Matthew Amster-Burton
A headfirst and authentic plunge into the world of rural Japanese artistic pursuits and...
It would be hard to think of anything less threatening than Japanese lacquerware. Unless you’ve read Water, Wood, and Wild Things, Hannah Kirshner’s headfirst...
Novel “The Aosawa Murders” is a captivating murder mystery and character study
Summer in Japan is a monster. The rainy season lifts, bringing weeks of crushing wet heat. It’s the kind of heat that leaves you...
A poetic and personal meditation on exploring Tokyo, it’s history and its people
When I want to show someone around Tokyo, we often begin in Asakusa. It’s a neighborhood both touristy and ordinary, famous for tempura, nori,...
The Sakura Obsession explores the dark past of the cherry blossoms we adore every...
If you’ve ever been to Japan in spring, you’ve seen what you might imagine is a centuries-old tradition of hanami, picnicking under the cherry...
A conversation with the English translator of the bestselling novel Go by Kazuki Kaneshiro
When Sugihara sings along to one of his favorite Bruce Springsteen songs, he amends the lyrics to “Born in Japan.”
Which he was. Sugihara’s name...
A collection of short stories that pushes boundaries and makes some noise
The short story is chameleonic, and its greatest practitioners chafe against any notion of orthodoxy. The short story can throw a thin veil over...
