Japanese Reading Challenge #2

I read this book for the Japanese Reading Challenge 17.

Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival - David Pilling

There is not much to say beyond high praise for this 2013 book by a highly experienced and insightful reporter for the Financial Times. He talks to politicians, bureaucrats, professors, business executives, twenty-somethings, and activists on the ground and its seems he has read everything germane to the topic of modern Japan. Pilling provides solid reporting on the triple disaster of 11 March 2011 when Japan saw earthquake, tidal wave, and nuclear meltdown.

Pilling’s writing style is journalistic in its clarity but it is a pleasure to read, not all flat and gray. He is into presenting both sides of the issue, but he avoids the bane of American journalism, bothsidesism (i.e., the tendency to treat all historical takes and policy debates as if the opposing sides present equally strong arguments).

The only problem, obviously, is that it is now 11 years old. While Pilling’s overviews of Japan’s history and business conditions are still well worth the time and attention, I want to read about the longer-term effects of the triple disaster. I would also like to read an overview of Japan’s experience of the pandemic and the fallout of Abe’s assassination.

Fiction: click the title to go the review

Nonfiction: click the title to read review

·         A Strange Tale from East of the River and Other Stories  - Nagai Kafu ·         After Dark - Haruki Murakami ·         Anthology of Japanese Literature: From the Earliest Era to the Mid-Nineteenth Century – Donald Keene (editor) ·         Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage - Haruki Murakami ·         I am a Cat II – Natsume Sōseki, ·         Kappa – Akutagawa Ryunosuke ·         Kokoro – Natsume Sōseki ·         Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology – Donald Keene ·         Modern Japanese Stories – edited by Ivan Morris ·         Norwegian Wood- Haruki Murakami ·         Quicksand – Junichiro Tanizaki ·         The Devil’s Disciple – Hamao Shiro ·         The Gate - Natsume Soseki ·         The Nakano Thrift Shop – Hiromi Kawakami ·         The Old Capital - Yasunari Kawabata ·         The Shooting Gallery - Yuko Tsushima ·         The Tale of Genji ·         There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job – Yukiko Tsumura

·         A History of Japan: 1334-1615 - Sir George Sanso ·         A History of Japan: 1615-1867 - Sir George Sansom ·         A History of Japan to 1334 – Sir George Sansom ·         Absolutely on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa - Haruki Murakami ·         Adventures in Japan: A Literary Journey in the Footsteps of a Victorian Lady - Evelyn Kaye ·         Angry White Pyjamas: An Oxford Poet Trains with the Tokyo Riot Police – Robert Twigger ·         Bending Adversity – David Pilling ·         Kokoro – Lafcadio Hearn ·         Nightless City: Geisha and Courtesan Life in Old Tokyo - J.E. de Becker ·         The Blue-Eyed Salaryman: From World Traveler to Lifer at Mitusbishi - Niall Murtagh ·         The Western World and Japan  – Sir George Sansom ·         The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan – Ivan Morris ·         This Scheming World – Ihara Saikaku ·         Unbeaten Tracks in Japan:  – Isabella Bird ·         What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir - Haruki Murakami