tanaka Yasuo trans.Christopher Smith  - Kurodahan Press

July -

Inhabitation - Teru Miyamoto trans. Roger K. Thomas - Counterpoint Press
Japanese Ghost Stories - Lafcadio Hearn - Penguin Classics

August -

The Memory Police - Yoko Ogawa Harvill/Secker
Life For Sale - Yukio Mishima trans Stephen Dodd - Penguin Classics

September -

The Miracles of the Namiya General Store - Keigo Higashino - Yen Press
Automatic Eve - Rokuro Inui trans. Matt Treyvaud - Haikasoru
Gold Mask - Edogawa Rampo trans. William Varteresian - Kurodahan Press

October -

The Factory - Hiroko Oyamada trans. David Boyd - New Directions
The Sheltering Rain - trans. Jim Hubbert - Kurodahan Press
Beneath the Sleepless Tossing of the Planets - Makoto Ooka trans. Janine Bachman Kurodahan Press

November -

Parade - Hiromi Kawakami - trans. Allison Markin Powell - Soft Skull Press
Travels With a Writing Brush - edited/trans. Meredith McKinney - Penguin Classics
The Refugee's Daughter - Ichikawa Takuji trans. Emily Balistrieri - Red Circle

December -

The Honjin Murders - Yokomizo Seishi tr. Louise Heal Kawai - Pushkin Press

Territory of Light - Red Lights

Red Lights is November's chapter of Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima, translated by Geraldine Harcourt and is published in April by Penguin Classics. Much like the previous chapters Red Lights feels a very self contained narrative, each of the chapters have the feeling of being a short story within themselves, although there remains small pointers to the larger story unfolding, that of the narrator in the process of separating from and divorcing her husband. Red Lights sees the appearance of another new character, Sugiyama, who for a time was privately tutored by her husband, Fujino, Sugiyama is one amongst a select few who the narrator had given a change of address card to, the relationship on the whole feels platonically innocent although they fall asleep listening to each other's heartbeats, Sugiyama also displays having a rapport with the narrator's daughter.

A repeating aspect arising in Red Lights is of the narrator's struggle balancing work/childcare and home life, often finding herself either late for work or taking her daughter to daycare, her daughter becomes to be a topic of concern when the carers thwart an attempt by her to severe a younger attendee's ear off with a pair of scissors, has her daughter's behaviour disintegrated since their separation? is it a symptom of it?, the narrator wonders. Similar also to previous chapters there is an element of dreamscapes featuring in the narrative, Red Lights opens with another, of the narrator finding herself in search of a missing person, and of being in a vehicle, the details remain vague, it's clarity out of reach, feeling both provocative and premonitory.

Throughout the chapters there has sometimes appeared small connections that exist between them, characters appearing briefly and the reader's never too certain which of these might turn out to be a permanent fixture and what the outcome of their influence might be, Kawachi from the previous chapter appears again toward the end of Red Lights, the narrator sees him with his child and wife which causes an episode of self scrutiny in her.

What is an interesting riddle to most of these chapters is their titles, with Red Lights the reader is tempted to think that the reveal or point of explanation was going to come at the beginning amidst the dreamscape, Red Lights feels like it might emerge there, although Tsushima leaves it to the final page to unlock the mystery of it's title again in a moving poetical, perhaps metaphorically way when enroute to work the narrator's train experiences hitting a female suicide and there is the stain of red berries fallen from a tree, which again is a moving allegory. The narrator becomes embroiled contemplating the suicide's motives and feelings, this desire to understand feels similar to that of her desire of searching for the missing person amongst her dream at the opening of the story, in a mirrored culmination, and the reader finishes the story in awe again at Tsushima's prose.
 

Territory of Light at Penguin Classics

      

books for the reading diary - 2018

As we enter the last months of 2017 it's time to look forward to some books due for 2018, obviously big news that a newly translated novel from Mishima will garner a lot of attention, rumours are abound that there maybe another from him appearing later in the year too. Another I'm much looking forward to reading is Go by Kazuki Kaneshiro due in March, a book that was/is massive in Japan. Looking at the list for 2017 it looks like it needs a few updates and no doubt, hopefully as we go on this one too will see more additions.



January

The Bear and the Paving Stone - Toshiyuki Horie trans. Geraint Howells - Pushkin Press
In Black and White : A Novel - Jun'Ichiro Tanizaki - trans. Phyllis I. Lyons - CUP
Heaven's Wind - Edited by Angus Turvill - Japan Society

February

Of Dogs and Walls - Yuko Tsushima - Penguin Books
Three Japanese Short Stories - Uno/Nagai/Akutagawa - Penguin Classics
The Red and White Ghost:Selected Essays and Stories - Kita Morio trans. Masako Inamoto - CEAS
Seventeen - Hideo Yokoyama - trans. Louise Heal Kawai - Quercus

March

The End of the Moment We Had - Toshiki Okada trans. Samuel Malissa - Pushkin Press
The Beast Player - Nahoko Uehashi trans. Cathy Hirano - Pushkin Press
Hideyoshi and Rikyu - Nogami Yaeko - trans. Mariko Nishi LaFleur - UHP
Go - Kazuki Kaneshiro trans. Takami Nieda - Amazon Crossing
Five Faces of Japanese Feminism - Ineko Sata trans. Samuel Perry - Hawaii Uni Press

