RJL is excited to bring you this two-parter about LGBTQ+ stories from Japan. Part two covers Taisho Japan (when women finally enter the stage) through through contemporary LGBTQ+ writing, especially the life and work of Nobuko Yoshiya, Edogawa ...

RJL is excited to bring you this two-parter about LGBTQ+ stories from Japan. Part one covers some of the earliest writing in Japanese through the end of the Meiji Period in 1912.Part two (coming soon) covers Taisho Japan (when women fin...

Today, we’re talking about crime and mystery novels from Japan. We’ll start with the development of the crime and mystery genre in the English-speaking world. We’ll move on to Japanese crime and mystery writing—how it was inspired by Anglo-Amer...

This episode is marked mature.In this episode, we take a look at Japanese writing about the American bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that killed as many as 215,000 people in August 1945. We’ll start with the history of the ato...

In this episode, we take a look at the history of Koreans writing in Japan. We’ll start with the history of Koreans in Japan, including anti-Korean prejudice before and after WWII. We’ll move on to Zainichi Korean writing. And we’ll finish with...

In part three of this episode, we’ll finish our story of Japanese apocalyptic and dystopian fiction. First, stories from the mid-90s and 20-aughts. Then, stories from after the March 2011 Triple Disasters. We’ll end with a look ...

In part two of this three part episode, we're looking at the apocalyptic and dystopian fiction of Japan. We'll begin with the evolution of the idea of "the end of the world" in Japan, especially after Japan started importing American an...

In part one of this three part episode, we're looking at apocalyptic and dystopian fiction as genres. Their origins in Western and Central Asia. Their evolution in Western Europe. And a history of English-language apocalyptic and dystopian stor...

In part two of this two-part episode on misogyny in Japanese literature, we're talking about the life and work of Yukio Mishima, especially by way of his I-Novel, Confessions of a Mask

In part one of this two-part episode, we're talking about misogyny in Japanese literature. 400 years of attitudes about women in JapanWoman in modern Japanese literature, especially in the work of some of its most impo...

There is no one quite like Kenji Miyazawa. Born into wealth, he longed to be “a real peasant”. One of Japan’s most influential children’s writers, he sold only one story during his lifetime.Re...

To celebrate the overseas release of The Boy and the Heron (aka How Do You Live?) RJL delves into the stories that inspire animator Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, especiallyNausicaä of the Valley of the Wind...

In this episode, we're talking about one of the most important voices in modern Japanese literature, Haruki Murakami.His biographyWhy so many people have such strong feelings about his writingAnd his short story "T...

In this episode, we're talking about Japanese children's literature.The history of children’s literature in generalThe history of children’s literature in JapanAnd Sachiko Kashiwaba and

How does a book make it from the mind of a Japanese author into the hands of an English-language reader?In part 2 of this 2-part episode, we'll tackle the question, “How do Japanese books get translated into English?" What kinds...

How does a book make it from the mind of a Japanese author into the hands of an English-language reader?In part 1 of this 2-part episode, we'll tackle the question, “Why do some Japanese books get translated into English?" How do publish...

In this episode, we’re talking about Japanese science fiction.The history of the genre. SF in Japan. Breakthrough feminist sci-fi writer Izumi Suzuki.Plus loads of SF stories, including Suzuki’s “Night Picnic”....

This episode is marked mature.In this episode, we're talking about writing from Okinawa. The history of the Ryukyu Islands, especially the Battle of Okinawa. The evolution of writing from Okinawa. And the life life and work of au...

On March 11, 2011, at 2:46pm, one tectonic plate forced its way on top of another 45 miles (or 72 km) off the Eastern coast of Japan. It caused a 9.0 magnitude megathrust earthquake that lasted about six minutes.The Great East Japan Eart...

This episode is marked mature.Today we'll explore two trends in contemporary Japanese fiction:Protagonists who don’t want to have sexAnd women who want to have babies anyway.To take a closer look...

The Akutagawa Prize is probably Japan’s most celebrated literary award.To better understand the Akutagawa Prize and its place in modern Japanese literature, we’ll start with an introduction to the history of “literary” fiction in Japan.<...

Magical realism is a literary genre famous for unexplained fantastical encounters that pop-up in the otherwise everyday world.Today, we’re going to take a look at magical realism in Japanese fiction.We’ll start with defining magic...

Today, we’re going to look at cats in Japanese literature.We’ll start with the history of cats in Japan.We’ll move on to cats in Japanese folklore and fiction, including the work of Haruki Murakami.And finally we’ll end wit...

In this episode…Is she a man-eating crone?Is she a lonely wanderer?Or is she a sensual matriarch?However you define her, she’s the yama-uba—Japan’s legendary mountain witch.

In this episode…Post-bubble Japan.The history of socially-conscious Japanese literature.And Yu Miri’s Tokyo Ueno Station, a powerful examination of Tokyo by one of the most invisible people imaginable—the ghost of ...