18.Jul.2010 The Push Man and Other Stories by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
This must be the bleakest graphic novel/manga I have ever read. I was intrigued when I saw this copy at Sydney Japanese Foundation Library. The book is designed and edited by Adrian Tomine (whose Shortcomings I have yet to read), and includes Tomine’s introduction. Yoshihiro Tatsumi is known as “the grandfather of Japanese alternative comics”. [...]
27.Jun.2010 Talking About Manga
I don’t read manga that often anymore, only a few books a year if I’m up for it. But once upon a time, my whole life revolved around manga. Growing up in a country where translated or foreign books weren’t readily available, there was a point when I finished reading the whole kids library and [...]
16.May.2010 Short Sunday: Sleep by Haruki Murakami
Back in my high school days, I was so into mountain hiking and camping it drove my parents crazy. It wasn’t so much about the activities, more about how unsafe it was for a bunch of teenagers to hike faraway mountains considering how wild these places are in Indonesia. There isn’t much organization or safety [...]
01.Feb.2010 Japanese Season Has Ended, For Now
Can you believe we have gone through the third round of Japanese Literature Challenge, and it has again, ended? I did a lot better this time around than last year. Funny. Last round I intended to read a lot and ended up reading much less. This round I intended to read one or two, and [...]
31.Jan.2010 Oishinbo: Ramen & Gyōza by Tetsu Kariya and Akira Hanasaki
Oishinbo (美味しんぼ, lit. “The Gourmet”) is a long-running cooking manga published between 1983 and 2008, but only in 2009 it is published in English in thematic compilation volumes, which includes: Japanese Cuisine, Sake, Ramen & Gyôza, Fish, Sushi & Sashimi, Vegetables, The Joy of Rice, and Izakaya: Pub Food (7 volumes so far). Thematic compilation [...]
16.Jan.2010 Hello Japan: My YA J-Pop
This month’s of Hello Japan is about Japanese music. I’m going over the top by being awfully nostalgic in the past week. I haven’t listened to Japanese songs regularly for many years, but it used to be my staple day and night. It was in the late 90s and I was all alone. At 17 [...]
15.Dec.2009 I Am a Cat by Sōseki Natsume (Volume One)
I Am Cat is narrated by…, you guess it, a cat. I never have a cat (I’m a dog person), so I don’t know the daily real behaviours of a cat. But I did find this cat interesting. I liked reading his daily life and observations of humans around him. The cat remains nameless, since [...]
26.Nov.2009 Clueless in Tokyo by Betty Reynolds
Clueless in Tokyo: An Explorer’s Sketchbook of Weird and Wonderful Things in Japan is the second book in the series that I read after Squeamish about Sushi by the same author. Once again, the illustration was always a joy to look at and the little things were fascinating to learn. For example, the instruction on [...]
11.Oct.2009 TSS: Movie Mini-Reviews: Julie & Julia, Coraline, Shawshank Redemption, My Neighbors the Yamadas
I’m going to watch WICKED the Broadway Musical this Wednesday so I’m reading Wicked the book by Gregory Maguire feverishly so I can finish it before Wednesday — which is a more difficult task than I thought, because the book is LONG. I’ve been reading it for about 2 weeks now! Surely I will write [...]
08.Oct.2009 Strangers by Taichi Yamada
An idea that started as having relatively good potential, turned into B grade horror movie, except that it’s not even scary. That probably sums up what I think about the whole book. It’s very short so I’m sure you can finish it in no time. Even so, I felt like it could be compressed even [...]
