The Japan Society Review 92
Book, Stage, Film, Arts and Events Review

Issue 92 Volume 16 Number 2 (April 2021)

With five reviews covering a wide range of topics and styles,
from an academic monograph to memoirs, fiction, and anart book, the April issue of The Japan Society Review offers
an excellent example of the rich variety of Japan-related
publications regularly arriving in the UK.
The issue opens with a review of Towards Japan: A
Personal Journey, the autobiography of J. Arthur Stockwin.
Distinguished author and former Professor of Modern
Japanese Studies at Oxford, Stockwin explores his personal
journey from being the son of medical/dental parents in
Birmingham to becoming a specialist in the politics andmodern history of Japan. As reviewer William Horsley writes,“through his 60 years as a Japan scholar Arthur Stockwin
has made a lasting mark as an interpreter of the country
and a major force in bringing Japanese studies out of a“ghetto” and into the mainstream of international studies”.
His memoirs present an expert view of the developmentof both Japanese studies and Japan’s post-war history as
well as an outline of the future challenges in both fields.
Remaining in the academic sphere, our second
review explores the lives and influence of leading rightwing intellectuals in the early part of the Showa Era (19261989). Focusing on two radical individuals Minoda Muneki(1894–1946) and Mitsui Koshi (1883–1953), Arbiters ofPatriotism by John D. Person offers a more complex andmultifaceted history of state power, nationalism, andpolitical discourses during the Japanese Empire.
Two reviews of Japanese fiction written by womenare also included in this issue. The short story collection
Things Remembered And Things Forgotten is the new
English translation of the work of Nakajima Kyoko, theprize-winning author of The Little House. As in her
previous work, this volume also explores the postwar
experiences and memories of individuals through wellcrafted, emotional, and effective storytelling. There’s No
Such Thing As An Easy Job is the first novel by Tsumura
Kikuko to be translated into English. Following a young
woman in her journey through five different jobs, Tsumura
presents a humorous and surreal depiction of the working
experience and everyday routines in contemporary Japan.
The April issue closes with a review of a monograph on
Japanese crafts. Handmade in Japan, edited by Tokyo-based
photographer Irwin Wong and published by art and design
publisher Gestalten, looks inside the workshops of artisansand craftspeople in Japan, revealing their artistry and richtraditions and documenting their handmade processes.
Alejandra Armendáriz-Hernández

Contents
1)

Towards Japan: A Personal Journey by J. Arthur
Stockwin

2)

Arbiters of Patriotism: Right-Wing Scholars in Imperial
Japan by John D. Person

3)

Things Remembered And Things Forgotten by
Nakajima Kyoko

EditorAlejandra Armendáriz-Hernández
Reviewers
Francesco Cioffo, Laurence Green, William Horsley, David Tonge,
and Beau Waycott.

4)

There’s No Such Thing As An Easy Job by Tsumura
KikukoImage: © Handmade in Japan

5)

Handmade in Japan by Irwin Wong

Towards Japan: A Personal
Journey
by J. Arthur Stockwin
Renaissance Books (2020)
ISBN-13: 978-1912961108
Review by William Horsley
Through his 60 years as a Japan scholar Arthur Stockwin
has made a lasting mark as an interpreter of the country
and a major force in bringing Japanese studies out ofa “ghetto” and into the mainstream of international
studies. He achieved much of that during his tenureas the first Nissan Professor of Modern JapaneseStudies at Oxford University between 1982 and 2003.
His lifetime’s published works have covered a broad
sweep of Japanese politics, economy, government
and foreign policy.
The fruits of his team-building and collaborative
scholarship at Oxford include more than 100 book titles
published in the Routledge Japanese Studies bookseries, the extension of teaching courses on Japan toother university faculties such as politics, economics
and history, and a weekly Nissan Institute seminar todisseminate new research on Japan to a wider communityof Japan-watchers. Here he also shows himself a “criticalfriend” of Japan over flaws in its democracy which hesees as spelling possible trouble ahead.
Born in 1935, Arthur was evacuated from his
parents’ home in Birmingham in 1941 to escape
German bombs. His interest in Japan was kindled late.
After learning Russian through an army course during
national service and then gaining a PPE degree at
Oxford, at 24 he sailed with his wife Audrey to Australia
intending to do post-graduate research on Russia.
Instead he “discovered” Japan and switched to a topic
in Japanese politics and foreign policy, meaning that
he had first to learn the language. From 1964 to 1981
he taught at the Department of Political Science of theAustralian National University in Melbourne. From thestart his approach was imbued with empathy as wellas admiration for the country he had chosen to be thefocus of his attention.
In the early post-war years the British public’s
image of Japan was negative or openly hostile,
shaped by recent memories and images of Emperor
worship, kamikaze raids and cruelty to prisoners ofwar. He recalls watching a US Army training film about
Japan’s wartime military power and tenacity. He washorrified that it portrayed the Japanese as ‘a different
and verminous species from ourselves’. His diary entry
2