April

Territory of Light - Yuko Tsushima trans. Geraldine Harcourt - Penguin Classics
Sisyphean - Dempow Torishima trans. Daniel Huddleston - Haikasoru
Lion Cross Point - Masatsugu Ono - trans. Angus Turnvill - catranslation

May

Cult X - Fuminori Nakamura trans. Kalau Almony - Soho Press
One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each - trans. Peter MacMillan - Penguin Classics
Slum Wolf - Tadao Tsuge - trans. Ryan Holmberg - nyrb
Hybrid Child - Mariko Ohara - trans. Jodie Beck - Minnesota University Press

June

The Memory Police - Yoko Ogawa trans? - Harvill Secker
The Thousand Year Beach - Tobi Hirotaka trans. Matt Treyvaud - Haikasoru
The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories - edited/trans. Jay Rubin - Penguin Classics
The Last Children of Tokyo - Yoko Tawada - trans. Margaret Mitsutani - Portobello Books

July

Frolic of the Beasts - Yukio Mishima trans.? - Vintage International
Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata -trans. Ginny Tapley Takemori - Portobello Books
Another Kyoto - Alex Kerr Kathy Arlyn Sokol - Penguin Books

August

Citizens of Tokyo - Oriza Hirata - edited by M. Cody Poulton - Seagull Books

September

Newcomer - Keigo Higashino trans. Alexander O. Smith - Minotaur Books
The Samurai - Shusaku Endo trans. Van C. Gessel - W.W Norton & Co
Killing Commendatore - Haruki Murakami. trans. Philip Gabriel/Ted Goossen - Harvill Secker/Knopf
If Cats Disappeared From the World - Genki Kawamura trans. Eric Selland - Picador

October

The Little House - Kyoko Nakajima - trans. Ginny Tapley Takemori - Darf Publishers
On Haiku - Hiroaki Sato - New Directions Publishing

November

Farewell, My Orange - Iwaki Kei - trans. Meredith McKinney - Europa Editions
Toddler Hunting and Other Stories - Taeko Kono trans. Lucy North - reissue - ndp

Territory of Light - The Sound of a Voice

The Sound of a Voice takes us into August, within a few pages it feels that the narrator is being immersed into potential schemes by her estranged husband, Fujino, into not going through with the separation, through two people, an old female acquaintance, who herself has been through a divorce and also a professor friend both trying to persuade her into not going through with the separation, but to what extent the powers of their persuasion will make maybe seen to develop in the next chapters.

Through the book's chapters so far it's apparent through the prose of the narrator's observations of her state of fragility through this point of dramatic transition in her and her daughter's life, perhaps in this chapter this is felt in the scene of them attending an August festival at their local shrine, presumably for the obon festival, this fragility is felt when they are joined by a friend of her daughter's from the day care centre she attends in playing with fireworks, the observations of her daughter's disappointed reactions as the fireworks fizzle out, and through other scenes throughout the chapters where it's felt that for the narrator life is filled and consumed with the coping of constantly spinning plates, through work and caring for her daughter, and of course the trials of the separation.

Another observation of this chapter is Tsushima's ability of building correlations within her writing, even amongst the brevity of these chapters, in economic prose she bridges deeply emotional and engaging scenes between the reader and the themes her narrators face. Although the over arching theme of the book is light, in The Sound of a Voice it feels briefly that the motif switches to being that of falling, throughout the chapter scenes of falling are perused upon, an uncertain memory from  school days is recounted, the potential of her daughter falling from the apartment window, as the narrator spies her daughter's origami papers that have been dispatched from their window and have landed on their neighbour's roof, to an actual fatal event that occurs to a boy from the daycare centre, these incidents, although separate feel they have an underlying connecting element. In addition, as seen in previous chapters there's the impression that the narrator has a sixth sense in perceiving these episodes which lends the scope of the narrative a broader, perhaps ethereal panorama.

Finishing The Sound of a Voice it feels there's been a slight digress to the ongoing central plot of the separation, but it paints a portrait of the narrator caught again in the ongoing emotional flux of her situation, voices of persuasion and of the narrator's clairvoyant sense of the flow of the undercurrents of surrounding events and the detection of nuances of societal pressures are adding to the atmosphere to the book's progress and the enigma of it's conclusion.


Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima is published in April 2018 by Penguin Classics

   

    
    

Territory of Light - A Dream of Birds

July's chapter of Territory of Light feels shot through with disarming vagueness and the sense that things being unformed hangs over the chapter, what with two dream sequences and a drunken scene it's none too surprising. Entitled A Dream of Birds the chapter opens with the recollections of a dream, where the narrator is being reprimanded for shoddy work in a calligraphy class, in the dream the man appears drunk and overheated, the narrator takes some relief from being able to cool him down with a dampened towel, making sure the dabbing is not too hard, not too soft, there's an erotic undercurrent to this action, which feels in a way out of place. The man represents a composite of numerous male figures that the narrator fails to ascertain any tangible connection with, this figure of the male is enough to hint at forming a multifaceted impression of male identities in general. In as much as the chapter feels slightly directionless this adds to the impression that the narrator is caught in a state of limbo of her life being up in the air and unsettled, again there are references to the social stigma of being a divorcee or that of being on the cusp of becoming one.

