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DECEMBER 2009 N E W S R E P O R T AUTHOR'S VOICE R E V I E W |
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N E W S
No Riveting Works: Tahara Makes Fervent Appeal for Competition Submissions "I don't intend to comment on the works. What we are seeking is not mature works, but rather works which contradict contemporary common sense, works which are riveting. To put it in the extreme, a work which could even elude the police. There wasn't really anything like that." At the first awards ceremony for the inaugural "Soichiro Tahara Nonfiction Award" held on November 30 in Tokyo, Tahara offered high praise for the award-winning works, while at the same time putting out a fervent appeal for competition submissions. Although one work received honorable mention and two works received special mention, what was most noteworthy at this first awards ceremony was that no top prize was awarded. Committee members from the publishing field voiced strong support for the top prize to be awarded to Yoju Matsubayashi, director of the documentary film "Flowers and Troops" and winner of honorable mention. However, Tahara and others committee members in the film industry opposed this. In addition to Tahara, the selection committee included journalist and nonfiction writer Akira Uozumi, nonfiction writer and ex-diplomat Masaru Sato, nonfiction writer and critic Manabu Miyazaki, novelist Kei Nakazawa, and author Mamoru Sakamoto, all of whom emphasized how moved they were by the potential of nonfiction in the submitted works. A total of 420 works were submitted, including proposals from abroad and blog entries. Committee members will offer assistance in having the three winning works published as books, shown in theaters, or released as DVDs, and will promote them on talk shows. They have also promised to help protect the commercial value of the works. * Some of the book titles are tentative translations. Copyright © 2009 Shinbunka all rights reserved. Best Sellers: Toshio Iwai's "A House of 100 Underground Stories" "A House of 100 Underground Stories" was released by Kaiseisha in November with a first printing of 60,000. Combined with a second printing in late November, the total number of copies published has reached 90,000. "A House of 100 Stories," released in May last year, has become a long-running best sellers with a total of 240,000 copies. The sequel tells the story of a young girl whose aim is to visit every room in the 100 underground stories. A spokesperson from the promotion department at Kaiseisha commented, "there was no special publicity for the first book, but it sparked a fire on bookstore counters, and become a long-running best seller." * Some of the book titles are tentative translations. Copyright © 2009 Shinbunkaall rights reserved. |
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R E P O R T NURIE:The Japanese Picture Coloring Exhibition Since 2006, the "Kiichi Nurie Exhibit," representative of Japanese nurie, has been displayed abroad annually. Exhibits were held in New York in 2006, Karlsruhe, Germany in 2007, and Paris in 2008. In 2009, New York was chosen as the site for a nurie exhibit for the second time. Read More |
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AUTHOR'S VOICE Vol.13 interview with Reiko Ohmae Reiko Ohmae, who is active as a travel coordinator, restaurant consultant, and producer, has also contributed to various magazines in her capacity as an essayist and travel coordinator. She is the elder sister of Ken'ichi Ohmae, who is one year younger and is currently active in international affairs as a management consultant. She has published "Ken'ichi Wouldn't Go to School," which details Ken'ichi's upbringing, as well as letters to Reiko Ohmae, published while she was still a student. She has even been published in translation in Taiwan. This fall her second book, "Fortunate Weather," was published. She first moved to New York because of her husband's business. Later, after divorcing and opening her first shop, she fell in love and decided on her own to return to New York a second time. Suddenly discovering she had breast cancer, she recovered and then opened "Seasonal Restaurant 'Weather.'" Following that, she had a chance encounter with an artist possessing great genius, and established a foundation to support him. She tells readers of the experiences she has lived through overcoming various obstacles in her life, and how she has searched for happiness through the good and bad times. Read More |
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R E V I E W "The Tears of the Sun" by Mari Akasaka; illustrated by Kozue Oshima 
Mari Akasaka's The Tears of the Sun is a creation myth that depicts with image-evoking phrases and a symbolic world view the process in which 'I,' who lives on a small island in the corner of an old, archipelagic kingdom, narrates personal experiences whilst interleaving them with the island myth, eventually going on to unify with the myth itself.
The myth goes: 'We are the tears of the sun / Made when hot drops the sun wept hardened / Making our island, and our bodies too.' The sun rises up from the island where they, born from the sun's light, live, and sets vertically beneath the island. It is the centre of their world, but at the same time it also surrounds their world. Their island is ruled by a series of increasingly powerful states, with the mighty nation, 'the eagle of the West,' at the top. On the island a technique transmitted in the past by a man who came from the moon, a 'technique for making metal that never degrades' by beating and tempering drops from the sun, is passed down the generations. 'I,' whose father is a screw maker, is also a descendant of this man from the moon and over time a self-awareness as the 'screw kid' with the task of being a 'keystone' at the centre of the world grows. At the age of 13 'I,' who experiences the 'Changing Ritual' through a guardian elder with the same guardian creature, obtains the ability to sense 'existence' in a rite of passage that unifies 'I' with nature. Moving on to 18, 'I' falls in love with a girl and turning 20 receives certification of adulthood from the central government. Within the flow of time the circumstances surrounding the island also gradually change. The islanders, who are sent an eviction order from the island which has been selected for an army base, reveal the secret metalworking technique to another great power, 'the dragon of the East,' an enemy of 'the eagle of the West.' By doing so they entrust the islandfs future to her. The myth on the small island under colonial control is a description of history from the "side of the exploited" and also an attempt by the unsubmissive to restructure the world. The depiction of a world filled with images and symbols such as the sun and moon, water and wind, sound and light, circles and curves, is enchanting and at times will lead readers to experience a luscious narrative. Being beckoned by the voice of the girlfriend who has died from illness, 'I' descends into an underworld through a vagina-like 'crevice' that has 'the kind of wet, kind of dry feeling when a person goes in about halfway with someone.' 'I' goes down further, following a road that spirals like a screw, acquires a sacred sword and reunites with the girlfriend. The Greek myths, the legend of King Arthur, the hollow Earth theory - various myths, story lines from folklore and concepts of science fiction like these are drawn upon to give shape to this modern-day version of the "solar myth." Through a depiction that evokes the senses, Akasaka, who physically and in terms of information theory has restructured "the world," has turned towards a place of origin that is the conception of modern mythology. This point is of great interest. Masaki Enomoto
The Tears of the Sun by Mari Akasaka, published by Iwanami Shoten * Some of the book titles are tentative translations. Copyright © 2009 Dokushojin all rights reserved. |
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