as a 19-year-old described the film as ‘something likean encitement to a five minutes hate’ [sic]. But theepisode prompted the youthful Arthur to reflect onwhat it would take to transform a nation known to a
generation for ultranationalist ideology, militarism andpolitical repression into a modern democratic state.
His autobiography sets out to “splice together”
the author’s own life with the modern reality of Japan.
What follows is a discursive account of Stockwin’s
journey of research and discovery. It takes him fromhis native Britain via what he calls the ‘uncluttered’
intellectual environment of Australia to his multiple
explorations of Japan, and eventually back to hisalma mater in Oxford, where he retired in 2003 andcontinues to research and write.
The book is also a personal testament of faith
in the country. That creed is captured in lines that
he wrote back in the early 1980s, during the headyatmosphere’ generated by the economic miracle andthe surge of global interest in the internal dynamics ofthe society that produced it.
‘From the ashes of defeat in 1945 Japan has risen
to become one of most dynamic and successful
economic powers in the world today... Japan is neither
unique (as sometimes asserted) nor merely a copy ofthe outside world, but rather a fascinating source ofhuman experience which deserves to be tapped anddisseminated far more widely’.

The book’s 254 pages lovingly chronicle theauthor’s and his family’s fortunes and impressions
along the way, his navigation of the currents andchannels of his academic career, and his own
painstaking efforts to analyse Japan’s political system
in its own terms and without prejudice. His entry point
was to research the functioning of political parties as
vehicles for representing public opinion in Japan, from
the Meiji period to modern times.
While eschewing value judgements or
stereotypes, Stockwin’s findings illuminate several
very distinctive and recurring patterns Japan’s politicalparty system. Among them are the phenomenon thatparties and internal party factions often consolidatearound individual powerful leaders, only to collapse
and re-appear in new forms. In pre-war times, hewrites, political groupings ‘divided much like cells in ahuman body’. The nation’s early 20th century attempt
at democracy was thwarted by ‘in-built authoritarian
institutions and practices’. The centre could not
hold and Japan descended into ‘government byassassination’. Even the Imperial Army was beset by
Issue 92 Volume 16 Number 2 (April 2021)

rival factions which vied to spearhead Japan’s path
towards war.
Immediately after Japan’s surrender, Marxist
agitation and ideas were contained under the USled Occupation. But later the country’s socialist andcommunist Parties did fierce ideological battle witheach other rather than joining forces. The Japan
Socialist Party was prone to splits over political
doctrines and neutralism in foreign policy. The masterstroke of Japan’s right-of-centre political forces, someof which had organic links with those who led Japanto war and overseas conquest, was to bring the rival
conservative force together in 1955 under the bannerof the Liberal Democratic Party, which portrayed itself
as a natural party of government.
Stockwin credits internal competition among
the LDP’s internal factions as an important factor in
the party’s ability to regenerate itself and maintain its
almost continuous hold on power, while opposition
parties were unable to present a consistent or united
challenge. The socialists, he writes, behaved as if they
were ‘frightened’ of taking power. In 2009 a new kid
on the opposition bloc, the Democratic Party of Japan,
was swept into office promising root and branchpolitical reform. In Stockwin’s account, several changesof party leadership and the DPJ’s mishandling of the2011 Fukushima disaster hastened its fall in 2012. Butthat ignominious failure is described as a tragedy forhopes that Japan would establish a credible two-party
system and a truly pluralist democracy.
Professor Stockwin is sharply critical of theadministration of prime minister Shinzo Abe (2012-2020), which he says consciously sought to ‘shift thebalance in favour of authoritarian values of top-down