Another central scene of the chapter is that after ensuring her daughter is tucked in bed asleep she has to escape the confines of the apartment to find some release, going for a drink, in a nearby bar she half recognises a woman whose paths they have shared, before she knows it too many drinks are consumed and in a state she heads back to the apartment, where she is accosted by her estranged husband Fujino outraged by her behaviour, the scene is explosive and it feels that the ramifications of it may resurface later. Although in this chapter it feels things are up in the air for the narrator, in some of the chapters scenes appear sometimes non sequential within the larger unfolding story being referenced again later, the undercurrent remaining theme of women's suffrage is a unifying one, towards the end of the chapter it's seen skipping across the three generations of the story's protagonists, the narrator, her mother and her daughter, briefly arising, or envisioned through the figure of an old woman.

As were heading towards the halfway mark of the novel, each of the chapters are more or less 10 pages, in this chapter, as in the previous ones, Geraldine Harcourt's translation feels pitch perfect, the nuances and concerns in the narrator's voice are conveyed in lucid prose and the deeper concerns of the novel are held at a comparative distance for contemplative reflection, which will continue on in August's chapter - The Sound of a Voice. Repeated thanks go to Penguin for providing advanced reading chapters of this book which is published in it's entirety in 2018.    

Territory of Light at Penguin Classics

 

Tanizaki in translation

Through recent internet searches it was hard not to stumble upon the news of a number of books relating to Tanizaki Jun'ichiro that are either recently published, re-issued or remain forthcoming. After searching a little more deeply it seems that the number of books number quite a few, so by means of taking stock I thought I'd compile a quick list, back pedalling slightly to begin with -


Red Roofs and Other Stories - trans. Anthony H. Chambers & Paul McCarthy - UMP 
The Maids - trans. Michael P. Cronin - NDP
Devils in Daylight - trans. J. Keith Vincent - NDP
The Gourmet Club - A Sextet - trans. Anthony H. Chambers & Paul McCarthy - UMP
In Praise of Shadows - trans. Gregory Starr - Bento Books
Childhood Years - trans. Paul McCarthy - UMP
A Cat, a Man and Two Women - trans. Paul McCarthy - Daunt Books
Remembering Tanizaki Jun'ichiro and Matsuko - Anthony H. Chambers - UMP
In Black and White - a novel - trans. Phyllis I. Lyons - CUP


Of a few of these hopefully reviews will be forthcoming, although I think that's an impressive list of titles, maybe, hopefully, I've missed more, but for the mean time that'll make for interesting reading.

The Miner - by Natsume Sōseki republished

Recently received an email from Aardvark Bureau/Gallic Books highlighting the great news that they're republishing The Miner by Natusme Soseki, translated by Jay Rubin, this new edition also features a 5000 word introduction by Haruki Murakami entitled A Nonchalant Journey Through Hell, some more details are here, it's great that this novel is being brought back into wider circulation and renewed readership, my post on the older edition of The Miner can be found here, some more information from the publishers -

The Miner

Natsume Sōseki

Translated by Jay Rubin, and with an introduction from Haruki Murakami, this is bound to appeal to fans of Japanese literature.

‘It makes me very happy to know that even now I can read this novel written over a hundred years ago as if it were a contemporary account and be deeply affected by it. It cannot, and should not be overlooked. It is one of my favourites.’ from the introduction by Haruki Murakami

The Miner is the most daringly experimental and least well-known novel of the great Meiji writer Natsume Sōseki. An absurdist tale about the indeterminate nature of human personality, written in 1908, it was in many ways a precursor to the work of Joyce and Beckett.

The narrative unfolds within the mind of an unnamed protagonist-narrator, a young man caught in a love triangle who flees Tokyo, is picked up by a procurer of cheap labour for a copper mine, then travels toward and inside the depths of the mine, in search of oblivion. As he delves, the young man reflects at length on nearly every thought and perception he experiences along the way. His conclusion? That there is no such thing as human character. The result is a novel that is both absurd and comical, and a true modernist classic.

5 Facts About Natsume Sōseki

He features on the Japanese 1000 yen note.

He lived in London from 1901-1903.

He hated almost every minute of his stay.

There is a Sōseki museum opposite one of his homes in Clapham.

The characters Kafka and Oshima discuss The Miner in Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore.

http://aardvarkbureau.com/

books for the reading diary - 2015

A quick list of some books in the reading diary for 2015 -

January -
Wild Grass on the River Bank - Ito Hiromi translated by Jeffrey Angles - Action Books
Yellow Rose by Nobuko Yoshiya, translated by Sarah Frederick - Expanded Editions


February -
Cat Town: Selected Poems by Sakutarō Hagiwara, translated by Sato Hiroaki- NYRB/Poets
The Whale That Fell in Love with a Submarine by Nosaka Akiyuki - translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori, illustrated by Mika Provata-Carlone - Pushkin Children's Books
Trash Market by Tsuge Tadao Drawn and Quarterly
Ground Zero, Nagasaki: Stories by Seirai Yuichi, translated by Paul Warham - Columbia University Press
Dendera by Sato Yuya - translated by Nathan A. Collins and Edwin Hawkes - Haikasoru


March -
Seraphim: 266613336 Wings by Satoshi Kon and Ishii Mamoru - Dark Horse Comics

