The popular cozy and quirky fiction showed no signs of decline, but there were two big surprises from two ghostly figures — Uketsu and Osamu Dazai. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2025/12/14/books/japanese-literature-2025/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #culture #books #japaneseliterature #2025inreview #translatedliterature #fiction #uketsu #osamudazai #sayakamurata #akutagawaprize
Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, the 92-year-old icon of Japanese television, had a lot more to say after her successful memoir in 1981. The sequel picks up where “Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window” left off. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2025/11/23/books/tetsuko-kuroyanagi-memoir-totto-chan/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #culture #books #tetsukokuroyanagi #ww2 #tottochan #books #japaneseliterature
“There’s a strange closeness you feel when reading (Osamu) Dazai, as if you know him, as a friend,” says "Retrograde" translator Leo Elizabeth Takada. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2025/09/22/books/osamu-dazai-new-translations/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #culture #books #osamudazai #translation #japaneseliterature #books #literature #sambett #davidboyd
Akira Otani’s “The Night of Baba Yaga” is a genre-bending novel of violence and tenderness that defies easy categorization. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2025/07/04/entertainment-news/akira-otani-the-night-of-baba-yaga-crime-writing-award/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #culture #entertainmentnews#japaneseliterature #akiraotani #sambett #thenightofbabayaga #translation #lgbtq #yakuza