The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura, translated by Lucy North The Woman in the Purple Skirt, Natsuko Imamura, Lucy North (trans) (Penguin, Faber & Faber, June 2021) The book has twice been adapted for film and TV, is taught in Japanese classrooms-and is based on a notorious true-life unsolved case of corporate kidnapping and product blackmail from 1984 perpetrated by a group which called themselves the “Mystery Man with 21 Faces”. The much-acclaimed author, known as the “Queen of Mysteries”, has never been translated-at all, apparently, to say nothing of into English. This translation comes almost a quarter-century after the book was first published in 1997. Kaoru Takamura’s Lady Joker has a long backstory.
Lady Joker, Volume 1 by Kaoru Takamura, translated by Allison Markin Powell and Marie IidaĪmong the most unsettling words that can come at the end of a 600-page procedural crime thriller are: “End of Volume One”. Lady Joker, Volume 1, Kaoru Takamura, Allison Markin Powell (trans), Marie Iida (trans) (Soho Crime, April 2021) However, the soul must agree to accept the conditions of the do-over, or face eternal death, never being able to reincarnate. In Eto Mori’s novel, Colorful, a nameless soul from a person who committed an egregious sin is allowed another chance at life to make up for that transgression. Take back words said in anger, or say words not voiced. Go back to take the left fork in the road, instead of the right. We all probably at one point or other in our lives have wanted a do-over. People continually get on, but few manage to get off, at least not alive.Ĭolorful, by Eto Mori, Jocelyne Allen (trans) (Counterpoint, June 2021)Ĭolorful by Eto Mori, translated by Jocelyne Allen
#Japanese economy 80s freeter movie
Already destined to be a movie starring the not-very-Japanese Brad Pitt and Sandra Bullock (one imagines some changes en route), Bullet Train, a guilty pleasure if there ever were one, is something of a cross between Murder on the Orient Express and Train to Busan. Kotaro Isaka’s thriller Bullet Train moves as fast as the train-the Shinkansen-it takes place on and is named after. His mother has other ideas and signs him up for a forestry apprenticeship in far-away Kamusari.īullet Train Kotaro Isaka, Sam Malissa (trans) (Overlook Press, August 2021 Harvill Secker, April 2021īullet Trainby Kotaro Isaka, translated by Sam Malissa His grades weren’t great, so he plans to become a “freeter”-a worker in Japan who won’t make it into a career with lifetime employment. Yuki Hirano has just graduated high school. The Easy Life in Kamusari, also by Shion Miura, is about a diligent worker in Japan’s forestry industry. The Easy Life in Kamusariby Shion Miura, translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter Novels The Easy Life in Kamusari, Shion Miura, Juliet Winters Carpenter (trans) (Amazon Crossing, November 2021) In general, the case study shows how both historical legacies and the spatial organization and scale of public drinking streets influence the forms of sociability and community that are sustained there.A round-up of reviews of works in translation from Japanese, including fiction and non-fiction, novels, story collections and children’s books. Another is their transformation from semi-private male-oriented bars to more welcoming mixed-gender venues. One trend is the opening up of windowless doors and walls and the use of the alleyway itself as a space of eating and drinking. Still as spaces for drinking and eating, the forced intimacy in these cramped interstitial spaces fosters sociability and association among strangers, but with changes in recent years. Recently there has been a widespread revival of these vintage yokochō. Only a few of these dense, lively pedestrian alleyways survived into the 21st century, including the one called “Willow Alley” described in this paper. Most were bulldozed during the period of high economic growth and replaced with modern shopping centers. In postwar Japan vast black market districts surrounded urban commuter train stations with warrens of small-scale retail, food and alcohol vendors.
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