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br• ~ Neil Butler Paul McInnes Metropolis is Japan’s No.1 English magazine, founded in 1994 and Publisher and Editor-in-Chief published for Japan’s international community Chief Executive Officer
Editorial Camille Miller (Editor), Jessie Carbutt (Assistant Editor & Social Media Coordinator), Shir Lee Akazawa, Rei Ando (Editorial Interns), Anna Cock Gibson (Proofreader) Design & Development Xi Nan (Art Director), Fernando Goya (Designer/Developer), Natsuki Araki (Web Designer), Mone Ishikawa (Design Intern), Takahiro Kanazawa (Events Manager), Advertising Niki Kaihara, Yuichi Murata, Aidan McFarlane (Sales Managers), Takuya Takeshita, Tatsuki Butler (Sales Administrators).
Reach over メトロポリスは20年以上に渡り、訪日• 8F Nishi-Azabu Sonic Bldg, © Copyright 2020 Japan Partnership Holdings Inc. 関東在住の外国人へ無料で配布してい 3-2-12 Nishi-Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo The views expressed herein are not necessarily 50,000 those of the publisher. The publisher reserves Metropolis readers る英字総合情報誌です。英語圏の方々に 106-0031 the right to edit or delete any advertisement 向けた情報発信や宣伝広告の機会を行 without notice. Advertise: 政機関や日本企業に提供しております。 Tel: 03-4588-2277 [email protected] お問い合わせ: 03-4588-2277 Fax: 03-4588-2278 metropolisinfo.net metropolisjapan.com/advertise metropolisjapan.com Cover Design: Xi Nan Cover Photography: Louise Angerer Cover Model: Kotone Iris 3 My Quarantine Albums This spring, the pandemic turned the music industry onto its head. The cancellation of concerts, tours and festivals forced artists and venues to remain active in innovative and — above all — digital ways. We asked some of our favorite artists what they’ve been listening to during these tough and uncertain times.
By Takahiro Kanazawa
Yurika / drummer / Tawings Natsuko Miyamoto / bassist Taichi Furukawa / key- Keitaro Goto -Fukai / co-found- and vocalist / MASS OF THE boardist, bassist and er / Gampeki Music Festival Californication / Red Hot FERMENTING DREGS vocalist / KONCOS Chili Peppers Quarters! / King Gizzard & Pop Virus / Gen Hoshino Skimming Spotify playlists the Lizard Wizard “Lately, I purchased a yoga mat and redesigned my room. I’ve fi- “Since we can’t record in a studio, “Right now I’m focused on de- “The seven-member Melbourne nally built a rhythm of cleaning I’ve set up a basic recording space sign-based projects, like illustrat- rock band recorded this album and cooking at home. For the first at home and come up with ideas ing, painting and artwork created while jamming on their world time in a long time, I have time for some songs. through pencil, pen and brush. tour. Each of the four songs is to focus on myself and reevaluate Mostly I’m working on artwork exactly minutes and sec- various aspects of my life.” “We need [music] now more than for the project we finished record- onds long. They recorded the ever. It’s something we can’t ing in March. album with the playful concept let go of… Even while stuck at of stopping the tape when it hit home, I’m listening to music and “This has been a period of re- that time mark. Lately, I listen to watching movies like any other flection, a time to reconfirm my music at home, rather than when day. Those are things I enjoyed values. Thanks to music, I have I’m commuting or on the move, doing as a child, and still enjoy friends, a family and a reason to so I’m able to really indulge in a as an adult today. It doesn’t mat- design. I believe that music is -minute track.” ter how old we are; we need the hope.” things we love.” Oct 31 - Nov 1 Gampeki Music Festival 2020 gampeki.com
DOWNLOAD Listen to a clip of KONCOS’ uplifting tribute track "All This Love"
AR APP
4 • • • • • •
Masaki Ueda / co-founder Zach Choy / drummer / Maki Morita / TOGE Records Maika Loubté / singer- / Gampeki Music Festival Crack Cloud songwriter and electronic Modern Lovers / Jonathan producer Artist: spill tab Exploring the metal genre thor- Richman & The Modern Lovers oughly for the rst time Joyful / Andras, R.Y.C / Mura “I’m working with various artists “I’ve always liked making things Masa, Zilla With Her Eyes Shut / on their live streaming projects. “As a creative entity, our work ethic at home, so [my lifestyle] hasn’t Zilla With Her Eyes Shut Since listeners aren’t able to expe- hasn’t wavered. We continue to de- changed much. I continue to work rience the energy of a traditional velop our storytelling, without the on songs for my band Foodie. “For me, music is fun and brings live performance, the quality of spectre of touring internationally to Also, I learned how to make a fantasy to my life. I feel like this the content becomes much more distract us from the work we want mask!” about so many other aspects of art important in these online events. to do. and culture, too. ese things con- So I try my best to curate a two- TOGE presents nect me to another world that can’t be way interaction that feels like re- “Art and culture feel ampli ed as both Crack Cloud Japan Tour aected by any external factors, one al-time communication between a privilege and necessity right now.” HUCK FINN, Nagoya that’s separated from the real world. artists and the viewers. TOONICE, Takamatsu Seeing how each country handles the SOCORE FACTORY, Osaka current situation shows very clearly “I think it’s the artist’s mission FEVER , Tokyo whether or not art and culture are to take in the times and convert togeongaku.tumblr.com deeply ingrained in that place and what they see and feel into a piece *Please check the website for dates and tells me that I’m not living in one of of work. It gives me hope that art- details. those culturally cultivated countries. ists in the Japanese music scene It really hurts seeing so many places are pushing the boundaries of our such as night clubs, live houses and current situation in new, interest- theaters being forced to close. ing ways.” “I’m working on some amazing ex- perimental projects, like doing live- stream shows with faraway artists and asking people from all over the world Watch the Japanese-French singer's to send me photos of their daily life quarantine performance of "NIET II" for artwork for a new song. Bless the featuring maco marets internet.”
