Japanese

  • Get Cozy With It

    With one weekend of rain underway, I’m ready to be on the couch, mug of tea in hand, reading a book that matches my mood. I’m looking for maximum coziness and though you can find cozy fantasy, cozy mystery, and even cozy horror, I’ve been diving into translated Japanese and Korean cozies, with a distinctly… Continue reading

  • October Takeover: Asian Horror – Black Cats, Buried Secrets and Ghosts With Long Hair

    ~posted by David H.  In 2002, the Hollywood film The Ring, starring Naomi Watts and directed by Gore Verbinski, opened to excellent box office, becoming a surprise hit. Though few were aware of it, The Ring was a remake of a Japanese film called Ringu (1998) that had been making a stir among horror fans. The success… Continue reading

  • The Street of a Thousand Blossoms, by Gail Tsukiyama

    I haven’t really thought about the lives of ordinary Japanese people during World War II  until I started to read The Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama. The concepts that were deeply rooted in my mind were how the war and Japan’s soldiers brought disaster, tragedy, and despair to the Chinese people and… Continue reading

  • Mishima’s Sword

    Mishima’s Sword: Travels in Search of a Samurai Legend  by Christopher Ross. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, I lived in a southern city in China called Guangzhou. At that time Guangzhou was more vibrant than ever.  People were pouring into this so-called Window of the South Wind city to look for opportunity. Many… Continue reading