April -
I Want to Kick You in the Back - Wataya Risa, translated by Julianne Neville - One Peace Books
The Book of Tokyo: A City in Short Fiction - edited by Michael Emmerich - Comma Press
Miracles by Sono Ayako, translated by Kevin Doak, Merwin Asia Publishing
Nan-Core by Mahokaru Numata translated by Jonathan Lloyd-Davies, Vertical Inc
The Collected Poems of Chika Sagawa - translated by Sawako Nakayasu, Canarium Books

May -
Dream Fossil: The Complete Stories of Satoshi Kon by Satoshi Kon - Vertical Inc
Red Girls - The Legend of Akakuchibas by Sakuraba Kazuki translated by Jocelyne Allen - Haikasoru

July -
The Silver Spoon: Memoir of A Boyhood in Japan by Kansuke Naka, translated by Hiroaki Sato
The Secret of the Blue Glass by Inui Tomiko translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori - Pushkin Children's Books

August -
Ten Nights Dreaming by Natsume Soseki, translated by Matt Treyvaud - Dover Books
Goth by Otsuichi - Haikasoru
Wind/Pinball:Two Early Novels by Murakami Haruki, translated by Ted Goossen - Knopf and Harvill Secker
A Cat, A Man and Two Women by Tanizaki Junichiro - translated by Paul MacCarthy, New Directions
Silence - Endo Shusaku, introduction by Martin Scorsese - Picador Classics

September -
The Tokyo Zodiac Murders - Shimada Soji - Pushkin Vertigo Series
The Miner by Natsume Soseki, translated by Jay Rubin, foreword by Murakami Haruki
Seibold's Daughter by Yoshimura Akira, translated by Richard Rubinger, Merwin Asia Publishing

October -
New Selected Poems by Tanikawa Shuntaro - Lintott Press
A Midsummer's Equation - Keigo Higashino - Minotaur Books
Death by Water by Oe Kenzaburo - Grove Atlantic
The Gun - Fuminori Nakamura, translated by Alison Markin Powell

As time goes on, no doubt hopefully more might be added.

Strange Library/Fushigina tosyukan by Murakami Haruki

Recently stumbled upon the news of the appearance in translation of Murakami Haruki's Fushigina Tosyukan/Strange Library, from 2008 with illustrations from Sasaki Maki. No news yet of the translator's identity, but I think this is due to appear before the end of the year, which I'm presuming will also appear simultaneously in an edition from Knopf.

the book at Random House.

the book at Amazon Japan

Maki Sasaki at J'Lit and Japanese Wiki

the book at Amazon U.K

New Murakami Haruki collection - Onna no inai Otokotachi

Piece of book news, just as Murakami Haruki's latest novel is due to appear in English the author has a new collection due for publication on April 18th, his first collection since Tokyo Kitan-syu was published back in 2005. Published by Bungei Shunju, 女のいない男たち - Onna no inai Otokotachi - Men Without Women, brings together six stories, five of which have appeared previously in the publisher's magazine, including the story 'Drive My Car', which saw the author caught in controversy. The collection also contains one story, the title story, previously unpublished.

Onna no inai Otokotachi at Bungei Shunju

Amazon

  

books for the reading diary for 2014

As 2013 begins to fade into the rear view thought I'd take a moment to list some translations forthcoming for next year, some delayed and carried over from 2013. I've not managed to fathom too many new translations at the moment, which is slightly disheartening, but hopefully this list will be added upon as time goes on, another addition will be the translation of the latest offering from Murakami which I think is due in the first half of the year, any further suggestions are indeed welcome.

January -
Oh, Tama!, by Kanai Mieko, translated by Tomoko Aoyama and Paul McCarthy, Kurodahan Press   

February -
The Guest Cat, by Hiraide Takashi, translated by Eric Selland, New Directions

March -
Cage on the Sea - Kaoru Ohno - translated by Giles Murphy - Bento Books
Parade - by Yoshida Shuichi - Harvill Secker/Vintage
Kutze, Stepp'n on Wheat, by Shinji Ishii, translated by David Karashima, Thames River Press
Punk Samurai Slash Down, by Machida Kou, translated by Wayne P. Lammers - Thames River Press
Kingdom of the Wind, by Hiroyuki Itsuki, translated by Meredith McKinney - Thames River Press
The Book of Tokyo: A City in Short Fiction - Anthology edited by Jim Hinks, Comma Press

April -
Gan - by Mori Ogai, new translation by Glenn Anderson - One Peace Books
Granta 127: Japan, edited by Igarashi Yuka. published in conjunction with Tokyo International Literary Festival, 2014.
The Hunting Gun by Inoue Yasushi Inoue - a new translation by Michael Emmerich - Pushkin Press
Literature for Revolution: An Anthology of Japanese Proletarian Writings, edited by Norma Field and Heather Bowen-Struyk, UCP

May -
Triangle by Matsuura Hisaki, translated by David Karashima, Dalkey Archive Press
I Want to Kick You in the Back - Risa Wataya, translated by Julianne Neville, One Peace Books

June -
The Iceland - by Sakutarō Hagiwara, translated by Hiroaki Sato, New Directions
Silver Wings of the Campanula - Yuka Nakazoto, translated by Matt Treyvaud - Bento Books

