Books on Asia

Anna Beth Keim: A History of Taiwan Through the Life of Huang Chin-tao

Amy Chavez — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 22:00:00 +0000

John talks to Anna Beth Keim about her acclaimed biography, Heaven Does Not Block All Roads: A History of Taiwan Through the Life of Huang Chin-tao. Huang Chin-tao (1926–2019) lived through every twist and turn of Taiwan’s turbulent twentieth century. He served as a Japanese soldier in China during World War II, joined an armed uprising against Taiwan's Chinese Nationalist post-war government (the 2-28 Incident of 1947), then went into hiding. He served with the Republic of China Navy before being captured and spending 23 years in prison. Once more a free man, he became a driving force in the pro-democracy movement. It was an amazing life, and this biography does a wonderful job of telling it.

Heaven Does Not Block All Roads was published by UK indie press Hurst in 2025.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

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Michael Freiling—100 Poems from Old Japan

Amy Chavez — Mon, 6 Apr 2026 22:00:00 +0000

Show Notes

Mike Freiling was born in San Francisco. His interest in poetry was first kindled in the mid-‘60’s, when he attended high school near the Haight Ashbury district, and attended readings by American Beat poets Gary Snyder, Allen Ginsberg, and Lenore Kandel.

Freiling attended University of San Francisco and MIT and helped co-found MIT’s literary magazine Rune. He studied poetry under David Ferry at Wellesley. After receiving his PhD, he was named a Luce Scholar with an appointment to Kyoto University,

In 2014, Freiling returned to Kyoto where he and his wife Satsuki Takikawa co-translated They Never Asked, an anthology of senryu poetry written by Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II.

Today we’re going to talk about his translation of the 100 Poems From Old Japan published by Tuttle in 2025, some 46 years after Freiling's first draft.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Bruce Rutledge and Chin Music Press

Amy Chavez — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 22:00:00 +0000

Bruce Rutledge and Chin Music Press

John talks to Bruce Rutledge, founder of Chin Music Press, about running an independent Asia-focused press, the origins of the company in Tokyo, and the move to Seattle, where Chin Music now has a bookstore in Pike Place Market. They talk about Chin Music’s highly successful graphic novel trilogy on the Japanese American incarceration experience during World War II. The wide-ranging conversation is an honest celebration of the challenges and pleasures of independent publishing.

Chin Music Press books mentioned in the episode include:

Their very first book, an anthology called Kuhaku, published in 2005.

Goodbye Madame Butterfly: Sex, Marriage and the Modern Japanese Woman by Sumie Kawakami (2007/2010)

Japan’s Urushi Craftsmen: Can Old World Artistry Survive in the 21st Century? by Bruce Rutledge (2020)

When the Waves Came by Michael Larson (2020)

WE HEREBY REFUSE: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration) by authors Frank Abe and Tamiko Nimura and illustrators Ross Ishikawa and Matt Sasaki (2021).

Fighting for America: Nisei Soldiers by Lawrence Matsuda (Author) and Matt Sasaki (Artist)

Those Who Helped Us: Assisting Japanese Americans During the War by Ken Mochizuki (Author) and Kiku Hughes (Illustrator)

Seattle Samurai: A Cartoonist’s Perspective of the Japanese American Experience by Kelly Goto (Author) and Sam Goto (Drawings)

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Steven Herman: Behind the White House Curtain

Amy Chavez — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 22:00:00 +0000

Steven Herman spent 1990-2006 in Japan, most of those years with Voice of America. He served as South East Asia Bureau Chief as well as North East Asia Bureau Chief for the Korean Penninsula & Japan. Over his 16 years living in Japan he covered the Kobe Earthquake as well as the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake-tsunami-nuclear disaster, which he said was "covering three disasters at the same time."

He also recounts his more recent days as a White House Foreign Correspondent, especially his time as a traveling pool reporter. You'll learn what it's like to fly on Air Force One, why he got banned (twice) from X by Elon Musk, that "Presidential M&M's" are a thing, and his best advice for those wanting to write a book about their experiences in a foreign country.

Finally, he gives a concise account of what happened to VOA in the Trump Administration, his role as a whistle-blower, and tells us why DOGE shut them down. Herman retired from VOA in mid 2025 and now teaches journalism. In this latter discussion, he reveals how he blew the biggest scoop ever in his journalism career.

Herman is currently the executive director of the Jordan Center for Journalism Advocacy & Innovation in the School of Journalism & New Media at the University of Mississippi.

Some of Herman's favorite books on Japan are:

Notes in Japan, by Alfred Parsons (1896)

No Surrender: My 30-year War the autobiography of Noda Hiro (1974, transl. Charles S. Terry)

The Warrior's Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa (Princeton Univ. Press, 1991)

Links

You can find Steve Herman on social media at:

Mastadon, Blue Sky, Threads, Substack, LinkedIn and Instagram

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

David Leffman "A Murder in Yunnan"

Amy Chavez — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 22:00:00 +0000

John Ross speaks with English travel writer and photographer David Leffman about his new book, A Murder in Yunnan: The Unsolved Killing of a British Diplomat on China’s Southwestern Frontier. The conversation begins with David’s own long engagement with China, which started with a difficult first trip in 1985, and then continued a decade later with work on The Rough Guide to China.

In the 1860s, the British dreamed of opening a profitable overland trade route into China from British India via Burma. The 1868 Sladen Expedition scouted a route from Bhamo in Burma to Tengyue/Tengchong in Yunnan, China. The going was difficult because the southwestern frontier area had been devastated by prolonged Muslim uprisings and banditry. The Browne Expedition tried again in 1875. Augustus Raymond Margary, a young British diplomat and gifted Chinese speaker, joined this second expedition after making a remarkable overland journey from Shanghai across the breadth of China. But tragedy soon struck.

Margary’s murder near the border – what became known as the Margary Affair – turned into a diplomatic crisis, nearly provoking a third Anglo-Chinese war. This BOA episode contains no spoilers; David doesn’t reveal who he thinks killed the young Englishman, but we do run through some of the many suspects and look at the fallout from this true crime case. And, as icing on the cake, we even hear about a Burmese mission to Peking with elephants as tribute.

A Murder in Yunnan is published by the Hong Kong-based Blacksmith Books. It’s due out April 7, 2026 but can be preordered now.

To learn more about David Leffman’s writing, visit his website.

John has written reviews for Bookish Asia of David’s earlier China books.

The Mercenary Mandarin: How a British adventurer became a general in Qing-dynasty China. John also did a related author interview with David for this book.

Paper Horses: Woodblock Prints of Gods from Northern China

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Anti Foreign Sentiment, Overtourism and Tourist Behvavior

Amy Chavez — Mon, 9 Mar 2026 22:00:00 +0000

Amy discusses the relationship between anti-foreign sentiment, overtourism, and tourist manners in Japan. Protests in Kyoto, Kamakura, and Tokyo claim that overtourism negatively impacts the daily lives of locals. Right-wing populist groups like the Sanseito party further use overtourism to fuel anti-foreign sentiment. With Japan's aging population, and only 59% of the Japanese people in the working age range, foreign workers are being brought to Japan to fill jobs, creating a perceived burden to locals, who are already battling overtourism. Amy also shares examples of poor tourist behavior that exacerbates anti-foreign sentiment. She emphasizes the importance of understanding and respecting Japanese culture to improve the tourist experience. Lastly, she offers tips from her book on how to be polite because, actually, many Japanese manners are not that obvious!

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Replay: Angus Waycott Walks Sado Island

Amy Chavez, Angus Waycott — Mon, 2 Mar 2026 23:00:00 +0000

On March 1, ferries from Japan's main Island of Honshu to Sado Island (Niigata Prefecture), started running again after their long winter slumber waiting for the frothy Sea of Japan to settle and for calmer winds to set in for reliable crossings. Let's celebrate Spring in Japan with this previous Books on Asia episode with author and travel-writer Angus Waycott who talks about his 8-day walk around Sado Island.

Waycott gives us in-depth accounts of: a mujina (tanuki-worshipping) cult, funa-ema (literally "ship horse pictures"), exile (including those of Zeami and Buddhist priest Nichiren), and the controversy behind the Kinzan gold mine and its "slave labor," all topics that he recorded in his book Sado: Japan's Island in Exile, originally published by Stone Bridge Press in 1996 and re-issued as an e-book by the author 2012 and 2023.

Book Description: "Given the choice, no-one ever went to Sado. For more than a thousand years, this island in the Sea of Japan was a place of exile for the deposed, disgraced or just plain distrusted — ex-emperors, aristocrats, poets, priests and convicted criminals alike. This book rediscovers the exiles’ island, explores the truth about its notorious gold mine, tracks down a vanishing badger cult, and drops in on the home of super-drummer band Kodo. Along the way, it paints a vivid picture of one of Japan’s most intriguing backwaters, now emerging from a long exile of its own."

About the Author

Angus Waycott is an author and travel writer whose books have been published in the UK, USA, Japan and the Netherlands. He has been the voice of TV news broadcasts, commercials, and award-winning documentaries, voiced "character" parts in game software and anime productions, and worked as a copywriter, publisher, teacher, translator, lighting designer, and staircase builder. His books are Sado: Japan's Isand in Exile, Paper Doors: Japan from Scratch (2012), The Winterborne Journey: along a small crack in the planet (2023), and National Parks of Western Europe (2012). Check out his short video on Sado Island.

The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press. Check out their books on Japan at the publisher's website. Amy Chavez, podcast host, is author of Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan and The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island.

Subscribe to the Books on Asia podcast.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Robert Norris on Living and Writing in Japan

John Ross, Robert Norris — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 22:00:00 +0000

Robert Norris has lived in Japan since 1983, mostly in Dazaifu, near Fukuoka, Kyushu. After retiring from university teaching in 2016, he returned to his long-standing passion for writing. The result was a heartfelt memoir about his life – and his mother’s – titled: The Good Lord Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise: Pentimento Memories of Mom and Me (Tin Gate, 2023).

In this episode with John Ross, we hear about Robert’s decades in Japan, from his early days learning Japanese through a local softball team, to his later academic career, including his time as a university dean. Naturally, the conversation also turns to books, and some of his favorite works of Japanese fiction.

Books & Authors mentioned:

The Woman in the Dunes by Abe Kōbō (published in Japanese in 1962; English edition, and film adaptation 1964).
No Longer Human by Dazai Osamu (Original Japanese title Ningen Shikkaku, published 1948, English. Edition 1958).
The Breaking Jewel by Oda Makoto (English edition, 2003, translated by Donald Keene)
Sakaguchi Ango’s short story “The Idiot” ("Hakui," published 1946).
In the discussion, Robert Norris referred to the "Buraiha" (無頼派 “decadent school” literary movement), comparing these post-WWII writers to the Beat Generation in the US. The school is associated with Dazai Osamu, Sakaguchi Ango, and contemporaries.

Learn more about Robert Norris and his writing at his website.

(This episode was originally released on the Bookish Asia Podcast with Plum Rain Press in 2024).

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

T.R.Reid and How to Ski Japan!

Amy Chavez — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 22:00:00 +0000

In a tribute to the 2026 Winter Olympics being held right now in Cortina, Italy, Amy takes up a discussion of skiing in Japan. Japan has hosted the Winter Olympics 2 times: 1972 (Sapporo) and 1998 (Nagano). Amy introduces previous Washington Post Tokyo Bureau Chief T.R. Reid's guidebook called Ski Japan! (Kodansha, 1993).

T.R. Reid lived in Japan for five years during the early 1990's. When the Gulf War started, the world turned its attention to that news, leaving foreign journalists in Japan with some unexpected free time. Reid and his family took action: they went skiing! The result is his 1993 guide to skiing in Japan, called Ski Japan!

Tasked with updating the book for 2026-27 skiing and snowboarding audience, Amy talks about some of the points in Reid's book: things that have changed as well as those that have not, and the affects of mass-tourism on Japan's ski resorts.

Ski Resorts Mentioned:

Niseko, Asahidake, Furano, Naeba, Hakuba Valley, Madarao and Tangram Ski Circus, and Myoko Ski Resorts.

Literary Ski Spots

Yasunari Kawabata's Snow Country took place in Yuzawa Onsen, the train station you get off at to get to Naeba Ski Area. There's a Snow Country museum behind the station which is excellent.

In Sapporo's Odori Park, there is a statue of Ishikawa Takuboku (1886-1912), author and poet: A Handful Of Sand, Romaji Diary and Sad Toys.

In Asahikawa, Hokkaido, there is the lovely, contemplative Miura Ayako Literature Museum dedicated to the Christian novelist who lived from 1922-1999, and wrote Shiokari Pass as well as other works not yet translated into English. It's a lovely 30-40 minute walk through the snow from the back of Asahikawa station.

There are also several statues and plaques dedicated to the two Austrian fathers of Japanese Skiing: Theordore Von Lerch and Hannes Schnieder. Von Lerch monuments can be found in the front of Asahikawa Airport in Hokkaido, and at Joetsu, Niigata, the latter considered the birthplace of skiing in Japan.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

China's Backstory with Lee Moore

Lee Moore, John Ross — Mon, 9 Feb 2026 22:00:00 +0000

John Ross talks to Lee Moore about his book, China’s Backstory: The History Beijing Doesn’t Want You to Read (2025, Unsung Voices Books). The book looks at the four important China-related stories that often make headlines: Taiwan, Xinjiang, the Chinese economy, and Hong Kong. In this conversation, Lee and John focus mainly on the history of Xinjiang and the Uyghurs, but also cover a wide range of other topics. Hoping to reach a broad audience, Lee took an unusual approach to writing China’s Backstory; although a scholar, he uses colloquial translations of Chinese texts, peppers his paragraphs with colorful language, and generally has a lot of fun. The approach is sure to generate controversy. The book is factually sound, however (it comes with endnotes), and has numerous literary references, as we would expect from the host of the long-running Chinese Literature Podcast.

Lee Moore’s book: China’s Backstory: The History Beijing Doesn’t Want You to Read (2025, Unsung Voices Books).

Lee’s podcast: Chinese Literature Podcast

Lee Moore’s book recommendations

He went with three books on China which he describes as “old school scholarship” and ones that most BOA listeners will likely not have read.

1. Michael Pollak’s Mandarins, Jews and Missionaries: Jewish Experience in the Chinese Empire (1980, Jewish Publication Society of America)

2. Sarah Paine’s Imperial Rivals: China, Russia and Their Disputed Frontier (1996, M. E. Sharpe)

3. Hodong Kim’s Holy War in China: The Muslim Rebellion and State in Chinese Central Asia, 1864-1877 (2004, Stanford University Press)

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Japan Guides and Guidebooks 1891 to 2019

John Ross, Amy Chavez — Mon, 2 Feb 2026 22:00:00 +0000

Amy muses on the death of guidebooks due to the internet and reminisces about some oldies but goodies on Japan, from John Murray's Handbook for Travellers in Japan (1891) to more recent guidebooks specializing in hiking mountains and pilgrimages.

Books Mentioned

John Murray's Handbook for Travellers in Japan (1890's)

Japanese Customs and Manners by Mock Joya (Sakurai Shoten/JTB, 1951)

Japanese Etiquette: An Introduction (World Fellowship Committee of the Tokyo WYCA, Charles E Tuttle Co., 1955)

Japanese Etiquette, by Bun Nakajima (1955, 1957)

Western Manners and English Conversation, by Glenn F. Baker (Sanseido, 1937)

Japan Inside Out by Jay, Sumi & Garet Gluck (1964, 1992)

Tokyo Subway Guide: Including 40 Bilingual Station Maps, by Boye Lafayette DeMente (Kodansha, 2002)

A Guide to Food Buying in Japan, by Caroyn R. Krouse (Tuttle, 1986)

A Birdwatcher's Guide to Japan, by Mark Brazil (Kodansha International, 1987)

Etiquette Guide to Japan, by Boye De Mente (Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1990)

Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan (Stone Bridge Press, 2018)

Hiking and Trekking the Japan Alps and Mount Fuji by Tom Fay and Wes Lang (Cicerone, 2019)

Japan's Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage, by Kat Davis (Cicerone, 2019)

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Simon Winchester’s Biography of Joseph Needham (with Tim McGirk)

Amy Chavez — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 22:00:00 +0000

The Man Who Loved China by Simon Winchester (with Tim McGirk)

John Ross talks with Tim McGirk about Simon Winchester’s masterpiece, The Man Who Loved China. That man was Joseph Needham, an eccentric Cambridge biochemist who traveled through war-torn China to document the nation’s scientific heritage. The ensuing book series, Science and Civilisation in China, revealed the world’s debt to Chinese science. John and Tim discuss the “Needham Question” (why China, once the global leader in technology, fell behind) and the scandal that almost ended his academic career. McGirk, a former foreign correspondent who knows Winchester from his early journalism days, shares some reporting anecdotes. Tim also explains how the life of Joseph Needham inspired his own historical novel, The Wondrous Elixir of the Two Chinese Lovers.

Books mentioned

The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom by Simon Winchester (HarperCollins, 2008).

Science and Civilisation in China: Needham’s monumental series. Volume 1 was published by Cambridge University Press in 1954.

The Diamond Sutra: considered the world’s oldest dated printed book (AD 868).

The Wondrous Elixir of the Two Chinese Lovers by Tim McGirk (Plum Rain Press, 2025)

People mentioned

Joseph Needham: The Cambridge scientist who documented China’s early scientific achievements.

