Book Club

PNWJETAA has been gathering to discuss Japanese, Japanese-American and Japan-related literature since May 2012. Though most members read the books in English translation, we highly encourage members to read in original Japanese if they are able, as this offers very interesting perspective in terms of translation style, authenticity and quality. Book Club meetings are held every 6-8 weeks for about 1-1.5 hours usually on Sundays at 3:00 pm at Fresh Flours on Phinney Ridge. Book Club also (loosely) maintains a PNWJETAA Good Reads Group which you are welcome to join! For more information or to partner with us, please email bookclub@nullpnwjetaa.org.

Below is a listing of all the books read by the Book Club in reverse chronological order:

• Hybrid Child: A Novel – Mariko Ohara – Discussion on 2/23
• The Factory – Hiroko Oyamada
• The Memory Police – Yoko Ogawa
• The Tokyo Zodiac Murders – Soji Shimada
• Penguin Highway – Tomihiko Morimi
• Infinity Net: The Autobiography of Yayoi Kusama – Translated by Ralph McCarthy
  • Special dot themed potluck and movie viewing of Kusama: Infinity
• The Lady and the Monk – Pico Iyer
• A Midsummer’s Equation – Keigo Higashino translated by Alexander O. Smith
  • Special potluck and movie viewing of Suspect X.
• The Lonesome Bodybuilder: Stories – Yukiko Motoya
• Hotel Iris: A novel – Yoko Ogawa
  • *TRIGGER WARNING* Physical/emotional abuse, rape, domination/submission, pedophilia, etc.
• The Travelling Cat Chronicles – Hiro Arikawa
• The Woman in the Dunes – Kobo Abe
• Go: A coming of age novel – Kazuki Kaneshiro
• Sweet Bean Paste – Durian Sukegawa
  • Special potluck (complete with homemade dorayaki) and movie viewing of Sweet Bean.
• Men Without Women: Stories – Haruki Murakami
• Parade – Shuichi Yoshida
• Pachinko – Min Jin Lee
  • Information was presented about the Nozomi Project  which shares so many common themes to the book.  “Nozomi, which means ‘hope’ in Japanese, is a faith-based social enterprise bringing sustainable income, community, dignity and hope to the women in Ishinomaki, Japan by training them to craft high-quality jewelry products…featuring broken pieces of pottery left in the wake of the tsunami…”
• Kaibyo: The Supernatural Cats of Japan –  Zack Davisson, published by Bruce Rutledge of Chin Music Press – both JET alums!!
  • We were joined by Zack and Bruce for an in depth discussion and many Book Club members also attended an author talk with Zack at the Lake Forest Park Third Place Books – more info here.
• Record of a Night too Brief – Japanese novellas by Hiromi Kawakami
• Spring Garden – Tomoka Shibasaki
  • Special POTLUCK movie viewing of The Great Passage, we also watched the open credits of the anime
• The Great Passage – Shion Miura
• A Quiet Place – Seicho Matsumoto
• Confessions of a Mask – Yukio Mishima
• Translucent Tree – Nobuko Takagi
• Paprika – Yasutaka Tsutsui
  • Special POTLUCK movie viewing of Paprika
• The Silent Dead – Tetsuya Honda
• Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights – Ryu Mitsuse translated by Alexander O. Smith
• Goodbye Tsugumi – Banana Yoshimoto
  • Special POTLUCK movie viewing of The Makioka Sisters (or at least most of it)
• Makioka Sisters – Junichiro Tanizaki
• Why Ghosts Appear – Todd Shimoda
• The Buddha in the Attic – Julie Otsuka
• Malice: A Mystery – Keigo Higashino translated by Alexander O. Smith
• Shiro: Wit, Wisdom and Recipes from a Sushi Pioneer – A memoir by Shiro Kashiba
• Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage: A novel – Haruki Murakami
• The Thing about Luck – Cynthia Kadohata
  • Special POTLUCK movie viewing of The Housekeeper and the Professor
• The Housekeeper and the Professor – Yoko Ogawa
• Oh! A Mystery of “Mono no Aware” – Todd Shimoda, published by Bruce Rutledge of Chin Music Press – JET Alum!
  • Special raffle of Isabel Allendale’s new novel The Japanese Lover. Thank you Simon & Schuster!
• The Sun Gods – Jay Rubin, published by Bruce Rutledge of Chin Music Press – JET alum!
  • We were joined by EXTRA SPECIAL GUEST Jay Rubin!
• Yurei: The Japanese Ghost – Zack Davisson, published by Bruce Rutledge of Chin Music Press – both JET alums!!
  • We were joined by the author for an in-depth discussion.
• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing – Marie Kondo
• Kokoro – Natsume Soseki
• Fighting Monks and Burning Mountains – Paul Barach
• Rashomon – Ryunosuke Akutagawa
• Last Winter We Parted – Fuminori Nakamura
  • Additional Reading: The Thief – Fuminori Nakamura
• Snow Hunters – Paul Yoon
• The Reason I Jump – Naoki Higashida
• All You Need is Kill – Hiroshi Sakurazaka
  • We gathered to watch Edge of Tomorrow at the Crest Theatre.
• Yakuza Moon – Shoko Tendo
• The Book of Heroes – Miyuki Miyabe
• An Artist of the Floating World – Kazuo Ishiguro
  • Additional Reading: Drawing from Memory – Allen Say
• Strangers – Taichi Yamada
• No-No Boy – John Okada
• Revenge – Yoko Ogawa
• My Year of Meats – Ruth Ozeki
  • We attended a reading and discussion with the author at University Books in fall 2013.
• Rivalry: A Geisha’s Tale – Kafu Nagai
• Summer of the Big Bachi (Mas Arai #1) – Naomi Hirahara
  • We met the author at the Elliott Bay Books reading in summer 2013.
• The Inland Sea – Donald Richie (In memorandum of his death.)
• Rouse Up, O Young Men of the New Age! – Kenzaburo Oe
• Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan – Jake Adelstein
• The Diving Pool: Three Novellas – Yoko Ogawa
• Sakuran – Moyoco Anno
  • We gathered together to watch Sakuran – currently available at Scarecrow Video in Region 2.
• The Devotion of Suspect X – Keigo Higashino
• In the Miso Soup – Ryu Murakami
• Snow Country – Yasunari Kawabata
• The Sound of Waves – Yukio Mishima
• Real World – Natsuo Kirino
• Truth be told, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carré was our first book, before we got more focused 🙂