decision-making’, including through curbs on free
expression, the mass media and civil society. Amongthe negative consequences, he writes, have been aserious weakening of the mechanisms that should
hold executive power to account, as well as more
‘pork-barrel politics’ and corruption scandals.
On the positive side, Mr Abe is credited withsome skill in his handling of the economy as well asJapan’s important relationships with China and theUnited States. But the author deeply deplores his
choices to ally himself with far-right organisations like
Nippon Kaigi (Japan Association), and to declare his
government’s intention to revise Article 9 of Japan’sconstitution, the “peace clause”. Stockwin notes that
despite pressure from the United States for Japan to
become a fully-fledged and capable ally in military
matters, until now most Japanese have steadily
opposed such a change. He even warns that to get ridof the clause, or even modify it, would risk ‘opening
the floodgates’ to a kind of nationalism reminiscent of
the pre-war and wartime periods.
The book closes with a broad balance-sheet ofthe state of Japan’s body politic. It acknowledges that
contemporary Japan is a stable, civilised and prosperous
society which has enjoyed seven decades of peace,and its political system has played its part in delivering
those benefits. But the proven weakness of political
checks and balances and a retreat from democratic
accountability are seen as seriously troubling. ‘The
system is surely awaiting radical reconstruction’,
Stockwin concludes. The implied message is thatsuch a major task calls for a generation of leaders who
possess qualities of far-sightedness and integrity which
in recent years have been in short supply.§

Arbiters of Patriotism:
Right-Wing Scholars inImperial Japanpower, the state. Arguably, in fact, what this question
really asks is, who gets to decide who is a fanatic andwho is a patriot? In order to address these issues Person
effectively writes two, tightly interlocked, biographicalaccounts of Minoda Muneki (1894–1946) and Mitsui
Koshi (1883–1953). Minoda and Mitsui were two of
the many “irrational fanatics” that populated Japanesepublic opinion in the early part of the Showa Era (19261989). Mitsui was a well-known contributor to andeditor of many Japanese conservative publications.
He was the mentor of Minoda and together theyfounded the Genri Nippon Society and its eponymous
magazine, which became the centres of anti-patriotic
bullying and Japanist propaganda.

by John D. Person
University of Hawai’i Press (2020)
ISBN-13: 978-082488178
Review by Francesco Cioffo
John D. Person’s Arbiters of Patriotism begins witha very important question: ‘how do we think about
fanatics in history?’ (p. 1). This is indeed a very
interesting and fundamental question which opens up
a much wider debate about the role of the intellectualin the society and their relation to the actual centre ofLatest reviews: www.japansociety.org.uk/resources/reviews/

