Article by Matt S. China, as one of the oldest continuous cultures and nations on the planet, has a long and deep literary history. Some of its greatest masterpieces were written well before Europeans invaded places like America and Australia and re-drew the maps to suit their colonial expansion. Across…
Read MoreBook review by Harvard L.“I have a friend who told me that he couldn’t sleep in the same room as the box Resident Evil came in; he had to move it out of his bedroom every night. Another fan told me he played it around age ten. He lived in…
Read MoreBook review by Matt S. I have previously reviewed Kirino Natsuo’s Grotesque, but with Out, she has solidified herself as my favourite modern Japanese author. Out was actually the first Kirino novel to be translated into English, and if you’ve not had the opportunity to read it yet, you should…
Read MoreWe have a special guest on the podcast this week! Philip J Reed, the author of an upcoming book on Resident Evil that is being published by Boss Fight Books jumps on the podcast to chat with us about his book, Resident Evil and his history with the series, and…
Read MoreBook review by Matt S. Have you heard of Higashino Keigo? If not, you’ve not delved deeply enough into Japanese crime fiction writing. Higashino has published something like 66 novels (and that doesn’t count his many short story collections), and of those, some 20 have been turned into television series’…
Read MoreBook review by Matt S. Matsumoto Seichō is one of Japan’s most prolific – and influential – crime fiction writers. Japanese crime fiction is one of the rare few areas where a good weighting of works have been translated into English (and other languages), and in many ways we can…
Read MoreBook review by Matt S. “The hurt ones were quiet; no one wept, much less screamed in pain; no one complained; none of the many who died did so noisily; not even the children cried; very few people even spoke. And when Father Kleinsorge gave water to some whose faces…
Read MoreBook review by Matt S. Nakamura Fuminori rocketed to international literary superstardom with The Thief, and with very good reason. This book is a masterpiece. In general terms, it’s a crime thriller, but that’s underselling and simplifying it. Combining the dense reflection on the human condition of something with a…
Read MoreBook review by Matt S. “After all, we won’t die normally on straw mats. In all probability we’ll be murdered when we least expect it. So if that time should come, never be confused or grieve over me. Even if we should be killed, we ourselves will be happy because…
Read MoreBook review by Matt S. “Without military power”, Japan’s education minister announced in a radio address back in September 1945, “we go forward with culture.” His comment envisioned the country’s peaceful reinvention via education and the arts. Finding quality accounts of the development of Japan through its modern history is…
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