Lu Gwei-djen: A scientist from Nanjing who sparked Needham’s interest in Chinese culture, and, after a 51-year romance, his second wife.

Dorothy Needham: Joseph’s first wife and a fellow brilliant scientist.

H.T. Huang: A refugee from Malacca who served as Needham’s secretary during his epic China expeditions.

Zhou Enlai: The Premier of the People’s Republic of China and Needham’s wartime friend who invited him to investigate biological warfare allegations.

Selected locations mentioned

Cambridge University, the UK, specifically Caius College (pronounced “keys”).

Chungking (Chóngqìng): China’s wartime capital.

Dunhuang: Home of the Mogao Grottos, a vast complex of Buddhist cave temples in northwest China, and where the Diamond Sutra was discovered.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

New 2026 Book Releases on Japan, Taiwan

Amy Chavez — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 22:00:00 +0000

This episode of the Books on Asia podcast introduces new fiction and non-fiction on Japan to be published this year, along with two upcoming books on Taiwan. We present the books here in the order they appear on the podcast. Listen to the episode for more information on each title:

Phantom Paradise: Escape from Manchuria, by Kay Enokido
(Bold Story Press, January 13, 2026)

Kokun: The Girl from the West, by Nahoko Uehashi (transl. Cathy Hirano)
(Europa Editions, January 13, 2026)

When the Museum Is Closed, by Emi Yagi (transl. Yuki Tejima)
(Soft Skull Press, January 27, 2026)

Hooked: A Novel of Obsession, by Asako Yuzuki (transl. Polly Barton)
(HarperVia, March 17, 2026)

Sisters in Yellow, by Mieko Kawakami (transl. Laurel Taylor and Hitomi Yoshio)
(Knopf, March 31, 2026)

Hollow Inside, by Asako Otani (transl. Ginny Tapley Takemori)
(Pushkin Press, May 5, 2026)

Japan’s Anime Revolution!: Twenty Animated Films That Changed the World, by Jonathan Clements
(Tuttle Publishing, May 12, 2026)

Troubled Waters, by Ichiyō Higuchi (transl. Bryan Karetnyk)
(Pushkin Press Classics, May 26, 2026)

Upcoming 2026 Releases from Plum Rain Press :

Taiwan 22: Travels in Paradox, by Tyrel Eskelson
Release date to be announced

Hidden Formosa: Life and Travels in Rural Taiwan, an anthology( ed. John Ross)
Release date to be announced

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Harmony Express: Travels by Train through China with Thomas Bird

Thomas Bird, John Ross — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 22:00:00 +0000

Thomas Bird was living in Southern China when he decided to explore the country by train and write a book about it. He first attempts to trace the steps of Bruce Chatwin after reading an article of his in the New York Times, but eventually decides to just go with the flow, traveling far and wide on China's old railway during the pre-Covid years 2014-2019. He seeks out old lines and trains and chronicles the people he meets along the way to tell readers what China is like today. The result is Harmony Express: Travels by Train Through China.

Books and authors included in the discussion

Riding the Iron Rooster (1988), by Paul Theroux

Forgotten Kingdom: Nine Years in Yunnan 1939-48 by Peter Goullart (1955)

The Great Walk of China: Travels on Foot from Shanghai to Tibet (2010), by Graham Earnshaw

Bruce Chatwin and Joseph Rock.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

The 1910 Japan-British Exhibition

Eryk Michael Smith, John Ross, Amy Chavez — Mon, 5 Jan 2026 22:00:00 +0000

The 1910 Japan-Britain Exhibition – with Formosa Files

In this special crossover episode, John Ross and Eryk Michael Smith from Formosa Files: the History of Taiwan Podcast explore how Japan showcased its “model colony” of Formosa (1895–1945). First up is the 1910 Japan–British Exhibition in London, which featured human exhibits – 24 Indigenous Paiwan people from southern Taiwan. Next, they follow Crown Prince Hirohito on his 1923 royal tour of the island, before finishing with the 1935 Taiwan Exposition, a massive event commemorating forty years of rule. To learn more about these stories – and to find other episodes – visit the Formosa Files website.

Book recommendation: The primary source for the story of Paiwan tribespeople at the London Exhibition was Lost Histories: Recovering the Lives of Japan’s Colonial Peoples by Kirsten Ziomek (Harvard Asia Center, 2019).

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Amy Reads from her Book: The Widow, The Priest & The Octopus Hunter

John Ross, Amy Chavez — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 22:00:00 +0000

Amy reads from The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island.

Chapter 1: The War Widow

In 1997, Amy moved to a small island of just 950 people in Japan's Seto Inland Sea. She rented an akiya (empty house) from a widow whose soldier-husband had died in WWII. Six years later, when the widow dies, Amy purchases her home and must finally clear out the old woman's possessions. This is when Amy becomes fascinated with the woman, her life of hardship, and her will to overcome the past.

The mystery of this woman's life prompts the author to set out on a year-long journey around the Shiraishi Island to interview the villagers who knew her best.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Amy & John Discuss Childhood Reading Influences

Amy Chavez, John Ross — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 22:00:00 +0000

John Ross, during his schoolboy days in New Zealand, was interested in far-flung places such as South America, Papua New Guinea, Ancient Greece and Rome, as well as books on World War One and Two. He read a lot of youth fiction starting at 10 years old, but as a teenager, had a voracious appetite for nonfiction. In his 20s he discovered a few wonderful fiction writers, but has still kept mostly to nonfiction through the decades.

His first books were Willard Price’s Adventure series and Gerald Durrell books on real-life animal collecting. He also read detective and war stories (Biggles) and lots of travel accounts and travel guides.

Robert Louis Stevenson was a favorite—Treasure Island, Kidnapped—and later discovered that Stevenson was a very good essayist too. John also enjoyed Rudyard Kipling’s Kim.

The ancient Greeks left a great impression on him: Herodotus (The Histories) and Thucydides (The Peloponnesian War)

In his early 20s he started reading proper literature:Anna Karenina, Dr Zhivago, George Orwell, and Joseph Conrad. He loved Peter Hopkirk’s The Great Game series featuring colorful adventurers and spies in exotic locations. In his early 30s he discovered Raymond Chandler and in his 40s H.P. Lovecraft.

For books on Asia and East Asia, he started reading about Burma in the late 1980s, and early 1990s, and Mongolia in the mid-1990s, and increasingly China and Taiwan, and even some works on Japan.

Some well known book titles that made an early impression were Lost Horizon by James Hilton, Burmese Days by George Orwell, The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, and Jonathan Spence’s China books. Also books on Asia by Maurice Collis.

Amy’s Reading

As a child, Amy remembers reading Black Beauty (Anna Sewell, 1877), Walter Farley’s series The Black Stallion (1941), and a book called Ponies Plot (Janet Hickman, 1971). She loved all the required reading for school (some books now banned): English literature such as Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock, Shakespeare’s plays, and lots of Roald Dahl, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and James and the Giant Peach; and American authors John Steinbeck (1930s–1950s), J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye (1951), Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter (1850), Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh (1964) and A Separate Peace (1959) by John Knowles. She recalls that in first grade, her teacher read to the class Little Pear (1931), by Eleanor Francis Lattimore, about a Chinese boy.

From her parents’ book collection she read Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott (1868), and Wuthering Heights (1847) Emily Bronte as well as stories by Charlotte Bronte and other classics.

In college she moved into more popular literature, again much of it required reading for her classes: works by Thomas Pynchon, Jerzy Kosiński, Blind Date (1977) and The Painted Bird (1965) the latter of which—notably—had a scene on bestiality and would probably be banned as college reading these days!.

In high school, her father paid her to read books, and she vividly remembers excerpts from Henry Hazlitt’s The Foundations of Morality (1964), which still influences her choices in life today. She credits her father’s books for her interest in philosophy and a basic understanding of free-market economics.

Once she knew she was headed to Japan, she read Edwin Reischauer’s The Japanese Today (1988), and Japan as Number One, by Ezra Vogel (1979) which were her first books to read about Asia (other than Shogun). For most of her childhood she preferred non-fiction and didn’t start reading fiction seriously till she arrived in Japan and read Haruki Murakami. Now she reads everything!

At the end of the podcast Amy & John encourage listeners to write in to ask for suggestions on what books on Asia to give friends or family. They’ll choose one to talk about at the end of each show with appropriate suggested reading. Since the BOA Podcast doesn’t have an email address (yet), they ask you submit requests via social media:

Follow BOA on Facebook and contact via Messenger or sign up for the BOA newsletter, from which you can reply directly to each email. There is a BOA Twitter (X) account, but they appear to be locked out at the moment (sigh).

They also ask listeners to subscribe to the podcast, leave a review and share it with your friends so that Amy & John can have a happier holiday.

May your holidays be bibliophilic: full of black ink, long words, excessive pages and new books!

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Carol Isaak on Portland’s Lan Su Chinese Garden

Carol Issak, John Ross — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 22:00:00 +0000

Lan Su Garden is a magnificent Ming scholar garden in downtown Portland, Oregon. It opened in 2000, a collaboration between sister cities Portland and Suzhou, hence the name: Lan Su. Photographer and local resident Carol Isaak found refuge there during the Covid pandemic, fell in love with it, and began photographing the oasis through the following seasons and years. The result: her photographic book, Seasons: Lan Su Chinese Garden, published in 2025 by Seattle-based bookstore and publisher Chin Music Press.

Carol and John chat about Lan Su, the Asian-American community in the Northwest, and Suzhou’s rich heritage as a center of book culture and scholar gardens, especially during the Ming dynasty (1368 to 1644).

Also mentioned is the graphic novel We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration by authors Frank Abe, Tamiko Nimura, and illustrators Ross Ishikawa and Matt Sasaki (Chin Music Press, 2021).

To see Carol’s work, including photographs of Lan Su, visit her website.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Books on Korean Islands with John Ross and Chris Tharp

Chris Tharp, John Ross — Mon, 8 Dec 2025 22:00:00 +0000

The islands, in order of appearance in the episode, are: Geomun Island (Port Hamilton); the garden island of Oedo (Oe Island – “do” is the Korean word for “island”); Geojedo, site of an important Korean War POW camp and often spelled “Koje”;Ulleungdo and the nearby disputed islets of Dokdo; and the fictional island of Sukhan.

Books mentioned in this Episode:

A Korean Odyssey: Island Hopping in Choppy Waters (2020) by Michael Gibb

Anglo-Korean Relations and the Port Hamilton Affair, 1885–1887 (2016) by Stephen A. Royle

The Hijacked War: The Story of Chinese POWs in the Korean War, (2020) by David Cheng Chang

War Trash (2004) by Ma Jin

Island of Fantasy: A Memoir of an English Teacher in Korea (2005) by Shawn Matthews

The Korea Story (1952) by John C. Caldwell

The Cuttlefish (2005) by Chris Tharp

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Amy & John Discuss Gift Book Ideas for the Holidays

John Ross, Amy Chavez — Mon, 1 Dec 2025 22:00:00 +0000

Books discussed in this episode, in order of appearance:

The Last Great Australian Adventurer: Ben Carlin's Epic Journey Around the World by Amphibious Jeep (Random House Australia, 2017) by Gordon Bass

Once a Fool: From Japan to Alaska by Amphibious Jeep by Boye De Mente

Japanese Swords and Armor: Masterpieces from Thirty of Japan's Greatest Samurai Warriors (Tuttle, 2024) by Paul Martin

The Modern Japanese Garden by Stephen Mansfield (Thames & Hudson, 2025)

The Wondrous Elixir of The Two Chinese Lovers (Plum Rain Press, 2025) by Tim McGirk

China Running Dog, (Plum Rain Press, 2025) by Mark Kitto

An American Bum in China: Featuring the Bumblingly Brilliant Escapades of Expatriate Matthew Evans (Camphor Press, ) by Tom Carter (Available in Audio book format, narrated by Eryk Michael Smith)

The Cuttlefish, by Chris Tharp (Plum Rain Press, 2025)

A Tale of Three Tribes in Dutch Formosa (Plum Rain Press, 2024) by Yao-Chang Chen

The Lotus Moon: Art and Poetry of Buddhist Nun Ōtagaki Rengetsu (Floating World Editions, 2023) by John Stevens

Other podcasts mentioned:

BOA Ep. 56:Ted Goosen on translating Hiromi Kawakami's The Third Love

Formosa Files Podcast about the Amphibious Jeep

BOA Ep. 39: Paul Martin on Japanese Swords and Armor

BOA Ep. 48: Stephen Mansfield on The Modern Japanese Garden

BOA Ep.54: Mark Kitto on China Running Dog

BOA Ep. 35: John Stevens on The Healing Power of Ōtagaki Rengetsu

Formosa Files Podcast: Taiwan and Xu Fu, and the Two Chinese Lovers with Tim McGirk

Formosa Files Podcast: A Tale of Three Tribes in Dutch Formosa

Bookish Asia Podcast: Chris Tharp on The Cuttlefish

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Ted Goossen on Translating Hiromi Kawakami's "Third Love"

Ted Goossen, John Ross, Amy Chavez — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 22:00:00 +0000

Amy Chavez has a deep discussion with Ted Goossen about Japan, it's emerging culture, it's historically strong women and how Japanese literature and its themes, are changing. In addition to talking about Hiromi Kawakami's novel The Third Love, other mentioned in this podcast episode are feminist Chizuko Ueno, translator John Bester and authors Kanzaburo Oe, Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, Masuji Ibuse and Mieko Kawakami.

Goossen is currently reading books by Ruth Ozeki, and short stories by various authors. One older book that made an impression on him was The Anatomy of Dependence by psychologist Takeo Doi, which examines the idea of dependency in relationships among the Japanese.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Sam Baldwin–Self-publishing Success and a New Travel Book Review Website

Amy Chavez — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 22:00:00 +0000

Sam Baldwin tells John Ross about some ingredients behind the success of his self-published memoir For Fukui’s Sake: Two Years in Rural Japan (the subject of a previous chat between them on the Bookish Asia podcast). They touch on Sam’s latest memoir, Dormice & Moonshine: Falling for Slovenia. But the heart of the conversation is some travel book recommendations – and Sam’s new project: a review website dedicated to travelogues and travel memoirs: https://travelmemoir.review

Sam's Recommended books (in order of mention):

Beyond the Sky and the Earth: A Journey into Bhutan (1999) by Jamie Zeppa

Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer (Eng. 1953)

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea (2003) and Burma Chronicles (2007) by Guy Delisle

Tonoharu (parts 1-3, 2008-16) by Lars Martinson

River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (2001) and Country Driving: A Journey from Farm to Factory (2010) by Peter Hessler

Lost Japan (1993) by Alex Kerr

The Same Moon (2020) by Sarah Coomber

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

What's it Like to Live in China? Mark Kitto on China Running Dog

Mark Kitto, Amy Chavez, John Ross — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 22:00:00 +0000

In his novel China Running Dog, a young man in his early twenties lives in Shanghai in the year 2000, in a greed-crazed free-for-all moral and lawless vacuum created by the Chinese Communist Party. Johnny Trent, small-time entrepreneur from Basildon in the UK, ends up in China, where he meets Felix Fawcett-Smith, fresh off the boat and from the other side of the tracks. An unlikely friendship begins.

Johnny impresses the well-bred Felix with his street smarts until Felix takes Johnny’s advice too literally – and too far – and slips into Shanghai’s murky underbelly. He enters a world where the Party, power, and connections to them, are all that matter, where criminals are given sainthoods and saints sent to hell.

Johnny tries to stop Felix’s spiral, not least because Felix is taking a sweet, angelic girl, Anita, down with him and Johnny has feelings for Anita that he has never dared to put into words. But Felix thinks he knows best. Like Johnny, all he wants is respect.

It’s up to Johnny to save whoever he can, besides himself.

Books mentioned in this podcast: Shanghai Baby by Wei Hui, Shanghai by Richie Yokomitsu (transl. Dennis Washburn), Candy by Mian Mian

Mark’s recommended books on Asia:

Six Records of a Floating Life by Shen Fu.

Frank Dikötter’s trilogy of China,

The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

The Wondrous Elixir of the Two Chinese Lovers–Tim McGirk

Mon, 3 Nov 2025 22:28:58 +0000

The Wondrous Elixir of the Two Chinese Lovers – Tim McGirk

The novel tells the story of archaeologist Ned Sheehan's discovery of two ancient Chinese tombs at a Maya site in southern Mexico. One tomb belongs to Xu Fu, a famous Taoist priest who vanished on a quest for the elixir of immortality at the behest of China’s First Emperor. The other houses the emperor’s own mother, scandalously revealed to have been Xu Fu’s lover.

Tim and John talk about what is known about Xu Fu, a historical person, and Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s obsession with immortality. They speculate on what happened to Xu Fu’s large expedition – could he have reached the Americas? Or Japan (where he is known as Jofuku)?

John recommends John Dougill’s Green Shinto website, which has several pieces regarding Xu Fu in Japan.

The Wondrous Elixir of the Two Chinese Lovers is published by Plum Rain Press (which John runs), and is available as a paperback and ebook on Amazon stores.

Tim McGirk’s Book recommendations:

The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom (2008) by Simon Winchester

The Grand Historian (also Records of the Grand Historian) by Sima Qian (there was various translations – the original was published circa 91 BC.)