3This book is not only Person’s first monograph,but it is also the first book in English to extensively
write about the lives of Minoda and Mitsui.
The first section of the book focuses on Mitsui’s lifeand his emergence as a leading right-wing intellectual.
In Chapter 1, Person explores the intellectual evolution
on Mitsui’s theory of poetry (the “Shikishima Way”)
from one focused upon the ‘primacy of the expressive
individual’ to a jingoistic theory of ‘ethnonational
sentimentalism’ which idealised the Emperor Meiji’s
poems as sort of holy scriptures (p. 40). Furthermore,this chapter is also an exploration of the discoursesof “Japanisms” since the Meiji period, showing how
these ideas mutated along with the changes within
the Japanese state and its position in the international
system (p. 31).
Chapter 2 looks at the Taisho years as a crucial
moment for the formation of both Mitsui and
Minoda (p. 42). Key to this chapter is the idea of the“Taisho Restoration” which is explored to uncover theintersections between nationalistic ideologies and therise of mass politics. Especially in the works of Mitsui,in fact, one can notice the incorporation of somedemocratic ideas (male universal suffrage and the rightto demonstrate), but only as a mean to unify the country
against the corruption of the government (p. 55).
At the same time, the author shows how apolitical taxonomy with quasi-distinct ideas of left andright developed. Most importantly, the government
emerged as the conspicuous centre actively defining
the position of others on the political spectrum.
The second section of the book focuses on the
more famous figure of Minoda. Chapter 3 explores two
main issues. First, the chapter traces the transitional
character of both left and right discourses, showing
how Marxist theories developed alongside anti-Marxist
ones. Interestingly, Person points out that despite
differences, intellectuals on both sides tried to wrestle
with the formulation of a ‘nondeterministic theoryof historical change’ centred upon the agency of theindividual (p. 66). Second, it tries to problematise theimage of Japanism as being one with the Japanesestate. Person in fact demonstrates how the influence of
Minoda’s arguments over other nationalist discourses
and upon public and academic circles came as a resultof Minoda’s alignment with the government’s social
engineering efforts (p. 77). This relationship however
was never idyllic, since even Minoda soon became atarget of the political surveillance and scrutiny that he
was advocating for the Left.
4

Chapter 4 discusses the most famous example of
Minoda’s power, the Imperial Organ Theory Incident of1935, which established him as the key Japanist voice of
his time. However, Person does not approach the topic
only from the usual perspective of the fall of liberalism
in Japan. Rather, he shows how the simultaneous riseof far-right terrorism transformed the government’s
approach to Minoda and the Right Wing, which cameunder strict police surveillance using the same tactics
developed against the Left in the 1920s. From thisperspective, what is interesting is actually to see how
the police viewed some associations behind the public
smear campaigns as the more pressing security threat(p. 113) than professor Minobe Tatsukuchi’s (18731948) theories.
The fifth and final chapter traces the increasing
intellectual irrelevancy of Japanism, which lost groundagainst technocratic and Pan-Asianist discourses,
and the ultimate demise of the Genri Nippon. The
government shifted once again Minoda’s positions
to the unwelcomed part of the Right Wing, so muchso that later critics of the wartime regime were soon
isolated and arrested.
Arguably, this book might have been theoretically
too cautious. Parson writes that ‘the Japanism of the
Genri Nippon Society was one manifestation of theideologies of fascism in Japan’ (p. 10). However, it might
be argued that Japanism was only one of the many
strands of right-wing political discourses circulating
across pre-war Japan, which included such ideologies
as Fascism, Nazism, Pan-Asianism and so on and soforth.[1] To articulate Japanism as a form of Fascism
could be too reductive. Perhaps this study might havebenefitted from a more decisive rupture with theidea of Fascism as a category defining the ideologyof an entire era, and a more systematic theorisation ofJapanism as a specific discourse. Of course, this would
not deter from establishing similarities and differences
between the two discourses.
Ultimately, Person’s Arbiters of Patriotism is awelcome contribution to the historiography of theJapanese Right. Person’s historical analysis of the ideaof the “Right Wing” reveals a much more complex andmultifaceted history that would have been lost by justassuming the transhistorical value of the term. Perhaps
the most interesting thing about the book, however,is how it shows the power of the state as the actual
centre of all political conversations. While one might
be tempted to assume that the people like Minoda
and Mitsui were the judges of who was patriotic andwho was not, Person’s convincingly demonstrates
Issue 92 Volume 16 Number 2 (April 2021)

