Book review by Clark A. Masashi Kishimoto, author of one of the biggest names that springs to mind when hearing terms like “anime” and “manga” (that being Naruto), has gone from writing about ninja to writing about samurai. There’s no denying that Kishimoto’s new Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru…
Read MoreBook review by Matt S. Almost every single samurai throughout history was Japanese. That’s perhaps the most obvious thing a person could say of course, but by the time that Japan was genuinely opening its boarders to international trade and cultural exchange, the samurai had already come and gone as…
Read MoreBook review by Matt S. Published a little over a decade ago (2008), Minato Kanae’s Confessions was the book that immediately established her as one of Japan’s pre-eminent crime fiction writers. Like many of the best modern crime fiction works, Confessions isn’t so interested in figuring out whodunnit – that’s…
Read MoreLiterature by Matt S. Kirino Natsuo is one of the most important figures in modern Japanese literature – right up there with Murakami. Kirino’s writing isn’t exactly pleasant to read, and you’ll walk away from Grotesque feeling more than a little deflated, but the way she structures her writing, and…
Read MoreArticle by Matt S. I’m a big fan of reading. I recommend it to all people. As much as the world seems to be moving away from the written word and books in favour of “in-depth” tweets at a whopping 280 characters, video games, YouTube videos of tasering rats, and…
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