Books on Asia

Today we're talking with Tina deBellegarde about short stories, what makes a good short story, and why certain short story writers are so appealing. Tina has been nominated for the Agatha Award for Best First Novel, has a short story published in the Mystery Writers of America anthology called "When a Stranger Comes to Town," and most recently won the USA Prize in the Writers in Kyoto annual story...

In this episode of the Books on Asia podcast, show host Amy Chavez talks with Robert Whiting about his just released memoir Tokyo Junkie: 60 Years of Bright Lights and Back Alleys . . . and Baseball (Stone Bridge Press, April, 2021). Whiting is known for his numerous books on Japanese baseball: T he Chrysanthemum and the Bat, You Gotta Have Wa, The Samurai Way of Baseball , and The Meaning of Ichi...

This episode starts out with Amy asking Wes for some tips on using mountain huts while hiking: What time to arrive, whether you should book meals, if you need reservations, and how mountain huts on Mount Fuji differ from other mountain hut accommodations. They also talk about hot springs (onsen) at mountain huts, or near the hiking trails. Some onsen have mixed bathing (men and women together) and...

This episode starts out with Amy and Janine talking about Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) and the poetic reforms that took place from 1868 during Japan's transition from the Edo to the Meiji period. It was a time when Shiki (and his friend Natsume Sōseki), was influenced by Western literary styles and culture. These effects are reflected in Shiki's haiku, tanka and prose. Beichman's literary biography ...

Partial Transcript “Welcome to the Books on Asia podcast, I’m your host, Amy Chavez, and today we have with us Alex Kerr who is going to talk with me about his newly published book  Finding the Heart Sutra: Guided by a Magician, an Art Collector and Buddhist Sages from Tibet to Japan. (Allen Lane, Penguin U.K. Nov. 26, 2020)." Amy: Your book "Finding the Heart Sutra" is coming out this week, congr...

Amy  talks with author, journalist, and Times correspondent Richard Lloyd Parry about his books Ghosts of the Tsunami about the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami and People Who Eat Darkness: The Fate of Lucie Blackman about a foreign hostess who went missing in Tokyo.  Recorded on May 8, 2020. See Parry's book Ghosts of the Tunsami : https://booksonasia.net/book/ghosts-of-the-tsunami/ People Who...

Amy Chaez talks with Lena Baibikov who has translated Haruki Murakami’s non-fiction works from Japanese into Russian. Lena has translated What I Talk About When I Talk About Running , Radio Murakami and a book of Murakami’s short stories as well as works by authors such as Banana Yoshimoto, Ryu Murakami, and Yukio Mishima and several children’s book authors. This podcast recording takes place in L...

Amy  talks with William Scott Wilson, author and translator of over a dozen books on Japan and China. They briefly discuss a few of these including, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai (by Yamamoto Tsunetomo), The Book of 5 Rings (by Miyamoto Musashi), and Cultivating Ch’i: A Samurai Physician’s Teachings on the Way of Health (by Kaibara Ekiken) before they zero in on the writing of Walking the Kiso...

Barry Lancet chats with podcast host Amy Chavez about Lancet's popular thriller series including Japantown, Tokyo Kill, Pacific Burn , and The Spy Across the Table based on the exploits of Jim Brody, an antiques dealer who travels between Japan, Asia and the U.S.  Recorded on January 22, 2019. See Barry Lancet's thriller series at https://booksonasia.net/book/tokyo-kill/ And other books on Tokyo i...

Amy meets up with Juliet Winters Carpenter to talk about her 70 or so translated works of Japanese literature including Shion Miura’s The Great Passage , Minae Mizumura’s A True Novel , Shiba Ryōtaro’s Clouds Above the Hill , Jun’ichiro Saga’s Memories of Wind and Wave s, and Abe Kōbō’s Secret Rendezvous . Carpenter also talks about her upcoming project, a new translation with Mizumura, as well as...

Amy talks with Dr. Judith Pascoe in her office on the campus of Florida State University while a Brontëesque storm rages outside their window. Pascoe discusses aspects of her book On the Bullet Train with Emily Brontë: Wuthering Heights in Japan . A fun, engaging read, Dr. Pascoe deliberates on some of the 20 or so Japanese interpretations of the novel, including translations, manga versions, and...

John Dougill talks about Japan’s indigenous religion of Shinto, its kami (deities) and the designation of Ise Shrine as the center of worship for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.  Recorded on May 27, 2018. For more information about Dougill's books as well as publications by other members of Writers in Kyoto, see: https://booksonasia.net/category/issues/issue-1/ The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by...