July-
The Diner - Yumeaki Hirayama, Exhibit A Books

August
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Year of Pilgrimage - by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel, Secker Harvill
Curious Cadaver in the Dissectorium of Daniel Burton - Hiroko Minagawa, translated Alexander O. Smith - Bento Books
Confessions by Kanae Minato, translated by Stephen Snyder - Mullholland Books
Life of a Counterfeiter by Inoue Yasushi - Pushkin Press

October -
Last Winter We Parted - Fuminori Nakamura - Soho Press
Cogwheels and Other Stories - Akutagawa Ryunosuke, translated by Howard Norman, Mosaic Press
The Anniversary of the Salad - Machi Tawara, Pushkin Press
Malice - Keigo Higashino, translated by Alexander O. Smith, Little Brown

November
Selected Poems - Sakutaro Hagiwara, translated by Hiroaki Sato, NYRB/Poets

December -
Genocide of One - Kazuaki Takano, translated by Philip Gabriel, Mulholland Books

Something Strange Across the River

Following on from Dazai's Schoolgirl and 3 Strange Tales by Akutagawa, both published as part of their Modern Japanese Classics, (perhaps hopefully part of an on going series?), One Peace Books are set to publish a new translation of Kafu's Something Strange Across the River, by Glenn Anderson. Although there is nothing official as of yet at their website, the book is listed for publication in September.  

 

One Peace Books

 

Something Strange Across the River at Amazon

Forthcoming translations for 2013

As we're heading into the second half of the year I've updated my older post on forthcoming translations with some new titles heading our way, but thought I'd list the additions here -



New Tales of Tono - Inoue Hisashi, translated by Christopher A. Robins - Merwin Asia - due June
Evil and the Mask - Fuminori Nakamura - translated by Satoko Izumo and Stephen Coates - Soho Press
Three Dimensional Reading: Stories of Time and Space in Japanese Modernist Fiction, edited by Angela Yiu - H.U.P
Strange Weather in Tokyo - Kawakami Hiromi - translated by Allison Markin Powell - Portobello Books - due August
A Dog in Water - Kazuhiro Kiuchi - Vertical Inc - due August
Portrait of a Tongue - Tawada Yoko, translated by Chantal Wright - University of Ottawa Press - due September
Something Strange Across the River - Kafu Nagai, translated by Glenn Anderson, One Peace Books - due September
Tales From a Mountain Cave: Stories from Japan's North East - Inoue Hisashi, translated by Angus Turvill - Thames River Press
The Case of the Sharaku Murders - Katsuhiko Takahashi, translated by Ian Macdonald - Thames River Press
Lost Souls, Sacred Creatures - Nishimura Juko - translated by Jeffrey Hunter - Thames River Press
Tales of the Ghost Sword - Kikuchi Hideyuki - translated by Ian MacDonald - Thames River Press
The Crimson Thread of Abandon: Stories - Terayama Shuji, translated by Elizabeth L.Armstrong - Merwin Asia - due October
The Book of Tokyo - A City in Short Fiction - edited by Jim Hinks and Masashi Matsuie - Comma Press - due November
A True Novel - Mizumura Minae - translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter and Ann Sherif - Other Press - due November
Light and Dark - Natsume Soseki - translated by John Nathan - Columbia University Press - due November
Essays in Idleness and Hōjōki - Kenko and Chomei, translated by Meredith McKinney - Penguin Classics - due December
Night on the Galactic Railroad and Other Stories from Ihatov by Kenji Miyazawa - One Peace Books - due December



The biggest news is that Thames River Press are publishing four more titles in September, and also the latter half of the year sees another title by Inoue Hisashi appear in translation, which I think will be the fourth by him to appear this year?, really looking forward to reading Tales From a Mountain Cave. I've also put on the list two anthologies that I'm also looking forward to - Three Dimensional Reading: Stories of Time and Space in Japanese Modernist Fiction, (although I don't think this is published in the U.K until September), and also The Book of Tokyo from Comma Press. A True Novel by Mizumura Minae looks like a beautifully presented book, slip cased in two volumes. Here's hoping more titles will appear in the meantime before the end of the year to add to the list.

Kujikenaide/Don't Lose Heart to be published by Pighog Press

News recently out that Kujikenaide/ Don't Lose Heart by Toyo Shibata, the inspirational collection and phenomenally best selling poetry collection, (1.6 million copies sold), is set to be published in an English language U.K edition by the very excellent Brighton based publisher Pighog Press in Autumn 2013, in a translation by Maya Nakamura, the book was published originally in Japan by Asuka shinsha Publishing.

From the press release of Pighog Press -

"Pighog Press is to publish the first English language edition of Toyo Shibata's best selling poetry collection in Autumn 2013. Kujikenaide - 'Don't Lose Heart' by Toyo Shibata has been described as a Japanese phenomenon and has received worldwide attention. The inspirational collection has sold 1.6 million copies since it's initial publication in 2009.

 

 The first English Language collection of Shibata's poetry beautifully speaks of age, the hardships and joys of longevity and the relationship that that helped her through a century-long life. The collection encourages readers to love and enjoy every aspect of time and to share it with the people who matter most.