The China Voyage: A Pacific Quest by Bamboo Raft (1994) by Tim Severin

Visit Tim McGirk’s website

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Lauren Scharf on Japanese traditional houses: minka and akiya

Mon, 27 Oct 2025 22:00:00 +0000

Lauren Scharf talks about Japan's minka, kominka and akiya houses in Japan.

MinkaCon 2025, is an event to be held from Nov. 7-9, in Shinshiro, Aichi Prefecture. The two-and-a-half-day event features discussions, presentations, workshops and a writers panel for those interested in life in the Japanese countryside and preserving traditional Japanese houses. There will be a bevy of authors present, many of whom we've featured in previous episodes of the Books on Asia podcast: Azby Brown, author of Just Enough (Ep 26); photographer and writer Everett Kennedy Brown; Alex Kerr (Lost Japan, Finding the Heart Sutra) (Ep 8) who will be beamed in via pre-recorded message; Iain Maloney author of The Only Gaijin in the Village (Ep 24); and David Joiner, author of The Heron Catchers and Kanazawa (Ep. 19).

Lauren's recommended books on Japan's countryside:

Inaka: Portraits of Life in Rural Japan (various authors)

The Only Gaijin in the Village, by Iain Maloney

The Widow, The Priest and The Octopus Hunter, by Amy Chavez

Just Enough by Azby Brown

Lost Japan by Alex Kerr

Hokkaido Highway Blues, by Will Ferguson

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

A Tale of Three Tribes in Dutch Formosa

Yao-Chang Chen, Wen-ching Ho, John Ross, Eryk Smith — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 04:36:31 +0000

A Tale of Three Tribes in Dutch Formosa (by Yao-Chang Chen, translated by He Wen-ching)

Sitting in for Amy is the duo John Ross & Eryk Michael Smith of Plum Rain Press and the Formosa Files podcast. They discuss their very first book release, a historical novel set in southwestern Taiwan in the mid-1600s. The Dutch East India Company’s presence there (1624-1662) came to an end after a series of battles and an epic nine-month siege by the Ming loyalist warlord Koxinga (aka Zheng Chenggong), born from a Japanese mother and a Chinese father. Three Tribes tells the story of the Dutch, the Chinese, and the Indigenous Siraya people. The main protagonist is Maria, the teenage second daughter of Reverend Antonius Hambroeck, who arrives in Formosa in 1648. Although Maria is a fictional character (Dr. Chen’s imagined Dutch ancestor), the majority of characters in the story, including her family, are real historical people.

A Tale of Three Tribes in Dutch Formosa was first published in 2012 in Chinese to great acclaim. For the author, Dr. Chen Yao-chang, then in his sixties, it was an unexpected new career as a historical novelist. The novel was translated into English by Ho Wen-ching, a professor and translator.

Notes:

Tainan is where the Dutch settlement was and is the old capital city.

The Dongning Kingdom was from 1661-1883

Frederick Coyett was the last Dutch Governor.

Sally Burdon: Asia Bookroom and rare books

Sally Burdon, Asia Bookroom, Eryk Smith, Amy Chavez, John Ross — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Asia Bookroom exhibits their most precious items at rare and antiquarian book fairs in Melbourne, Sydney, and Hong Kong. Look for them at the Sydney Rare Book Fair from Oct. 23-25.

In this podcast we discuss some of the items on offer at the Sydney Rare Book Fair:

The Disputed Islands Controversial Japanese Map by Hayashi Shihei from around 1790. This is a manuscript copy (written by hand), and includes the Takeshima/Dokdo islands indicating they belong to Korea.

A silk sample book from the 1950s

A Japanese policeman's notebook from shortly after Japan took over Taiwan. It details experiences with indigenous people of Taiwan.

Materials from Communist China

Books:

The Tokyo Higher Normal School: Life of the Japanese Women of Today (from 1937)

Samurai Tales: Manuscript Writing's on Revenge Killings and Loyalty

Books mentioned in the podcast:

The Shortest History of Japan, by Lesley Downer, China Running Dog by Mark Kitto, Samurai and Silk, by Haru Matsukata Reischauer.

Books recommended by Sally Burdon:

Myself a Mandarin by Austin Coates, about Hong Kong,

Country Driving by Peter Hestings

Ghosts of the Tsunami by Richard Lloyd Parry

You can visit Asia Bookroom online at https://www.asiabookroom.com/

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Jake Adelstein: The Devil Takes Bitcoin

Mon, 6 Oct 2025 22:00:00 +0000

Adelstein introduces the people behind Mt. Gox, one of the world's largest Bitcoin exchanges, based in Tokyo and run by Frenchman Mark Karpeles. As a reporter for The Daily Beast, Japan-based Adelstein starts researching Mt. Gox, to figure out how it got hacked, and how it collapsed i 2014 with over 650,000 Bitcoins gone missing. He covers the laws, customs and quirks of Japan's hostage-justice system and how the entire investigation into Karpeles and Mt. Gox played out. And yes, it includes cats!

The Devil Takes Bitcoin: Cryptocurrency Crimes and the Japanese Connection will be published by Scribe, Oct. 14, 2025.

Jake is an book junkie who reads across a variety of genres. He is currently reading:

The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto by Benjamin Wallace about the founder of Bitcoin.
The Sweet Spot by Paul Bloom
大阪府警暴力団担当刑事
Yellow Face by R.F. Kuang

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Stephen Mansfield on The Modern Japanese Garden

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 22:00:00 +0000

In this episode we cover traditional Japanese gardens and how ancient gardens were related to nature, geomancy, literature and Japanese concepts of wabi-sabi, yugen, and mono no aware. but how garden design shifted from symbolism and representation to a more naturalistic style as seen in Murin-an, a garden in kyoto. Essays on garden design include entries by Ogawa Jihei (1860-1933), Kengo Kuma, Mira Locher, Japanese monk & garden designer Masuno Shunmyo, and garden historian, critic, and author Tim Richardson.

Some of the gardens discussed are: Kagawa Prefectural Office in Takamatsu city, Kengo Kuma and Nezu Museum, Osaka Station Roof Garden, Hyakudanen on Awajishima Island in Hyogo (designed by Tadao Ando), the Carbon Fibre Garden in Tokyo, and the pop-art garden at Teshima Yokoo House.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Book Talk: Korea

Chris Tharp, Sten Bergman, Greta Garbo, BR Meyers, John Ross, Eryk Smith — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 22:00:00 +0000

Books discussed include:

Korean Wilds and Villages (1938) by Swedish zoologist Sten Bergman

The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why it Matters, by BR Meyers

Absurdistan, by (2006) by Gary Shteyngart

Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut

The Cuttlefish (2005) by Chris Tharp

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Hector Garcia—The Spirit of Shinto

Mon, 15 Sep 2025 22:00:00 +0000

Amy Chavez and Hector Garcia discuss his recently released book, The Spirit of Shinto, and how Shinto’s worldview permeates pop culture—anime, manga, films—where good and evil often blur, echoing the idea that kegare (dirt, corruption) must be cleansed rather than destroyed. Unlike Western religions where God is above, Shinto gods exist among people, as seen in Makoto Shinkai’s films or games like Ghost in the Shell and Nintendo’s video games. Hector, a Tokyoite himself, urges people to seek the Shinto "awe" in their daily lives since Shinto should not be explained but lived. At the very end of the episode, Garcia talks about his just-released novel Eternity in Kyoto a techno thriller with a love story that employs the Shinto concept of crossing through a gate and entering a parallel world.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Guitarist Marty Friedman and Dreaming Japanese

Amy Chavez, John Ross — Tue, 9 Sep 2025 13:13:28 +0000

Amy Chavez opens the show by asking Friedman to give a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, who passed away on July 25, 2025. Friedman then turns to the reason for writing his book, co-authored by music journalist John Weiderhorn. Friedman talks about the co-writing process and describes it as “putting his musical abilities into words.” His latest solo release, Drama, he calls his best and most romantic work to date — a largely orchestral album that stretches beyond his usual style.

Beyond music, Friedman reflects on being a “foreign talento” on Japanese TV, participating in variety shows, commercials, and thoughts on the Japanese entertainment industry. He reveals his inner growth writing the anime theme song Kirei na Senritsu (Beautiful Melody) for Kotoko.

Friedman also shares his favorite Japanese book, Ai no Eigyō Hōshin (The Principles of Love Management) by Japanese producer Tsunku, advising young Japanese men on how to cultivate confidence. His favorite J-Pop songs are AKB48’s “Heavy Rotation” which he recalls performing with them at the Budokan. He praises Kahala Tomomi’s “I’m Proud” as an example of the Japanese concept of heta-uma which he explains at length in the podcast discussion. He points to Ikimono Gakari as another recommendation for those interested in learning more about J-Pop.

For the full Show Notes with hyperlinks to Friedman's songs and a book review of his memoir Dreaming Japanese, visit the Books on Asia website at www.booksonasia.net

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Ginny Takemori on Translating Cats

Ginny Tapley Takemori, Amy Chavez — Mon, 1 Sep 2025 22:00:00 +0000

A few of Takemori's favorite books on Japan are:

Hitomachi, a photo book by Araki Noboyoshi
Walking The Kiso Road by William Scott Wilson (See our podcast episode with the author)
The Catalpa Bow by Carmen Blacker

Takemori's upcoming translations are Grave of the Fireflies by Akiyuki Nosaka (Penguin Modern Classics, Sept. 2025), Hollow Inside by Asako Otani (2026) and Family of the Wasteland by Atsushi Sato (May 2027).

Read a book review of Mornings Without Mii (previous title Mornings With My Cat Mii) on the BOA website.

Subscribe to the Books on Asia podcast.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Lina Terrell on Translating Okinawa

Lina Terrell, Amy Chavez — Wed, 7 May 2025 17:01:44 +0000

Lina Terrell is a translator of Japanese historical texts. Today we are going to talk about her recently released translation of The Legacy of the Ryukyu Kingdom: An Okinawan History (JPIC, 2025) by Takara Kurayoshi, a native of Okinawa. Before Okinawa, the unified and independent Ryukyu Kingdom existed for 400 years. What was this island nation like and what kind of world did it exist in? Author and Okinawa native Takara Kurayoshi plumbs the depths of Okinawa's distant and obscure past.

Amy and Lina discuss the Ryukyu Kingdom before it became a part of Japan. They discuss noro priestesses, sea pirates, and trade with China.

Lina's favorite books on Japan are:

The Roads to Sata: A 2000-Mile Walk through Japan b Alan Booth

The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan by Ivan Morris

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Igor Prusa "Scandal in Japan"

amy chavez, igor prusa — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 21:04:18 +0000

Igor Prusa, Ph.D. is a Czech scholar in Japanese and media studies, currently affiliated with Ambis University Prague and Metropolitan University Prague. He received PhDs in media studies at Prague’s Charles University and at the University of Tokyo. His research interests include media scandals in Japan and anti-heroism in popular fiction.

Today we're going to talk about his new book, Scandal in Japan: Transgression, Performance and Ritual (Routledge, 2024). He recently started teaching a course at the University of Vienna on the subject.

Prusa explains his definition of a scandal, emphasizing its public revelation and media framing. He highlights the Unification Church scandal involving former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, noting its unique trigger by a tragedy and the role of foreign media in revealing information. Prusa also discusses narrative aspects and media event characteristics of Japanese scandals, concluding that while controversies often serve as rituals, they rarely lead to fundamental societal improvements.

They then mull over two major Japanese scandals. The first is the Olympus scandal of 2011, exposed by CEO Michael Woodford, which involved hiding company losses for over 20 years through creative accounting and mergers. The scandal was initially covered by outside media, with the Financial Times playing a crucial role. The Nissan scandal, involving CEO Carlos Ghosn, revealed millions in personal financial gains and a conflict between Japanese and French governance. Ghosn's extravagant lifestyle and a planned merger with Renault further fueled public outrage. This conversation also highlights the role of media in scandal coverage and the cultural nuances of whistleblowing in Japan.

Lastly, Prusa tells what his 3 favorite books on Japan are:

1. Shimbun Kisha (新聞記者) by Isoko Mochizuki (望月衣塑子). Written in Japanese, this book provides insights into the role of journalists in Japan and how they have helped expose various scandals, including the Moritomo Gakuen and Shiori Ito rape cases. The book inspired a 2019 Japanese film by the same name.

2. Media and Politics in Japan edited by Susan Pharr and Ellis Krauss, with a chapter on political scandals by Maggie Farley. This is a classic introduction to understanding the relationship between media and politics in Japan.

3. Idols and Celebrity in Japanese Media Culture edited by Patrick Galbraith and Jason Karlin. Offers valuable insights into the role of idols and celebrities in Japanese media and culture, and how scandals can emerge in this context.

Be sure to check out Igor Prusa's book Scandal in Japan: Transgression, Performance and Ritual.

Visit him on social media at the following links:

Academic website: https://mup.academia.edu/IgorPrusa
LinkedIn (follow here for the latest Japanese scandals and Prusa's analysis)
Facebook

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Baye McNeil talks about Racism in Japan

Baye Mcneil, Amy Chavez — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:35:38 +0000

In this episode of the Books on Asia podcast, Amy Chavez talks with Baye McNeil talk about being a black minority in Japan, Japanese views of black people, the "African Samurai," the arrival of Commodore Perry in 1854 (who brought a minstrel show with him who performed "blackface"), and some of the media's portrayals of black people in both the US and Japan. He cites the original Calpis beverage label with a blackface character and mentions tropes in Japanese television. He suggests Japanese change the way they tell stories and use biracial people to represent black people rather than their own representations of black people. He also reflects on teaching English in Japan, the power of propaganda, and the idea of "American exceptionalism."

As a writer, columnist, and activist, Baye McNeil writes about diversity and inclusiveness. McNeil is a columnist for The Japan Times (English) where he writes the monthly column called "Black Eye" about the African American experience living in Japan and also writes for Toyokeizai Online (Japanese) where he shares reflections on life and race, as well as profiling people of color who are reshaping Japan's cultural landscape. He is author of two previous books: Hi! My Name is Loco and I am a Racist and Loco in Yokohama, both of which offer accounts of life as a visible minority in Japan. His latest book is Words By Baye, Art By Miki: Crafting a Life Together with Affection, Creativity, and Resilience.

Baye's favorite books on Japan are Shogun, Gaijin, and James Clavell's entire series.

Be sure to check out Baye’s book

Words By Baye, Art By Miki: Crafting a Life Together with Affection, Creativity, and Resilience available on Amazon.

Visit him on social media at the following links:

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Michael Pronko's New Books: Shitamachi Scam and Tokyo Tempos

Amy Chavez, Michael Pronko — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 14:43:55 +0000

Podcast host Amy Chavez talks with Michael Pronko, a Tokyo-based writer of murder, memoir, and music. He is professor of American Literature at Meiji Gakuen University. During his over 20 years in the country, he has written for Newsweek Japan, The Japan Times, and Artscape Japan, and has been featured on NHK TV and Nippon television. He also runs the website Jazz in Japan, which covers the vibrant jazz scene in Tokyo and Yokohama. Today, we're going to talk about Pronko's fiction, as well as his nonfiction books, including his most recently released Tokyo Tempos.

Pronko's "Detective Hiroshi" series includes:

The Last Train
The Moving Blade
Tokyo Traffic
Tokyo Zangyo
Azabu Getaway
Shitamachi Scam (which we talk about on the podcast today)

Pronko's "Tokyo Moments" series includes:

Beauty and Chaos
Tokyo's Mystery Deepens
Motions and Moments
Tokyo Tempos (which we talk about on the podcast today)

Pronko's favorite books on Japan are:

Empire of Signs by Roland Barthes
The Anatomy of Dependence by Takeo Doi
You Gotta Have Wa and Tokyo Junkie by Robert Whiting
The Zen books by D.T. Suzuki, and anything by Donald Richie

You can find Michael Pronko online at his website (http://www.michaelpronko.com) and at the following links on social media:

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Paul Martin on Japanese Swords

Amy Chavez, Paul Martin — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 23:36:23 +0000

Paul Martin is a Japanese sword expert who has worked at the British Museum and traveled extensively in Japan to study swords and armor. Martin's new book Japanese Swords and Armor covers 30 famous samurai warriors and their swords, armor, and other artifacts associated with them, from antique sets to modern treasures, each with its own historical and cultural significance. The book was originally published in both Italian and French, and will now be available in English from by Tuttle Publishing in Oct. 2024.

He discusses the history and significance of Emperor Go-Toba, who was exiled to the Oki Islands but continued making swords there. The swords he made were marked with a chrysanthemum, which became the basis for the current Imperial seal.

In this podcast episode, Paul Martin highlights some of the most notable pieces in his book, including a wooden sword made by Miyamoto Musashi and sword fittings attributed to him. Martin provided recommendations on the best places in Japan to see historical Japanese swords.

Empeor Go-Toba was known for his poetry, much of it written while in exile on Oki Island. One particular poem involves the poet banishing the frogs from a nearby pond:

"Frogs, croaking in the pond,
Go away, banish your noise;
In this world of sorrow,
There is no need for your song." (translation generated from ChatGPT)

This poem highlights Go-Toba's despair and the heavy burden of his exile. The imagery of banishing the frogs from the pond serves as a metaphor for his own banishment and desire for peace amidst his suffering.