5 Photo credit: ARISAK eill / singer-songwriter Tamio / guitarist / Luby Great Maekawa / bassist / Kento Nagatsuka / vocal- Sparks Flower Companyz ist / WONK Artist: UMI / Yumi Matsutouya Immunity / Clairo DAY OFF / e Chang Hundred Fifty Roses / Duñe x Crayon “My tour was postponed and I didn’t get a chance to see my fans, so I’m “ e band can’t get together in per- “It’s been years since this album “Now that our music production has working on a song we can all sing to- son, so we’ve been communicating was released and I still nd myself slowed down, I’ve been spending a lot gether once this crisis is over, as proof online, bouncing ideas about songs listening to it every spring. of time cooking, which was my for- that we’ve overcome it. e plan is to and sharing our opinions that way. Music is irreplaceable. Beyond music mer profession. I hope that the recipes have fans send me some melodies, A new challenge we’re taking on is and culture though, recently, I’m real- I post on social media inspire people which I’ll compile into a single song. merging each member’s favorite genre izing the value of everything.” to cook and help them discover more into one coherent track. Rather than of our music as well. Other than that, “Being home all the time and not one person dominating the process, the other members have been work- being able to see the people I love each of us contributes in a bigger way, ing on radio series, game-streaming has felt really lonely, like the world which I think will result in an album and overall exploring channels other is leaving me behind. ere’s an app that’s quite dierent from our previ- than music to interact with audiences. that tells you how many people are ous projects.” listening to your music in real time. “I think it’s a big change that more Seeing those numbers and knowing and more artists are releasing remote- that someone out there is choosing ly-produced songs and live perfor- to listen to my songs during a time mance videos on social media. Now like this saved me. It’s like we’re all that working from separate places is connected by an invisible thread.” no longer a problem, I’m hoping to collaborate more with artists from Check out the dreamy music video abroad and use this opportunity to for the band's latest song "Somewhere" reach a wider audience.”
6 • • • • •
iceburn
Listen to the full playlist at
metropolisjapan.com/spotify
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8 PROMOTION LiLi Releases Debut Single
apan’s multi-entertainment group Tokyo Dream Girl proudly announces Japanese singer LiLi’s debut single “INVISIBLE.” J e song is produced by VIRG and features Grammy Award- winning artist Fatman Scoop, as well as rising American rapper Listen to LiLi talk about her DreamDoll. “It was such an honor to work with someone like debut song "INVISIBLE" [Fatman Scoop], who won a Grammy and pursues the world’s I t highest standards,” LiLi tells Metropolis of the recording process. , , {'. “Becoming a singer was always my dream since I was a kid and -----.. it nally came true by collaborating with such incredible talents. Every moment was so exciting and there was a lot to learn.” During the COVID- pandemic, LiLi has delivered uplifting beats for those forced to stay home. e song boasts various dierent ele- ments: DreamDoll’s cool rap, Fatman Scoop’s renowned raw voice and LiLi’s singing. “I hope a lot of people dance to this song,” LiLi says. “INVISIBLE” Fatman Scoop / DreamDoll / LiLi For this release, Japan’s dance-music entertainment label DME WORLD and LINE RECORDS launched an entertainment Listen now on LINE MUSIC project, UPLOAD, aiming to build a bridge between Japan and music.line.me the world to showcase the country’s new talents. Dancers and Learn more about LiLi on her website choreographers can now audition for a chance to appear in the tokyodreamgirls.com ocial music video for “INVISIBLE.” Winners will also receive a cash prize and UPLOAD will cover all travel expenses. Apply at uploadworldwide.com/audition. @lili.tokyodreamgirl
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9 PROMOTION
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12 The Only Gaijin in the Village Scotsman Iain Maloney on his new book about life in rural Japan
By Paul McInnes
'Intelligent, warm-hearted, down-to-earth and often very funny. Ganbatte!' ALAN SPENCE
THE ONLY GAIJIN IN THE VILLAGE
A YEAR LIVING IN RURAL JAPAN
IAIN MALONEY
berdonian author Iain Maloney spoke with Metropolis about his latest book, “ e Only Gaijin in the Village: A Year Living in Rural Japan,” which was A published in March, by Polygon. Maloney, author of four other titles, has spent the last years in Japan and four in his adpoted village in the countryside and describes life in “ e Only Gaijin in the Village” with his wife Minori and his relationship with his adopted homeland with humor, empathy and insight.
13 Metropolis: Where did the idea come from to write “ e Only Gaijin in the M: e chapter titled “In Rainbows” is really funny. It touches on LGBTQ Village?” What in uenced you? issues in Japan in a light-hearted manner. Is there much of a LGBTQ scene in the Japanese countryside? Iain Maloney: It started from a failed novel, funnily enough. I wrote a weird magical realist novel that I hoped would be my fth book, but it didn’t really work and in the Not really, certainly as far as I’m aware. In that chapter I write about a snack bar in aftermath of that disappointment I felt I wanted to do something dierent. I started my nearest city run by a gay man — he’s out, but as you’d expect attitudes in the the “Only Gaijin” columns [on GaijinPot] as a way to explore a new style of writing aging countryside are often behind those in the young urban centres. Many people [for me] and new subject matter. Memoir is very dierent from ction, and I wanted still don’t feel they can come out publicly, or even to their parents. I have a couple that challenge. I also wanted to see if I could write comedy — the book is a mix of of Japanese friends who are out with their close friends, but not more widely. It’s a the comic and the serious but the original columns were just straight up comedy. shame that people still have to hide who they are, but things are slowly changing. I just try to be an ally when I can. M: e chapter headlines are song titles from bands such as Mudhoney, Nirvana, R.E.M. and Mogwai. What was the thinking behind this? M: You write that “immigrants are immigrants” in the “Refuse/Resist” chapter. Are you a fan of the term “expat” or are expats just immigrants? It seems like IM: It started, as many things in this book did, as a way to amuse myself during the being an “expat” is connected with privilege. writing process. It started with the Mogwai titles — “Yes! I am a Long Way From Home” and “A Cheery Wave From Stranded Youngsters,” they so perfectly summed IM: I don’t use the term “expat” at all. It’s often used — sometimes unconsciously, up the feeling I had when I moved to Japan. Music