that the government and its organs were the actual
arbiters of patriotism.
Notes[1] C. W. A. Szpilman, “Japan and the Question of Fascism
1918-1941” in Teikyô daigaku bungakubu kiyô, Nihon
bunka gakka 50 (2019), pp. 1−46 (pp. 110−65); Saaler,Sven, and J. Victor Koschmann, eds. Pan-Asianism inThings Remembered And
Things Forgotten
by Nakajima Kyoko
translated by Ian MacDonald and
Ginny Tapley Takemori
Sort Of Books (2021)
ISBN-13: 978-1908745965
Review by Laurence GreenFor Tokyo-born author Nakajima Kyoko, memory stands
as an incredibly fruitful font from which to draw amultitude of short-form confections. Gathered here in
an attractive new collection from Sort Of Books, Things
Remembered And Things Forgotten presents us withten takes on the themes of cultural amnesia, of past andpresent colliding, of a Japan still very much coming toterms with years long gone by. These resonances will
no doubt be familiar to those that enjoyed Nakajima’s
previous work to be translated into English - the Naoki
prizewinning The Little House. Now, by way of a series ofhighly capable translations from Ginny Tapley Takemori
and Ian McCullough MacDonald, we are given anotherbite of the cake, another opportunity to contend with - ifonly for a short while - the minutely intricate workings ofa Japan that is never quite what it initially seems to be.
Part of the compelling power of The Little House
was its status as a quiet masterpiece in subverting
expectations. There, what begins as a seemingly
humble, almost banal depiction of domesticity
and scenes of a historic Japan lost to time slowly
reveals itself as a powerful statement on the postwar
experience; pulling back the veil that conceals theoften cavernous gulf between official histories andpersonal memory. Much like Kazuo Ishiguro - to makean obvious comparison - Nakajima has a listener’s ear
for both the easy rhythms of conversational dialogue
and the way this can be interweaved so artfully into
the central narrative drive of a tale. Her narrators cometo feel like friends, gentle companions guiding you
through the reading experience - which makes theLatest reviews: www.japansociety.org.uk/resources/reviews/

Modern Japanese History: Colonialism, Regionalism
and Borders (New York, NY: Routledge, 2007); Ricky
W. Law, Transnational Nazism: Ideology and Culture in
German-Japanese Relations, 1919–1936 (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2019); Peter, Duus, andDaniel I. Okimoto. “Comment: Fascism and the Historyof Pre-War Japan: The Failure of a Concept.” The Journalof Asian Studies 39, no. 1 (1979), pp. 65-76.§

inevitable ‘surprise’ they hold in reserve all the more
impactful when it finally comes.
In Things Remembered And Things Forgotten,
the three works that open this collection are in many
ways the clear standouts here; technical exercises,
almost, in showcasing the kind of literary mechanisms
outlined above. In the title story - the translation ofwhich was previously published in a special issue ofGranta focusing on Japanese literature - the discussionof the postwar experience is at its most overt. We hearof an advert placed in the newspapers:‘URGENTLY SEEKING QUALIFIED FEMALE STAFF
Excellent pay and benefits - food, clothing and lodging
provided; salary payable in advance upon request. Will
reimburse applicants’ travel expenses from anywherein Japan.’

We are then told of the true meaning behind
this seemingly innocuous ad, and what it implies forJapanese women in a nation occupied by US forces:‘Are you prepared to serve as a sexual breakwater toprotect and nurture the purity of our race for the next
hundred years?... In other words, you know... Doing it with American Gis.’

The idea of an emotionally charged postwar
experience is conveyed further in The Life Story Of
A Sewing Machine, in which the narrative is centredaround the tortured existence of a humble laboursaving device. Churning out clothes in the war years,
an air raid sees the titular sewing machine reduced to a
mangled wreck, only to be salvaged and brought backto life by an impoverished woman in the aftermathof Japan’s defeat. As the country pieces itself back
together and rebuilds, this bruised and batteredmachine becomes a lifeline, a route out of poverty- which makes its ultimate abandonment into first a
storage cupboard, and then an antique shop, all themore heartbreaking. If ever an inanimate object was
imbued with feeling, it is here.
5Personal histories and sensitivity of emotion also
mingle to charming effect in When My Wife Was A
Shiitake. Here, in a story that mingles self-deprecating
humour with touching sentiment, a widower finds
an unusual connection to his deceased wife in theform of her handwritten cooking notebooks. From
his initial, excruciatingly poor efforts at emulating his
wife’s cooking, he gradually progresses, his improving
attempts serving not only as a cherished bond
between him and the memories of his wife, but also
their daughter and grandchild, who delight in theculinary wonders he comes to create.
Across all three of these stories, the sheer
emotional poignancy is arguably worth the price ofadmission alone. This is not to say the other works that
follow are necessarily weaker, only that their depths are
more subtle - demanding more of the reader to teaseout their significance and meaning. In Kirara’s Paper
Plane, a simple, comic turn on the ghost story format
morphs into a moving social commentary on poverty.
In A Special Day, we are presented with a distinctly
weird, but highly evocative, portrayal of place as weare taken through, in precise detail, a small art gallery
tucked away in the backstreets of Tokyo.