Paul also talks about the beginning lines of the Tale of the Heike, an epic that recounts the history of the late Heian period, including the life and exile of Go-Toba

“The sound of the Gion Shoja temple bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the sala flowers reveals the truth that to flourish is to fall. The proud do not endure, like a passing dream on a night in spring; the mighty fall at last, to be no more than dust before the wind.” Helen Craig McCullough

Lastly, Paul's favorite books are:

1. They Came to Japan by Michael Cooper, a collection of Jesuit records from the 17th century.

2. The Tale of the Heike, (version translated by Helen Craig McCullough) a classic Japanese epic poem that reflects the concept of impermanence.

“The sound of the Gion Shoja temple bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the sala flowers reveals the truth that to flourish is to fall. The proud do not endure, like a passing dream on a night in spring; the mighty fall at last, to be no more than dust before the wind.” Helen Craig McCullough

3. The documentary "The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On" by Kazuo Hara, which explores the ambiguities of Japanese culture and the horrors of war.

Be sure to pick up his book: Japanese Swords and Armor: Masterpieces from Thirty of Japan's Most Famous Samurai Warriors (Tuttle, Oct. 2024)

You can follow Paul Martin by clicking on the following links:

Website: The Japanese Sword (thejapanesesword.com)

YouTube: Paul Martin: The Japanese Sword

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The.Japanese.Sword

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejapanesesword/

Twitter: @thejapaneseswrd (https://x.com/thejapaneseswrd)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thejapanesesword/

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Burritt Sabin on Yokohama and Kamakura

Amy Chavez, burritt sabin — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 17:23:43 +0000

Burritt Sabin was born in New York City and came to Japan as a naval officer in 1975. His professional career in Japan started as a journalist, and he quickly moved into writing and historical research. The first book we’re going to discuss today is about Yokohama, one of the first Japanese ports to open to foreign trade in the 1850s. A Historical Guide to Yokohama: Sketches of the Twice-Risen Phoenix is a window into a time when Japan was rapidly opening up to the world. (The book is in English, despite what the Amazon listing says.)

The other book we’ll talk about is Kamakura: A Contemplative Guide,which highlights the first samurai capital in the 12th century. Shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo chose this city for the seat of his military government, ushering in the Kamakura Period in 1185.

Subjects covered in the podcast:

1. Townsend Harris and the opening of Japan (Yokohama)
2. The meeting of Sun Yat-sen and Miyazaki Toten in Yokohama
3. The Hotel New Grand in Yokohama

4. The Great Buddha of Kamakura
5. Natsume Soseki's and Suzuki Daisetz's sojourn at Kigen-in, Kamakura
6. The Kamakura bunshi

Sabin also discusses his three favorite books on Japan:

1. The Death of Old Yokohama in the Earthquake of 1923 by Otis Manchester Poole
A gripping account in real time of a man navigating the post-quake hellscape in an attempt to reach his family.

2. Aru Shisei no To: Koshikata wa kanashiku mono kiroku (A Waif of the Streets: Record of a Sad Passage) by Hasegawa Shin
Hasegawa Shin (1884~1963) recounts growing up in poverty in late-19th century Yokohama, teaching himself to read and write and later becoming a leading popular playwright.

3. Sugao Kamakura (The True Face of Kamakura) ed. by Osaragi Jiro
An insightful collection of essays on Kamakura by writers who have made the city home.

Be sure to check out Burritt Sabin's books A Historical Guide to Yokohama: Sketches of the Twice-Risen Phoenix (2002) and Kamakura: A Contemplative Guide (2021), available on Amazon or at your favorite bookstore.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Lesley Downer and How Empresses shaped Japan

Lesley Downer, Amy Chavez — Tue, 24 Sep 2024 16:48:20 +0000

Amy Chavez speaks with Lesley Downer, an expert on Japanese culture and history who writes both fiction and non-fiction. Her novels transport readers to the intriguing world of 19th-century Japan, while her non-fiction takes us along the Narrow Road to the Deep North with poet Matsuo Basho; behind the scenes of the Japanese geisha community; and into the intrigues of the richest family in Japan. In this episode, she discusses her just-released The Shortest History of Japan: From Mythical Origins to Pop Culture Powerhouse, which provides a concise yet detailed account of Japanese history.

Lesley highlights the significance of historical figures like Himiko, the shaman queen who unified Yamatai, and Empresses Suiko and Koken, who ruled Japan in their own right. She also touches on the feminist movement in Japan, particularly the contributions of Hiratsuka Raicho and Akiko Yosano. Lastly, she shares insights into her writing career, including her transition from nonfiction to fiction and her research on geisha.

Lesley mentions Yosano Akiko's poem "Until Death Do Us Part" ("Shini tanoma") which she wrote before her brother went off to war:

Until Death Do Us Part
by Yosano Akiko

Though my body dies,
My soul will remain with you.
Until the end of time,
Let us pledge to be together,
Until death do us part.

(translation: ChatGPT 4o)

Lesley's three favorite books on Japan:

1. Japan Journal, 1855-1861 (1964) by Henry Heusken, which covers the author's experiences during his time as the secretary and interpreter for Townsend Harris, the first U.S. Consul General to Japan.

2. As We Saw Them: The First Japanese Embassy to the United States (1979) by Masao Miyoshi, about the first Japanese diplomats who visited the United States in 1860.

3. Taiko: An Epic Novel of War and Glory in Feudal Japan (1992) by Yoshikawa Eiij, a historical novel that tells the story of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of Japan's greatest warlords and unifiers during the Sengoku period.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Robert Whiting—Gangsters, Fraudsters, Dreamers & Spies

amy chavez, robert whiting — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 12:29:58 +0000

Amy Chavez talks with Robert Whiting about his recently released book Gangsters, Fraudsters, Dreamers & Spies: The Outsiders Who Shaped Modern Japan (Tuttle, April, 2024).

They talk about strong women characters such as an Australian bar hostess named Maggie who became famous for using scissors to cut off customers' neckties and a female yakuza gangster who carried a revolver in her purse. And if you think Japan doesn't have a drug problem, think again. Whiting talks about North Korean drug smuggling and its contribution to a surging number of meth users.

Lastly, while most tourists to Japan can't help but be impressed by Japanese taxi drivers who wear white gloves and deliver impeccably polite service, things weren't always that way in Japan. In fact, taxi drivers used to be rude and dirty, and the job was so loathsome that Japanese wives were embarrassed to tell people their husbands were taxi drivers! Whiting tells us about the MK Taxi company that was started by a Korean who was determined to change all that.

At the end of the podcast, Whiting tells us what he's reading right now:

The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War, by David Halberstam

Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley, by Peter Guralnick

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

The Healing Power of Female Poet Otagaki Rengetsu

Amy Chavez, John Stevens — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 18:56:39 +0000

In this episode of the Books on Asia podcast, host Amy Chavez talks to author John Stevens about his new book The Lotus Moon: Art and Poetry of Buddhist Nun Otagaki Rengetsu (Floating World Editions, Aug. 2023).

Book's Features:

The most comprehensive English-language presentation of the work of famed nun and artist Ōtagaki Rengetsu (1791-1875)

• Presents 90 of Rengetsu's painting and pottery works in over 242 full-color photos

• Written by Professor John Stevens, the foremost Western authority on Rengetsu

• Includes Japanese kana, romanization, and English translations, with commentary for all entries

• Provides an intimate portrait of the life and work of one of the most remarkable women in Japanese culture

• Offers insights into significant thematic and cultural concerns of 19th-century Japanese art

Be sure to pick up John's book, which you can find either online or at Floating World Editions from their website. You can hear our previous podcast with John Stevens and find out more about his remarkable career as well as the Rengetsu exhibition in Barcelona, Spain, at BOA Episode 21: John Stevens—A Lifetime of Publishing

For more podcast episodes, visit the Books on Asia website or subscribe to the Books on Asia podcast.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Angus Waycott Walks Sado Island

Amy Chavez, Angus Waycott — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 07:50:08 +0000

Author and travel-writer Angus Waycott talks about his 8-day walk around Sado Island off Niigata Prefecture in the Japan Sea. He gives us in-depth accounts of: a mujina (tanuki-worshipping) cult, funa-ema (literally "ship horse pictures"), exile (including those of Zeami and Buddhist priest Nichiren), and the controversy behind the Kinzan gold mine and its "slave labor," all topics that he recorded in his book Sado: Japan's Island in Exile, originally published by Stone Bridge Press in 1996 and re-issued as an e-book by the author 2012 and 2023.

About the Author

Subscribe to the Books on Asia podcast.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

The Future of Books and AI

Peter Goodman, Amy Chavez, Frederik L. Schodt — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 15:00:00 +0000

We talk with publisher Peter Goodman and author/translator Frederik L. Schodt about artificial intelligence as it relates to writing and publishing books.

Frederik L. Schodt's book The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution was recently listed as one of the books used to train generative AI. Peter Goodman is publisher of Stone Bridge Press (our podcast sponsor), publishing books about Asia for over 30 years. Both of these guests offer their views on AI, the use of published books to train artificial intelligence, the issues of copyright, fair use, and plagiarism, the different ways writers and publishers can use AI as a tool, and what the AI industry should be doing to move forward and make AI trustworthy and beneficial for everyone involved.

Check out the article in the Atlantic discussing the nearly 200,000 books used to train generative-AI systems, with a searchable database.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Fred Schodt on His Historical Non-Fiction on Japan

Frederik L. Schodt, Amy Chavez — Tue, 31 Oct 2023 16:06:45 +0000

In this episode of the Books on Asia podcast, host Amy Chavez talks with author and translator Frederik L. Schodt, who has written/translated many books on Japan including The Osamu Tezuka Story, Manga, Manga!: The The World of Japanese Comics, The Astro Boy Essays, and My Heart Sutra: The World in 260 Characters (read our review).

But the two books we're going to talk about today are his historical non-fiction books Professor Risley and the Imperial Japanese Troupe: How an American Acrobat Introduced Circus to Japan and Japan to the West, and Native American in the Land of the Shogun: Ranald MacDonald and the Opening of Japan. Both books, published by our sponsor Stone Bridge Press, are accounts of American men who pioneered US-Japan relations.

Schodt talks about "Professor" Risley, an early acrobat of the mid-nineteenth century who starts his own circus that he takes to Japan. His trademark move involved juggling his two small sons with his feet. See an example of what is now known as the Risley Act in this video we found on Youtube:

https://youtu.be/VkFIkXXyDVc?si=zXfmUyeW9QBrwM_o

Risley later starts a Japanese circus that he takes touring around the world.

The other book we discuss is Schodt's biography of Native American Ranald MacDonald, who makes his way to Japan during the Edo period and ends up not just teaching English but having a hand in negotiations with Commodore Perry and the opening of Japan.

About the Author

Frederik L. Schodt is a writer, translator, and conference interpreter based in the San Francisco Bay area. He has written widely on Japanese history, popular culture, and technology. His writings on manga, and his translations of them, helped trigger the current popularity of Japanese comics in the English-speaking world. He was awarded the Special Category of the Asahi Shimbun's prestigious Osamu Tezuka Culture Award, and in 2009, he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, for his work helping to promote Japan's popular culture overseas.

You can find him at his Website, on Twitter(X) @fschodt and on Facebook.

Subscribe to the Books on Asia podcast.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

John Grant Ross on Taiwan & Japan

Amy Chavez, John Ross — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 18:39:24 +0000

In this episode of the BOA podcast, host Amy Chavez talks with John Ross, a New Zealand writer based in Taiwan. Ross has spent three decades in Asia, starting as a freelance photojournalist then becoming an English teacher and author. His works include Formosan Odyssey: Taiwan, Past and Present, You Don’t Know China: Twenty-Two Enduring Myths Debunked, and Taiwan in 100 Books. He co-founded Camphor Press, a publishing house focused on East Asia called and co-hosts Formosa Files, a weekly podcast on the history of Taiwan.

John Ross lives in a small town in Taiwan, known as the birthplace of the inventor of instant noodles: Momofuku Ando. Ross explains why he moved to Taiwan in 1994 and how his plans for writing a book about the Mongolian manbeast was waylaid as he instead embarked on an epic journey in 1999 that became Formosan Odyssey: Taiwan, Past and Present. This first book is about travel, history, and small-town life in Taiwan.

Amy and John talk about Japan’s occupation of Taiwan and the legacies the Japanese left behind such as education, infrastructure, and railroads. Ross talks about Taiwan’s long history of attempted colonization by the Dutch, French, and Ming Loyalists.

Next, Ross talks about Taiwan in 100 Books, how he chose the volumes that tell the story of Taiwan through their interesting backstories, controversial texts, and fabulist authors who brought the first information about Taiwan to readers around the world.

In You Don’t Know China: Twenty-Two Enduring Myths Debunked Ross explicates common misunderstood facts about various topics, including the Great Wall, Chinese medicine, fortune cookies, eating dogs, and Lord Macartney’s mission to China in 1793.

Lastly, Amy and John talk about other authors, their books, and what led John Ross, Michael Cannings, and Mark Swofford to form Camphor Press in February 2014. Ross, in charge of acquisitions, talks about filling the void between academic and big box presses. He gives kudos to other small presses such as Earnshaw Books, Stone Bridge Press, and Blacksmith Books, who are all invested in bringing quality books to readers.

Amy introduces some Camphor Press books based on her own library. John adds some more titles to her list, including two by winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature Pearl S. Buck: The Exile: Portrait of an American Mother, and Fighting Angel: Portrait of a Soul.

John talks about the lost art of the travelogue and how the 1990s and the internet destroyed what should be an enduring genre.

They discuss great travel writers such as Heinrich Harrer, Bill Bryson, and Ernest Hemingway.

John and Amy talk about how the travel genre is changing and where it is headed. Amy also mentions Alex Kerr’s upcoming book Hidden Japan: An Astonishing World of Thatched Villages, Ancient Shrines and Primeval Forests (Sept. 2023, but you can pre-order here) and how the author advises people to not go to these places, but rather be happy reading about them instead.

John Ross’s favorite travelogues are:

Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer
Land of Jade: A journey through India Through Northern Burma to China (1996), by Bertil Lintner
In the Footsteps of Genghis Khan, by John DeFrancis

Ross’s three Favorite Books on Japan are:

On the Narrow Road to the Deep North: Journey into a Lost Japan by Leslie Downer
In Search of Japan’s Hidden Christians, by John Dougill
Charinko by Tom Gibb (an upcoming Camphor Press title)

Be sure to check out John Ross’s books at the Camphor Press website or via Amazon. You can also visit him on social media at the following links:

Taiwan in 100 Books
Camphor Press (Sign up for the Camphor Press Newsletter by scrolling to the bottom of that page)
Formosa Files Podcast

The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, publisher of fine books on Asia for over 30 years. Subscribe to the Books on Asia Podcast. Subscribe to the BOA podcast at https://linktr.ee/booksonasia

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Japan's 31 Passions, with John Rucynski

amy chavez, John Rucynski — Fri, 12 May 2023 16:37:17 +0000

In 2021 John Rucynski--who has been living in Japan on and off since 1994--self-published A Passion for Japan through Blue Sky Publishing. In this anthology, which includes 31 writers, he asks not why the writers came to Japan but why they stayed. Here is a list of the essays and writers included, from the Table of Contents

Shodō: Finding My Way in The Way of Writing
Karen Hill Anton
One Year with the Guardians of the Phoenix
Carmen Săpunaru Tămaș
Matsuri Madness
David M. Weber
Wadaiko: Drumming to Our Own Beat
Daniel Lilley
Follow the Sound of the Drums: My Passion for Eisa
Judy Kambara
A Love of Indie Music and a Seat behind the Goal
Adrianne Verla Uchida
Sumo and Me
Tim Craig
A Pushover for Sumo
Katrina Watts
Baseball, Blogging, and Belonging
Trevor Raichura
Coming Home: The Search for Belonging in Rural Japan
Victoria Yoshimura
Looking for the Good Life: Living as a Local In a Zero Waste Village
Linda Mengxi Ding
Gaijin in the Garden: Where Ganbaru is Golden
Robert McLaughlin
From Bruce Lee to The Way of Tea
Randy Channell Soei
From the Land of the Indomitable Lions to the Land of the Blue Samurai: A Personal Story
Samuel Nfor
The Long Road from Clay to Pot, and What I Learned along the Way
Irina Holca
The Man Who Stepped into Yesterday
Edward J. Taylor
Kumano Leap – Local Heritage Adopts a Wandering Soul: Q & A with Mike Rhodes
Mike Rhodes
Life Lessons Learned in Japan’s Mountains
Wes Lang
“Banzai!” on a Spanish Island: Playing Chess in Japan’s Colors
Simon Bibby
Who, Me?! Volleyball Refereeing in Japan
Greg Rouault
Passion in a Community: Finding My Japan through JALT
Wayne Malcolm
Come Sail Away: Finding My Passion on the Ship for World Youth
John Rucynski
The Inner Game of the Japanese: Going Back Home with Tennis
Haru Yamada
Who Am I? In Search of My Identity
Margaret C. Kim
My Love for Traditional Rituals and Customs of Japan
Hiya Mukherjee
Discovering Japanese Fusion of Religions on the Pilgrimage Island of Shikoku
Steve McCarty
Feeling at Home with the Great Literary Masters
Vicky Ann Richings
Too Many Novels I Want to Translate: Q & A With Emily Balistrieri
Emily Balistrieri
Literature and Legacy: Stories of Hansen’s Disease in Japan
Kathryn M. Tanaka
Roof Spotting in Japan
Wendy Bigler
A Passion for the Place: Swept Off My Feet by a Japanese Farmhouse
Rebecca Otowa

The book is available exclusively on
Amazon USA / Amazon Japan

Follow the book on Instagram, Facebook, and Goodreads.

