Misogyny and Yukio Mishima, Part 1

In this episode, we look at the writers behind two of Japan's greatest movie monsters—Godzilla and Mothra.We'll start out by looking at Godzilla—its context, author, and story—before we turn to Mothra. We'll close with a reflection on why the stories behind the movies are importa ...  Show more

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 Japane ...  Show more

Post-hiatus episode recorded in the summer for our beloved listeners! In which we discuss a listener-submitted hot-take about misogyny within leftist discourse and the failure of people to effectively address patriarchy or take sexism seriously. Then we hard-shifted to a hot-take ...  Show more

In this episode, Jacke talks to Jeremy Tiang about his new translation of The Wedding Party, a Chinese classic contemporary novel written in the early 1980s by Liu Xinwu, one of the originators of what has been termed "scar literature." PLUS we feature a sneak preview of our conv ...  Show more

This week we've partnered with the Fitzwilliam Museum to take on the internet's renewed interest in all things literary. Inspired by the museum's rehang, where one portion of the Interiors gallery depicts women reading throughout the years, Ione and Gina talk through the oxymo ...

Buy me a coffee to say thank you for the podcast! === Ryuunosuke Akutagawa is one of the most famous authors from Japan. This story is about a man called Kandata. Kandata is a bad man who went to Hell. But Buddha gives him a chance to get out. Will he accept it? Today's story ...  Show more