Explore every episode of the podcast Read Japanese Literature
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atomic Bomb Literature—Kyoko Hayashi and "Masks of Whatchamacallit" | 17 Aug 2024 | 00:59:28 | |
This episode is marked mature. Support RJL on Patreon for about 19 minutes of bonus content on this episode. Read "Masks of Whatchamacalit" for free online. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| Cats in Japanese Literature—Sakutaro Hagiwara and "The Town of Cats" | 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. Buy "Town of Cats" in Modanizumu on Bookshop to support RJL. Corrections: This episode mistakenly says Emperor Uda wrote his diary in 1889. Emperor Uda (obviously) lived in 889. Also, the number of cats books in translation has climbed significantly since this episode was released in 2022. RJL can now unequivocally state that cat books are overrepresented in translation—although we would standby the claims that cat fiction is not a new phenomenon in Japan and that many Japanese readers love to read books about cats. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| Writing about Japan's "Have-Nots"—Yu Miri and Tokyo Ueno Station | 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. Buy Tokyo Ueno Station on Bookshop to support RJL. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| Translating Japanese Women: Sakaya Murata and Convenience Store Woman | 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. We'll also take a look at Sayaka Murata and her novel Convenience Store Woman. Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode website. Buy on Convenience Store Woman on Bookshop to support RJL. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| Banana and the Bubble: Banana Yoshimoto and Kitchen | 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 publishing powers that be. cw: transphobia, real life hate crime against Asian Americans, fictional hate crime against a trans woman Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode website. Buy Kitchen on Bookshop to support RJL. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| Literature of Change in the 1960s: Yukio Mishima and Kenzaburo 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. cw: fascism, suicide Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode website. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| Japanese Literature in WWII: Akiyuki Nosaka | 12 Jul 2022 | 00:41:21 | |
Today we’re talking about the 1930s and 40s in Japan—fascism, World War II, and the American Occupation. In particular, how did 20 years of censorship shape Japanese literature? Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode website. Buy Cake Tree in the Ruins (translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori) on Bookshop to support RJL. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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?” cw: addiction, suicide, rape, misogyny Buy No Longer Human (translated by Donald Keene) from Bookshop to support RJL. (RJL now recommends Juliet Winters Carpenter's translation of No Longer Human, which debuted after this episode was released.) Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| Taisho Magazines and Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s Vision of Hell | 31 May 2022 | 00:39:09 | |
The father of the Japanese short story Ryunosuke Akutagawa 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 Taisho Democracy and the heyday of Japan’s literary magazines and serial novels. cw: addiction, suicide, and sexual assault. Buy on Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories on Bookshop to support RJL. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| The Women Writers of Meiji Japan: Ichiyo Higuchi | 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| Meiji Literature and Japan’s Most Famous Literary Cat: Soseki Natsume and I Am a Cat | 13 Apr 2022 | 00:30:21 | |
In this episode, we’re looking at the Meiji Era of Japanese history and its literature.
Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode website. Buy on I Am a Cat on Bookshop to support RJL. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| Kaidan—Japan’s Ghost Stories: Ueda Akinari | 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. A raging intellectual debate. A supernatural party game. And a friend just dying to keep his promises. Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode website. Buy your copy of Tales of Moonlight and Rain from Bookshop to help support the podcast. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| High and Low Literature in Edo Japan: Ihara Saikaku | 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? Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode website. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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. Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode website. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| The Tale of the Heike | 04 Dec 2021 | 00:25:49 | |
The great samurai epic and the rise of the samurai class. Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode website. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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. Buy Royall Tyler's full translation of The Tale of Genji on Bookshop to support the podcast. Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode website. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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. Purchase your copy of The Kojiki through RJL's Bookshop page to support the podcast. Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode website. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| Aum Anxiety in Japanese Fiction | 25 Jun 2026 | 00:59:51 | |
In this episode, we examine the history of the Aum Affair and its lasting impact on Japanese fiction. We'll start out with the history of new religions in Japan, including Aum Shinrikyo. We'll take a look at Haruki Murakami's non-fiction book, Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche. We'll move on to an examination of four novels that respond directly to Aum or the Aum attacks—Keiichiro Hirano's Eclipse, Kenzaburo Oe's Somersault, Banana Yoshimoto's The Lake, and Haruki Murakami's 1Q84. And we'll end with a discussion of three novels that I'll argue show the new religion's continuing influence—Kikuo Tsumura's There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job, Sayaka Murata's Earthlings, and Erika Kobayashi's Trinity, Trinity, Trinity. cw: terrorist attack resulting in injury and death, religions some people think of as cults, fictional cannibalism Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode website. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| Yasunari Kawabata | 11 May 2026 | 00:57:48 | |
In this episode, we're taking a look at Yasunari Kawabata's life and work. As we tell his story, we'll ask ourselves two big questions.