At the end of the podcast, Amy asks John what his top 3 books on Japan are and why. He gives 4:

You Gotta Have Wa, by Robert Whiting
The Roads to Sata, by Alan Booth
Cool Japan, by Tim Craig
Pure Invention, by Matt Alt

John Rucynski, editor of A Passion for Japan: A Collection of Personal Narratives, is originally from upstate New York and has been living in Japan on and off since 1994. He is currently associate professor in the Center for Language Education at Okayama University. His main research interest is the role of humor in language acquisition and intercultural communicative competence, and he has edited two volumes on this topic.

The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, publisher of quality books on Japan and Asia for over 30 years. Go to their website at https://www.stonebridge.com/

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Stephen Mansfield Talks Tokyo

Amy Chavez, Stephen Mansfield — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 17:13:16 +0000

Stephen Mansfield, author of Tokyo: A Biography (Tuttle, 2017), is a British writer and photo-journalist based in Japan. His photo-journalism work has appeared in over 60 magazines, newspapers, and journals worldwide including the Kyoto Journal, CNN Travel and Nikkei Asia. To date, he has had twenty books published, four of them on the culture and people of Laos and several on Japanese gardens. He also has a chapter and essay in the anthology Inaka: Portraits of Rural Life in Japan (Camphor Press, 2020). In today's podcast he talks about, of course, Tokyo. o us about Tokyo: A Biography.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Translating Hiromi Ito's "The Thorn Puller" with Jeffrey Angles

amy chavez, Jeffrey Angles — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 19:45:41 +0000

In this episode of the Books on Asia Podcast, host Amy Chavez sits down with writer, translator, and professor of Japanese at Western Michigan University, Jeffrey Angles. He is the first non-native poet writing in Japanese to win the Yomiuri Prize for Literature, a highly coveted prize for poetry. His translation of the modernist classic The Book of the Dead by Shinobu Orikuchi won both the Miyoshi Award and the Scaglione Prize for translation. He is with us today to talk about his translation of the just-released book by Hiromi Ito, The Thorn Puller.

Hiromi Ito, author of The Thorn Puller (Toge-nuki Jizo: Shin Sugamo Jizo engi) came to national attention in Japan in the 1980s for her groundbreaking poetry about pregnancy, childbirth, and female sexuality. After relocating to the U.S. in the 1990s, she began to write about the immigrant experience and biculturalism. In recent years, she has focused on the ways that dying and death shape human experience.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Sarah Coomber and the Female Experience Teaching in Japan

amy chavez, sarah coomber — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 19:19:14 +0000

Sarah Coomber is the author of The Same Moon (Camphor Press, 2020), a memoir about what happened when she traded out her wrecked Minnesota life for two years in rural Japan. The Same Moon is possibly the only book about the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program (JET) experience written from a woman's point of view. Sarah joined the program in 1996, when the government-sponsored program was in its infancy.

In this episode of the Books on Asia Podcast, she talks about being a single woman in Japan at that time, expectations at work, and how things have changed, or not, since then. Finally she gives some advice on what women should consider before moving to Japan to teach English.

At the very end of the podcast, Sarah shares with us her top three books on Japan:

1. Shogun, by James Clavell

2. The Accidental Office Lady: An American Woman in Corporate Japan by Laura Kriska

3. A Half-Step Behind: Japanese Women Today, by Jane Condon

Author Bio: Sarah Coomber has worked in public relations, journalism, science writing and advocacy, and has taught English at the college level. She has an MFA in creative writing from Eastern Washington University, a master’s in mass communication from the University of Minnesota, and level-four certification in the Seiha School of koto. A resident of Minnesota, she writes, manages communications projects, coaches other writers, and teaches yoga.

Find her online at her website or sign up for her newsletter. You'll also find her at the following social media links:

Twitter: @CoomberSarah
Instagram: @sarahcoomberwriter
Facebook: @sarahcoomberwriter
LinkedIn: @sarahcoomber

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Azby Brown on Sustainability and his Book “Just Enough”

amy chavez, azby brown — Mon, 24 Oct 2022 14:11:23 +0000

In this episode of the BOA podcast, host Amy Chavez talks with Azby Brown, a long-time resident of Japan and author of Just Enough: Lessons from Japan for Sustainable Living, Architecture, and Design. Some topics discussed are Edo Period sustainability measures, STG’s, architecture of old Japanese houses, the Kamikatsu Zero Waste town, and future measures Japan is taking to become more sustainable.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Traveling Japan as a Blind Person, with Maud Rowell

Amy Chavez, Maud Rowell — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 17:44:13 +0000

In this episode of the BOA podcast, host Amy Chavez talks with Maud Rowell about her new book Blind Spot: Exploring and Educating on Blindness (404 Ink, 2021). Maud is a freelance journalist and writer from London. She went blind at 19 while traveling in South Korea. Two months later, she went on to begin a four-year degree in Japanese Studies at University of Cambridge including one year at Doshisha University in Kyoto. She trained in journalism at City, University of London, and over the course of the pandemic, wrote her first book Blind Spot: Exploring and Educating on Blindness published by 404 Ink in November 2021. In the summer of 2021, she won the Holman Prize run by San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired and received a grant to travel around Japan and write about her experiences.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Moving to Japan's Countryside with Iain Maloney

Amy Chavez, Iain Maloney — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 16:32:40 +0000

In this episode of the Books on Asia podcast, podcast host and island-dweller Amy Chavez and Gifu countryside villager Iain Maloney discuss their experiences living in Japan's countryside. Iain's book The Only Gaijin in the Village: A Year Living in Rural Japan is dedicated to the subject of himself moving to the the countryside with his Japanese wife, while Amy in her latest book The Widow, the Priest and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island documents the countryside-living experience with an emphasis on the Japanese people she lives among. See what similarities and differences these authors reveal in this "shared experience" of moving to Japan's countryside.

Some helpful vocabulary for this episode:

gaijin: a non-Japanese person

honcho: the head of a local neighborhood area or association

chonaikai: Neighborhood Association

kairanban: a notebook sponsored by the Neighborhood Association that acts as a communication tool and is passed from house to house to inform of local events. One reads the notice, checks off they've read it, then the notebook is walked to the next person's house and turned over to them.

akiya: an empty or abandoned house

akiya taisaku: measures taken to fill empty houses with tenants

fudosan: real estate agent

murahachibu: ostracization, non-acceptance of outsiders

hanko: one's seal or stamp used on official documents (mortgages, legal documents, etc.)

danka: a parishoner or member of a Buddhist temple

shimatsukuriinkai: similar to a town hall meeting as applied to an island

Amy starts off asking Iain what influenced his decision to move to Japan's countryside. They discuss the odd lack of livestock, which is one of the first things Westerners associate with the bucolic countryside.

Amy then asks Iain how he and his wife went about selecting a house, if they had to fix it up themselves, and about the process of moving in. They compare houses, repairs, especially toilets. Iain talks about the things that confounded their real estate agent when they were house hunting. Amy explains the much more complicated process of moving to the island where she lives.

Amy talks about having moved to Shiraishi Island by herself, and how she later brought a foreign husband into the mix, and asks Iain what aspects make it easier or more difficult to move to the countryside with a Japanese spouse. They talk about the pros and cons of being "accepted" into a Japanese community, including ostracism (murahachibu), which also applies to Japanese people. They also discuss good foreigner/bad foreigner stereotypes that exist for non-Japanese. Amy talks about how she grew to understand the real issues behind murahachibu.

Each village is different and every area has its own customs, rules, and ways of doing things, so Amy and Iain compare Neighborhood Associations, the volunteer fire department, and taking part in town-hall meetings as well as dealing with neighbors, their indirectness and how the power of suggestion plays a role in Japanese society.

They talk about akiya taisaku attempts to lure Japanese people into countryside living, and Amy talks about the people who helped her integrate into her community.

Lastly, Iain's names his favorite books as related to Japan's countryside:

Inaka: Portraits of Rural Life in Japan (an anthology)

Lost Japan, by Alex Kerr

Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, by Isabella Bird

Kanazawa, by David joiner

The Easy Life in Kamusari by Shion Miura (transl. Juliet W. Carpenter)

The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press. Check out their books on Japan at www.stonebridge.com.

Your podcast host is Amy Chavez, author of Amy’s Guide to Best Behavior in Japan, and The Widow, the Priest and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island.

Don’t miss out on upcoming episodes with Asia's best authors and translators by subscribing to the Books on Asia podcast.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

The Spirit of Shizen: The Nature of Japan through 72 Seasons, with Robert Weis

Amy Chavez, Robert Weis — Fri, 1 Jul 2022 16:00:00 +0000

Podcast host Amy Chavez talks to Robert Weis, curator of the Luxembourg Natural History Museum's upcoming exhibit, “Spirit of Shizen – The Nature of Japan through 72 Seasons,” running from July 1 to August 31, 2022.

An accompanying catalogue, in the form of an anthology, will be published featuring essays by prominent writers on Japan's seasons.

Amy starts off the show asking Weis, a paleontologist, how he ended up curating the exhibition “Spirit of Shizen” Weis explains his childhood fascination with fossils, his work at the museum, and his love for Japan. He says Mark Horvane, a Kyoto-based garden designer, was an adviser to the exhibition.

Amy expounds upon the meaning of "72-microseasons" as outlined in Mark Horvane's essay of the same title included in the museum catalogue/anthology.

While some Japanese arts and activities have obvious links to nature, such as Ikebana flower arrangement, bonsai, gardens or cherry-blossom viewing, Weis notes that other links may not be so obvious, such as those in haiku poetry, Japanese sweets, or even the passing of time. These tie-ins to the seasons will brought into focus via workshops, demonstrations, and a publication that focuses on Japanese culture and nature.

Workshops include a Miksang contemporary photography workshop with John Einarsen, a calligraphy session by Japanese artist Rie Takeda, an exploration into the tea ceremony by Bruce Hamana, and a workshop on the seasons as related to Zen, presented by French Buddhist nun and author Kankyo Tannier. A movie, produced by Felicity Tillack especially for the exhibition, will delve into the seasons of Kyoto, and a gastronomic event coordinated with a local Japanese restaurant will look at the role of the seasons in Japanese cuisine. Visitors can enjoy a mock tea-house with tatami mats or enjoy tea in the museum's garden.

"Spirit of Shizen" (shizen means "nature" in Japanese), also offers an accompanying catalog/anthology of essays penned by prominent writers on Japan. The publication will be available in the Museum Store and as an online purchase.

Following is the contents of the publication, which is divided into four parts, with Pico Iyer penning an introductory essay for each section/season.

"Spirit of Shizen" Anthology

Table of Contents

AUTUMN – Radiant Wistfulness, by Pico Iyer

Momiji-gari - Tracking Down the Colored Leaves, by Rebecca Otowa
A Late Autumn Walk in Nara, by Robert Weis
Naturally Attuned to the Seasons, by Edward Levinson
The Japanese 72 Micro-seasons, by Mark Hovane

WINTER – Blue Invigoration, by Pico Iyer

First Winter in Ohara, by Patrick Colgan
Ontakesan - Seasonal Elements of a Sacred Japanese Mountain, by Jann Williams
Kigo: Seasonal Words and Seasonality in Haiku, by Kawaharada Mayumi
Nature is Culture, by Sébastien Raizer

SPRING – Pink-and-white Flutter, by Pico Iyer

Petals on a Wet Black Bough, by Amanda Huggins
Sakura, by Naoko Abe
Seasons of the Seto Inland Sea, by Amy Chavez
The Beauty of Japanese Gardens, by Yuri Ugayaya

SUMMER – Festivals in the Sultry Nights, by Pico Iyer

The Message in the Garden, by Marc Peter Keane
Awareness of the Seasons in the Tea Ceremony (Chanoyu), by Bruce Hamana
Mosses for the Ages, by Karen Lee Tawarayama
Notes on Ikebana, by Mark Hovane
Tsuyu – Between the Sheets, by Edward J. Taylor

Weis advises that there are no coronavirus restrictions right now for visiting Luxembourg or the museum.

At the end of the show, Amy asks Weis to name his favorite books on Japan:

The Lady and the Monk: Four Seasons in Kyoto, by Pico Iyer

South of the Border, West of the Sun, by Haruki Murakami

The Japanese Chronicles, by Nicolas Bouvier

About Robert Weis

Robert Weis is the author of over thirty scientific publications about Jurassic fossils. He has nourished a deep interest in Eastern Asian cultures, and especially Japan, since his childhood. He practices Zen meditation and the art of Bonsai and is especially interested in Japanese garden culture. Accounts on his Japanese travels can be found on his blog theroutetokyoto.com. He is the curator of the exhibition “Spirit of Shizen – The Nature of Japan through 72 seasons,” to be held at the Luxembourg Natural History Museum during summer 2022. He is also a travel writer for Luxembourg’s travel magazine "DIARIES OF." His book Rocklines: A Geopoetic Journey across the Minett Unesco Biosphere, co-authored with Italian geopoet Davide S. Sapienza, will be on release in July 2022.

The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press. Check out their books on Japan at www.stonebridge.com.

Your podcast host is Amy Chavez, author of Amy’s Guide to Best Behavior in Japan, and The Widow, the Priest and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island.

Don’t miss out on upcoming episodes with Asia's best authors and translators by subscribing to the Books on Asia podcast.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Cody Poulton on Japanese Performing Arts

Amy Chavez, Cody Poultan — Thu, 9 Jun 2022 19:33:08 +0000

Amy asks Poulton to explain the difference between reading Noh plays and seeing a Noh performance. Poulton goes into great detail on the subject, including why and how the same Noh play covered in a few pages of text becomes a one-and-a-half hour play when performed. He quotes from Arthur Waley's The Noh Plays of Japan to explain the concept of length and time.

He further introduces Kan'ami and Zeami, father and son, who elevated the art of Noh to what it has become and discusses the Tokugawa Shogunate's influence on Noh and gagaku (court music). Poulton notes that the flute, drum, and howling in Noh are designed to help take the audience into a different time and space. This is especially important to plays that focus on stories of ghosts, demons, and natural spirits (such as those of trees and plants).

Noh performances are known for their ability to induce drowsiness and even sleep among the audience. Poulton explains how this induced hypnotic state can effectively transport the audience to a liminal awareness between reality and dreams.

"There is a transcendental boredom to Noh. We have to slow down our consciousnesses to get into the space of the performance. Time and space expand into infinity and eternity and this is how we can contact those things." —Cody Poulton

Next Poulton expands on the structure of Noh plays and the use of dreams as devices in two well-known performances: "Hagoromo," an encounter of a human being and a supernatural creature, and "Yamamba" the mountain crone (See BOA Podcast 14: Yamamba: Japanese Mountain Witch with Rebecca Copeland and Linda Erlich). He explains the role of Noh masks and costumes. He further comments on "Funabenke" a demon play.

Amy mentions "Takasago" and its continued reference in modern-day Japan. Poulton responds that Noh often has a liturgical purpose, a way of blessing or commemorating an event similar to a requiem, and gives three modern examples of Japanese tragedies linked to Noh plays. He sum up his comments with:

When bad things happen, we go back to ceremony, to ritual, to try to give shape to our feelings, and Noh is a beautiful device for doing that.

Next is a discussion about the author Izumi Kyōka and how he came from a long line of Noh musicians and artists. Kyoka himself wrote plays about the supernatural and became a model of the counterculture of the 1960s in Japan. His uncle, Matsumoto Kintaro, was a famous Noh actor of the Meiji period. Poulton mentions the plays "Uta andon" and "Ama."

"Saigyozakura" (Saigyo's Cherry Tree) is a play about the poet's trip to a temple to get away from the crowds at cherry-viewing time in search of a quiet and peaceful place to view the trees. But the cherry tree he finds at the temple chastises Saigyo for being a party pooper, telling him that people partying under the blossoms are celebrating his and the other trees' beauty. Poulton uses this as an example of how flowers and trees come to life and talk back to the humans via Noh plays.

Lastly, Amy asks Poulton to recommend some books for those wanting to learn more about the Japanese performing arts:

History of Japanese Theatre (Cambridge University Press, 2016), edited by Jonah Salz

Traditional Japanese Theater (Columbia University Press), edited by Karen Brazell

Japanese No Dramas (Penguin Classics, 1993) by Royall Tyler

Kabuki Plays on Stage (4 Vols) (University of Hawaii Press, 2002-3) by James R. Brandon and Samuel L. Leiter

Backstage at the Bunraku (Weatherhill, 1985) by Barbara C. Adachi

The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Drama (Columbia University Press, 2017), co-edited by M Cody Poulton with Thomas Rimer, Mitsuya Mori, et al.

