Svetlana's Reads and Views

Name of Book: The Aosawa Murders (Eugenia in Japanese) Author: Riku Onda (Trans by Alison Wats) ISBN: 978-1-912242-24-5 Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press, Kadokawa Corp in Japan Type of book: Japan, 1970s-2000s, murder, family, blindness, narrative, mimicking, truth, motivation, puzzle, poison, Kanto region, weather,  monologues, timeline, friendship, charisma  Year it was published: 2005, 2020 Summary: The novel starts in the 1970s when 17 people die of cyanide poisoning at a party given by the owners of a prominent clinic in a town on the coast of the Sea of Japan. The only surviving links to what might have happened are a cryptic verse that could be the killer's, and the physician's bewitching blind daughter, Hisako, the only person spared injury. The youth who emerges as the prime suspect commits suicide that October, effectively sealing his guilt while consigning his motives to mystery. The police are convinced Hisako had a role in the crime, as are many in the t...

Name of Book: Ghost of the Bamboo Road Author: Susan Spann ISBN: 978-1-63388-550-9 Publisher: Seventh Street Books Part of a Series: Hiro Hattori Novels Type of book: Japan, samurai, mountains, fox, 1566, kitsune, entertainers, revenge, plans, mystery, yamabushi, Shinobi, crime, murder Year it was published: 2019 Summary: When a vengeful spirit terrorizes a mountain village in medieval Japan, a ninja and a Jesuit priest must reveal the truth and save the villagers from the phantom's wrath. January 1566: En route to Edo, Master ninja Hiro Hattori and Portuguese Jesuit Father Mateo spend the night in a rural mountain village whose inhabitants live in terror of a legendary vengeful ghost. When the innkeeper's wife is murdered and Father Mateo's housekeeper, Ana, is blamed for a crime she did not commit, Hiro and Father Mateo are forced to investigate and reveal the truth. But when another woman turns up murdered in the snow, the detectives must face the...

Name of Book: The Tale of Genji Author: Murasaki Shikibu (Translated by Edward G Seidensticker) ISBN: 0-394-73530-7 Publisher: Borzoi Book Alfred A Knopf Type of book: Japan, Heian Court Era, wealth, generations, women, men, 800s-900s?, cloistered, marriage, love, courting Year it was published: 900s?- 1000s? (Version I have 1976) Summary: The Tale of Genji was written in the eleventh century by Murasaki Shikibu, a lady of the Heian court. It is universally recognized as the greatest masterpiece of Japanese prose narrative, perhaps the earliest true novel in the history of the world. Until now there has been no translation that is both complete and scrupulously faithful to the original text. Edward G Seidensticker's masterly rendering was first published in two volumes in 1976 and immediately hailed as a classic of the translator's art. It is here presented in one unabrdiged volume, illustrated through-out by woodcuts taken from a 1650 Japanese edition of The...

Name of Book: Rainbirds Author: Clarissa Goenawan ISBN:  9781616958558 Publisher: Soho Crime Press Year it was published: 2018 Summary: Ren Ishida has nearly completed his graduate degree at Keio University when he receives news of his sister’s violent death. Keiko was stabbed one rainy night on her way home, and there are no leads. Ren heads to Akakawa to conclude his sister’s affairs, failing to understand why she chose to turn her back on the family and Tokyo for this desolate place years ago. But then Ren is offered Keiko’s newly vacant teaching position at a prestigious local cram school and her bizarre former arrangement of free lodging at a wealthy politician’s mansion in exchange for reading to the man’s ailing wife. He accepts both, abandoning Tokyo and his crumbling relationship there in order to better understand his sister’s life and what took place the night of her death. As Ren comes to know the eccentric local figures, from the enigmatic politici...

Name of Book: Trial on Mount Koya Author: Susan Spann ISBN: 978-1-63388-415-1 Publisher: Seventh Street Books Part of a Series: Shinobi Mystery Type of book: 1565, mystery, Japan, Buddhist Temple, message, murder, Kings of Hell, ideologies, love, hope, anger Year it was published: 2018 Summary: Master ninja Hiro Hattori and Jesuit Father Mateo head up to Mount Koya, only to find themselves embroiled in yet another mystery, this time in a Shingon Buddhist temple atop one of Japan's most sacred peaks. November, 1565: Master ninja Hiro Hattori and Portuguese Jesuit Father Mateo travel to a Buddhist temple at the summit of Mount Koya, carrying a secret message for an Iga spy posing as a priest on the sacred mountain. When a snowstorm strikes the peak, a killer begins murdering the temple's priests and posing them as Buddhist judges of the afterlife--the Kings of Hell. Hiro and Father Mateo must unravel the mystery before the remaining priests--including Fathe...

Name of Book:  The samurai of Seville Author:  John J Healey ISBN:   9781628727845 Publisher:  Arcade Year it was published: 2017 Summary: A sumptuous novel inspired by one of history’s most intriguing forgotten chapters—the arrival of Japanese Samurai on the shores of Europe. In 1614, twenty-two Samurai warriors and a group of tradesmen from Japan sailed to Spain, where they initiated one of the most intriguing cultural exchanges in history. They were received with pomp and circumstance, first by King Philip III and later by Pope Paul V. They were the first Japanese to visit Europe and they caused a sensation. They remained for two years and then most of the party returned to Japan; however, six of the Samurai stayed behind, settling in a small fishing village close to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, where their descendants live to this day. Healey imbues this tale of the meeting of East and West with uncommon emotional and intellectual intensity and ...

