Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Read Japanese Literature
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atomic Bomb Literature | 17 Aug 2024 | 00:59:28 | |
This episode is marked mature. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Zainichi Literature—Koreans Writing in Japan | 03 Jun 2024 | 00:55:16 | |
In this episode, we take a look at the history of Koreans writing in Japan. We’ll start with the history of Koreans in Japan, including anti-Korean prejudice before and after WWII. We’ll move on to Zainichi Korean writing. And we’ll finish with a look at Kazuki Kaneshiro’s Go, translated into English by Takami Nieda. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Japanese Children's Literature | 05 Sep 2023 | 00:45:00 | |
In this episode, we're talking about Japanese children's literature.
Notes and sources on the episode page. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Translating Japanese to English, Part 2 | 08 Aug 2023 | 00:54:06 | |
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 translated into English?" What kinds of choices do translators make when they present a Japanese-language text to English-language readers? Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Translating Japanese to English, Part 1 | 29 Jun 2023 | 00:42:56 | |
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 translated into English?" How do publishers decide what gets translated? How do they decide what doesn’t get translated. And we'll take a look at Minae Mizumura's An I-Novel, translated into English by Juliet Winters Carpenter. 1. Noriko Mizuta Lippit translated "The Smile of the Mountain Witch", assisted by Mariko Ochi. The translation appears in Yamamba: In Search of the Japanese Mountain Witch, which is edited by Rebecca Copeland and Linda C. Ehrlich. 2. Author Astrid Lindgren and her Pippi Longstocking series are Swedish—not Norwegian.
Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| SF! Japanese Science Fiction | 25 Apr 2023 | 00:45:26 | |
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 “Night Picnic”. CW: suicide Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Writing from Okinawa | 14 Apr 2023 | 00:45:00 | |
This episode is marked mature. CW: war, forced suicide (historical), violence (historical and fictional), historical rape
Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Fukushima Fiction | 06 Mar 2023 | 00:43:54 | |
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 six minutes. The Great East Japan Earthquake triggered a tsunami—a great wave—that may have reached heights up to 133 feet (more than 40 meters). The earthquake and tsunami also disabled the reactor cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, causing several reactors to meltdown. The government of Tokyo released official death numbers around the tenth anniversary of 3/11 in 2021. It reported 19,759 deaths. 6,242 injuries. And 2,553 missing. Most of the missing are presumed dead. Hundreds of thousands of people who evacuated the area still haven’t returned home—many never will. In this episode:
Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode website. Donate to support Tohoku:
Become an RJL supporter for ten minutes of bonus content. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Sexlessness in Japanese Fiction | 13 Feb 2023 | 00:45:57 | |
This episode is marked mature.
To take a closer look at these trends, we’re going to ask a couple of questions about contemporary Japan:
We’ll end with a closer look at Mieko Kawakami’s best-selling novel, Breasts and Eggs. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| The Akutagawa Prize and Kobo Abe | 27 Jan 2023 | 00:43:17 | |
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 history of “literary” fiction in Japan. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Japanese Magical Realism | 06 Jan 2023 | 00:44:23 | |
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. We’ll start with defining magical realism, including a look at why that term is difficult and why some people think of it as controversial. Then we’ll turn to the history of magical realism in Japan and take a closer look at the work of Tomihiko Morimi, especially The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl. Become an RJL supporter for bonus content. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Cats in Japanese Literature | 28 Nov 2022 | 00:42:09 | |
Today, we’re going to look at cats in Japanese literature. We’ll start with the history of cats in Japan. We’ll move on to cats in Japanese folklore and fiction, including the work of Haruki Murakami. And finally we’ll end with a discussion of our readers' choice, “The Town of Cats” by Sakutaro Hagiwara. Become an RJL supporter for seven minutes of bonus content. Support this podcast by buying from Bookshop.org Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| The End of the World! Japanese Apocalypse, Part 3 | 29 Apr 2024 | 00:56:58 | |
In part three of this episode, we’ll finish our story of Japanese apocalyptic and dystopian fiction. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| The Smile of the Mountain Witch | 25 Oct 2022 | 00:41:24 | |
In this episode… Is she a man-eating crone? Is she a lonely wanderer? Or is she a sensual matriarch? However you define her, she’s the yama-uba—Japan’s legendary mountain witch. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Writing about Japan's "Have-Nots" | 22 Sep 2022 | 00:44:24 | |
In this episode… Post-bubble Japan. The history of socially-conscious Japanese literature. And Yu Miri’s Tokyo Ueno Station, a powerful examination of Tokyo by one of the most invisible people imaginable—the ghost of a homeless day laborer. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Translating Japanese Women | 01 Sep 2022 | 00:42:40 | |
