Recently in Japanese Books Category

Birthday [Baasudei]

バースデイ

Genre: Horror
Author: Kôji Suzuki (1998)

review in one breath

This is the final of Suzuki's four books dedicated to the Ring saga. It is a collection of three stories, each involving an exploration into the situations and plights of three female characters mentioned elsewhere in the other novels. One of the three tales was the basis for the film "Ring 0: Birthday", and as a whole, the collection provides a satisfactory and reflective conclusion to the very detailed and complex world of Suzuki's Ring narrative.

Loop [Ruupu]

ループ

Genre: Sci-Fi Apocalypse
Author: Kôji Suzuki (1998)

review in one breath

Loop is the third novel in author Koji Suzuki's Ring Trilogy and presents a wholly unexpected and mind-boggling conclusion to the horror tale's trajectory. It is set in a Post-Sadako era where a newly identified genetic virus which is decimating the world's population. We follow Kaoru Futami, a young medical student, as he follows a confusing set of clues which may hold the key to understanding and perhaps defeating the deadly viral pandemic. In consistent form, author Suzuki combines the intricacies of biological evolution with visionary science fiction to explore the origin and implications of the original Sadako's cursed video tape.

Spiral [Rasen]

らせん

Genre: Japanese Horror, Dark Science
Author: Kôji Suzuki (1995)

review in one breath

Spiral is the second of author Koji Suzuki's four Ring-related books. It follows a relatively brief period in the life of medical examiner Mitsuo Ando, from the day he performs the autopsy on Ryuji Takayama (from the first novel) to the full-blown unleashing of the Ring Virus into the world. This is another page turner in Suzuki's highly readable and engaging storytelling. It offers a complex and riveting unveiling of the darker powers and intent behind Sadako Yamamura's video tape curse of the original novel.

J-Horror: The definitive guide to The Ring, The Grudge and beyond

Genre: J-Horror Filmography
Author: David Kalat (2007)

review in one breath

This recently published book by US author David Kalat delves deeply into the major films in the international J-Horror craze. Through a purely Western perspective, Kalat offers a very rich and thorough treatment of the history, details, trends and people behind exemplar films of this genre. I found this to be a very informative and entertaining exploration into the J-Horror phenomenon.

Ring [Ringu]

リング

Genre: Japanese Horror
Author: Kôji Suzuki (1991)

review in one breath

After having seen all the Japanese and US film adaptations of the Ring horror tale, I thought I better read the original text by author Koji Suzuki. I was pleasantly surprised. Even though I was familiar with the storyline, I couldn't put this book down once I started reading. And yes, there are some insightful portions which never made it into the movies.

review in one breath

Here is a very recent and rare text covering many "fringe" Japanese directors of yakuza film whose work has become in the last decade increasingly popular amongst Western audiences. Each of the fourteen chapters deals with a seperate individual and consists of a detailed professional biography, a thorough exploration of primary/relevant films, and a transcript of an interview the author himself conducted with the director/actor.

The indigenous religion of Japan is Shinto (神道), the "Way of the Gods". The central text of Shinto is the Kojiki (古事記), which outlines the ancient mythology whereby Japan's ancestral gods and lands were born. If you've ever taken a course in World Religions, you know how crucial myths are to any culture. Core myths explain why we do what we do; why we live like we live. For example, the Judaeo-Christian Creation story explains such things as why humans differ qualitatively from animals, why there is evil and death in the world, and why we get weekends off from work to sit around watching Japanese movies. Similarly, the Japanese creation story, contained in the Kojiki provides the central ancient explanation as to why Japanese do what Japanese do, etc.

It should be no surprise that contemporary publications of the Kojiki include manga versions aimed at educating and entertaining Japanese youth (and cartoon-loving gaijin). The following are scans of a manga version I picked up in Ikebukuro.

Japan : A Short Cultural History

Genre: Japanese History
Author: George Sansom (1931)

review in one breath

While the number of good academic texts on Japanese history is innumerable, here is one I picked up a decade ago in Ikebukuro and haven't stopped consulting since. The chronological scope of this book ranges from the Kojiki myths to the end of the Tokugawa Era. As the title suggests, Sansom focuses primarily upon cultural rather than purely political/economic developments (though these are included). Thus herein the focus is upon the development and evolution of literature, art, religion and philosophy.

As a primer to pre-Meiji Japanese culture, I can wholly recommend this valuable book.

Genre: Japanese History
Author: Peter Booth Wiley (1991)

review in one breath

Author Booth Wiley has done some immaculate research here and lays this early history out in a narrative which is easily read and engaging. The apex of the historical tale is the role of Commodore Perry in opening Japan to the Western world, but this is about so much more than Perry's own adventures. Fundamental aspects of early Japanese culture and characters come to life and are given an invaluable historical context, including even the minute details of how each local region treated these mysterious foreigners. It is also filled with excellent original illustrations, maps and photos of the encounters, including Japanese art depicting the sunken-eyed, large-nosed Westerners.

This book seems to be out of print and rather obscure but you can buy it very cheaply on Amazon. I even had to upload my own cover scan so Amazon could show a graphic.

Guide to Reading and Writing Japanese

Genre: Japanese Language / Kanji Dictionary
Author / Publisher: Kenneth Hanshall / Tuttle (3rd ed., 2003)

review in one breath

Out of all the many books I have used to help acquire the Japanese language, Tuttle's Guide has undoubtedly been the MOST helpful and most used. One the one hand, this reference provides an excellent (and highly useable) dissection of *each* of the almost 2000 basic Kanji characters promulgated by the Japanese educational department. On the other hand, it conveniently indexes these 2000 Kanji by (a) pronunciations and (b) number of strokes, I simply cannot tell you how often I had to resort to "number of strokes" to decipher an otherwise unintelligible character. This book has literally been priceless to me.

The Kanji Dictionary

Genre: Japanese Language / Kanji Dictionary
Author: Mark Spahn (1996)

review in one breath

This has been my primary Kanji Dictionary for several years. It is impressively comprehensive, covering over 7,500 single Kanji characters (compare this to the Japanese Ministry of Education's list of 1850 "standard" Kanji) and almost 47,000 multi-character compounds. The dictionary itself is about 1700 pages.