Translating Japanese to English, Part 2
How does a book make it from the mind of a Japanese author into the hands of an English-language reader? In part 2 of this 2-part episode, we'll tackle the question, “How do Japanese books get transla...
8 Aug 202354min
Translating Japanese to English, Part 1
How does a book make it from the mind of a Japanese author into the hands of an English-language reader? In part 1 of this 2-part episode, we'll tackle the question, “Why do some Japanese books get tr...
29 Jun 202342min
SF! Japanese Science Fiction
In this episode, we’re talking about Japanese science fiction. The history of the genre. SF in Japan. Breakthrough feminist sci-fi writer Izumi Suzuki. Plus loads of SF stories, including Suzuki’s “...
25 Apr 202345min
Writing from Okinawa
This episode is marked mature. In this episode, we're talking about writing from Okinawa. The history of the Ryukyu Islands, especially the Battle of Okinawa. The evolution of writing from Okinawa. A...
14 Apr 202345min
Fukushima Fiction
On March 11, 2011, at 2:46pm, one tectonic plate forced its way on top of another 45 miles (or 72 km) off the Eastern coast of Japan. It caused a 9.0 magnitude megathrust earthquake that lasted about ...
6 Mar 202343min
Sexlessness in Japanese Fiction
This episode is marked mature. Today we'll explore two trends in contemporary Japanese fiction: Protagonists who don’t want to have sexAnd women who want to have babies anyway.To take a closer look a...
13 Feb 202345min
The Akutagawa Prize and Kobo Abe
The Akutagawa Prize is probably Japan’s most celebrated literary award. To better understand the Akutagawa Prize and its place in modern Japanese literature, we’ll start with an introduction to the hi...
27 Jan 202343min
Japanese Magical Realism
Magical realism is a literary genre famous for unexplained fantastical encounters that pop-up in the otherwise everyday world. Today, we’re going to take a look at magical realism in Japanese fiction....
6 Jan 202344min