is a huge part of my life and sometimes deliberately — to mark a dierence between dierent kinds of im- these are all bands I listen to as I write, so in my mind there was always a strong link migrants. “Expats are good; immigrants are bad.” It is usually used to mean white between the two. I fully expected my editor to tell me to change them but it turns out immigrants from richer countries — British expats; Chinese immigrants, that kind she’s a huge fan of many of the same bands, so they stayed. I made Spotify playlists of thing. I hate that idea. Immigrant isn’t a bad word, it isn’t a negative word, it’s of all the titles, so the book even has a kind of soundtrack. just been hijacked by bigots with an agenda and I refuse to buy into what they’ve done to the language. Expat is a word that has lingered since the days of British M: You write about tting in and assimilation in the book. Many foreign residents colonialism and originally meant someone living in another country temporar- complain that they will always be seen as outsiders no matter how long they ily — a merchant sent to India for ve years, for example — and who had every live in Japan. You seem to debunk this in the book. Can you expand on this? intention of going home. I nd it funny that people I’ve met who call themselves expats also get angry when they are asked, “When are you going home?” You can’t IM: I’m over feet tall, blond, with a bushy beard and the body of a retired rugby have it both ways. player — I’m going to stand out regardless of how good I get at the language, or how many customs I observe, so there’s no point pretending otherwise. My wife is M: You write that, “ en, in , Britain voted in a Tory government by Japanese but she’s also an outsider in this village — it isn’t a foreigner thing, it’s just accident. In July the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition changed the simple dierence between being born and growing up somewhere, and moving the immigration rules for non-EU spouses of UK citizens. To qualify for a there. If I moved to a small village on the west coast of Scotland I’d be an outsider visa, the UK citizen (me) had to earn more than , a year in the form of there too, but so what? Standing out isn’t necessarily a bad thing. What’s important a salary from one source. is job had to be permanent and the employee had is how you are treated and how you treat other people. In the village I don’t have the to have been in the job for a minimum of a year to qualify. If these criteria were same place in the community as my neighbor, who was born here, but neither does met, the spouse (Minori) would have to pay , for their visa. If the criteria my wife, neither does the Japanese family who moved in down the street after us. couldn’t be met, the UK citizen had to have a minimum of , in savings.” We’re treated well, made to feel welcome — that’s the important part. We’re part of the community, we just occupy our own niche. I think this has had a huge eect on many British nationals in Japan. Could you expand on your feelings about this and the implications of this rule? M: How has Japan and your relationship with it changed since you rst arrived in ? IM: e UK immigration policy seems designed to punish people for marrying foreigners, like we’ve somehow betrayed the fatherland. It’s one reason I describe IM: It’s hard to say because I came here at and I’ll be this year, so I’ve changed myself as living in exile. I’ve been lucky that my wife and I have good jobs here massively in that time. is is my home now — as I say in the book, I plan to die so the option of living in the UK being taken away from us (most of my income here — so I feel much more comfortable than I did years ago, but that’s to be is through freelance sources, so I wouldn’t qualify under the current rules) hasn’t expected as I’ve learned the language and settled in. I’ve always lived in Aichi and caused many problems beyond anger, but I know for many others it’s had a huge Gifu and, when I rst came here in , you didn’t see many foreigners outside eect. ese rules have literally split families with parents forced to live apart Nagoya city center. at’s certainly changed so we’re less of a novelty and it means from their children, husbands and wives on dierent continents. e term “Skype there’s a more diverse range of restaurants, which is always nice! ere are still family” even entered the dictionary because the problem is so common. And it’s things about Japan that surprise me, or annoy me, but that’s true of Scotland too. based on nothing more than racism, what eresa May, the home secretary at the time, described as making a “hostile environment” for immigrants — including M: I wanted to ask about identity. You write (extremely well) about Scotland the spouses of UK citizens. No government should ever force people to choose and Japan and your experiences and love of both countries. Do you still feel between their country and their family. Scottish? Or has your identity changed over the years?
IM: I de nitely feel Scottish — it’s a cliche but the further Scots get from home, the more Scottish they become — and there’s always a point in karaoke when I’m drunk enough for “ Miles,” but identity is an intersection of many things, so being Scottish is just one aspect of my personal identity. Japan is so much more my home now that Scotland is — I went back in March and in Iain Maloney is a Scottish novelist and journalist. “ e many ways it’s become a foreign country to me. Saying that, I can’t see myself Only Gaijin in the Village: A Year Living in Rural Japan” ever becoming naturalized and swapping passports — I’m still holding out for is now available on Amazon. a Scottish passport one day.
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15 16 Goodbye To All
By Camille Miller That Photography by Louise Angerer
Listen. I may be Japanese, but right now, my people are really pissing me o.”
“ e disembodied voice of my -year-old mother rang into my ears as I dodged shoulders in a moving crowd outside of Nakameguro Station in late March. It was over the phone, but I could smell the Capri Menthols on her sentence as if I were beside her in the atrium of my childhood home in California, where she was no doubt sitting with a mug of red wine, dumbfounded by my narration of a completely normal and even picturesque Saturday afternoon in her homeland. I had called to tell her about the cherry blossoms, whose blooming this year had been the earliest on record in the capital, but forgot that it was a public holiday. at and the fact that the blossoms were hours away from reaching full bloom meant that my commute was now blighted by people who hadn’t been watching the news, or else didn’t give a shit.
17 “While my universe pulsated with the excitement of spring, she had spent the day mulling over a list of government mandates which detailed in a second language the utterly uncertain and terrifying conditions of life in the weeks, or months, to come.”