In all our episodes so far, we’ve talked almost exclusively about what Japanese literature looks like in Japan. But we’re English-speakers and English-readers on an English-language podcast about Japanese literature in English. In honor of Women in Translation Month, we’re talking about why there is such a wealth of contemporary books by Japanese women available in English. Notes and sources at the podcast episode website. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Banana and the Bubble | 23 Aug 2022 | 00:45:00 | |
In this episode, we’re talking about Japan’s bubble economy of the 1980s and the work of Banana Yoshimoto. Runaway consumer spending. Everything kawaii. A Nobel laureate’s contempt. And a young author whose career challenged the publishings powers that be. Content warning: This episode addresses transphobia as well as hate crimes against Asian Americans and trans women. Notes and sources at the podcast episode website. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Literature of Change in the 1960s—Mishima and Oe | 14 Aug 2022 | 00:39:14 | |
Today, we’re talking about the literature of change in the 1960s—how writers took on questions about what it meant to be Japanese in the post-war era and what was the continuing role of Japanese tradition. We’re looking especially at Yukio Mishima and Kenzaburo Oe. Content warning: This episode addresses fascism and suicide. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Japanese Literature in WWII | 12 Jul 2022 | 00:41:21 | |
Today we’re talking about the 1930s and 40s in Japan—fascism, World War Two, and the American Occupation. In particular, how did 20 years of censorship shape Japanese literature? Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| The I-Novel, Osamu Dazai, and No Longer Human | 23 Jun 2022 | 00:41:51 | |
Today, we’re talking about the I-Novel—the highest form of literature in Japan in the 1910s and 20s. It’s a genre one American scholar describes as “perhaps the most striking feature of modern Japanese literature.” And it’s a genre Haruki Murakami claims to have an allergy to. We’ll also be looking at the life and work of Osamu Dazai and asking, “What does it take to get disqualified as a human being?” Content warning: This episode addresses addiction, rape, suicide, and misogyny. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Taisho Magazines and Akutagawa’s Vision of Hell | 31 May 2022 | 00:39:09 | |
The father of the Japanese short story shares his dark vision about what it means to be an artist. We’re taking a look at Japan in the 1910s and 1920s, the era of the Taishō Democracy and the heyday of Japan’s literary magazines and serial novels. Content warning: This episode addresses addiction, suicide, and sexual assault. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| The Women Writers of Meiji Japan | 06 May 2022 | 00:37:59 | |
Last episode, we talked about the coming of the West and the way it impacted Japanese literature. This time we’re talking about women as they take up a prominent position in the story of Japanese literature for the first time in almost 1000 years. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Meiji Literature and Japan’s Most Famous Literary Cat | 13 Apr 2022 | 00:30:21 | |
In this episode, we’re looking at the Meiji Era of Japanese history and its literature.
Notes and sources are available on the podcast episode webpage. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| The End of the World! Japanese Apocalypse, Part 2 | 15 Apr 2024 | 00:50:16 | |
In part two of this three part episode, we're looking at the apocalyptic and dystopian fiction of Japan. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Kaidan—Japan’s Ghost Stories | 26 Feb 2022 | 00:32:52 | |
In this episode, we’ll be talking about Ueda Akinari and his Tales of Moonlight and Rain, some of the most influential Japanese ghost stories ever written. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| High and Low Literature in Edo Japan | 08 Feb 2022 | 00:26:30 | |
How does “this fleeting world” transform from a Buddhist precept to a name for the red-light district? What did reading look like in early Modern Japan? And how many dildos does a man need to pack for a trip to the Island of Women? For notes, links to the suggested reading, and an illustration of sailing to the Island of Women, please visit the episode's webpage. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Setsuwa and Medieval Japanese Buddhism | 13 Jan 2022 | 00:29:06 | |
Enjoy the story of a vengeful would-be lover who turns into a 40-foot snake, a sharp-witted woman with criticisms of her husband’s equipment, and a curmudgeonly Buddhist priest who learns to love poetry. In this episode, we’re talking about setsuwa—medieval Japanese anecdotes. Many of them originate as Buddhist preaching, so we’ll also take a look at “Kamakura Buddhisms”: Pure Land, Zen, and Nichiren. For notes, links to the suggested reading, and a great picture of Kiyohime as a fire-breathing snake, please visit the episode's webpage. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Yoshitsune Ballads and Tomoe Drama | 21 Dec 2021 | 00:32:01 | |
We're talking about two central genres of Medieval Japanese literature—the warrior ballad and Noh drama. We’ll see two characters from The Tale of the Heike again, including the valiant female warrior Tomoe. This time, she's a mournful ghost. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| The Tale of the Heike | 04 Dec 2021 | 00:25:49 | |
