Book Reviews

BOOK REVIEWS

Is James Clavell’s Shogun Accurate History – Or Pure Fiction?

UJ staff writer Dr. Nyri Bakkalian reads and critiques James Clavell's epically long-winded 1975 novel "Shogun" so you don't have to.

BOOK REVIEWS

Review: “Black Box: The Memoir That Sparked Japan’s #MeToo Movement”

Ito Shiori's arresting memoir, Black Box, has been credited with starting #metoo in Japan. Now her seminal book has a superlative new…

BOOK REVIEWS

Food from the Wild, Food for Thought: “Eating Wild Japan”

Winifred Bird's Eating Wild Japan is an in-depth, humanistic, and fascinating journey across the wilds of the country in search of foraging.

BOOK REVIEWS

Review: Coed Revolution: The Female Student in the Japanese New Left

Chelsea Szendi Schieder's new book deftly and fascinatingly reframes the history of Japan's New Left around the women who contributed so much…

BOOK REVIEWS

Miyazaki Goro’s New Biography Sheds Light on Ghibli’s Successor

The son of Studio Ghibli's famous founder talks in a new book about the strange path he took to directing - and…

BOOK REVIEWS

Underground: The Cult of Aum Shinrikyo

Author Murakami Haruki asked members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult what made them devote themselves to the group. Here are their answers.

BOOK REVIEWS

Underground: The Stories of Japan’s Sarin Attack Victims

How the Murakami Haruki book UNDERGROUND captured the impact of the Tokyo sarin subway attack on survivors.

BOOK REVIEWS

Japanese Alcoholic Drinks: The Complete Guide

There's so much more to Japanese alcoholic drinks than sake and whisky. And this book gives a complete guided tour.