Red Circle | Our Magazine

Writing arrived in Japan in the 5th century AD from China[UPDATED: 1-13-2022]

Japan and the Japanese did not develop their own fully-fledged writing system, but imported one from China during the early 5th century or perhaps even slightly earlier.Use of this writing subsequently expanded as Buddhism arrived in Japan alongside Chinese Buddhist monks, eventually helping elevate calligraphy… Read more »
- TOPICS:
- History
Writing arrived in Japan in the 5th century AD from China Posted January 13th, 2022 by Richard Nathan
Mount Fuji, which is featured in Japan’s oldest fictional prose and first collection of poetry, is still a powerful literary motif[UPDATED: 12-1-2021]

In June 2013 the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO announced that Mount Fuji would be recognised as a World Heritage Site. The official proposal that led to the mountain winning this status was known as ‘Fujisan: Sacred Place and Source of Artistic Inspiration’. Mount Fuji, also… Read more »
- TOPICS:
- Randy Taguchi
Our Magazine Posted October 23rd, 2018 by Richard Nathan
Japan’s most expensive book was published in 1984 with a retail price of US$17,000[UPDATED: 11-5-2021]

Japan’s most expensive book, an edited collection of manuscripts by Claudius Ptolemaeus (100-168), was published in two-volumes by the Japanese publisher Iwanami Shoten in 1984, just before Japan’s infamous economic bubble (1986-1991), with a retail price of 1,930,000 yen. Ptolemaeus’ astronomical treatise, an astronomy textbook… Read more »
- TOPICS:
- Industry
- Retail
- Science
Japan’s most expensive book was published in 1984 with a retail price of US$17,000 Posted July 20th, 2017 by Richard Nathan
The translation of ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ triggered Japan’s first post-war obscenity trial, in 1951[UPDATED: 11-5-2021]

After Japan signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty with Japan in 1951, full sovereignty returned to Japan bringing the Allied Occupation of Japan (1945-1952) to an end. Japan had a new constitution, originally drafted in English that it was putting into place in translation. Legal responsibility… Read more »
- TOPICS:
- Censorship
- Copyright
- Regulation
- translation
The translation of ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ triggered Japan’s first post-war obscenity trial, in 1951 Posted November 4th, 2021 by Richard Nathan

News & Views

Soseki’s Cat: A Quantum Leap for Japanese Literature

Literary Fallout: The legacies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Changing Nations: The Japanese Girl With a Book

Ultra-Influencers: The Two British Fictional Victorians that Changed Japan

Factbook

Writing arrived in Japan in the 5th century AD from China[UPDATED: 1-13-2022]

Mount Fuji, which is featured in Japan’s oldest fictional prose and first collection of poetry, is still a powerful literary motif[UPDATED: 12-1-2021]

Japan’s most expensive book was published in 1984 with a retail price of US$17,000[UPDATED: 11-5-2021]

The translation of ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ triggered Japan’s first post-war obscenity trial, in 1951[UPDATED: 11-5-2021]

Red Circle Bookworm