 

 Shibata began writing poetry at the age of 92 when back pain forced her to give up her hobby of traditional Japanese dance, which she had been practicing for decades. Since Shibata's passing in January 2013 at age 101, she has received worldwide appreciation for her beautiful poetry. Each poem in her collection discusses life intimately with a crystalized perception of family and the race of time we all must endure. Writing in a traditional Japanese poetic style of simplicity and truth, Shibata's best selling collection speaks of honesty with an abundance of strength."

 

 

Pighog Press

 

Asuka shisha Publishing

 

 

more information on Toyo Shibata at the Guardian and The Independent

 

 

 

     

Three new titles from Anthem Press/Thames River Press

More good news from Anthem Press/Thames River Press who are due to publish another three titles from the JLPP list in May, click the titles to redirect to the publisher's page ~

In Pursuit of Lavender

By Akiko Itoyama Translated by Charles De Wolf

In this novel-length road story, the female protagonist, who is haunted by an audio hallucination –‘twenty ells of linen are worth a coat’ – that plays over and over in her mind, escapes from a mental hospital with a young man. This is the story of their journey together. [NP] The hallucinatory words come from a passage in Marx's Das Kapital, but the protagonist knows nothing of that; nor does she understand what they literally mean. After she starts to hear them, she attempts suicide and is then diagnosed as manic and placed in a mental hospital. Unable to stand life in the prison-like hospital, she makes a daring escape with Nagoyan, another patient. [NP] She is 21 and fluent in the Hakata dialect of northern Kyushu. Nagoyan is a 24-year-old company employee suffering from depression who insists that he is a native of Tokyo, though he is actually from Nagoya. This strange pair, just escaped from their Hakata hospital, struggle with the mental crises that constantly assault them as they head southward in a junky car, picking destinations at whim as they go. On the way, they sightsee, quarrel and yearn for the fragrance of lavender.

A Cappella

By Mariko Koike Translated by Juliet W. Carpenter

Kyoko Noma visits the city of Sendai, where she used to live, and reflects on the events that took place there 20 years earlier, in the second half of the sixties, when the winds of the counterculture student movement were sweeping Japan. This is a tale of intense, heartbreaking love in adolescence, and the tragedy it gives rise to.

Tokyo Seven Roses Vol I  and Vol II

By Hisashi Inoue, Translated by Jeffrey Hunter
 

Tokyo Seven Roses' is set in Japan during the waning months of WWII and the beginning of the Occupation. It is written as a diary kept from April 1945 to April 1946 by Shinsuke Yamanaka, a fifty-three-year-old fan-maker living in Nezu, part of Tokyo's shitamachi (old-town) district. After the war, Shinsuke learns by chance that the Occupation forces are plotting a nefarious scheme: in order to cut Japan off from its dreadful past, they intend to see that the language is written henceforth using the alphabet. To fight off this unheard-of threat to the integrity of Japanese culture, seven beautiful women – the Seven Roses – take a stand.

Very much looking forward to seeing these titles, Itoyama Akiko has been the recipient of the Akutagawa and Kawabata Yasunari Prize and has also previously been nominated for the Noma and Naoki Prize, Charles de Wolf has previously translated Itoyama Akiko's Akutagwa Prize winning story Oki de Matsu which is available to read over at Words Without Borders. In Pursuit of Lavender is the second novel of Itoyama's to be translated, It's Only Talk, translated by Raquel Hill was published by The Japan Times. Mariko Koike, a Naoki Prize winning author, A Cappella is her second novel to appear in English translation, the previous The Cat in the Coffin was published by Vertical Inc. Tokyo Seven Roses: Volume 1 is the first, (as far as I can see), novel of the Tanizaki Prize winning playwright/novelist Inoue Hisashi to appear in translation.

Bullfight

Another title to add to the list of books to look out for next year is Inoue Yasushi's Bullfight/Togyu, a notable novella as it in turn won Inoue the Akutagawa Prize. Translated by Michael Emmerich the book is due to be published by Pushkin Press in August 2013, more details and confirmation of course when Pushkin Press release their 2013 catalogue.

non-fiction for 2013

Like my previous post on forthcoming titles I thought I'd begin to compile a post of some noted non-fiction titles due in 2013 that seem to be grabbing my attention at the moment, no doubt I'll add to this initial list as time passes, but thought I start with four titles from Columbia University Press - due in August is Donald Keene's book on Meiji era poet Masaoka Shiki entitled The Winter Sun Shines In, then in July, (apologies for doing this in completely unchronological order), comes Michael Emmerich's huge tome - The Tale of Genji: Translation, Canonization and World Literature, an in depth re-examination of this landmark work, also in July is Burton Weston's translation of the Nihon ryoiki - Record of Miraculous Events in Japan, a book originally dating back to the eigth or ninth century. Lastly from Columbia University Press due in June is The Border Within - Essays by Kobo Abe, translated by Richard F. Calichman,  collecting twelve of Abe Kobo's essays, really interested to read a copy of this when it appears. Due in March from Minnesota University Press is Jeffrey Angle's translation of Hikikomori - Adolescence without End, by Saito Tamaki. Moving into the cinematic, Daisuke Miyao's The Aesthetic of Shadow: Lighting and Japanese Cinema  due in March from Duke's University Press looks like it'll make  fascinating reading. An intriguing title due at the end of this year from Merwin Asia Publishing is Modern Japanese Women Writers as Artists as Cultural Critics a collection of essays by three authors translated and discussed by Michiko Niikuni Wilson. An initial list that I'll probably and hope to add to over the coming months.