At the crosswalk, a policeman in a neon vest a cold and solipsistic man of inward retreats, had chef who owned a restaurant around the corner bellowed commands into a handheld speaker in an penetrated by means of quantum mechanics a very and took his Americano black. ere were three attempt to control the pedestrian inux. I tried to basic inquiry at the heart of anyone who had ever crumbled butts in his ashtray by the time I arrived. console my mother or at least backtrack the con- wondered what if ? What if, for example, had His cup, a wide-mouthed Hermès with a black versation when a fresh round of giddy couples and been a year like any other? It’s a question that laid toucan painted on its side, was only half-empty, baby strollers charged in my direction, and suddenly heavily on my mind, and probably the mind of every which meant he was in no rush or else had no res- I couldn’t blame her for her treasonous outburst. headphoned stranger in the half-empty train car, ervations to prep that day. I fastened my apron and She was, after all, in lockdown. Meanwhile, her as I drifted along the Hibiya Line toward Ginza looked around, the futility of my presence made people were out frolicking along the Meguro River one nal weekend in April. bare by the spotless sink, perfectly stocked shelves promenade. While my universe pulsated with the According to our guy, that version of reality beats and museum-like stillness of untouched chairs and excitement of spring, she had spent the day mulling on somewhere: A without a pandemic. In said tabletops lined up against the wall. At the far end of over a list of government mandates which detailed reality, the platform at Ginza Station teemed with the counter, the chef, who we referred to strictly as in a second language the utterly uncertain and ter- prim hordes in all their fashion — Goyard bags in Taisho (“boss” in Japanese), plucked another Seven rifying conditions of life in the weeks, or months, to ve shades, little sun umbrellas with lace trim and Stars from his pack and continued his conversation come. e packed train rolling overhead, chit-chat Yeezy s tramping along the yellow line and up with the owner. over plastic glasses of rosé — any and all quotid- the sweaty stairs to the ticket machine that morn- “ is is worse than the Lehman shock,” Taisho ian details doubled in volume and echoed loudly ing, where my shift awaited just east of Exit . e muttered. e owner raised a long, serenaded knife within her ghost town, which, from my vantage construction company’s notice claiming a complete and gently sliced into a cheesecake. He concurred, point, existed as a dystopian ri on my own reality. renovation of the subway by (in bold red letters) this and with another swoop of his knife added, “ e July, would have been relevant still, and non-tourists store hasn’t been this empty since the disaster.” . . . were reminded once again of the dread and conges- Taisho watched a slivered plume rise from his n- tion come summer, when an estimated , gertips, sat mute and took a sip of his coee. After One evening in , Hugh Everett III, then a visitors would ood the city’s underground and several minutes, he dropped some coins onto the -year-old grad student at Princeton University, commercial pathways for Japan’s fourth Olympic counter and the owner thanked him for coming drank a couple of glasses of sherry and had an epiph- trial. e economy geared for a rst-rate quarter. in during “a time like this.” We both listened as any: that our world was merely one in an in nite ose who remained in the archipelago basked in he clip-clopped down the steps in his geta sandals number of possible outcomes, or parallel universes, the afterglow of an international spotlight and with until the sound and his small, white-robed gure all of them real and as concrete as our own. it, hope, prosperity and the return of normalcy. disappeared into the street below. From the time Everett published his theory to Somewhere, in a place we no longer had access, there his sudden death at the age of (a heart attack, were copies of ourselves living quite a dierent life. . . . likely induced by his raging alcoholism and cigarette It was my last shift before Tokyo’s emergency addiction), the physicist had been ignored, shunned shutdown. e cafe housed not a single soul on In May, the shock had settled. Fallen petals and even celebrated by leading thinkers of his time. what would’ve otherwise been the busiest day of the bleached the surface of the Meguro River and Beyond the ne print of his thesis, however, Everett, week save for one regular, a chain-smoking sushi clung to its mossy ood walls. e air breathed
18 green, and all above was the lush embrace of trees In early March, -year-old James Cai laid alone in in their leafy prime. A coworker once told me that a tiny, windowless room on the oor of an emergency she prefers sakura trees like this, owerless and ward in New Jersey, fearing he wouldn’t wake up the verdant. Walking down the promenade, I agreed. next day due to severe pneumonia in both his lungs. He Nobody traveled to see the leaves. was stuck in a hospital bed, waiting for his test results to I arrived at my usual spot, a wooden bench be- come back when he overheard a local news report about tween two plump overhangs that dipped right above Jersey’s rst conrmed case of COVID-. A man in the shallow water. Every few seconds I would hear his thirties is hospitalized in Bergen County… e the rhythmic heaving of a jogger behind me and next day, his doctors conrmed his suspicions. He had though there was space enough for another at my tested positive for coronavirus and he was, in fact, the bench, I’d pray that nobody stopped. I’d formed a state’s rst case. As a medical professional, Cai knew habit of marking my territory this way. Like a cat that he was on the brink. He didn’t need a doctor to pissing on a favorable patch of grass, I attempted tell him about the lack of oxygen in his blood or that his to absorb within my bench an air of ownership, or chances of dying in isolation, away from his wife and at the very least a promise of my imminent return. -month-old daughter, were unfortunately high. He Miraculously, the post was left vacant upon my began to pray, consulted with friends in the Chinese every arrival. medical community and ingested various experimental In California, it was the window seat at a strip antiviral drugs, until, nally, he recovered. mall cafe called Coee Society, whose clientele was Shortly after being released from the Hackensack mostly community college students or homeless University Medical Center, Cai spoke about his ex- men who liked to hang out by the side entrance and perience with a New York Times reporter. rough smoke weed out of tiny glass pipes. At one point, a slightly scued phone connection, his voice beamed, I had known all of their names. Once, the stout, as if given a new pair of batteries. He was happy to bearded one had described in thorough detail his be sleeping in his own bed, and after two more weeks idea for a dystopian sci- novel about a hero who of quarantine, he’d be able to embrace his wife and escapes an urban shelter run by evil, authoritarian daughter again. His senses had heightened. e grass, forces. I wondered what kind of story he’d tell me trees, cars and sky above him appeared charged with the next time I saw him, if I ever did. A deadly new the curiously perfect demeanor of objects within a virus sweeps the globe and kills thousands. Mil- baby’s gaze. “I will come home and spend every minute lions of people lose their jobs as economies plum- with my family,” he told the reporter. “Appreciate met, and scientists race for a cure. In the wake every day, living.” of collapsing ecosystems and murder hornets and It was a simple statement, but one that reverber- people starved for connection, a police ocer in ated in my thoughts as I hung up (Goodbye, I miss Minneapolis asphyxiates a -year-old Black man, you, be careful). I imagined the lives of everyone catalyzing a global uprising against centuries of I knew at that moment. My sister, preparing her lethal oppression and police violence in America. dinner, a plate of homemade sauerkraut, baked e river pulsed gently beneath. I called my sister, beans and toast topped with bacon and avocado. who had minutes before she nished her shift at My mother, back in the atrium with her cheap Whole Foods, an upscale grocery chain now owned Cabernet or washing dishes in the narrow kitchen by the Amazon conglomerate. She laughed when with a view of a night-stained orange tree in our I dubbed her a frontline worker. yard. A friend in L.A. who’d been living o of “ ere was a man today who came in with a pair unemployment checks after being laid o from of boxers on his head.” his restaurant job, and the cafe owner, manning “ at’s honestly worse than the person who his livelihood like the captain of a deserted ship. taped — literally taped — a sheet of Kleenex over eir lives lit up like tiny windows in a city tower, her mouth.” each square self-contained and connected against “Did you hear about how Je Bezos told o a a black silhouette. Despite the empty streets below, customer? Some guy named Dave called him a these inner worlds glowed and gave assurance to a ‘perfect asshole’ for having a Black Lives Matter soundless night, that when the sun rose, the people banner on Amazon. Used the N-word twice.” within would once again spill out onto the sidewalk, “Fucking people.” lling the city’s trains and bars and classrooms like Her stories were like radio transmissions from animal packs out of hibernation. Finally, in the space. I fed her facts that I learned online: Over orbit of more banal rhythms, some would forget , deaths in the States. Almost , in Ja- to wonder about the universe they left behind in pan now. She asked me how things were going early January, the one untouched by our modern and I said they were normal, at least in a relative plague. Or, if they remembered, they would think sense. One of her atmates was moving out and how odd it was, how that version of life contained a room was opening up. I couldn’t tell whether I more uncertainty now than the one lived in the preferred to be there, or if being an ocean away year of the coronavirus. from the people I cared about was a temporary stroke of luck. Before ending the call, I recalled a For more information about the coronavirus in news story I’d heard some days back about a man Tokyo check: who found out he had COVID- from watching metropolisjapan.com/covid-19-resources/ a local TV program. stopcovid19.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/
19 “Dream Hunting Ground” wall painting installation view from Hunter Gatherer exhibition Check out other stunning works by the artist at Akita Museum of Modern Art, carving painting, 2018
Primordial Violence Tomoko Konoike: Art, nature and human creatures
By Jessie Carbutt
kita-born artist Tomoko Konoike’s works are not rooted in art theory but are fundamentally human things. To her, humans are another one of Earth’s creatures and in a constant state of evolution and change. Konoike’s nihonga-style (Japanese-style) surreal paintings and large-scale installations A are renowned in both Japan and abroad, and her latest exhibition will be at Tokyo’s newly-opened Artizon Museum from June to October .