Some of the other stories - chiefly The Pet Civet
and Childhood Friends - take on a sudden, surprisingeroticism. Characters give themselves over to bodily
pleasure with a sense of sheer freedom that isperfectly captured in the quiet intensity of Nakajima’s
prose. While these moments of sensuality may seemat odds with the thematic seriousness of her material
on war memory, they hinge on a fundamentally similar
understanding of the human condition; the basic often impulsive - functions and urges that propel us
through life from birth to death.
It is this consistency that lends an almost
clockwork-like sleekness to each and every short story
in this collection. Indeed, Nakajima’s skill as a storyteller
is very much that of the artisan craftsman, honing a
set of delicate, finely tuned works that dazzle precisely
because they combine art and function so effectively.
Their brevity, if anything, only adds to this. Forced
to deliver their emotional payload within a compact
format, time and again Nakajima lulls us into a senseof comforting security, only to pull a killer twist on us.
What we think we know is always only half the story.§

There’s No Such Thing As An
Easy Job

new location, host of characters, and impacts on theprotagonist’s daily routine. Through this serialized
structure, Tsumura slowly allows her messaging togain overtness in its politicisation. The significanceof her first section manager being male, for example,
is multiplied when, by her fifth section manager, awoman has still not fulfilled the role. Indeed, Tsumura’s
feminism is, whilst perhaps subtler than that of othercontemporary Japanese writers, a constant throughout
the novel, with the male role of the section manager
being contrasted by female sempai who aid theprotagonist—be she of a lower or higher position thanthem—in her journey towards the novel’s conclusion.
The first stress-free job the protagonist finds
herself in involves some kind of peculiar surveillance,
monitoring a semi-successful writer thought to beharbouring contraband. Opening with markedly
Kafkaesque themes, the mundanity of the job soon
becomes clear, setting the quiet tone that will be
nurtured over the next 400-or so pages. Not only are
we introduced to the protagonist and her desires formindless employment, but the odd procrastination
techniques of the writer allow interesting possible
parallels to Tsumura’s writing habits. Indeed, it seems
easier to draw parallels between Tsumura and this earlyby Tsumura Kikuko
translated by Polly Barton
Bloomsbury Publishing (2020)
ISBN-13: 978-1526622242
Review by Beau Waycott
Within 10 months of her graduation, Tsumura Kikuko
had quit her job after facing pawahara, or power
harassment, from her boss. Since then, her writing
has focused on the plight of young workers in Japan,
winning her both the Akutagawa and Dazai Osamu
Prizes. There’s No Such Thing As An Easy Job won her
the MEXT New Artist Award in 2016, and Polly Barton’s
new English translation offers Anglophone readers the
chance to share the unnamed protagonist’s time drifting
between supposedly mundane jobs after corporate
burnout. Despite wishing to mentally detach herself
almost entirely, she comes to understand that humanrelationships make all jobs an investment, prompting a
final re-examination of her time away from her career.
Divided into five chapters of between 70 to
100 pages, Tsumura has her protagonist find herself
in a new job five times, each complete with its own
6Issue 92 Volume 16 Number 2 (April 2021)

