Read Japanese Literature

This episode is rated mature.Horror and uncanny stories are fundamental elements of Japanese storytelling.We’ll start with a note about genre in general and “horror” in particular.We’ll continue with a discussion of horror in traditional Japanese storytelling, especially the kaid ...  Show more

This episode is rated mature.For decades, writing by women was treated as its own separate genre in Japan, joryu bungaku. In today's episode, we’ll start with an explanation of why joryu bungaku became its own separate genre. We’ll move on to the story of women’s writing between ...  Show more

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