Metropolis: You mentioned in a previous interview that the Tohoku M: Speaking of animals, your depiction of humans often mixes us with earthquake and tsunami had an impact on your creative process and work other creatures and nature, displacing us from the civilized world we’ve itself. How is the coronavirus pandemic aecting your work now? become accustomed to in modern life. One of your recurring motifs is the reduction of the human body to child’s legs immersed in nature, or Tomoko Konoike: Unlike the Tohoku earthquake in , where those af- distorting it with the body of a wolf. Why are you attracted to the natural fected received help from Japan and abroad, there is not such a clear “victim world in your art? and helper” dynamic for this pandemic because it’s the entire world that’s experiencing this crisis. My way of life as an artist has remained the same, but TK: Personi cation has been a major method of animal motifs in art up until the world and its society of rapid consumption is now slowly stopping. Even now, but my art does the opposite, aiming to be animalization of human if the world was to go back to the beginning, we can no longer be the same beings — or post-personi cation — because I intend to shift the perspective anymore. Still, we, as animals, as human beings, feel like new ideas will be from a human-centered one into one where human beings are just another born out of this situation on Earth. kind of animal on Earth.
20 As global warming and the COVID- pandemic show us, the way of human their tactility, draw on them, sew them together into a bigger skin and the life is no longer sustainable; we have to confront this so as to think about the shape is always irregular. future of the world. Humans need to put their ideologies aside and think dif- ferently, but our ways are deeply ingrained in us and reinforced by the societies M: In terms of scope, you often play with the macro and micro, distorting we live in. As an alternative, I believe it’s possible for us to look to other things our usual views of the world ― like how you captured a galaxy inside a moth’s such as animals. I think my work suggests liberation of human thoughts, free- wings in “Black Kite” ( ). ing ourselves from our conventional ways of human life. TK: It’s just like how the views of humans are constantly changing. Plus, M: If your work suggests liberation, are you interested in seeing how people humans nowadays are always trying to expand their territory around them, react to your art or are liberated through it? but they also love spending time in their room. Both are normal behaviors although they seem paradoxical; having multiple sides is not a strange thing. TK: My aim is not to make interactive art or to communicate with the audience, but it is to awaken the audience’s various wild elements that are ingrained within “Black Kite” is a drawing on multiple cow hides sewn into one. It hung us. I’d like to create solid things people can feel without using their vision. Most for a year in the forest of Oshima Seishoen Sanatorium on Oshima Island, art in museums is visual; rather than being afraid of things when you have no which is a sanatorium for Hansen’s disease. It faced a lot of wind and rain; vision, I want us to experience things by using our bodies’ other senses, like insects and microbes ate away at the skin. is work’s body literally engaged touch. My works are fundamental human things instead of sophisticated art in a dialogue with the Earth. It’s going to be at my exhibition, “FLIP,” at the theory or anything. I call it “primordial violence.” It’d be an honor if my art Artizon Museum in Tokyo soon. triggers another feeling, an awakening of the viewer’s deepest, most-primitive inner emotions such as desire, fear or terror. I sneak and evoke these primitive M: “FLIP” is the rst in a series of Jam Sessions at Artizon, in which artists elements into the civilized spaces of my indoor exhibitions by using animals. select pieces from the Artizon Museum’s Ishibashi Foundation Collection I’m curious about how people experience my art and how that may impact to collaborate with. What else can we expect from this series? their lives. For me, it’s the individual’s act of interpretation that’s important, not whether someone likes or dislikes my art. TK: e role of new museums is not always to showcase new artists. eir role is to update the old framework or value of museums to match today’s society. M: Your work often uses animal pelts. How do you feel about veganism Museums originally emerged out of nationalistic consequence, to show o and the use of animal products? a nation’s wealth and property to its citizens’ the other countries. However, the world has changed a lot and the concept of a museum is now out of date. TK: First o, all the animal pelts I’m using are legally collected, such as from ere must be ways that we, a new generation, can inherit and participate in pest control. It’s a human’s perspective to categorize animals either as pests this original concept of the museum, but adapt it to the modern society in or a creature to protect, depending on the place or situation. is fact is also which we live. based on the fundamental human drive to survive and continue human life on Earth. I think this is another example of primordial violence.
Given that the term “vegan” has become more mainstream recently, it feels that veganism has come into fashion now. In my opinion, the term “vegan” is a human idea and was coined by those who care about the current global environment. But respecting and caring for Earth has always been a concern of humans, even before the word for veganism appeared in language.
M: Spatially, your work is displayed in many ways, from art galleries to outdoor installations in the middle of nature. What draws you to the latter?