Anthology of Japanese Short Stories (Oxford University Press, 2010), edited by Theadore W Goosen, which includes the story "Portrait of an Old Geisha" by Okamoto Kanoko (trans. Cody Poulton)

About Cody Poulton:

Cody Poulton taught Japanese literature, theater, and culture in the Department of Pacific and Asian Studies at the University of Victoria, Canada, for thirty-two years before retiring in 2021. Active as a translator of Japanese fiction and drama, he is author of Spirits of Another Sort: The Plays of Izumi Kyōka (2001) and A Beggar's Art: Scripting Modernity in Japan, 1900-1930. He is also co-editor, with Mitsuya Mori and J. Thomas Rimer, of The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Drama and a contributing editor to History of Japanese Theatre. He is editor and chief translator of Citizens of Tokyo: Six Plays by Oriza Hirata (2019) and co-editor, with Barbara Geilhorn, Peter Eckersall, and Andreas Regelsberger, of Okada Toshiki and Japanese Theatre (2021).

The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press. Check out their books on Japan at www.stonebridge.com. Read a BOA review of their publication Yamamba: In Search of the Japanese Mountain Witch (edited by Rebecca Copeland and Linda C Ehrlich).

Your podcast host is Amy Chavez, author of Amy’s Guide to Best Behavior in Japan, and The Widow, the Priest and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island.

Don’t miss out on upcoming episodes with Asia's best authors and translators by subscribing to the Books on Asia podcast.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

John Stevens, a lifetime of publishing

John Stevens, Amy Chavez — Mon, 16 May 2022 20:32:29 +0000

This week author and translator John Stevens joins us from Hawaii. Stevens has penned many books over his long career, mainly dealing with Japanese martial arts, poetry, and biography.

“A book should be enlightening for the writer, and for the people reading it.” —John Stevens

Amy starts off the show mentioning the books of Stevens that she has read: The Marathon Monks of Mt. Hiei; The Essence of Aikido: Spiritual Teachings of Morihei Ueshiba; Dew Drops on a Lotus Leaf: Zen Poems of Ryokan; and Mountain Tasting: Haiku and Journals of Santoka Taneda. Yet that is only a fraction of the works that Stevens has produced over his life.

He explains his translation style and how he manages to capture the essence of haiku in his translations. He names Arthur Waley as an exemplar of the craft.

“A good translation has to be good literature, fine literature."

Stevens talks about his first book, One Robe, One Bowl (Tuttle Publishing).

His second book was Mountain Tasting: Haiku and Journals of Santoka Taneda (White Pine Press). Of his books on aikido, he says the most popular has been The Art of Peace: Teachings of the Founder of Aikido (Shambhala), which has over 2,300 ratings on Amazon and has been further translated into over 20 languages.

Amy reads a poem from Dew Drops on a Lotus Leaf (Shambhala), which prompts Stevens to talk about his passion for poetry and translation:

"If you don’t feel the passion and the poignancy, then it’s not a translation.”

When talking about the writing process:

"Writing a book should be enlightening, for both you writing it and for the people reading it," says Stevens. "My writing was an extension of my [Aikido] practice.”

Other popular books by Stevens are The Essence of Aikido: Spiritual Teachings of Morihei Ueshiba (Kodansha International), and The Marathon Monks of Mt. Hiei (Echo Point Books & Media).

Stevens tells a story of going to Sendai to meet a master Aikido teacher, Shirata-sensei, in Yamagata. "I’d arrive at the dojo, no one was there. He was there. He was never not there. And he was sitting, meditating. I learned something: that if you’re a teacher, you’ve got to be there all the time.”

The author and translator also talks about his book Lust for Enlightenment (Shambhala) and why it was controversial, as well as Tantra of Tachikawa Ryu: Secret Sex Teachings of the Buddha (Stone Bridge Press).

More recently, Stevens has been working with art exhibitions and writing exhibition catalogues. He is currently working on a display in Spain centered around the Kyoto poet and Buddhist nun Rengetsu at the Gothic Monastery of Pedralbes in Barcelona until May 27, 2022. If you need a primer before you go, get a copy of Stevens's Rengetsu: Life & Poetry of Lotus Moon (Echo Point Books & Media). The Barcelona exhibit, which has been open to the public since November 2021 and is titled "La lluna de Lotus" in Spanish, includes 36 ceramic pieces and 30 paintings and calligraphy by the female artist.

Lastly, Amy asks Stevens what his favorite books on Japan are:

Poetry and Zen: Letters and Uncollected writings of R.H. Blyth by R.H. Blyth and Norman Waddell
Zen and Japanese Culture by Daisetzu T. Suzuki
The Unknown Craftsman: A Japanese Insight into Beauty by Soetsu Yanagi and Bernard Leach

Don't miss John Stevens next book The Art of Budoh: Painting and Calligraphy by Japanese Masters (Shambhala, Dec 2022).

More Books by John Stevens:

Seeing Zen (Floating World Editions)
Sacred Calligraphy of the East (Echo Point Books & Media)
Extraordinary Zen Masters; A Maverick, A Master of Masters, and a Wondering Poet (Echo Point Books & Media)
Budo: Teachings of the Founder of Aikido (Kodansha USA)
The Secret Teachings of Aikido (Kodansha USA)
The Heart of Aikido; The Philosophy of Takemusu Aiki (Kodansha International)
Wild Ways: Ikkyu (White Pine Press)

Philosophy of Aikido (Echo Point Books & Media)

And many, many more!

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Abby Denson talks Japan via Comics

Amy Chavez, Abby Denson — Wed, 6 Apr 2022 18:52:38 +0000

Abby Denson is the award-winning author of Cool Japan Guide: Fun in the Land of Manga, Lucky Cats and Ramen, Cool Tokyo Guide: Adventures in the City of Kawaii Fashion, Train Sushi and Godzilla and the Kitty Sweet Tooth series (with Utomaru).

Her most recent book, which we’re going to talk about today, is Uniquely Japan: A Comic Book Artist Shares Her Personal Faves - Discover What Makes Japan The Coolest Place on Earth!

Abby has scripted comics for Amazing Spider-Man Family, Powerpuff Girls comics, Simpsons comics, Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Josie and the Pussycats, Disney Adventures, and many others.

We start off the show with Abby helping define for our listeners the difference between Japanese manga, graphic novels, superhero comics, and American style comics.

Amy talks about how she used to read Japanese manga to study Japanese language, and tells what she thinks distinguishes manga from other types of comics including Abby’s. She gives some of the features of Abby's books that make them stand out from others.

Abby talks about the role of color in her comic-drawing and names Keith Haring as one of her inspirations. She especially loves drawing desserts and all kinds of foods!

Abby talks about some of the challenges of putting together her two Japan guides and her latest, Uniquely Japan, which was much more of a multimedia effort.

Amy mentions she especially likes the tips in the book, such as suggesting people order the teishoku daily special (set menu) when people go to a restaurant to get the chance to sample as many amazing Japanese foods as possible.

Abby says the book aims to provide a fun way to learn about different Japanese topics. Parfaits for example! “You can see gorgeous parfait displays everywhere,” she says, referring to the plastic food models in the display window of many restaurants and cafes in Japan. "I find them so dazzling,” Abby says. This launches into a discussion of Japan being a very visual culture.

Abby says Uniquely Japan is different from her previous books because Cool Japan and Cool Tokyo were conceived as guidebooks. They have travel tips and information helpful for tourists planning their first trip to Japan. Uniquely Japan can be read just to learn about Japanese culture.

Abby elaborates on the reception of her books in Japan and some surprising feedback she received from Japanese readers of the book.

She also elaborates on the “Street Sites” chapter in her book that highlights decorative manhole covers, police boxes, and the specific design motifs of each town you can discover. "As a visual artist, it really makes you feel validated to see all this amazing graphic design everywhere. I feel like it's used so much more aesthetically, and in a more visually pleasurable manner in Japan than other in other places. The little accents and the motifs come together for a visually pleasurable experience.”

Amy mentions Abby’s use of stamps in Uniquely Japan, referring to the rubber stamps at every railway station that you can press into your diary or journal. The stamp features a graphic of the place you visited along with that town’s motif. This leads to a discussion of “stamp rallies” (and where to find them) and also collecting the beautifully brushed goshuin stamps from temples.

When Amy asks Abby for an interesting backstory to one of her books, Abby tells the story of writing Kitty Sweet Tooth, a collaboration that started with a random meeting of an artist in a bar. The first book, Kitty Sweet Tooth, was published last year and the next book, Kitty Sweet Tooth Makes a Movie, will be published this fall.

Lastly, Abby reveals her 3 favorite books on Japan and why:

1. Manga! Manga!: The World of Japanese Comics by Frederik L. Schodt

2. Tokyo on Foot: Travels in the City's Most Colorful Neighborhoods by Florent Chavouet

3 Himawari House, a fictional graphic novel by Harmony Becker

Amy ends the podcast by suggesting what Abby’s next book should be to which Abby responds that her husband keeps telling her the same thing. So maybe, just maybe …

You can find Abby Denson on social media and at the following places:
Instagram @abbydenson
Twitter @abbydenson
website: abbydenson.com

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Novelist David Joiner talks “Kanazawa"

David Joiner, Amy Chavez — Sun, 13 Feb 2022 07:41:04 +0000

In this episode of the Books on Asia Podcast, sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, podcast host Amy Chavez talks with novelist David Joiner about his new novel that takes place in Kanazawa, in Japan’s Ishikawa Prefecture.

The novel introduces the city of Kanazawa, its connection to the famous Japanese literary master Izumi Kyōka, and its setting for the novel. The story revolves around an American married to a Japanese, and the Japanese family's dynamics. Highlighted are some of the differences between traditional and modern Japan and the foreigner’s place in it.

Finally, Amy asks Joiner what his 3 favorite books on Japan are, and he elaborates on his choices:

1. Snow Country and Sound of the Mountain, both by Yasunari Kawabata.

2. Dawn to the West by Donald Keene

3. Roads to Sata, by Alan Booth

Read a review of David Joiner’s novel Kanazawa by Tina DeBellegarde.

The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press. Check out their books on Japan at the publisher’s website. Amy Chavez, podcast host, is author of Amy’s Guide to Best Behavior in Japan and the upcoming The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island (May, 2022) Subscribe to the Books on Asia podcast.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Liza Dalby on Geisha, Kimonos, and Translating Setouchi Jakucho's "Places"

Liza Dalby, Amy Chavez — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 22:42:28 +0000

In this episode of the Books on Asia Podcast, sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, host Amy Chavez talks with anthropologist, shamisen player, author, and translator Liza Dalby about her books and her new translation of the recently deceased novelist cum Buddhist nun Jakuchō Setouchi's memoir "Places."

Liza is author of the Geisha, Kimono: Fashioning Culture, East Wind Melts the Ice: A Guide to Serenity Through the Seasons, and Hidden Buddhas: A Novel of Karma and Chaos. Her previous translations include Little Songs of Geisha: Traditional Japanese Ko-Uta.

Amy and Liza talk about Liza's long career writing about Japan, starting with Geisha and how that world of women changed along with the modernization of Japanese society, why the geisha survive today, and the meaning of the word "kimono." They also discuss different kinds of kimono, the difference between the yukata (often called a "summer kimono") and a robe. Liza lets us in on the controversy behind the original cover of Tale of Murasaki and how and why she convinced the publisher to change it to the current one.

They also talk about the controversies behind Setouchi Jakuchō, how Liza came to translate her autobiography, and how she missed a chance to talk to Jakuchō during a visit to Kyōto.

Lastly, Liza reveals her favorite books on Japan:

The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu
Robin Gill's translations of haiku
the woodblock prints of Yoshi Toshi and the late John Stevenson's books

Visit Liza Dalby's website.

The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press. Check out their books on Japan at the publisher's website.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Kathleen Burkinshaw, second-generation A-bomb victim

Amy Chavez, Kathleen Burkinshaw — Sat, 13 Nov 2021 22:56:24 +0000

In this episode of the Books on Asia Podcast, sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, podcast host Amy Chavez talks with Kathleen Burkinshaw in the U.S. about her book The Last Cherry Blossom, and about hibakusha, the Japanese word that refers to victims of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended WWII.

"My mother was 12 and a half when the bomb was dropped. She grew up in Hiroshima and she was about two miles away from the epicenter. So the journey of the book is kind of how I found out about my mother's story because I did not know she was from Hiroshima until I was 11. She always told people she was from Tokyo."

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Meredith McKinney on Saigyō and "Gazing at the Moon"

Lisa Wilcut, Meredith McKinney — Fri, 8 Oct 2021 05:31:15 +0000

On this episode of the Books on Asia Podcast, sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, we have guest interviewer Lisa Wilcut speaking with award-winning writer and translator Meredith McKinney. McKinney is translator of many Japanese classics such as Sei Shonagon's 11th-century "The Pillow Book" and the 14th-century "Essays in Idleness," which was published along with "Hōjōki." She has also translated "Kusamakura" and "Kokoro" (see our review) by Natsume Sōseki, one of Japan's most celebrated modern writers. Today, she is going to talk about her long career and also about her just-released book on the wandering poet Saigyō called "Gazing at the Moon" (Shambala, September, 2021).

The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, publisher of fine books on Asia for over 30 years. Subscribe to the Books on Asia Podcast.

About the Interviewer

Lisa Wilcut is a writer, editor, translator, and educator based in Yokohama. She writes and edits works on Japanese culture for both scholarly and general audiences and teaches courses in Japanese society and culture as well as philosophy at the University of Maryland Global Campus in Yokosuka. She holds an MA in Japanese language and literature from Stanford University and an MA in philosophy from San Francisco State University. She also writes short fiction and poetry. Find her on LinkedIn.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Alex Kerr Discusses his Latest Book—Another Bangkok

Amy Chavez, Alex Kerr — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 02:11:53 +0000

On this episode of the Books on Asia Podcast, sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, Alex Kerr is returning to the show.

Alex is author of such notable books as Lost Japan, Dogs and Demons, Finding the Heart Sutra, and Another Kyoto. Today he talks to podcast host Amy Chavez about his latest book, Another Bangkok, released on July 1, 2021. He introduces Thailand's capital city via its architecture, arts, and culture, and shows us how they are similar to Japan's. NOTE TO LISTENERS: In addition to the podcast, Alex has provided some visuals of the interior pages of the book, which can be accessed on the Books on Asia YouTube channel.

Show Notes

Kerr starts out the show explaining that Another Bangkok is not a "new" book but a rewrite of a book previously called Bangkok Found. He talks about why and how he rewrote major sections of the book. (The previous version of the book was published by River Books, and "Another Bangkok" is with Penguin. The book is available on Amazon Japan and Amazon.com from July 1.)

Alex says that in this version of the book, the subjects are broader, with topics such as living in an old house vs. living in a modern apartment, modern Thai design, Thai etiquette, and Thai food. But what all the topics share is a deep penetration into the traditional Thai culture. Alex reads a few lines from the preface that point out that while tourists come to Japan to see and experience the culture, people visit Thailand for fun, shopping, and beaches. People don't see Thailand as a place to go for rich culture and thus often dismiss it because there is nothing written down that explains the culture. Thus, this book.

Amy asks Alex what kind of changes were made to the original and what the experience of rewriting it was like.

He says that after writing Finding the Heart Sutra, he learned to simplify his writing and streamline it to make the book shorter, sharper, and more readable. He also updated it, as a decade had passed since it was first published as Bangkok Found. In all, it took him three years to rewrite the current book.

Getting back to what the book contains, Alex says there is a chapter on traditional Thai ceramics, such as the bowl seen on the cover of the book, and he focuses on one of the Thai hallmarks of their culture, sanuk, which means "fun."

The story starts with Alex as a student in the 70s visiting Thailand (the video shows a photo of the City Pillar) and how difficult it was for him to find the history about this Pillar, the known geographical center of Bangkok. He reveals that in Thailand there are multiple meanings of so many things, including history. Alex's quest was to unearth this history and its roots.

He uses the Grand Palace in Bangkok as another example, citing the fact that most people don't really understand what the meaning of the Grand Palace is. This launches into a discussion of architecture, and Alex explains how Thai buildings resemble other Asian structures but are elongated to have soaring stupas and spires. He talks about an old traditional house he lived in as well as some street scenes such as a street vendor, the BTS sky train entrance, and Motorcycle boys who act as taxis by taking on pillion passengers.

The conversation turns to etiquette, which Alex is very aware of as one of Amy's passions (see Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan) and talks about how etiquette is very important in Thai society and, as in Japan, is so much more than what one sees or can observe on the surface. There is much more, for example, to the Thai smile that tourists find so charming. Marayat, as Thai etiquette is called, compares to Japanese keigo in that it is complex and used to create a mood of gentleness. Thais are horrified by loud talk or slamming of doors, getting angry or showing anger, etc.

Amy asks how it is different from Japanese etiquette, since she thinks the Japanese are also threatened by such inharmonious behaviors.

Alex agrees that indeed, they are similar, which is why Japanese people are so comfortable visiting Thailand. Thailand has the same concepts such as seiza (proper sitting) and enryo (self-restraint), but the difference is more obvious in Japan's bolder gestures, which aren't present in Thai culture: The militaristic rigidness and the shouting of "Arigato gozaimasu!" are absent among Thais, who prefer gentleness in every aspect. Etiquette is also ingrained in Thai culture from childhood as marayat is taught in school, and there are even marayat contests, judged not just on how correctly you perform an act, but how beautifully you do it. This is one of the keys to the charm of Thailand.