writer character than her protagonist, who seems tohave left her job not due to some kind of discrimination
but a more gender-neutral feeling of general burn out.
After this job ends, the protagonist begins writingaudio advertisements for a local bus company. The plot
becomes more curious, beginning to take a slightly
magical realist turn as the protagonist slowly begins to
see that new shops seem to be openly up randomly,
whilst long-established establishments quietly shuttheir doors. What’s more, these patterns seem to besomehow linked to the bus’s advertisement schedule.
With this unexpected additional burden, the protagonist
soon begins working for a rice cracker company,
writing titbits of trivia for the back of the packaging.
This third section of the book offers the best insight
into a more corporate, office-like Japanese workplace,with the complex relationships between staff members
playing out through both office politics and workplace
friendships. This section also contains some of Tsumura’s
most pointed criticisms of materialism and capitalist
working patterns, which are underlying through thetext, with underpaid female workers desperately trying
to lift their children into higher education with the helpof the crackers’ factoids. However, another unexpected
turn, this time the wild popularity of the trivia, leads theprotagonist on to her next job.
This fourth job takes us out of the office andinto the more domestic sphere. Now employed totack up public information posters in the suburbs,
the protagonist spends a lot of time speaking to theoften-elderly local residents, exposing the issues thatthe elderly face in suburban communities. Moreover,as the suburbs become the focus of a curious newcommunity group, those who wish to exploit theisolation of the elderly are also introduced.

The final - and prima facie the easiest - job,
mapping areas of vegetation in a large national park,
ends up exhausting, both through its demands and its
surrealism. Soon after tones of magical realism re-enter,they are contextualised as simply extremely peculiar
events, and the path that leads the protagonist to
her final realisation becomes clear. Indeed, there arepossible links to classic works of Japanese literature
here, as there are throughout the novel, in which theprotagonist’s period of exile, here from professionalism,
allows the introspection needed for a great realisation.
Although perhaps unusual for readers outside theUK, Barton’s witty and warm use of British English imbues
the plot with verisimilitude whilst deftly incorporating
more foreign vocabulary, especially in Tsumura’s
rich descriptions of Japanese cookery. The markedly
British idioms fit perfectly the typically dry humour of
Osaka-born Tsumura, and readers of Barton’s essaymemoir can find excellent evidence of the translation
process she recalls in 50 Sounds (Fitzcarraldo, 2021)
in her rendering of There’s No Such Thing As An Easy
Job. Overall, Barton’s receival of the 2020 English PEN
Translates Prize is certainly very well justified.
Ultimately, Tsumura’s work shows that, however
you wish to see your job, a feeling of sekininkan, or
personal responsibility, is unavoidable. Although firstpublished in Japan in 2016, There’s No Such Thing As
An Easy Job is apt for our current times, in which weare all working from home and the boundaries of theprofessional and the domestic feel more liminal thanever. Yet, the book also offers solace in these strange
times: after coming face-to-face with what she wasfleeing all along, the protagonist’s blurred view ofreality, meta-reality and the surreal ultimately shows
us how hope can appear out of anything.§

Handmade in Japan

commercial photographer based in Tokyo, so on thebook’s announcement I knew it would be filled withevocative images of Japan and its craftspeople. And
given publisher Gestalten’s reputation for beautiful
design and craft monographs I simply had to buy it.
Like many books of its kind, it is divided into
geographical chapters from Hokkaido in the North
to Kyushu in the south. This allows you to dive in at
random according to your interest in either craft orregion. Each chapter begins with a brief introductionof that region explaining the interconnectivity ofgeographical, political and historical factors that shapeit, its crafts and industries up to the present day. For
example, Kyushu’s proximity to Korea via the Korean

by Irwin Wong
Gestalten (2020)
ISBN-13: 978-3899559927
Review by David Tonge‘There are wonders to be found up and down thelength of the Japanese Archipelago, if you know where
to look’ (p.6)

If like me you have an appetite for exploring all things
related to Japanese design and crafts, Irwin Wong’s
introduction to Handmade in Japan will surely prompt
you to investigate further. Wong is a well-known
Latest reviews: www.japansociety.org.uk/resources/reviews/