TK: Museums are white empty spaces but there’s no big blank canvas like that in the natural world. In nature, the art itself has to be tough enough to survive the elements and, if it wants to be seen by us, it has to compete with nature’s chaos and colors. In museums, everything is conveniently set, ready for both artist and audience, which blurs the true value of art. I’ve always felt that arti cial “Black Kite” installation view from Setouchi Triennale 2019 at Oshima Seishoen Sanatorium, 2019 gallery spaces are too sheltered, but after the Tohoku [disaster], I realized just how vulnerable our modern way of life is. Museum spaces are too convenient; there’s no challenge for the viewer to trek through nature to see the art, to go back to our roots. But it’s this journey into nature that’s important to me; afterall, we are tomoko-konoike.com all creatures of nature. e art is just a medium for that journey. @konoike.official
M: You mention canvases, but your use of materials is so wide, animal pelts, Jam Session: The Ishibashi Foundation Collection x Tomoko Konoike unglazed clay, fabric, wood, mirrors…etc. I particularly love “Drop Curtain Tomoko Konoike : FLIP of Cowhide” ( ). How did you come to use such raw, primitive materials? Jun 23 - Oct 25 Tue – Sun 10am – 6pm TK: Like I said, I think I was so used to working on white canvases Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, museum capacity is limited. or paper and one day, when the Tohoku earthquake happened, I Please book online in advance (¥1,100). realized I no longer enjoyed the process, even if it turned out to be a great work. When working with paper and canvases, my hands Artizon Museum automatically knew what to do; it felt like being on a treadmill. I 1-7-2 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku then found that animal pelts have so much potential: you can enjoy artizon.museum
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Step into Higashi Nagasaki's exciting new coffee hub :, A shelter for theA shelter community for Mia Mia Mia Credit: Paik DesignOffice -01 Nagasaki, Toshima-ku4-10-1 By Paul McInnes mia-mia.tokyo Mia he Seibu Ikebukuro Line isn’t really known for being a cultural Mia Mia also serves sourdough bread and other edible goodies from vaunted hotspot. Perhaps Ekoda is the most recognized stop on the line Norwegian bakery Vaner, whose Yanaka location has been a huge hit since opening T with its college town atmosphere, shambolic backstreets, glorious a few years ago. e sourdough has been such a triumph with Higashi-Nagasaki Israeli joint Shamaim and Coconuts Disk record store. Only two stops from locals that customers are lining up at am to get their hands on it. Ikebukuro, however, is the sleepy wee town of Higashi-Nagasaki. It’s a small, For all that Mia Mia has made a huge impact since opening on April , it’s bustling area with local eateries, some cozy izakaya (Japanese bar) and the not been easy opening a new store and project in the middle of a pandemic. odd, quirky vintage shop. From April of this year though, Higashi Nagasaki For now, Mia Mia’s opening hours are am – pm with just a take out menu in plays host to one of the most exciting coee store experiments in Tokyo. Mia place. Customers are advised to distance themselves from others and the sta Mia (pronounced maya maya), run by husband and wife team Vaughan and are particular about hygiene and cleanliness — more so than usual. Rie Allison, feels like it could be the start of “Due to the virus, we weren’t able to hold our big opening party that we had something new, the ignition of a fresh been planning for months — we actually had renowned jazz musician TOKU community space and one which booked to entertain, and some of the biggest names in the coee industry in Japan will, surely, be a hub and focal ready for guest barista,” says Vaughan in point for the locals and visi- a recent interview with Metropolis. tors alike for years to come. “Also, since opening we Vaughan, as he’s haven’t had too many known in the arts customers visit us scene in Japan’s capi- from outside the area. tal, is a man of many Which is of course trades. A coffee ex- all very disappoint- pert, writer, editor, ing. But after a few lecturer, music pro- weeks since open- moter, model and all ing Mia Mia, we’ve round Renaissance soon realized that it’s man, he’s a polymath also meant that we’ve with a mission. Mia really been able to focus Mia is the result of years on the local community, of familiarizing himself and building genuine friend- with Tokyo’s burgeoning ships with our locals. It’s already third-wave coffee scene with got to the stage where I wouldn’t call the dream of, one day, opening his them customers anymore (even own store with his wife Rie, a success- though there’s excellent ful architect who has been responsible for a customer service still). plethora of projects in Japan and overseas. Mia Mia, only one minute from We’re on first name/ Higashi-Nagasaki Station, sits on a corner location across from a car park nickname basis with which can be used for small events. e store’s interior (designed by Rie) is most of our locals and warm and inviting and looks more like a Tomigaya or Kichijoji destination we’re making each than a space nestled in a banlieue of Ikebukuro. With coee hand chosen other that little bit by Vaughan, the emphasis is on quality with an idiosyncratic fusion of Aus- happier during this tralian, Scandanavian and Japanese products from coee brands including crazy time. We look Padre from Melbourne, Norway’s superstar label Fuglen and Horizon Labo forward to hosting a from -year-old wunderkind Hibiki Iwano. really big party when the e store also hosts Australian chocolate and fashion accessories as well time is right, and when it is, as an awesome record player, a collection of vinyl to peruse and old issues of the party will also be attended Monocle magazine lying around for customers to squirrel over while enjoying by all of our local friends/custom- the bohemian and welcoming vibes. Rie and Vaughan are genial hosts and ers. Something we wouldn’t have already made a signi cant impact in the local community. Striking up have been able to experi- relationships with neighbors and local businesses was one of the main mis- ence otherwise.” sions of the project itself. It’s a community project, at heart, with Mia Mia’s A peek at the Mia doors always open to coee a cionados, the local OAPs, students, oce Mia website and workers and people with disabilities. Vaughan plays the role of probenleiter you’ll notice the (a German word meaning leader or guide) eortlessly answering queries, “Hello!! Higashi joking with regulars and welcoming rst-time customers with grace, humor Nagasaki” sec- and genuine aection. tion which in- In Wadawurrung (an indigenous Australian language) Mia Mia means troduces other “shelter” and it’s clear that the Higashi-Nagasaki location is becoming known stores in the as a place for everybody, a resting place and center for coming together and area. With future meeting new friends and sharing ideas and passions. Vaughan and Rie are collaborations with planning small art exhibits and social events and, as the cafe also functions other shops from the as a bar (with a curated selection of natural wines and craft beer from up- area in the works and and-coming Ikebukuro craft beer space Two Fingers), it’s easy to see Mia an authentic and harmoni- Mia transforming itself into a regular, vibrant space which may well in the ous climate created by Vaughan long run shift the balance and focus away from the nearby hipster hangouts and Rie, Mia Mia is very much the of Nakano, Koenji and Kichijoji. social spark that Higashi-Nagasaki needs.
27 “I see this moment, and they don’t see it, and I just want you to see how beautiful it is.”
