Read Japanese Literature

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.

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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.

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.

Notes and sources at the podcast episode website.

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?

We're also taking a look at the life and work of Akiyuki Nosaka, whose novella, "Grave of the Fireflies" inspired the classic anime film. We'll discuss his short story, "The Cake Tree in the Ruins".

Notes and sources at the podcast episode website.

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.

Notes and sources at the podcast episode website.

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.

Notes and sources at the podcast episode website.

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.

Special focus on Ichiyō Higuchi and her best-beloved story "Takekurabe".

Notes and sources are available on the podcast episode webpage.

In this episode, we’re looking at the Meiji Era of Japanese history and its literature.

• The shogunate is replaced.
• Japan looks outward to the West and inward toward itself.
• And a man named Natsume Sōseki chronicles it all from the perspective of a stray cat.

Notes and sources are available on the podcast episode webpage.

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

For notes, links to the suggested reading, and an illustration of Okiku, please visit the episode's webpage.

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.