Welcome to the Japanese Recommended Literature Page! On this page, there are student reviews/summaries about recommended reads and posts about Japanese literature. There are also recommended databases and resources that have collections of Japanese works.
To find all the posted literature, click on the “Literature” link above.
For all student literature reviews, click on the “Student Book Reviews” link above. To read the featured and current student reviews, scroll down.
This Term’s Featured Student Book Reviews
Hagakure Kikigaki『葉隠聞書: A Student Review
Hagakure Kikigaki『葉隠聞書』, meaning Hidden Leaves, written by a Samurai named Yamamoto Tsunetomo in the 1700s. This book is also known as The Book of the Samurai, Analects of Nabeshima or Hagakure Analects. This book is written during a long peaceful era where Samurai don’t have to go on battlefields to prove their loyalty and the Samurai codes are becoming more blurry. This book re-addressed the Samurai virtues and stated reasons and methods about how to practice Bushido during the peaceful age.
Shigemitsu Aoi Diplomacy Recollection: A Student Review
『重光葵 外交回想録』(“Shigemitsu Aoi Diplomacy Recollection”), This book is written by Mamoru Shigemitsu. He was a Japanese diplomat and politician in the Empire of Japan during the WWII era. He also worked in the Japanese embassy in Washington DC before the war. The book is a collection of his diplomat experiences during WWII as well as his analysis of global relationships during that time. This book is rich in information on a lot of diplomatic activities with Japan in the WWII era and includes a lot of political confidential information that much later to be known to the world. This book is critical to understand the cause of why Japan joined the Axis Power and even become an enemy of the United States.
The Temple of the Golden pavilion: A Student Review
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion is a book written by Yukio Mishima. The whole work gushes with sensuous descriptions of the world without contrasted with the often enfeebling effect this external world has on the narrator’s world within. Throughout the book, the narrator’s world is encumbered by the burden of the beauty he witnesses and perceives in the world around him. Beginning with his encounter with a handsome stripling in his childhood and his first infatuation with a girl and ending in a rather fantastic climax where the narrator finally has his say, so to speak. His unremarkable physical features coupled with a debilitating stutter cause the appearance of an uncrossable chasm between the narrator and the external world.
Koizumi Diplomacy: An Editor review
You will not find a Japanese academic who can so clearly and thoroughly explain the institutions and operations of Japanese government in English as Tomohito Shinoda. Although he has an extensive body of work (each publication with its own merits), Koizumi Diplomacy takes the traditional understanding of postwar Japanese politics and governance and sets a foundation for the new millennium. This book offers insights into the institutional power of Japan’s Prime Minister, as well as the foreign policy and security apparatus that surrounds the Kantei (Japan’s equivalent to the White House or 10 Downing Street).
Databases and Japanese Literature Collections
Click on the link above to access Washington State University’s resources on Japanese Literature including Articles, Books, and Encyclopedias. There are also film studies included.
Worcester Public Library has a large collection of Japanese literature and manga. Click the link above to get to Worcester Public Library’s webpage to navigate for Japanese works and talk to a librarian if needed.
Click on the link above to access WPI’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Literature Collection!