Amy, fascinated, asks Alex to explain a photo showing four kinds of the wai, the Thai gesture of putting the hands together in a prayer gesture in front of the chest while bowing the head. In each photo, the placement of the thumb and fingers change. In the first illustration, showing the wai given to a friend or equal, the hands are at the chest height, head not bowed. In the second, used to a superior, the hands are held further up toward the nose. The third, with hands placed yet further up the face to the forehead, is for a salutation to a monk, and the fourth with the finger tips touching the hairline, is afforded a king or royal. Kerr says there are equally specific ways to walk, sit, and receive something.

He briefly discusses the Three Worlds Cosmology used by Thais to navigate their own level in the wider world. He compares this to a mandala, a Japanese pagoda, and other symbols in Asia.

He shows Lai Thai designs, that, like Japanese calligraphy, have an ancient tradition of lines and styles that stretch back to Angkor Wat, Java, and India. Flame-like designs and roof finials are examples as well as some more contemporary digitized versions. (Images of these and other subjects discussed on the podcast are available on the YouTube video.)

Kerr elaborates on the Thai Food and costume chapters, contrasting them with Japan. Whereas Japanese food is about the feel of the moment, the seasonal and distinct tastes, Thai food is mixed and mingled with other flavors to create a fusion, which is what makes the food so fantastic. Thais applied the same concept to clothing, by incorporating Western styles and mixing them with their own, something that never really happened with Japanese clothing. As a result, the Japanese kimono is basically the same as it has always been, but also remains too impractical for modern, everyday activities.

Kerr also has a chapter in his book on baisri, which is Thai flower arrangement. He notes that, unlike Japanese ikebana, nothing ends up looking like it did when it started. Things are folded and shaped into very different representations, some very elaborate, while others are subject to much modernization. He has also included a chapter on Thai dance, known for its two classic hand gestures, and talks about the evolution of contemporary Thai dance.

Of course, Kerr also talks about his Thai art collection, including prehistoric pots and modern Thai ceramics.

There is also a chapter on foreigners in Thailand and how for him the tables were turned when he started visiting Thailand as a foreigner who didn't speak the language or know much about the culture. In Thailand, he finds himself more in the role of an expat than he does while living in Japan, since so many of his friends in Japan are Japanese. He highlights the long tradition of foreigners being welcomed to Thailand and suggests that in some ways Japanese culture is easier to penetrate and to be accepted in as a foreigner than Thailand is.

Lastly, there is a chapter on religion, folk religions, and customs like the good-luck beckoning lady similar to Japan's maneki neko beckoning cat.

Another Bangkok is a cultural guidebook but served with a bit of lightness, intended to introduce Thailand to people in a gentle, fun, sanuk kind of way.

Kerr winds up the podcast by introducing his new YouTube channel "Secrets of Things," where he introduces Asian arts such as paintings, screens, scrolls, and other pieces, mostly from his own collection, and tells what makes these pieces so special.

Listen to our previous podcast with Alex Kerr about Finding the Heart Sutra.

The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, publisher of fine books on Asia for over 30 years. Subscribe to the Books on Asia Podcast.

Books on Asia

Twitter: @BooksOnAsia

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/booksonasia/

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

The Yamamba--Japanese Mountain Witch--with Rebecca Copeland and Linda C. Ehrlich

Rebecca Copeland, Amy Chavez, Linda C. Ehrlich — Fri, 2 Jul 2021 23:14:44 +0000

Today on the Books on Asia Podcast, host Amy Chavez talks with the co-editors of Yamamba: In Search of the Japanese Mountain Witch, just released by Stone Bridge Press. Rebecca Copeland is a professor of Japanese literature, a writer of fiction (The Kimono Tattoo) and literary criticism, and a translator of Japanese literature (Grotesque, The Goddess Chronicle). Linda C. Ehrlich is an independent scholar and poet who has published on world cinema and traditional theater.

Podcast Show Notes

Amy asks Linda and Rebecca how they came to publishYamamba: In Search of the Japanese Mountain Witch, and why, of all Japan'syōkai, they chose the mountain witch.

Rebecca starts off explaining that the Yamamba is often depicted as a wicked old woman who takes advantage of hapless travelers. But she is also described as a nurturing entity who helps the weaver at the loom and the farmer with the fields. She is complex, representing all the mysterious and unexplainable as played out on the noh stage, the setsuwa and folklore stories over the centuries. Rebecca is interested in modern, 20th-century portrayals of the Yamamba image and how contemporary women writers have drawn on her subversive powers. This led both the co-editors to explore how art inspires and how it is diverse and dynamic, resulting in this anthology that includes poems, shorts stories, and interviews, comprising an eclectic array of presentations of the Yamamba.

Amy asks about the image of the Yamamba as old crones living in the mountains, and Rebecca confirms this is so, adding that it is usually villagers who encounter the Yamamba on their way through the mountains.

Linda Ehrlich, who comes from a background of traditional theater from the University of Hawaii, explains more about the noh play that appears in the beginning of the anthology. She says that Ann Sherif translated the interview about the production, which was unique in that the two noh performers were women. In the play, she says, "Yamamba is mysterious but not as grotesque as she is portrayed as elsewhere. She is a force of nature but controlled by nature, so she is beyond all binaries. So we have different voices for the Yamamba that work together." Rebecca later conducts an interview with a performer who portrays a more current, updated version of the Yamamba reflecting the body, gender, and so on.

Rebecca discusses Ōba Minako's "The Smile of the Mountain Witch" describing how she was one of those 20th-century writers who reappropriated the Yamamba image, challenging the idea of the Yamamba as always being an old woman. Perhaps she could have been a young girl at times too? How did she become a Yamamba? The story charts how a young girl who can mind-read and who has a capacity for great joy is taught to deny her talents in order to fit in. So to Rebecca this suggests all women have a Yamamba potential for strength and reliance that we've been taught to deny ourselves. Oba uses an ancient legend to comment on contemporary gender discrimination.

Amy mentions that Aoko Matsuda has, with her recent book Where the Wild Ladies Are, done something similar, recasting and updating traditional Japanese folktales with strong contemporary female characters.

Amy asks Linda and Rebecca about how they put together the anthology. They relate there was lots of editing, discussion, compromising, and refining and they mention the uniqueness of the anthology's hybrid approach containing both scholarly and creative writing, a result of reaching out to writers, scholars, and visual artists. They talk about contributing articles themselves: Linda's poem translated into Japanese and Rebecca's short story. It took a year to collect the material for the manuscript and another year for editing.

Linda says that the book isn't just for women, and that there is one male contributor. Linda points out that when the noh actors portray the Yamamba, it hasn't so much to do with gender but more to do with the performance of power and awesomeness.

Linda talks about the images in the book, combining some that were specific and some that were abstract to give a mix. Amy mentions that Jann Williams, who reviewed the book for Books on Asia, wrote that "readers are left to imagine the Yamamba in her various forms and the freedom to do so adds depth to the reading experience."

Amy asks both Linda and Rebecca about projects they are currently working on. Amy mentions she saw Rebecca's name mentioned as writing an introduction or foreword for a new book by Liza Dalby. Rebecca confirms, saying Dalby has translated Setouchi Jakucho's work called "Places," a self-reflective study of the places that Jakucho has been and how these places have influenced the Buddhist nun, writer, and activist. Rebecca also mentions she has just published her first novel, The Kimono Tattoo, a mystery set in Kyoto.

Linda has just finished audio commentary for the new DVD for Hirokazu Koreeda's film Afterlife that will appear from Criterion in August. She has a new poetry collection called Citron just released.

Lastly, Amy asks Rebecca and Linda about their favorite books on Japan:

Linda

The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagan

Essays in Idleness by Yoshida Kenko

"Take Kurabe" a short story by Higuchi Ichiyo (translated as either "Growing Up" or "Comparing Heights")

In the Shade of Spring Leaves, about Higuchi Ichiyo

Rebecca

Dangerous Women, Deadly Words by Nina Cornyets

The Uses of Literature in Modern Japan by Sari Kawana

Maiko Masquerade: Crafting Geisha Girlhood in Japan by Jan Bardsley

Read our review ofYamamba: In Search of the Japanese Mountain Witch

The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, publisher of fine books on Asia for over 30 years. Sign up for the Books on Asia Podcast here.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Kyoto's Gion Festival: Exploring its Mysteries with Catherine Pawasarat

Amy Chavez, Catherine Pawasarat — Fri, 18 Jun 2021 22:09:19 +0000

Cathrine Pawasarat, author of Gion Festival: Exploring its Mysteries, is one of the founders of the Clear Sky Retreat Center in British Columbia, Canada. Her previous book is From Wasteland to Pureland: Reflections on the Path to Awakening. The former Kyoto resident talks with us today about Kyoto's most famous event, the Gion Festival that happens every July in the former capital.

Amy starts out the podcast describing Kyoto's Gion Festival, the giant floats with the tall towers on the top as they parade down the street among crowds of bystanders. Catherine explains that Kyoto's neighborhoods work year-round on the preparations for the festival, which itself lasts the entire month of July.

Catherine lived in Kyoto 20 years and first found out about the festival when she practically ran into one of the gigantic wheels of a float when walking out of her accommodations one day. This led her to start asking questions about the festival, and she found that the locals themselves couldn't exactly explain what it was all about.

So, what is it about? Catherine explains that one role of the festival is to serve as a giant purification ritual and another is to serve as a community bonding event across multiple generations.

What is the status of the festival in the modern context? Some of the major challenges are high real estate prices and urban flight. Promising developments are also emerging such as neighborhoods using the festivals to rebuild their communities and allowing the public to join in.

Amy asks about the social impact of the Gion Festival and its sustainability, to which Catherine discusses some aspects such as the case of the funeboko festival float that looks like a boat, and the plans through high precision digital measurements to recreate and reinstate it. Catherine goes on to talk about why the float is in the shape of a boat and tells a story that involves Empress Jingu.

Catherine says that her bookThe Gion Festival: Exploring its Mysteries covers the many stories behind the floats that are directly related to Japanese legends and myths, including those from the Kojiki, the Nihongi, and the Tale of the Heike. There are 34 floats that participate in the festival, and the book dedicates a page to each float and the history behind it.

Amy asks Catherine why she brought out the book in two separate versions, print and e-book, and to elaborate on the differences. They talk about the pros and cons of both print and digital books. Catherine hopes that by offering both formats she can provide two very different reader experiences. Amy mentions that Cody Poulton, who reviewed the book on the Books on Asia site, was so intrigued with the idea of two different formats that he bought them both.

Catherine says she was inspired by the book Gateway to Japan, a Kodansha guide written by June Kinoshita and Nicholas Palevsky and wanted to provide engrossing information for the sights. She also realizes that guidebooks are heavy to carry around. So the e-book version has hyperlinks to other related information on the festival, its components, legends, noh theater, etc..

Amy asks Catherine what it takes to put together a book like this. Catherine said it started with her writing a couple of articles for the Japan Times. One of the articles was about women being able to participate in the musical troupes after an absence of 300 years. This sparks a discussion on women's roles in festivals, and although women might not be seen in the procession, they actually do have very important, but more hidden, roles. Catherine talks about how the women are the main representatives of historic families that the floats are oriented around. There are two sides to whether women should participate or even whether they want to participate.

Getting back to writing the book, Catherine says she lived in one of the Gion Festival neighborhoods for three years so she had a lot of opportunities to become familiar with it, ask questions, and take notes. There were challenges to putting together a print book with so many photos while having to be mindful of the price of the book.

Catherine realized there wasn't much information available in English, and so she wanted to publish a book. That was 15 years ago. She also talks about the Japanese way of doing things, in which one dedicates their whole life to something before they actually "know" anything about it, so while she realized she probably knew more than any native speaker about the Gion Festival, she still felt she had to do more research. This research has been cultivated over 15 years. In the meantime, the self-publishing industry has become robust enough for her to take a chance at self-publishing the book herself. Dhe went to a writing retreat so she could give herself the time to just write and write and write. She had been taking photos for many years, so she already had something to work from.

Amy says she has heard that at the Gion Festival tourists are invited into the houses of the locals to see their family heirlooms. Catherine responds by saying that no, this is a false rumor! People are supposed to admire the artworks from he outside. But the doors are left open, so tourists might think they can walk in.

This sparks a discussion on tourist manners in Japan. Catherine says she has a section on dos and don'ts. She notes that the Kyoto people all volunteer to do these things for the festival, so this generosity really needs to be respected.

Amy, who wrote "Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan," says she always advises people to ask before they do anything in Japan. So even if the doors are open, don't presume you can just walk in. If you ask first, it allows the person to politely decline, and Catherine points out that it also gives them the opportunity to educate us.

Catherine talks about the two parts of the festival, the "before festival" July 10-17, which is the biggest, with 23 floats, street stalls, street food and such, and the "after festival," July 18-24 with 11 floats.

Catherine says research is important for the festival and she is happy to be a resource for people interested in doing their own research on the festival and who need help on where to go to learn more. She talks about the role writers have in helping the festival survive, especially since the popularity of the festival also inherently endangers it. She says she wrote the book to help it remain sustainable and to help people understand that it is not just a tourist event but a spiritual ritual that is put on voluntarily so that we can enjoy it. Having a sense of appreciation and meaning helps ground it and make it a more thoughtful experience for everyone.

Find out more information on Catherine Pawasarat and visit her website GionFestival.org and social media channels: Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Get a free excerpt of the Gion Festival book here: gionfestival.org/booksonasia

Catherine can also be found at planetdharma.com

Lastly, Amy asks Catherine what her favorite books on Japan are:

Gateway to Japan by June Kinoshita
Old Kyoto: Guide to Traditional Shops, Restaurants and Inns by Diane Durston
Lost Japan by Alex Kerr
Memories of Silk and Straw by Jun'ichi Saga
Engendering Faith: Women and Buddhism in Premodern Japan, edited by Barbara Ruch

The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, publisher of fine books on Asia for over 30 years.

Books on Asia
Twitter: @BooksOnAsia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/booksonasia
https://www.facebook.com/amyonasia/

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

The Art of the Short Story with Tina deBellegarde

Amy Chavez, Tina deBellegarde — Mon, 7 Jun 2021 18:36:59 +0000

Today we're talking with Tina deBellegarde about short stories, what makes a good short story, and why certain short story writers are so appealing. Tina has been nominated for the Agatha Award for Best First Novel, has a short story published in the Mystery Writers of America anthology called "When a Stranger Comes to Town," and most recently won the USA Prize in the Writers in Kyoto annual story competition.

Amy congratulates Tina on her contest-winning entry called "Sound Travels" in the WiK writing competition, and Tina mentions that it can be read on the Writers in Kyoto website. Tina tells how the inspiration for the entry came from the current coronavirus situation which has prevented her (living in the US) from seeing her son, (living in Kyoto), for over a year and a half. Her piece was constructed from telephone conversations with her son amidst the background sounds of Kyoto City as he went about his daily activities.

They start the topic of the podcast by highlighting some Japanese short story writers such as Haruki Murakami and Banana Yoshimoto, Hiromi Kawakami, Aoko Matsuda, and Kyoko Nakajima. and foreign writers, including Lafcadio Hearn and, more recently, Rebecca Otowa. Amy also mentions two short story collections from China, one by the well-known author Xu Xu called Bird Talk, and an anthology of flash fiction called The Pearl Jacket and Other Stories: Flash Fiction from Contemporary China which prompts a discussion on flash fiction, which Tina defines for us and elaborates upon, including the works of Mieko Kawakami.

Amy asks Tina who her favorite short story authors are and Tina identifies Haruki Murakami and Banana Yoshimoto as definite favorites. Amy decides to give listeners a bit of a taste of Yoshimoto and how she smoothly transitions into "another world" by reading from the introduction of the story "Newlywed" from the short story collection Lizard. Tina notes in this example that some of the best short stories start from such an encounter, or moment, after which, the world is never the same for the protagonist. Trains are often the scene of stories in Japan, since most people in Japan ride trains all throughout their lives and these movable settings involve a revolving door of different kinds of people who visit familiar places at which events can occur. Murakami does this too, especially as seen in the stories in his latest collection First Person Singular. Tina notes that in this sampling of works many of Murakami's moments are merely moments, without morphing into other worlds (the way many of his novels do).

Tina admires Murakami for his adeptness at focusing on "small moments" and how he expands them into stories. She talks about his short story "The Second Bakery Attack," (from The Elephant Vanishes) then moves into "Carnaval" (from First Person Singular) and how Murakami contrasts beautiful and "ugly" women in this story (the latter of whom he envies for their skills in communicating and drawing people into their worlds). Amy mentions Books on Asia's Murakami Podcast and Issue, that lists all his books, including his short story collections and fun Murakami trivia.

Tina reflects on the BOA Podcast 7: Richard Lloyd Parry and Ghosts of the Tsunami and how Parry said there were so many stories to tell, that he focused on a few that would stand in for all stories, which Tina identifies, is what a good short story should do: allow the reader to connect to the universality of a story. That's what Murakami does when he takes the reader into the everyday life of his characters, and immerses you, so you can connect to all the parts of their story.

