Factbook

A Dynamic Compendium of Interesting Japanese Literary and Publishing Facts

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A group of post-war Japanese authors dubbed ‘The Decadents’ established a publishing genre called ‘Flesh Literature’[UPDATED: 8-8-2025]

A group of Japanese eccentrics and misfits, all members of the so-called Buraiha literary group, The Decadents, including authors such as Osamu Dazai (1909-1948) sometimes dubbed the bad boy of Japanese literature, Jun Ishikawa (1899-1987), Sakunosuke Oda (1913-1947), and Ango Sakaguchi (1906-1955) – who still… Read more »
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A group of post-war Japanese authors dubbed ‘The Decadents’ established a publishing genre called ‘Flesh Literature’ Posted August 8th, 2025 by Richard Nathan
Western Authors have been trying to decode and explain the mysteries of ‘Unfathomable Japan’ for over 100 years[UPDATED: 4-18-2025]

The Nobel Prize committee cited Rudyard Kipling’s (1865-1936) writing on the manners and customs of the Japanese when they awarded him his Nobel prize in 1907.Kipling, an English journalist and author of books including The Jungle Book, visited Japan in 1889 and 1892. No other leading English literary figure… Read more »
- TOPICS:
- History
- On Japan
- Prizes
Western Authors have been trying to decode and explain the mysteries of ‘Unfathomable Japan’ for over 100 years Posted April 18th, 2025 by Richard Nathan
The publication of ‘The Tokyo Zodiac Murders’ in 1981 helped rebrand whodunnits in Japan and launch a new genre known as Shin-Honkaku mysteries, neoclassical mysteries[UPDATED: 4-18-2025]

The publication in 1981 of The Tokyo Zodiac Murders, by Soji Shimada, generated a boom in whodunnits in Japan and a reappraisal of the somewhat out-of-favour and often derided genre, known locally as honkaku mysteries, classical, authentic or orthodox mysteries, which had often been looked… Read more »
- TOPICS:
- Soji Shimada
- Crime Fiction
The publication of ‘The Tokyo Zodiac Murders’ in 1981 helped rebrand whodunnits in Japan and launch a new genre known as Shin-Honkaku mysteries, neoclassical mysteries Posted April 18th, 2025 by Richard Nathan
Yukio Mishima penned a series of essays titled ‘Lessons in Immorality’ in 1958[UPDATED: 4-18-2025]

Yukio Mishima (1925-1970) is notorious for a variety of things including killing himself; being nominated multiple-times for the Nobel Prize in Literature and never winning; as well as being one of David Bowie’s (1947-2016) favourite authors. In his short writing life (around 21 years), Mishima… Read more »
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- Mishima
Yukio Mishima penned a series of essays titled ‘Lessons in Immorality’ in 1958 Posted April 18th, 2025 by Richard Nathan
In 1905 a Japanese aristocrat felt compelled to write a book in English explaining Japan to Westerners titled: ‘Fantasy of Far Japan’[UPDATED: 10-15-2024]

In 1905, a Japanese aristocrat, Baron Suyematsu (1855-1920), who was educated at Cambridge University, felt compelled to write two books in English in an early form of ‘myth-busting’ and ‘fake news’ management.It was a time where books were being written about Japan by Western writers… Read more »
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- History
- On Japan
In 1905 a Japanese aristocrat felt compelled to write a book in English explaining Japan to Westerners titled: ‘Fantasy of Far Japan’ Posted October 15th, 2024 by Richard Nathan
A novel about Judo written by a prize winning Japanese author and judo master helped launch Akira Kurosawa’s career as a film director[UPDATED: 8-6-2024]

The first film directed by Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998), Japan’s most famous film director, was Sanshiro Sugata (Judo Saga), an adaptation of a newly published novel by the judo master and Naoki Prize-winning author Tsuneo Tomita (1904-1967). The action film was set in the 1880s when… Read more »
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A novel about Judo written by a prize winning Japanese author and judo master helped launch Akira Kurosawa’s career as a film director Posted August 6th, 2024 by Richard Nathan
In 1870s Japan there was huge demand for ‘corrupting’ crime fiction[UPDATED: 8-6-2024]

“The books for which there is the greatest amount of demand are those that pack the greatest amount of crime into the smallest space, and corrupt the morals of all classes”, writes Isabella L. Bird (1831-1904) in Unbeaten Tracks in Japan: An account of Travels… Read more »
- TOPICS:
- Crime Fiction
- History
- On Japan
In 1870s Japan there was huge demand for ‘corrupting’ crime fiction Posted August 6th, 2024 by Richard Nathan
The first English language edition of Kobo Abe’s ‘The Woman in the Dunes’ was illustrated by his wife Machi[UPDATED: 6-17-2024]

In 1964, the year of the first Tokyo Olympics, Alfred A. Knoff published the first American Edition of Kobo Abe’s (1924-1993) The Women in the Dunes in English, translated by E. Dale Saunders (1919-1995).This first edition is beautifully illustrated with multiple drawings, rendered in pen… Read more »
- TOPICS:
- 1964
- Book production
- History
- Olympics
- translation
The first English language edition of Kobo Abe’s ‘The Woman in the Dunes’ was illustrated by his wife Machi Posted June 17th, 2024 by Richard Nathan

Factbook

A group of post-war Japanese authors dubbed ‘The Decadents’ established a publishing genre called ‘Flesh Literature’[UPDATED: 8-8-2025]

Western Authors have been trying to decode and explain the mysteries of ‘Unfathomable Japan’ for over 100 years[UPDATED: 4-18-2025]

The publication of ‘The Tokyo Zodiac Murders’ in 1981 helped rebrand whodunnits in Japan and launch a new genre known as Shin-Honkaku mysteries, neoclassical mysteries[UPDATED: 4-18-2025]

Yukio Mishima penned a series of essays titled ‘Lessons in Immorality’ in 1958[UPDATED: 4-18-2025]

In 1905 a Japanese aristocrat felt compelled to write a book in English explaining Japan to Westerners titled: ‘Fantasy of Far Japan’[UPDATED: 10-15-2024]

A novel about Judo written by a prize winning Japanese author and judo master helped launch Akira Kurosawa’s career as a film director[UPDATED: 8-6-2024]

In 1870s Japan there was huge demand for ‘corrupting’ crime fiction[UPDATED: 8-6-2024]

The first English language edition of Kobo Abe’s ‘The Woman in the Dunes’ was illustrated by his wife Machi[UPDATED: 6-17-2024]

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