Read Japanese Literature – Details, episodes & analysis

This episode is marked mature.

In this episode, we take a look at Japanese writing about the American bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that killed as many as 215,000 people in August 1945. We’ll start with the history of the atomic bomb, its use, and its effects on the hibakusha who survived. Then we’ll take a look at atomic bomb literature itself. Our focus text is "Masks of Whatchamacallit" by Kyoko Hayashi (follow the link to read for free), translated by Kyoko Selden.

CW: war, illness (historical and fictional), suicide (historical), forced abortion (fictional), emotional abuse (fictional)

Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.

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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.

Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.

Correction: This episode claims Yi Kwang-su's book Ai Ka ("Is It Love?") does not appear in English translation. Ai Ka is actually a short story and Janet Poole's translation of "Is This Love?" appears in in Queer Subjects in Modern Japanese Literature: Male Love, Intimacy, and Erotics, 1886-2014, edited by Stephen D. Miller.

Please note that this is the final episode of season 3. RJL will be back in August 2024.

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In this episode, we're talking about Japanese children's literature.

• The history of children’s literature in general
• The history of children’s literature in Japan
• And Sachiko Kashiwaba and Temple Alley Summer—a story that is about Japanese children’s literature (at least a little bit!)

Notes and sources on the episode page.

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All content © 2024 Read Japanese Literature.

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?

We're still looking at at Minae Mizumura's An I-Novel, translated into English by Juliet Winters Carpenter, and we'll end with some philosophical and ethical questions about translation.

Notes and sources on the episode page.

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All content © 2024 Read Japanese Literature.

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.

Please note two errors in part 1. 

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. 

Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode page. 

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All content © 2024 Read Japanese Literature.

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

Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode page. 

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All content © 2024 Read Japanese Literature.

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. And the life life and work of author and activist Shun Medoruma, especially his Akutagawa-winning story "Droplets".

CW: war, forced suicide (historical), violence (historical and fictional), historical rape

Correction: This episode claims Hokkaido is Japan's largest island.  I know better and misspoke. My apologies.Honshu is Japan's largest island.

Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode page. 

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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:

• Tohoku and its place in Japan's history and culture
• The response by Japanese writers to the 3/11 disaster
• Hiromi Kawakami's life and work—especially her stories "God Bless You" and "God Bless You, 2011"

Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode website. 

Donate to support Tohoku:

• Soso Volunteer (Japanese)
• Support Our Kids (Japanese)
• The Taylor Anderson Memorial Fund (English)

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This episode is marked mature.

Today we'll explore two trends in contemporary Japanese fiction:

• Protagonists who don’t want to have sex
• And women who want to have babies anyway.

To take a closer look at these trends, we’re going to ask a couple of questions about contemporary Japan:

• What is “celibacy syndrome”? Does it even exist?
• What role does motherhood play in a shrinking society?
• And how do sexlessness and motherhood play out in 21st-century Japanese fiction?

We’ll end with a closer look at Mieko Kawakami’s best-selling novel, Breasts and Eggs.

Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode website.

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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.

Then we’ll move on to the history of the Akutagawa Prize itself, from its creation in 1935 through its most recent winners.

And then we’ll finish with a look at the life and career of Kobo Abe including his most famous book, The Woman in the Dunes.

(CW: suicide, attempted rape in a novel)

Notes and sources at the podcast episode website.

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