Modern Japanese Women Writers as Artists as Cultural Critics, translated by Michiko Niikuni Wilson, Dec 2012
General Will 2.0: Hiroki Azuma, translated Naoki Matsuyama - due March 2012
Hikikomori - Adolescence without End - Saito Tamaki, translated by Jeffrey Angles - due in March 2013
The Aesthetic of Shadow: Lighting and Japanese Cinema - Daisuke Miyao, due March 2013
The Border Within - Essays by Kobo Abe, translated by Richard F. Calichman, due June 2013
The Tale of Genji: Translation, Canonization and World Literature by Michael Emmerich, due July 2013
Record of Miraculous Events - Nihon ryoiki, translated by Burton Weston, due July 2013
The Reason I Jump - Naoki Higashida, translated by K.A Yoshida and David Mitchell, due June 2013
The Winter Sun Shines In by Donald Keene, due August 2013
Cinema of Actuality: Japanese filmmaking in the Season of Image Politics - Yuriko Furuhata, due Sept 2013
Decadent Literature in Twentieth Century Japan by Ikuho Amano, due December 2013
Public Properties: Museums in Imperial Japan by Noriko Aso, due December 2013



Whilst compiling this list the thought came to me that it's surprising that there hasn't ever been an appearance of an anthology of translated essays of Japanese writers or social critics, it could make an edifying portrait of Japan if say a collection were made up of essays taken from each decade of the twentieth century, (obviously it could also be dated by each of the years of the relevant era, Meiji, Taisho, Showa, etc), leading up to the present day. Which leads me to thinking which essays could be included. 

Four new titles from Thames River Press

Another brief post to mention more good news of more forthcoming translations appearing this year. Thames River Press are publishing four titles in hardback editions from the JLPP list all due for publication next month -


God's Boat/Kamisama no boto by Kaori Ekuni, (translated by Chikako Kobayashi), a novel which sounds thematically similar to Kawakami Hiromi's Manazuru, involving a missing partner and a mysterious past, originally appeared in Japan in 1999. JLLP page.


Mandala Road/Mandaro do by Masako Bando, translated by Wayne P.Lammers, novel from Bando who writes children's fiction, this sounds like an intriguing title that spans two generations of the Nonezawa family, the JLLP page describes the key points being - An immense human drama played beyond time and space. - Overlapping love and hate relationships that never end between men and women. - A destiny full of ups and downs of a woman who came to Japan from the Malay Peninsula, more on this novel at the JLLP page.


A Thousand Strands of Black Hair/Chisuji no kurokami by Seiko Tanabe, (translated by Meredith McKinney), a novel that follows the lives of poets Akiko and Tekkan Yosano, an older novel that first appeared in 1975. JLLP page.


Death by Choice/Jiyu shikei by Masahiko Shimada, (translated by Meredith McKinney), have to admit that Death by Choice is probably the first out of these four novels that I'll go for, (review forthcoming!), follows Yoshio Kita a normal company worker who decides to commit suicide, he gives himself a week to explore and fulful his desires. The JLLP page gives the English title as Death Penalty, although Death by Choice seems to be more an exacting title, originally appeared in Japan in 1999.


It's really great to see another publisher take up titles from the JLPP and looking through the back lists of available translations there are still a great many novels yet to be published, so here's hoping.

Thames River Press

JLLP


Also to ammend this post with another title, in November Thames River Press will publish Jasmine/Jasumin a 2004 novel from Akutagawa and Tanizaki Prize Winner Noboru Tsujihara, translated by Juliet W. Carpenter.

Jasmine at Thames River Press

Forthcoming novels, books and future readings.

There seems to be a good number of novels forthcoming in English translation to be looking forward to, two novels in particular that I'm looking forward to and are hopefully appearing before the end of the year, firstly the novel from Hideo Furukawa and also the translation of an early work, (1926), by Edogawa Rampo which is definitely something I'll be keen to read, a provisional list of titles due to appear over the next few months might look something like this -

We, the Children of Cats by Tomoyuki Hoshino, due August 2012, PM Press
Botchan - by Natsume Soseki, (new translation), due October 2012, Penguin Classics
3 Strange Tales by Akutagawa Ryunosuke, due November 2012, One Peace Books
Belka, Why Don't You Bark by Hideo Furukawa, due November 2012, Haikasoru
Body - Asa Nonami, due November 2012, Vertical Inc
Edge - Suzuki Koji, due November 2012, Vertical Inc
Strange Tale of Panorama Island - Edogawa Rampo, due December 2012, Hawaii University Press
Virus - Sakyo Komatsu, due December 2012, Haikasoru
The Gate - Natsume Soseki, due December 2012, New York Review Books Classics
Death By Choice - Masahiko Shimada, due December 2012, Thames River Press
God's Boat - Kaori Ekuni, due December 2012, Thames River Press
Jasmine - Noboru Tsujihara, due December 2012, Thames River Press
Mandala Road - Masako Bando, due December 2012, Thames River Press
A Thousand Strands of Black Hair - Seiko Tanabe, due December 2012, Thames River Press
Gray Men - Tomotake Ishikawa - due December 2012, Vertical Inc