The discussion turns to some examples of Murakami encounters such as "With the Beatles," and "Carnaval" (from First Person Singular), “On Seeing the 100 percent Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning,” (from The Elephant Vanishes). Tina also mentions Naoya Shiga's story "All the Way to Abashiri" fromThe Paper Door collection that takes place on a train while the character considers the woman sitting across from him with her two small children, and wonders what her life is like, what her husband does for a living, etc.

Amy notes that Japanese short stories don't always offer hard and fast conclusions and how the reader is expected to linger over endings and think about the possible endings themselves, given different clues from the author. Tina says Japanese literature is often slice-of-life vignettes, where the story starts in the middle and ends in the middle, with the ending left open.

Amy observes that in addition to trains, another place that pops up a lot in Japanese literature as a backdrop is the thrift store. Many have read The Nakano Thrift Shop by Hiromi Kawakami, but there is also a thrift store in Kyoko Nakajima's just released collection Things Remembered and Things Forgotten in a piece called "The Life Story of a Sewing Machine." Amy elaborates on the elements that make this story so satisfying to readers such as herself.

Another big topic of Japanese short stories is yōkai, or ghosts. They talk about Aoko Matsuda's recent release Where the Wild Ladies Are and how she re-invents traditional Japanese folktales into modern stories with strong women. Amy is hoping this a trend since the upcoming June release of Yamamba: In Search of the Japanese Mountain Witch also re-imagines the Yamamba as a strong woman rather than the scary old crone she is classically portrayed as.

Tina and Amy discover they have two different versions of Where the Wild Ladies Are and they compare the U.K. version against the American edition, the latter of which gives much more background information on the origins of the original stories the works are based on.

Amy also cites another hopeful trend: that of foreign writers penning short stories on Japan since they give different insights into Japanese culture than Japanese writers do. Lafcadio Hearn is known for his stories on explaining Japanese culture and ghosts, but writers like Rebecca Otowa, who write stories from the point of view of living and experiencing contemporary Japanese culture from a woman's point of view, in addition to being an outsider, is also important. Tina agrees and says that she read Otowa's At Home in Japan before her visit to Japan, and that Otowa was a clearer conduit for her to learn about Japanese customs. We talk about one story "The Turtle Stone" (from The Mad Kyoto Shoe Swapper) as an example of cultural cues we can glean from reading such stories.

Lastly, Tina reveals what her favorite books on Japan are:

Kyoto: Seven Paths to the Heart of the City by Diane Durston

Kokoro by Natsume Sōseki

Untangling My Chopsticks by Victoria Abbot Riccardi

The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, publisher of fine books on Asia for over 30 years.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Robert Whiting Talks Baseball and Tokyo Junkie

robert whiting, Amy Chavez — Thu, 6 May 2021 16:00:00 +0000

In this episode of the Books on Asia podcast, show host Amy Chavez talks with Robert Whiting about his just released memoir Tokyo Junkie: 60 Years of Bright Lights and Back Alleys . . . and Baseball (Stone Bridge Press, April, 2021). Whiting is known for his numerous books on Japanese baseball: The Chrysanthemum and the Bat, You Gotta Have Wa, The Samurai Way of Baseball, and The Meaning of Ichiro. He's also penned a book about gangsters called Tokyo Underworld. In this episode of the podcast, Whiting talks about all these books as well as what it's like to write a memoir.

Show Notes

The show starts out as Whiting tells how he came to Japan in 1962 and worked for the CIA. At the time, Japan was preparing for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He elucidates the transformation of Tokyo as the city prepared to host the Games. He contrasts that with the upcoming 2021 Tokyo Olympics to show how far Tokyo has come in 60 years.

Whiting talks about attending Sophia University where he studied politics, and why he returned to the U.S. His homecoming led to his first gig writing The Chrysanthemum and the Bat and after that, a chance to come back to Japan with Time/Life.

While working in Tokyo, he started hanging out with gangsters at the bars, and this eventually led to his writing Tokyo Underworld.

Lastly, Whiting talks about his life with his long-time wife, Machiko, and how he followed her career around the world in her position as Officer for United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Whiting shares some writing advice as well as his favorite books on Japan:

Japan Diary by Mark Gayn
Five Gentlemen of Japan: The Portrait of a Nation’s Character by Frank Gibney
Typhoon in Tokyo: The Occupation and Its Aftermath by Harry Emerson Wildes
MacArthur’s Japan by Russell Brines
Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II by John W. Dower
Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan by Jake Adelstein
Japanamerica by Roland Kelts
Anything by Alex Kerr, Richard Lloyd Parry or Peter Tasker.

See Books on Asia's review of Robert Whiting's memoir "Tokyo Junkie" here.

The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, publisher of fine books on Asia for over 30 years.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Wes Lang, Hiking and Trekking the Japan Alps and Mount Fuji

Wes Lang, Amy Chavez — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 18:49:59 +0000

This episode starts out with Amy asking Wes for some tips on using mountain huts while hiking: What time to arrive, whether you should book meals, if you need reservations, and how mountain huts on Mount Fuji differ from other mountain hut accommodations.

They also talk about hot springs (onsen) at mountain huts, or near the hiking trails. Some onsen have mixed bathing (men and women together) and they discuss some tips on when to cover up with a swim suit (or not). Amy talks about her embarrassing moment in a mixed bathing hot spring, and Wes talks about an awkward time having to wear a special robe to cover up for the gods. They also discuss tattoos in the hot springs, the real reason behind the "no-tattoos" rule, and what to do if you have inked skin and want to take a hot spring bath during your trip in the mountains.

Since your trip is bound to involve trains to get to places, Wes gives tips on riding crowded trains when using the Japan Rail Pass.

Amy asks Wes what he considers the must-see hikes in Japan as well as a couple favorites off the beaten path. Amy, a trail runner, asks which trails highlighted in the book would be good for fast-packing.

The author gives details about his guidebook, Hiking and Trekking the Japan Alps and Mount Fuji, including the book's physical properties: full-color glossy pages, full-color maps and a waterproof jacket cover. He and co-author Tom Fay wanted the guide to appeal to long-term Japan residents as well as visitors, so they insisted on bilingual maps, transport information, and the inclusion of kanji character names to help decipher sign-posts.

Lastly, Wes recounts the history behind the hyakumeizan, "Japan's 100 mountains," which he started climbing in 2002 over a series of holidays and weekends, and completed in 2008. This challenge, on many a Japan climber's bucket list, was inadvertently created by Fukada Kyūya in 1964 when his book Nihon Hyakumeizan (Japan's 100 Mountains) became popular.

Later, the book was translated into English by Martin Hood for University of Hawaii Press.

See Wes's "Hiking in Japan" website for an online guide to hiking the hyakumeizan.

The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, publisher of fine books on Asia for over 30 years. Subscribe to the podcast here.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Janine Beichman on translating Japanese Haiku and Tanka

A, Janine Beichman, Amy Chavez — Wed, 7 Apr 2021 21:06:28 +0000

This episode starts out with Amy and Janine talking about Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) and the poetic reforms that took place from 1868 during Japan's transition from the Edo to the Meiji period. It was a time when Shiki (and his friend Natsume Sōseki), was influenced by Western literary styles and culture. These effects are reflected in Shiki's haiku, tanka and prose. Beichman's literary biography Masaoka Shiki: His Life and Works (Cheng & Tsui Co, 2002) delves into Shiki's influence on poetry, his invention of the tanka series and the publication of his poetic diaries. Janine also discusses the differences between haiku and tanka (waka) and their variations.

Janine then details her path to discovering feminist poet Yosano Akiko (1879-1942) and tells how she came to the decision to focus on this particular poet to write a literary biography. Embracing the Firebird: Yosano Akiko and the Birth of the Female Voice in Modern Japanese Poetry (Univ of Hawaii Press, 2002) is the result. Janine talks about Akiko and her relationship with nature in poetry and feminism. Beichman reads a poem from Yosano's collection "Tangled Hair" included in her book.

See University of Hawaii Press for indexes for Embracing the Firebird:

Introduction by the Author

First Lines of Poems

Next, Janine charts her relationship with poet Makoto Ooka, and how she started writing for his magazine which later led to him asking her to translate a book of his poems. The book was originally published by Catydid Press and later Kurodohan released a second English edition called Beneath the Sleepless Tossing of the Planets. Read a review by Christopher Blasdel of Sleepless Tossing of the Planets here.

Janine also discusses Makoto Ōoka, how she became involved translating his poetry and how she chose which to poems to include in the anthology Ori Ori no Uta.

Lastly, Janine reveals who her favorite Japanese poets and poetry books are.

Unfortunately, Janine's book wasn't near release at the time of the podcast recording, but her latest endeavor is the translation of Well-Versed: Exploring Modern Japanese Haiku (Japan Library/JPIC, March 25, 2021). Read an excerpt.

The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, publisher of fine books on Asia for over 30 years.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Alex Kerr, author of Finding the Heart Sutra

Amy Chavez, Alex Kerr — Mon, 8 Mar 2021 22:08:50 +0000

Partial Transcript

“Welcome to the Books on Asia podcast, I’m your host, Amy Chavez, and today we have with us Alex Kerr who is going to talk with me about his newly published book Finding the Heart Sutra: Guided by a Magician, an Art Collector and Buddhist Sages from Tibet to Japan. (Allen Lane, Penguin U.K. Nov. 26, 2020)."

Amy: Your book "Finding the Heart Sutra" is coming out this week, congratulations!

Alex Kerr: This book is a result of 40 years of what's basically been an obsession with the subject. I did the calligraphy on the cover as well as the kanji throughout the book. Calligraphy is another obsession of mine since I was a boy of nine, and calligraphy is key to the Heart Sutra. Millions of people in Japan, China and other parts of Asia, chant the Heart Sutra, but you can also write it. Writing it, called shakyo— copying the Heart Sutra by hand—is the traditional way to gain merit. So calligraphy has been associated with the Heart Sutra from day one.

Amy: What moved you to write a book about about the Heart Sutra?

Kerr: The subject is the emptiness of life - the deepest subject that there is. Also, part of it is the fascination with the brevity of the sutra. It's really short. It's roughly 50 lines. You can recite the whole thing in a minute which means it's compressed, intense, kanji by kanji, line by line. Universes of Buddhist thought are compressed into mere phrases in the Heart Sutra. I call these jewel phrases. The more you learn about the sutra, the deeper you can go. There's a story in it as it moves from start to finish, and there's also this incredible depth. Many of the words have been discussed at length by commentators, but I found to my surprise others that hadn’t been talked about at all because they seemed obvious.

Amy: Can you talk about how the Heart Sutra relates to Japanese culture?

Kerr: The Heart Sutra has gone really deep into Japanese culture. Especially the famous lines "The material world is itself emptiness. Emptiness is itself the material world." All the Japanese know that phrase. When they hear it in kabuki, they get it immediately. You hear it quoted on television; it’s printed on fans, neckties, Evanescence, impermanence, that's maybe the biggest subject of Japanese literature. Those things arise from Buddhism in general, but you feel them most intensely in the Heart Sutra. Because it was so short, something everyone knew, it has infused literature, gardens, sculpture, all of those things have the Heart Sutra in them.

More

If you'd like a primer on the author's mentor David Kidd, read Books on Asia's previous interview with Alex Kerr about mentors here.

Other Books by Alex Kerr

Lost Japan
Dogs and Demons
Another Kyoto (w/Kathy Arlyn Sokol)
(Upcoming) Japanese Pilgrimage (in Japanese)
(Upcoming) Another Bangkok

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Richard Lloyd Parry, author of Ghosts of the Tsunami

Richard Lloyd Parry, Amy Chavez — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 22:29:46 +0000

Amy talks with author, journalist, and Times correspondent Richard Lloyd Parry about his books Ghosts of the Tsunami about the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami and People Who Eat Darkness: The Fate of Lucie Blackman about a foreign hostess who went missing in Tokyo.

Recorded on May 8, 2020.

See Parry's book Ghosts of the Tunsami: https://booksonasia.net/book/ghosts-of-the-tsunami/

People Who Eat Darkness: https://booksonasia.net/book/people-who-eat-darkness/

For more books, see Books on Asia Issue 7: Disasters, Natural and Man-Made https://booksonasia.net/book/people-who-eat-darkness/

Podcast Show Notes: https://booksonasia.net/podcast/hon-podcast-7-richard-lloyd-parry-author-of-ghosts-of-the-tsunami/#more-2756

The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, publisher of fine books on Asia for over 30 years: https://www.stonebridge.com

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Lena Baibikov, translator of Haruki Murakami's non-fiction

Amy Chavez — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 22:28:18 +0000

Amy Chaez talks with Lena Baibikov who has translated Haruki Murakami’s non-fiction works from Japanese into Russian. Lena has translated What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Radio Murakami and a book of Murakami’s short stories as well as works by authors such as Banana Yoshimoto, Ryu Murakami, and Yukio Mishima and several children’s book authors. This podcast recording takes place in Lena’s kitchen in Ashiya, just 100 meters from where Murakami’s parents lived until the Kobe Earthquake of 1995. Lena also took Amy on a tour of the neighborhood Murakami grew up in. She tells us how she got started translating and what it is that intrigues her about Murakami’s works.

Recorded on December 15, 2019.

See Books on Asia Issue 6: What you Don’t Know About Haruki Murakami https://booksonasia.net/category/issues/issue-6/

Show Notes here: https://booksonasia.net/podcast/hon-podcast-6-lena-baibikov-translator-of-haruki-murakami-non-fiction/

The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, publisher of fine books on Asia for over 30 years: https://www.stonebridge.com

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

William Scott Wilson, author of Walking the Kiso Road

William Scott Wilson, Amy Chavez — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 22:28:07 +0000

Amy talks with William Scott Wilson, author and translator of over a dozen books on Japan and China. They briefly discuss a few of these including, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai (by Yamamoto Tsunetomo), The Book of 5 Rings (by Miyamoto Musashi), and Cultivating Ch’i: A Samurai Physician’s Teachings on the Way of Health (by Kaibara Ekiken) before they zero in on the writing of Walking the Kiso Road. In this episode the author reveals a surprising fact about himself that we never knew before! (hint: If you like to kayak, you’ll definitely want to check this out).

Recorded on May 31, 2019.

You can see more of Wilson's books here: https://booksonasia.net/book/walking-the-kiso-road/

And Issue 5: Hikes, Pilgrimages and Journeys in Japan here: https://booksonasia.net/category/issues/issue-5/

Podcast Show Notes here (warning: spoilers): https://booksonasia.net/podcast/hon-podcast-5-william-scott-wilson-author-of-walking-the-kiso-road/#more-1889

The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, publisher of fine books on Asia for over 30 years: www.stonebridge.com

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Barry Lancet, author of Tokyo Kill

Amy Chavez, Barry Lancet — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 22:27:54 +0000

Barry Lancet chats with podcast host Amy Chavez about Lancet's popular thriller series including Japantown, Tokyo Kill, Pacific Burn, and The Spy Across the Table based on the exploits of Jim Brody, an antiques dealer who travels between Japan, Asia and the U.S.

Recorded on January 22, 2019.

See Barry Lancet's thriller series at https://booksonasia.net/book/tokyo-kill/

And other books on Tokyo in Books on Asia, Issue 4: https://booksonasia.net/category/issues/issue-4/

The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, publisher of fine books on Asia for over 30 years: www.stonebridge.com

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Juliet Winters Carpenter on translating Japanese Literature

Amy Chavez, Juliet Winters Carpenter — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 22:27:44 +0000

Amy meets up with Juliet Winters Carpenter to talk about her 70 or so translated works of Japanese literature including Shion Miura’s The Great Passage, Minae Mizumura’s A True Novel, Shiba Ryōtaro’s Clouds Above the Hill, Jun’ichiro Saga’s Memories of Wind and Waves, and Abe Kōbō’s Secret Rendezvous. Carpenter also talks about her upcoming project, a new translation with Mizumura, as well as translating the life story of Sakamoto Ryōma.

Recorded on September 29, 2018

To see the books mentioned in this episode, see: https://booksonasia.net/category/issues/issue-3/

The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, publisher of fine books on Asia for over 30 years: www.stonebridge.com

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

Judith Pascoe on Wuthering Heights in Japan

Judith Pascoe, Amy Chavez — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 22:27:29 +0000

Amy talks with Dr. Judith Pascoe in her office on the campus of Florida State University while a Brontëesque storm rages outside their window. Pascoe discusses aspects of her book On the Bullet Train with Emily Brontë: Wuthering Heights in Japan. A fun, engaging read, Dr. Pascoe deliberates on some of the 20 or so Japanese interpretations of the novel, including translations, manga versions, and the reenactment by the Takarazuka all-female theater in Japan and even offers up some unique Japanese-language learning tips.

Recorded on July 6, 2018.

To see her book and others discussed in the podcast, go to the Books on Asia website at: https://booksonasia.net/category/issues/issue-2/

The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, publisher of fine books on Asia for over 30 years: www.stonebridge.com

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

John Dougill, founder of Writers in Kyoto

Amy Chavez, John Dougill — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 22:26:50 +0000

John Dougill talks about Japan’s indigenous religion of Shinto, its kami (deities) and the designation of Ise Shrine as the center of worship for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Recorded on May 27, 2018.

For more information about Dougill's books as well as publications by other members of Writers in Kyoto, see: https://booksonasia.net/category/issues/issue-1/

The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, publisher of fine books on Asia for over 30 years: www.stonebridge.com

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.