Japan - Comfortably Numb

Twilight in Musashino by Seicho Matsumoto

Web of Deceit It takes special skill as a crime writer to keep a reader engaged despite revealing who the perpetrator is halfway through the book. This is the case in ‘Twilight in Musashino.’ Then again, the author Seicho Matsumoto is no ordinary crime novelist. He is a veteran, the founding father of Shakaiha or…

Book review: The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

THE TRAVELLING CAT CHRONICLES by Hiro Arikawa. Penguin Books. For someone who doesn`t have a cat at home — or outside — I have an inordinate interest in them, fascinated by their self-containment, their attitude and their activities. So of course I had to pick up the 2017 bestseller that, just as the title says,…

Book review: Orienting, an Indian in japan by Pallavi Aiyar

Nippon under the lens Pallavi Aiyar, peripatetic traveller and charming chronicler of Things She Sees, delivers once again. Orienting is her Japan book, a montage she has collated for the edification of her readers, culled from her experiences in that country. It`s an easy read, filled with gently offered insights, where the things to be…

Book review: A Beginner`s Guide to Japan by Pico Iyer

Pico Iyer, that consummate Japanophile, is back to doing what seems to be a labour of love: parsing his adopted land, the Land of the Rising Sun. But don`t be fooled. A BEGINNER`S GUIDE TO JAPAN is no breezy read. You will pore over each line, trying to decipher the unwritten meaning as much as…