28 A tunnel in Shinjuku we She takes photos of herself when she’s alone. But those photos are heavily scrutinized. Why am I taking this photo?, she asks herself. In- ner dialogue, ever present. “Most of the way I see myself is through the male gaze. Accidentally.” She still remembers the rst time someone smile said, “ at guy is checking you out,” as if this was supposed to mean something — the ultimate power, value, gift. Assessment. “He thinks you’re beautiful.” when Like other womxn who have been assaulted, she was taught to question herself: was it my fault? She says no. Of course not. But this is one of the hardest parts, the section most dissected. A heavy weight, society’s gaze as it shifts its focus back onto us. It only makes sense for a woman with a camera to shift it back onto everything else. We spend the rest of we the night taking photos. In Shinjuku, in tunnels, under lights, taking turns on who becomes the center. want to
A photo essay by Jes Kalled
is project unfolded in response to public comments made against Shiori Ito, a Japanese journalist and lmmaker who won a high-prole civil lawsuit against Noriyuki Yamaguchi, her alleged rapist, in December . Following the ruling, Yamaguchi continued to attack the validity of Ito’s claim by telling reporters that “real sexual assault victims do not smile at press conferences.” It is with the utmost respect and support for womxn* all over the world who are struggling, ghting, winning and losing, that this project was born.
*a variant of the word designed to include all women-iden- tifying individuals, including trans and nonbinary women.
29 Kana / Tokyo Station
“You’d look better if you smiled. You should have a smile on your face all the time,” they said when Kana was six years old. Seven. Ten. Fifteen. Twen- ty nine. Not a year has passed without being met with such comments, nor trying to live up to them. “In a way, it’s a compliment. Or, I used to think so. It made me feel like I had a beautiful smile.” But as an adult she says the muscles in her cheeks begin to ache. With a breath of relief she explains that she’s exploring new spaces now: unsmiling ones. “There’s a freedom in that.” “When I was a child, someone told me I never smiled.”
“I’m interested in ugly happiness.”
Max / Somewhere between Sangubashi and Hatsudai
“There was this oscillation of utter, complete worthlessness and feeling resentment. It was exhaust- ing and miserable. Why do I feel this way? Why do other people make me feel this way?
“When the right to be happy has been taken away from you, there is strength in getting it back.” Max looks out the cafe window. There are dried flowers hanging on the walls around us. “The process of reclaiming joy is really hard, and we don’t have to be consistently ruled by our trauma or depression.”
30 “They can’t take that away from me.”
Ayumi Melody / Shibuya Station
“I don’t think I admitted to myself that it was rape at the time, I didn’t want to internalize that word, but it quickly became the reality because that’s what it was.” She can still remember his face and his text message the following day, which makes her shudder. “It’s not always possible to say ‘no,’” Melody says. “It shouldn’t only be up to us, and it shouldn’t have to come to that.” She relays how difficult it was and still is to convince others; a relived trauma in having to explain herself. But here, she does so in pink. Melody touches her fuschia-colored sweater and smiles, “I’ve consciously made a decision to wear this happy, bright color.”
“I always want to feel badass.” Kalyani / Shibuya “My friend was throwing up and these men came to talk to us. They were touching me.” Kalyani walks me through a scene outside a club in the middle of summer: Her friend is stumbling and can’t walk. Kalyani carries her to a safe place where they can catch their breath. “That’s when the guys started swarming… I’m extra cautious when going to clubs in Japan now,” she says. “I wish I could enjoy it and just not care.”
When Kalyani was years old, there was the presence of a much older boy in her life. “They are raw memories,” she says. “Vivid.” The kind that doesn’t leave your skin. “It’s sad that I had to go through these types of things so many times in order to be able to say ‘no.’” But she feels she can say it now. Kalyani smiles with resolve, “A full no.”
31 The Resurgence of a Japanese Literary Master Fifty years after his death, Yukio Mishima is reemerging in translation
By Eric Margolis
ukio Mishima may have gone out in an inglorious blaze in , but identify a Mishima at rst glance: tortured narcissists obsessed with beauty three of his previously untranslated works have been released in the and fantasies of violence. But new translations are nally exposing Western Y English-speaking world in the last two years, with another on the way. readers to the true breadth and depth of Mishima’s work. ere’s agony and To recap the scene: Mishima, then the leader of the nationalist, unarmed beauty, but whimsy and variety as well. civilian militia Tate no Kai, entered a military garrison in central Tokyo on “ is is a good time to expand our understanding of what Mishima was November , . After taking an ocer captive and failing to inspire the about,” says Stephen Dodd, translator of Mishima’s “Life for Sale” ( ) gathered soldiers to overturn Japan’s constitution and restore the emperor and the upcoming “Beautiful Star,” a rare Mishima science ction novel. to power — quite the opposite, the soldiers laughed and jeered at him — “‘Life for Sale” is very funny, very kitsch, trashy, sexy. All these light, trivial, Mishima committed seppuku. frivolous things make it a great read. But there’s another side to it, the more It was another failure. e ritual act of suicide, committed by samurai recognizable Mishima side — a deep loneliness and bleakness at its heart.” warriors, involves plunging a short sword into the stomach and slicing from In “Life for Sale,” salaryman Hanio Yamada decides to advertise his life left to right, opening the belly. When the samurai nished, an assistant would for sale in the newspaper classi ed section, and gets thrown into a series of decapitate him in a single blow. Mishima didn’t manage to open his stomach increasingly outlandish requests from his patrons. While Mishima is most cleanly, and his assistant, hands trembling, couldn’t chop o Mishima’s head well-known for his dark, staggering works of literary ction about tortured in one swing, either. sexuality, obsession and beauty, like “Confessions of a Mask” and “ e Temple e narrative of Mishima’s life and death has often superseded his of the Golden Pavilion,” Mishima in fact made his living with popular c- work owing to his far right-wing politics persists, as well as interest in tion. He wrote pulp novels like “Life for Sale” to warm up, and then turned his sexuality and status as a gay author. Mishima’s carefully cultivated to more serious literary ction a few hours into his writing. image — a vigorous martial artist, his commitment to bushido, the code “Mishima has continued to have a readership in Japan, precisely because not of the samurai and his xation with masculinity, beauty and glory — has all of his works are dicult to read and people can enjoy them,” Dodd says. remained more notable than a lot of his writing. He even went to great “Mishima has an extremely perceptive understanding of the world. He really pains to craft an image for an American audience with English-language understands isolation, loneliness, and wants