Kenji Miyazawa

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 ...  Show more

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. Is Kawabata really a traditionalist? And what is up with the way he writes about adolescent girls?cw: author suicide, problematic imagery about a ...  Show more

Today's story is a Japanese Folktale Adapted by our friend Michael Low who hosts Stories RPG and runs LuckOfLegends.com. This summer, why not give your kid the chance to go on adventures limited only by their imagination - and help them grow as story-tellers, writers, and creati ...  Show more

<div>Two stories from Japan about samurai (and wannabe samurai) following their dreams. Too bad it takes fights with giant creatures and a little bit of murder to do so.

The creature this time is ao nyōbō, and she doesn't want you to stop by her beautiful, horribly dilap ...  Show more

Aw! Beautiful Japan! I've always wanted to go to Japan and this story hasn't helped in these lockdown times! Everything about this story is beautiful- the names, the descriptions, the story itself! Lonely Osamu helps a poor injured bird, and is greatly rewarded in unexpected ways ...  Show more

Today we have a story adapted from a Japanese fable. Follow along as an artist boy who, as you may have guessed, loved to draw cats, saves a temple from an invading goblin. Draw us a picture of what you think any of the characters in this story look like, and then tag us in it on ...  Show more