2013 ~

The Tale of Heike - translated by Royall Tyler, due January 2013, Penguin Books
Revenge - Yoko Ogawa, due January 2013, Picador in the U.S, Harvill Secker in the U.K
Kiku's Prayer - A Novel - Shusaku Endo, due January 2013, Columbia University Press
Salvation of a  Saint - Keigo Higashino, due February 2013, Little Brown
The Goddess Chronicle - Natsuo Kirino, due February 2013, Canongate Myths
Botchan - Natsume Soseki, due February 2013, One Peace Books, (a new translation by Glenn Anderson)
The Crab Cannery Ship and Other Novels of Struggle - Kobayashi Takiji, due March 2013, Hawai'i University Press
Death-Tech - Kei Urahama, due March 2013, Lantis Media
Sun at Midnight: Poems and Letters - Musō Soseki, due April 2013, Copper Canyon Press
Self-Reference ENGINE - Enjoe Toh, due April 2013, Haikasoru
From the Fatherland with Love - Murakami Ryu, due May 2013, Pushkin Press,
Wasabi For Breakfast - Kometani Fumiko, due May 2013, Dalkey Archive Press
A Cappella - Koike Mariko, due May 2013, Thames River Press
In Pursuit of Lavender - Itoyama Akiko, due May 2013, Thames River Press
New Tales of Tono - Inoue Hisashi, due June 2013, Merwin Asia Publishing
Tokyo Seven Roses, vols. 1 and 2 - Inoue Hisashi, due May 2013, Thames River Press
Day in the Life - Kuroi Senji, due June 2013, Dalkey Archive Press
Evil and the Mask - Fuminori Nakamura, due June 2013, Soho Press
Lizard Telepathy, Fox Telepathy - Yoshinori Henguchi, due June 2013, Chin Music Press
Tales From a Mountain Cave: Stories from Japan's North East - Inoue Hisashi, due September 2013, Thames River Press
Portrait of a Tongue - Yoko Tawada, due September 2013, University of Ottawa Press
Bullfight - Inoue Yasushi - due September 2013, Pushkin Press
Tales of the Ghost Sword - Kikuchi Hideyuki - due September 2013, Thames River Press
The Case of the Sharaku Murders - Katsuhiko Takahashi - due September 2013, Thames River Press
Lost Souls, Sacred Creatures - Four Stories - Nishimura Juko, due September, Thames River Press
The Crimson Thread of Abandon:Stories - Terayama Shuji - due October 2013, Merwin Asia Publishing
Don't Lose Heart - Toyo Shibata - due October 2013, Pighog Press
A True Novel - Minae Mizumura - due November 2013, Other Press
The Book of Tokyo - Short Stories from Urban Japan, edited by Jim Hinks - due November 2013, Comma Press
Light and Dark - Soseki Natsume,  translation by John Nathan, Weatherhead, Columbia University, due November 2013
Night on the Galactic Railroad and Other Stories from Ihatov - Kenji Miyazawa, One Peace Books, due December 2013

Another title that I'm sure will garner a lot of attention is the rather mammoth biography of Yukio Mishima by Inose Naoki, translated by Sato Hiroaki entitled: Persona: A Biography of Yukio Mishima, which is published by Stonebridge Press in November 2012. The biography was originally published in Japan back in 1995, but as the description of the book mentions this is the first biography of Mishima to appear in English for nearly forty years, I'm sure it will be widely reviewed. 3 Strange Tales by Akutagawa Ryunosuke looks like it will contain a story from 1920 that has not appeared in English before, (The God of Aguni/Aguni no Kami). Also before the year is out there's a reissue of Mutsuo Takahashi's Poems of a Penisist, which is also translated by Hiroaki Sato, along with this in November is Jeffrey Angles, (internationaldateline.tumblr.com), translation of Takahashi's 1970 memoir Twelve Views from the Distance, excerpts of which can be read at the excellent Cerise Press, alongside with the original in Japanese, both of these published by Minnesota University Press. Many times it seemed that I missed the opportunity of visiting Ryokan's hut, nr. Tsubame City in Niigata, he's a poet I've been meaning to read for a long time, there's so many editions and translations of his work available, (any advice on which one would be greatly appreciated), but I think I'll seek out a copy of Sky Above, Great Wind: The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan translated by Kazuaki Tanahashi which is due out any day from Shambhala. Another poetry book which looks like it will make essential reading is the anthology, 101 Modern Japanese Poems compiled by Makoto Ooka and translated by Paul McCarthy, a title that appeared through the now sadly defunct JLPP, published by Thames River Press. Genga - Original Pictures - a book that came out back in July collects drawings from Otomo Katsuhiro taken from a recent exhibition is a title I'd like to have a look through, published by PIE Books. Lastly a novel that appeared at the beginning of the year that I think I'd definitely like to catch up with is Domesday by Kei Urahama, translated by Mika Deguichi and John Cairns and published by Lantis Media, a sci-fi novel that received the 2000 Komatsu Sakyo Prize, looks interesting. I'm hoping that there might be more that may appear in the meantime.

Another two older titles to add, both originally published by Kodansha International, which are being republished by Kurodahan Press - Blue Bamboo by Osamu Dazai, translated by Ralph F. McCarthy and also Citadel in Spring by Agawa Hiroyuki, translated by Lawrence Rogers.