Read Japanese Literature

Alison Fincher

A podcast about Japanese literature and some of its best works

New episodes more-or-less monthly

46 Episodes

The Master of the Japanese Ghost Story
10/29/2025
54:57
In this episode, we explore the enduring legacy of Greek/English/Irish/American/Japanese author Lafcadio Hearn and the ghost story The Peony Lantern.We'll start out by looking at Hearn's life. We'll discuss the long history of the story Boton Doro, more commonly known as The Peony Lantern, including its most famous incarnation under Hearn's pen. And then we'll look at two modern adaptations of the story by Aoko Matsuda and Kyoko Nakajima.Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.Buy on In Ghostly Japan on Bookshop to support RJL.Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.)Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2025 Read Japanese Literature.
Bullying in Japanese Literature
9/20/2025
57:06
In this episode, we look at bullying in Japanese literature.We'll start out by defining bullying and looking at bullying in Japanese schools as well as the Japanese workplace. We'll see some examples in Japanese novels. And then we'll talk about Mizuki Tsujimura's Lonely Castle in the Mirror, translated into English by Philip Gabriel.This episode is rated mature. CW: bullying and suicideIf you're thinking about suicide, please get help. Open Counseling hosts a list of international suicide hotlines.Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available. Be sure to check out the new and improved RJL website!Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.)Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2025 Read Japanese Literature.
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Christianity in Japanese Literature
6/5/2025
1:01:55
In this episode, we look into the history of Christianity in Japan—especially the role Christianity has played in Japanese literature. Our focus text is Shusaku Endo's Silence.Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.)Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2025 Read Japanese Literature.
Japanese Writers Standing Up to the State
3/18/2025
1:03:46
In this episode, we take a look at the Japanese proletarian writers’ movement of the 1920s and early 1930s. We also take a deep dive into the life of author Genzaburo Yoshino—not a proletarian writer, but a man who spent prison alongside them and for some of the same beliefs—and his novel How Do You Live?.Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.)Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2025 Read Japanese Literature.
Keiichiro Hirano
2/5/2025
52:24
For the first time ever, RJL brings you information from an interview with a Japanese author—Akutagawa-winner Keiichiro Hirano. This episode takes up his life and work, the influence of Yukio Mishima on his fiction, and his most-recently-translated novel, Eclipse.CW: attempted suicide in a discussion of Yukio Mishima's The Temple of the Golden PavilionNotes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.)Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2025 Read Japanese Literature.
Christmas in Japanese Literature
12/14/2024
52:05
Happy holidays! And, in the interest of today’s episode, merri kurisumasu!Today we’re going to start with the origins of Christmas, especially why Christmas is celebrated in Japan at all. We’ll move on to how Christmas is celebrated in Japan. And we’ll end with some examples of what part Christmas seems to play in Japanese literature—or at least Japanese literature that gets translated.Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.)Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2025 Read Japanese Literature.
LGBTQ+ Stories from Japan, Part 2
12/1/2024
57:32
RJL is excited to bring you this two-parter about LGBTQ+ stories from Japan. Part two covers Taisho Japan (when women finally enter the stage) through through contemporary LGBTQ+ writing, especially the life and work of Nobuko Yoshiya, Edogawa Ranpo, Yukio Mishima, and Li Kotomi. We also spend a little time on the role of queer manga.Part one covered some of the earliest writing in Japanese through the end of the Meiji Period in 1912.Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.This episode is rated mature. CW for the two-part series: historical accounts of practices today recognized as pedophilia and pederasty, mentions of suicide and suicidal ideation (fictional and historical), rape, homophobia, harassment of a trans authorLet RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.)Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2025 Read Japanese Literature.
LGBTQ+ Stories from Japan, Part 1
10/30/2024
54:40
RJL is excited to bring you this two-parter about LGBTQ+ stories from Japan. Part one covers some of the earliest writing in Japanese through the end of the Meiji Period in 1912.Part two (coming soon) covers Taisho Japan (when women finally enter the stage) through some of Japan's contemporary queer writers.This episode is rated mature. CW for the two-part series: historical accounts of practices today recognized as pedophilia and pederasty, mentions of suicide and suicidal ideation (fictional and historical), rape, homophobia, harassment of a trans authorNotes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.)Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2025 Read Japanese Literature.
Japanese Crime and Mystery Writing
9/13/2024
53:56
Today, we’re talking about crime and mystery novels from Japan. We’ll start with the development of the crime and mystery genre in the English-speaking world. We’ll move on to Japanese crime and mystery writing—how it was inspired by Anglo-American crime and mystery writing and how it evolved in its own way. And we’ll end with the life and work of writer Seishi Yokomizo, especially his novel The Honjin Murders, translated into English by Louise Heal Kawai.Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.CW: murder (obviously!) and a brief mention of a fictional character’s narcotics addiction(Apologies for small pronunciation issues of English and French surnames. They’ve been corrected in the transcript.)Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.)Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2025 Read Japanese Literature.
Atomic Bomb Literature
8/17/2024
59:28
This episode is marked mature.In this episode, we take a look at Japanese writing about the American bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that killed as many as 215,000 people in August 1945. We’ll start with the history of the atomic bomb, its use, and its effects on the hibakusha who survived. Then we’ll take a look at atomic bomb literature itself. Our focus text is "Masks of Whatchamacallit" by Kyoko Hayashi (follow the link to read for free), translated by Kyoko Selden.CW: war, illness (historical and fictional), suicide (historical), forced abortion (fictional), emotional abuse (fictional)Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.)Please note that text messages are for feedback only. RJL can't respond directly.Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.Support RJL on Patreon.com.Buy your books from Bookshop.org.All content © 2025 Read Japanese Literature.

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Read Japanese Literature

Alison Fincher

46 Episodes

The Master of the Japanese Ghost Story

Bullying in Japanese Literature

Christianity in Japanese Literature

Japanese Writers Standing Up to the State

Keiichiro Hirano

Christmas in Japanese Literature

LGBTQ+ Stories from Japan, Part 2

LGBTQ+ Stories from Japan, Part 1

Japanese Crime and Mystery Writing

Atomic Bomb Literature