7Straits and Taiwan in the Southwest led to a region
adept at trading with and ultimately becoming a
gateway to foreign cultures. This was instrumental in
the development of Japan’s thriving export ceramicindustry and conversely the introduction of overseas
design, materials and taste to the Japanese consumer.
If you are lucky enough to visit Fukuoka in Kyushu, youwill be able to feel these influences on its architecture,
food and fashion.
In each case Wong describes in simple language
the fascinating relationship of Japan’s natural
resources – clay, bamboo, water etc – to each of theregions, therefore explaining the growth of regionallyspecific crafts. Those of us who have spent any time inJapan will know that each region has its own meibutsu(specialities), often in the form of edible gifts at railway
stations. But if you ever wondered why for example,
Gifu makes great wagasa (Japanese paper umbrellas),this book shines a light on the complex relationshipsthat combine to make this possible.
There are many books about Japanese crafts. As
a designer with a 25-year connection to Japan I haveread many of these. My usual ‘go to’ is Japanese Crafts
by the Japan Craft Forum, published by Kodansha.
Like Wong’s it navigates Japan’s craft culture region
by region and while it is incredibly thorough it is alsorather academic. This is great if you are writing a thesis,
but it is unlikely to get you planning your next trip! In
contrast where Handmade in Japan scores highly is its
focus on the craftspeople and their personal stories.
These stories are warm and engaging giving the reader
an insight into the lives, sacrifices and in many cases
the generational commitment families have made totheir craft and the region they live.
Wong uses his photography and simple
descriptions to highlight the processes used to create
these wonderful objects, often orally transmitted,
generation after generation. For instance, If you
were, sadly, never able to visit the castle town of
Miyakakonojo in Kyushu to observe traditional long
bow making, after reading Wong’s description you
would be able to understand the fundamentals of
the process and the environment within which it
flourished. And furthermore, after hearing bow maker
Kusumi Sumihiro say ‘I’ve concluded that this shape isthe best after 33 yrs of experience’ (p.20) you would
begin to understand the patience and commitment
required to be a craftsperson in Japan.
All of these makers stories are well drawn but aparticular favourite of mine is that of Tokyo’s Sumida
based tabi (Japanese socks) maker Meugaya. Owner

Ishii Yoshikazu is one of the last remaining bespoke
sock makers in Japan. From his shop in Sumida, an area
known for its many artisans, this fifth-generation artisan,
his wife and son are involved in every stage of theprocess. In order to make a pattern they painstakingly
measure their customers feet in 20 places on each foot,ensuring the tabi fit perfectly. Many stages later andafter completion the tabi are worn for 3 months as a trial
pair before adjustments are made. New customers are
required to order 6 pairs thereafter the measurements
are ready to make further pairs. With clientele from the
nearby geisha community and luminaries from the
Kabuki theatre world Meugaya stays in business due toits unbelievable customer service.
What I love about this particular story is the
combination of craft and commerce which for me
encapsulates the Japanese mercantile mind set – craft
is not just for looking at, it’s not for art’s sake. It needs
to function well, sell and in many cases maintain thefamily tradition. Each of the 33 stories are 2-4 pages
in length and at the end of each chapter Wong has
included a primer on a material or process symbolicof both the region and Japan’s cultural identity forexample, bamboo, washi (Japanese paper), indigo
dyeing and urushi (lacquerware).
Handmade in Japan would grace any bookshelfand given the resurgence of interest in hand craft
techniques and Japanese culture, particularly amongst
young people, its publication is timely. It takes us ona journey from long bows to lacquerware, stopping
en-route to explore kites, umbrellas, candles, fishingboats, Noh masks and much more. But it is more thana guidebook. Beautifully designed and illustrated, it isa love letter from Wong to the Japanese craftspeople
who are the guardians of centuries old processes, andto the artefacts which make tangible the historical,
geographical and human characteristics of theJapanese archipelago.
It’s a must have for any lover of design, craft orJapanese culture and while it is not an encyclopaedic
record of all Japanese crafts, it is surely one of the mostaccessible. My only selfish wish is that Gestalten would
publish a small or digital version so that next time I am
in Japan with a spare weekend I could refer to it before
heading to the travel agent! In summary, to quote
Wong:‘Japanese crafts are alive and evolving, this book isa tour around the different craft regions of Japan,
bringing you inside the workshops of these wonderfuldedicated people.’(p. 6)§