Here is a gift idea for your friends or family members who love to read and who are into the Japanese culture. Author Chris Barzak is launching his second book today. Titled “The Love We Share Without Knowing,†the book was built on his experiences when living in Japan.
It is actually a collection of short stories revolving around the lives of the Japanese natives, visitors, and supernatural beings. In a feature article at Valley 24, the book is described as:
The short stories are inter-connected, each one picking up indirectly where another left off. His beautiful use of words and descriptions paint vivid pictures of both wonderful and devastating images. Barzak meticulously addresses taboo issues in Japanese culture, such as suicide and homosexuality. Amid fairy tale references and unlikely circumstances, Barzak lifts the proverbial veil and brings these subjects to light in thoughtful and emotional ways.
Near the beginning of the novel, four friends create a suicide pact. Barzak says in America, people tend to commit suicide on their own, suicide groups have been a trend in Japanese culture.
I found this particularly interesting as I had just read reviews of Famous Suicides of the Japanese Empire. I actually wrote a post on this recently. Barzak’s book, however, seems to offer a more realistic concept of the Japanese culture. The stories, however, focus strongly on love – not solely romantic love but love that can exist between people: life partners, family members, friends, and even for one’s self.
If you want to get a copy, try looking at Amazon. I found it for a little less than $10.
Posted November 29th, 2008 by Maki | Comment (0)
Hara-kiri? I am sure that you have heard of – or even used – this term before. This term is actually more formally known as seppuku, which referred to “a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku was originally reserved only for samurai. Part of the samurai honor code, seppuku was used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies, as a form of capital punishment for samurai who have committed serious offenses, and for reasons that shamed them. Seppuku is performed by plunging a sword into the abdomen and moving the sword left to right in a slicing motion.†(Source: Wikipedia)
In his book, Famous Suicides of the Japanese Empire, however, David Mura, dramatizes something else. He showcases the life of sansei, or third generation Japanese American. The main character is Ben Ohara, a sansei who is mired deep in a quest to find out what really happened to his father who died and his only brother’s disappearance. The Chicago Tribune has a review which narrates:
For Ohara, suicide begins at home. His father, interned during World War II, held his own shame as one of the so-called “No-No Boys,” a nisei (second generation Japanese American) who refused to join the American army and went to jail instead. That shame eventually led him to take his own life. Ohara’s brother, an astrophysicist with a drug habit, walks out into the Western desert, never to be seen again.
If you are interested in reading this book, you can get it from Coffee House Press for $14.95. It might be a good gift this Christmas.
Posted November 23rd, 2008 by Maki | Comments (2)
Who has not heard of the really scary Japanese ghost stories? Movies like The Grudge have reached a very wide audience all over the world, with Hollywood even making their own version of it. Ask any fan, though, the Japanese original cannot be matched. In Japan, ghost stories were called kwaidan or kaidan. Though it refers to horror stories in general, the word kaidan has its roots in the Edo Period folktales.
Today, however, kaidan is not the commonly used term for this genre of stories. More often than not, movies and books focusing on this theme are referred to by the katakana hora or kowai hanashi in standard Japanese. For an old fashioned effect, authors use the term kaidan.
Stories under this genre often have plots that revolve around Buddhist concepts. As such, karma and ghostly vengeance abound. In these stories, ghosts have amazing powers that they use to wreak havoc in their human tormentor’s life. Sometimes, they not only target one person but humanity in general. Try watching one of these films or reading one of these books and you will fully see what kaidan is.
[tags]Japan, Edo Period, folktales, folklore, ghost stories, kaidan, kwaidan, hora[/tags]
Posted March 14th, 2007 by geisha | Comments Off
Anywhere in the world today, there seems to be a growing trend for light reading. What exactly does this encompass? It’s basically comic books that are like light novels. In Japan, they are called ranobe.
Publishers have no clear cut standards as to what really makes ranobe. However, in general, you would see that ranobe is characterized by a heavy emphasis on dialogue and illustrations. The plots of these novels are very straightforward and easy to understand. In short, there is not much thinking to be done when reading ranobe.
Ranobe extends to different genres. Romance and comedy are some of the more popular genres. However, ranobe also covers science fiction and fantasy. The main audience groups for this type of reading are teens and those in their 20s.
To attest to the popularity of these light novels in Japan today, several of them have already been made into movies. At present, there are plans to make more of them into the film format.
[tags]Japan, culture, books, novels, anime, illustrations, manga, ranobe[/tags]
Posted March 4th, 2007 by geisha | Comments Off