Name of Book: Betrayal at Iga Author: Susan Spann ISBN: 978-1-63388-277-5 Publisher: Seventh Street Books Part of a Series: Hiro Hattori Mysteries #5 Type of book: 1565. Shinobi clans, shinobi culture, Koga, Iga, deceit, murder, mystery, betrayal, believing not seeing, foreigner, religion, mute girl, family, high stakes, Japan, alliance, high stakes Year it was published: 2017 Summary: Autumn, 1565: After fleeing Kyoto, master ninja Hiro Hattori and Portuguese Jesuit Father Mateo take refuge with Hiro s ninja clan in the mountains of Iga province. But when an ambassador from the rival Koga clan is murdered during peace negotiations, Hiro and Father Mateo must find the killer in time to prevent a war between the ninja clans. With every suspect a trained assassin, and the evidence incriminating not only Hiro s commander, the infamous ninja Hattori Hanz, but also Hiro s mother and his former lover, the detectives must struggle to find the truth in a village where ...

Name of Book: Pachinko Author: Min Jin Lee ISBN: 978-1-4555-6393-7 Publisher: Grand Central Type of book: 1910-1989, Japan, Korea, Koreans living in Japan, faith, religion, marriage, relationships, women, suffering, multi generational, Pachinko, survival, rules, Japanese, WWII, yakuza, negative stereotypes Year it was published: 2017 Summary: Pachinko follows one Korean family through the generations, beginning in early 1900s Korea with Sunja, the prized daughter of a poor yet proud family, whose unplanned pregnancy threatens to shame them all. Deserted by her lover, Sunja is saved when a young tubercular minister offers to marry and bring her to Japan. So begins a sweeping saga of an exceptional family in exile from its homeland and caught in the indifferent arc of history. Through desperate struggles and hard-won triumphs, its members are bound together by deep roots as they face enduring questions of faith, family, and identity. Characters: Oh boy, there ...

Name of Book: The Ninja's Daughter Author: Susan Spann ISBN: 978-1-63388-181-5 Publisher: Seventh Street Books Part of a Series: Shinobi Mysteries Type of book: Japan, 1565, Kyoto, samurai, mystery, murder, detective, priest, secrets, rivalry, siblings, clues, women's lives Year it was published: 2016 Summary: Autumn, 1565: When an actor's daughter is murdered on the banks of Kyoto's Kamo River, master ninja Hiro Hattori and Portuguese Jesuit Father Mateo are the victim's only hope for justice. As political tensions rise in the wake of the shogun's recent death, and rival warlords threaten war, the Kyoto police forbid an investigation of the killing, to keep the peace--but Hiro has a personal connection to the girl, and must avenge her. The secret investigation leads Hiro and Father Mateo deep into the exclusive world of Kyoto's theater guilds, where they quickly learn that nothing, and no one, is as it seems. With only a mysterious go...

Name of Book: The Taiheiki A Chronicle of Medieval Japan Author: Anonymous (Helen McCullough translated) ISBN: 978-0-8048-3538-1 Publisher: Tuttle Type of book: Japan, samurai, fights, origins of customs, loyalty, record, historical record, 1300s, suicide, murders, wars Year it was published: 1956 was published in 1300s originally (2004) Summary: An epic saga of samurai warfare in medieval Japan This celebrated literary classic has delighted generations of Japanese. In its pages, you will find a vivid contemporary description of the fourteenth-century intrigues and battles that led to the destruction of the Hojo family, the military overlords of the nation, and made it possible for the Emperor Go-Daigo (1288-1339), one of Japan's most remarkable sovereigns, to reassert the power of the throne. Go-Daigo's first hesitant attempts to overthrow the Hojo, the early defeats suffered by his supporters, his dethronement and exile, the legendary exploits of his ...

Name of Book: The Heike Story Author: Eiji Yoshikawa ISBN: 978-4-8053-1044-1 Publisher: Tuttle Type of book: Japan, Genji and Heike clans, warfare, clashes, 1135-1174, rags-to-riches story, Emperor, Kyoto, secrets, translation Year it was published: 1956 (translation 1989) Summary: Kyoto in the twelfth century was a magnificent city, but crime, disorder, and lust were rampant. The people were abused by the nobility, while the armed Buddhist monks terrorized court and commoner alike. In despair, the Emperor called upon the Heike and Genji clans to quell civil disturbances. Although the clans succeeded, they quarreled over the spoils of war and plunged the country into a century of warfare. This novel describes the rise to power of Kiyomori of the Heike clan during this turbulent time. From a youth sunk in poverty, Kiyomori eventually rose to become the Emperor's Chief Councillor. Although he was a gentle, enlightened man, he left a trail of bloodshed and ruin in...

Name of Book: Flask of the Drunken Master Author: Susan Spann ISBN: 978-1-250-02706-1 Publisher: Minotaur Books Part of a Series: Shinobi Mystery #3 (Claws of the Cat and Blade of the Samurai are prequels) Type of book: Japan, mystery, 16th century, murder, Shinobi, hidden identity, underestimation, 1565, connections, missing person, risk of poverty, Kyoto Year it was published: 2015 Summary: Master ninja Hiro Hattori and his companion Father Mateo are once again pulled into a murder investigation when a rival artisan turns up dead outside of their friend Ginjiro’s sake brewery. They must find the killer before the magistrate executes Ginjiro, seizes the brewery, and renders his family destitute. All the evidence implicates the brewer, yet with Kyoto on alert in the wake of the shogun’s recent death, Ginjiro’s is not the only life at risk. As tensions rise, Hiro investigates a missing merchant, a vicious debt collector, a moneylender and the victim’s spendthrif...