to get to the heart of things.” interviews in the s. Another previously untranslated novella that came out last year, “Star,” However, the contemporary resurgence of Mishima translations is starting to grapples with fame and loneliness. Centering on Rikio Mizuno, a young get readers back to the actual work. Which, incidentally, is very good indeed. actor in the heyday of the Japanese lm industry in the early s, the On the surface, Mishima is a writer of capital-L literary ction, with dense novel explores Mizuno’s disgust with his empty life, sapped of meaning by works and elaborate language, in dense conversation with early th century his unthinking fans. “Star” is another work that balances humor against European literature and theories of modernization. In many ways, you can Mishima’s classic darker themes. -32 “I found the prose really delectable and fun,” says Sam Bett, translator of “To put the matter in a crude way, Mishima used Tate no Kai as a means “Star.” “ e book has a great sense of humor. Mishima really does have a knack of killing himself,” adds Mishima translator and biographer Hiroaki Sato. for putting a sentence together in a balanced way, like a spinning mobile — it “I think we do need to get away from reading everything he wrote through has all of these dierent parts that are counterbalanced against each other.” the lens of November , ,” Bourdaghs says. While Mishima had a complicated relationship with his sexuality, writing While scholars and critics will continue to scrutinize Mishima’s life, his varied explicitly gay stories while often treating homosexuality with contempt, modes career produced a book for everyone, no matter their taste. It’s valuable that of queerness in his ction continue to give his works enduring value. “ ere Western audiences are now able to experience a broader scope of his writing. are modes of queerness in ‘Star’ that t into the larger discussion of how his “I compare him with Murakami Haruki,” says Dodd. “While Murakami is work explores gender relationships and sexuality,” Bett says. an extremely important writer whose works have touched the hearts of millions, With the resurgence of right-wing nationalism in the U.S., UK and around the I nd his works to be repetitive. Mishima always surprises.” world, Mishima’s problematic politics cannot be ignored. Michael Bourdaghs, a professor of Japanese literature at the University of Chicago researching Mishima, said that his goal with his suicide was to produce a spectacle for its own sake. “ e point is the disturbance that you can stir up by speaking [outrageous things] aloud,” Bourdaghs comments. “I think Mishima would have understood Donald Trump well.” Bourdaghs also points out that Mishima’s radicalism was more of a product of YUKIO the Cold War-era revolutionary political struggles than Japanese pre-war fascism. MISHIMA “Mishima and his peers were very aware of what was going on in places like Viet- nam, Algeria and other decolonizing nations, as well as in American inner cities and European campuses.” Mishima famously engaged with the student protests at the University of Tokyo, part of an inclusive ‘new left’ movement that opposed against American imperialism, Russian Stalinism and Japanese monopoly capitalism. Mishima’s translators have struggled to get beyond the mythology perpetu- ated by the dramatic circumstances of his death. “It upsets me when a -year old reads Mishima and says, wow, that’s fabulous, he was prepared to die for beauty,” says Dodd. “It’s an egotistical reading. When we read Mishima, we have to avoid getting trapped in his web.” Find Yukio Mishima’s translated works on Amazon.
33 \ I I / (0>' What / .... I \ ' our
John Niven has emerged as one of Scotland’s most acerbic and vicious writers of recent Friends years. Having inherited the social commentary and visceral nuances of Irvine Welsh, Niven’s latest novel, “F*ck-it List,” is a scathing attack on contemporary and near-future America. Ivanka Trump is now president and America burns with right-wing policies in while protagonist Frank Brill has a violent bucket list to act out before his death. A kind of Falling Down for the contemporary age, “F*ck-it List” seethes with anger and outrage at an America lost, deluded and beyond repair. Considering the protests and Tokyo’s global outrage after the recent killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Niven strikes at the heart of a country now openly pitied by the rest of the Western world. — Paul McInnes, Editor-in-Chief of Metropolis Literary pvmcinnes Scene are FACTORY CIRLS Reading TAKAKO ARAI at U,l'T'CO H .Jctun u c:.ut .,,..... , ...... _._. ,.. -···---.., ...... Home
I’m currently reading “ e Aosawa Murders” by Riku Onda, An absolute luminary of contemporary Japanese poetry, Takako this brilliantly translated by Alison Watts. A dark murder mystery Arai has long crafted her distinctive takes on the world into with an unusual structure, it revisits through interviews with powerful free verse. Her recent collection, “Factory Girls” (Action witnesses of a horri c mass poisoning incident that had hap- Books), has me totally engrossed with its factory-oor perspective Summer pened in the s. e crime left a whole town dealing with in the Gunma Prefecture silk factory where women industrial trauma, and these new interviews cause the fog of fear to swirl workers labored far away from the glamor of the fashion world again, along with the suspicion that the culprit (now dead) where their work would be appreciated and consumed. is is had falsely confessed. e reader gets tangled up in the shifting poetry at the intersection of history, the manufacturing industry perspectives, never quite sure who or what to believe. Onda and the lived, bodily reality of workers who sweated, breathed, displays what an original talent she is, and de nitely deserves nursed and slept in the silk factory. Edited and translated by the to be translated more. inimitable Jerey Angles with a superstar cast of translators (Jen — Louise Heal Kawai, literary translator and English lecturer Crawford, Carol Hayes, Rina Kikuchi, You Nakai, Sawako Na- at Waseda University kayasu), the volume came out fall , in time for Arai’s residency at University of Iowa’s prestigious International Writing Program. quietmoonwave — Jordan A. Y. Smith, associate professor at Josai International University and editor-in-chief of Tokyo Poetry Journal
jordangirae is week I’ve been reading “I Love Dick” by the magni cent feminist art-geek novelist/failed lmmaker Chris Kraus. It’s this wild tangle of telephone conversations, highbrow philosophy, ere’s a lot of good stu out there. Chris Harding’s “Japan diary entries, art history tangents, unsent letters, secretive mid- Story” is excellent, as is William Andrews’ “Dissenting Japan” night faxes… It’s an urgent, vulnerable, de ant, and hopeless which shows a side of Japan not often seen. I just nished M. story. I’m enjoying it a lot. Crazy chapter titles like “Sylvére and W. Larson’s “When the Waves Came,” his memoir about volun- Chris Write in eir Diaries” and “Kike Art.” e eponymous teering in Tohoku after the March disasters. I’d de nitely Dick is indeed a dick. And Kraus is one of my favorite geniuses. recommend that. — Joy Waller, writer and author of “Pause :: Heartbeat” — Iain Maloney, Scottish novelist and journalist Do you love• books? Read more about literature and translation at joyous.waller iainmaloney metropolisjapan.com/culture/books
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