The great samurai epic and the rise of the samurai class. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| The Tale of Genji | 06 Oct 2021 | 00:28:48 | |
The world's oldest novel. A hero who is a paragon of beauty with an extreme Oedipus complex. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| The Kojiki | 29 Sep 2021 | 00:22:19 | |
Gods having sex, founding of the imperial dynasty, and some of the origins of WWII. Plus thoughts on the role of women in early Japanese history. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| The End of the World! Japanese Apocalypse, Part 1 | 01 Apr 2024 | 00:40:14 | |
In part one of this three part episode, we're looking at apocalyptic and dystopian fiction as genres. Their origins in Western and Central Asia. Their evolution in Western Europe. And a history of English-language apocalyptic and dystopian storytelling that will provide us with context and a basis for comparison when we turn to Japanese stories in part two. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Misogyny and Yukio Mishima, Part 2 | 23 Feb 2024 | 00:39:40 | |
In part two of this two-part episode on misogyny in Japanese literature, we're talking about the life and work of Yukio Mishima, especially by way of his I-Novel, Confessions of a Mask. Check out part one for
Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available. CW: misogyny, fictional rape, internalized homophobia, suicide Join Patreon to support the podcast and access bonus content. Support Wajima and the urushi industry with the Matsuzawa Urushi Workshop. Support this podcast by buying from Bookshop.org. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Misogyny and Yukio Mishima, Part 1 | 16 Feb 2024 | 00:46:38 | |
In part one of this two-part episode, we're talking about misogyny in Japanese literature.
Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available. CW: misogyny, fictional rape, internalized homophobia, suicide Join Patreon to support the podcast and access 10 minutes of bonus content. Support Wajima and the urushi industry with the Matsuzawa Urushi Workshop. Support this podcast by buying from Bookshop.org. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Kenji Miyazawa | 17 Jan 2024 | 00:44:44 | |
There is no one quite like Kenji Miyazawa. Born into wealth, he longed to be “a real peasant”. One of Japan’s most influential children’s writers, he sold only one story during his lifetime. Read Japanese Literature takes a look at Miyazawa's colorful biography through three of his beloved stories. Miyazawa produced the artwork for this episode. It's a painted titled Power Pole in the Moonlight. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| The Stories of Studio Ghibli | 21 Nov 2023 | 00:48:10 | |
To celebrate the overseas release of The Boy and the Heron (aka How Do You Live?) RJL delves into the stories that inspire animator Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, especially
We’ll end with a deep dive into Kiki’s Delivery Service—the Ghibli film and the novel by Eiko Kadano (as translated by Emily Balistrieri). Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Haruki Murakami | 16 Oct 2023 | 00:43:10 | |
In this episode, we're talking about one of the most important voices in modern Japanese literature, Haruki Murakami.
We'll end with what I like best about this much loved (and much hated) author. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Japanese Crime and Mystery Writing | 13 Sep 2024 | 00:53:56 | |
Today, we’re talking about crime and mystery novels from Japan. We’ll start with the development of the crime and mystery genre in the English-speaking world. We’ll move on to Japanese crime and mystery writing—how it was inspired by Anglo-American crime and mystery writing and how it evolved in its own way. And we’ll end with the life and work of writer Seishi Yokomizo, especially his novel The Honjin Murders, translated into English by Louise Heal Kawai. CW: murder (obviously!) and a brief mention of a fictional character’s narcotics addiction (Apologies for small pronunciation issues of English and French surnames. They’ve been corrected in the transcript.) Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| LGBTQ+ Stories from Japan, Part 1 | 30 Oct 2024 | 00:54:40 | |
RJL is excited to bring you this two-parter about LGBTQ+ stories from Japan. Part one covers some of the earliest writing in Japanese through the end of the Meiji Period in 1912. This episode is rated mature. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Christmas in Japanese Literature | 14 Dec 2024 | 00:52:05 | |
Happy holidays! And, in the interest of today’s episode, merri kurisumasu! Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| LGBTQ+ Stories from Japan, Part 2 | 01 Dec 2024 | 00:57:32 | |
RJL is excited to bring you this two-parter about LGBTQ+ stories from Japan. Part two covers Taisho Japan (when women finally enter the stage) through through contemporary LGBTQ+ writing, especially the life and work of Nobuko Yoshiya, Edogawa Ranpo, Yukio Mishima, and Li Kotomi. We also spend a little time on the role of queer manga. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||
| Keiichiro Hirano | 05 Feb 2025 | 00:52:24 | |
For the first time ever, RJL brings you information from an interview with a Japanese author—Akutagawa-winner Keiichiro Hirano. This episode takes up his life and work, the influence of Yukio Mishima on his fiction, and his most-recently-translated novel, Eclipse. CW: attempted suicide in a discussion of Yukio Mishima's The Temple of the Golden Pavilion Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly. | |||