cw: author suicide, problematic imagery about adolescent girls Buy The Dancing Girl of Izu and Other Stories (translated by J. Martin Holman) on Bookshop to support RJL. Join the RJL Patreon to support RJL and for nine minutes of bonus content— including comparisons between Noh plays and Kawabata's writing, thoughts about queer readings of two Kawabata stories, and skepticism about Donald Keene's description of Keene as "a master of feminine psychology". Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode website. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| Japanese Monster Stories on the Big Screen—Godzilla and Mothra | 10 Feb 2026 | 01:03:00 | |
In this episode, we look at the writers behind two of Japan's greatest movie monsters—Godzilla and Mothra.
Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode website. *correction: Please note that this episode incorrectly states the only other translated fiction by an author mentioned in this episode is Takehiko Fukunaga's Flowers of Grass. There is also translated fiction available by Yoshie Hotta. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| The Japanese Cell Phone Novel | 14 Dec 2025 | 00:48:29 | |
In this episode, we take a look at the Japanese cell phone novel and the classic story of Train Man. We’re going to start today by explaining the Japanese cell phone novel, including some relevant background like the history of serialized publishing in Japan and the rise of Japanese cell phone culture. content warnings: rape as a trope in romance novels, online misogyny Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode website. --- Correction: Please note that this episode incorrectly calls the 2channel thread in which Train Man originally appeared Doko Otoko. The thread was actually called Doku Otoko. Doku is a play on words, meaning both "single" (独) and "poison" (毒). Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| Lafcadio Hearn—The Master of the Japanese Ghost Story | 29 Oct 2025 | 00:54:57 | |
In this episode, we explore the enduring legacy of Greek/English/Irish/American/Japanese author Lafcadio Hearn and the ghost story The Peony Lantern. We'll start out by looking at Hearn's life. We'll discuss the long history of the story Boton Doro, more commonly known as The Peony Lantern, including its most famous incarnation under Hearn's pen. And then we'll look at two modern adaptations of the story by Aoko Matsuda and Kyoko Nakajima. Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available. Buy on In Ghostly Japan on Bookshop to support RJL. Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| Bullying in Japanese Literature—Mizuki Tsujimura and Lonely Castle in the Mirror | 20 Sep 2025 | 00:57:06 | |
In this episode, we look at bullying in Japanese literature. This episode is rated mature. CW: bullying and suicide If you're thinking about suicide, please get help. Open Counseling hosts a list of international suicide hotlines. Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available. Be sure to check out the new and improved RJL website! Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| Christianity in Japanese Literature | 05 Jun 2025 | 01:01:55 | |
In this episode, we look into the history of Christianity in Japan—especially the role Christianity has played in Japanese literature. Our focus text is Shusaku Endo's Silence. 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||
| Japanese Writers Standing Up to the State | 18 Mar 2025 | 01:03:46 | |
In this episode, we take a look at the Japanese proletarian writers’ movement of the 1920s and early 1930s. We also take a deep dive into the life of author Genzaburo Yoshino—not a proletarian writer, but a man who spent prison alongside them and for some of the same beliefs—and his novel How Do You Live?. 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.) Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com. | |||