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31 Short Stories for Women in Translation Month
I had so much fun reading along with RJL supporters for January in Japan, that I hope you’ll join me again for #WomeninTranslation Month. #WITMonth is an annual event each August that has played its...
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Episode 44: Christianity in Japanese Literature
Listen to Episode 44 of the Read Literature podcast. Transcript available. In this episode, we look into the history of Christianity in Japan—especially the role Christianity has played in Japanese...
View ArticleTranscript of Episode 44: Christianity in Japanese Literature
Find out more about Episode 44 of the Read Literature podcast on the episode page. Link to listen Notes and sources Ways to support the podcast This is Read Japanese Literature. My name is Alison...
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Japanese Christian Writers
Osamu Dazai once wrote that “with the Bible alone, Japan’s literary history has unmistakably been split into two with unprecedented clarity”. Though not a Christian himself, Dazai noted the outsized...
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Episode 43: Japanese Writers Standing Up to the State
Listen to Episode 43 of the Read Literature podcast. Transcript available. In this episode, we take a look at the Japanese proletarian writers’ movement of the 1920s and early 1930s. We also take a...
View ArticleTranscript of Episode 43: Japanese Writers Standing Up to the State
Find out more about Episode 43 of the Read Literature podcast on the episode page. Link to listen Notes and sources Ways to support the podcast This is Read Japanese Literature. My name is Alison...
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Japanese Proletarian Fiction
Proletarian literature was an international movement, especially in the 1920s and 1930s. The Soviet Union held a meeting of proletarian writers in July 1924 and made an international appeal to writers...
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Episode 42: Keiichiro Hirano
Listen to Episode 42 of the Read Literature podcast. Transcript available. For the first time ever, RJL brings you information from an interview with a Japanese author—Akutagawa-winner Keiichiro...
View ArticleTranscript of Episode 42: Keiichiro Hirano
Find out more about Episode 42 of the Read Literature podcast on the episode page. Link to listen Notes and sources Ways to support the podcast This is Read Japanese Literature. My name is Alison...
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RJL’s Interview with Keiichiro Hirano
Akutagawa-winning author Keiichiro Hirano was kind enough to sit down with Read Japanese Literature’s Alison Fincher for an interview on November 18, 2024 to talk about his life and the...
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Romance in Japanese Fiction
It’s February and (for some of us) love is in the air. Traditionally, RJL has celebrated with some pretty unromantic topics like sexlessness and misogyny in Japanese fiction. But this year, RJL...
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31 Short Stories for January in Japan
In honor of January in Japan, RJL presents a list of 31 translated Japanese short stories you can read on-line for free, listed alphabetically by author. 2025 marks the 18th year of this online...
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RJL’s Totally Arbitrary List of 31 Great Reads for January in Japan, or...
The books on this list are some of my favorite books translated from Japanese. They are also great “starting points” for readers new to Japanese literature, especially because this is a representative...
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Episode 41: Christmas in Japanese Literature
Listen to Episode 41 of the Read Literature podcast. Transcript available. Happy holidays! And, in the interest of today’s episode, merri kurisumasu!Today we’re going to start with the origins of...
View ArticleTranscript of Episode 41: Christmas in Japanese Literature
Find out more about Episode 41 of the Read Literature podcast on the episode page. Link to listen Notes and sources Ways to support the podcast This is Read Japanese Literature. My name is Alison...
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Christmas in Japanese Literature
Christmas originated as a Christian holiday, but it’s still celebrated in Japan—a country where somewhere between one and two percent of the country is Christian. So maybe it isn’t surprising that...
View ArticleTranscript of Episode 40: LGBTQ+ Stories from Japan, part two
Find out more about Episode 40 of the Read Literature podcast on the episode page. Link to listen Notes and sources Ways to support the podcast This is Read Japanese Literature. My name is Alison...
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2025 New and Upcoming Japanese Fiction Releases
*Updated as of December 1, 2024 This is a list of titles from Japan translated into English for publication in 2025. It does not include most manga, light novels, or picture books. Listed released...
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RJL’s Holiday Gift Guide
Do you dream of sharing your love of Japanese literature with the perfect translated book? Read Japanese Literature has 15 recommendations to cover everyone on your list. We’ve even cross-listed which...
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Episodes 39-40: LGBTQ+ Stories from Japan
Listen to Episode 39 of the Read Literature podcast online or on your favorite podcast app. Episode 39 transcript available. Episode 40 of the Read Literature podcast is coming soon. RJL is excited to...
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