#soul lanterns

[stimboardboy]

minecraft lanterns

[redsamuraiii]

My Japanese Books To Read List

I have been browsing some Japanese Books to read and here is a list of what appears to be interesting based on the plot, reviews and recommendations from my fellow Tumblr followers. If you have some to recommend, please do tell me! :D

1. Soul Lanterns by Shaw Kuzki

The haunting and poignant story of a how a young Japanese girl’s understanding of the historic and tragic bombing of Hiroshima is transformed by a memorial lantern-floating ceremony.

Twelve-year-old Nozomi lives in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. She wasn’t even born when the bombing of Hiroshima took place. Every year Nozomi joins her family at the lantern-floating ceremony to honor those lost in the bombing. People write the names of their deceased loved ones along with messages of peace, on paper lanterns and set them afloat on the river. This year Nozomi realizes that her mother always releases one lantern with no name. She begins to ask questions, and when complicated stories of loss and loneliness unfold, Nozomi and her friends come up with a creative way to share their loved ones’ experiences. By opening people’s eyes to the struggles they all keep hidden, the project teaches the entire community new ways to show compassion. Soul Lanterns is an honest exploration of what happened on August 6, 1945, and offers readers a glimpse not only into the rich cultural history of Japan but also into the intimate lives of those who recognize–better than most–the urgent need for peace.

Review by Penguin Random House

2. How Do You Live by Genzaburo Yoshino

Anime master Hayao Miyazaki’s favorite childhood book, in English for the first time.

First published in 1937, Genzaburō Yoshino’s How Do You Live? has long been acknowledged in Japan as a crossover classic for young readers. Academy Award–winning animator Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Howl’s Moving Castle) has called it his favorite childhood book and announced plans to emerge from retirement to make it the basis of a final film.

Copper, fifteen, who after the death of his father must confront inevitable and enormous change, including his own betrayal of his best friend. In between episodes of Copper’s emerging story, his uncle writes to him in a journal, sharing knowledge and offering advice on life’s big questions as Copper begins to encounter them. Over the course of the story, Copper, like his namesake Copernicus, looks to the stars, and uses his discoveries about the heavens, earth, and human nature to answer the question of how he will live.

This first-ever English-language translation of a Japanese classic about finding one’s place in a world both infinitely large and unimaginably small is perfect for readers of philosophical fiction like The Alchemist and The Little Prince, as well as Miyazaki fans eager to understand one of his most important influences.

Review by GoodReads

3. Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami

Shortlisted for the 2013 Man Asian Literary Prize, Strange Weather in Tokyo is a story of loneliness and love that defies age.

Tsukiko, thirty–eight, works in an office and lives alone. One night, she happens to meet one of her former high school teachers, “Sensei,” in a local bar. Tsukiko had only ever called him “Sensei” (“Teacher”). He is thirty years her senior, retired, and presumably a widower. Their relationship develops from a perfunctory acknowledgment of each other as they eat and drink alone at the bar, to a hesitant intimacy which tilts awkwardly and poignantly into love.

As Tsukiko and Sensei grow to know and love one another, time’s passing is marked by Kawakami’s gentle hints at the changing seasons: from warm sake to chilled beer, from the buds on the trees to the blooming of the cherry blossoms. Strange Weather in Tokyo is a moving, funny, and immersive tale of modern Japan and old–fashioned romance.

Review by Penguin Random House

4. Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

Convenience Store Woman is the heartwarming and surprising story of thirty-six-year-old Tokyo resident Keiko Furukura. Keiko has never fit in, neither in her family, nor in school, but when at the age of eighteen she begins working at the Hiiromachi branch of “Smile Mart,” she finds peace and purpose in her life. 

In the store, unlike anywhere else, she understands the rules of social interaction ― many are laid out line by line in the store’s manual ― and she does her best to copy the dress, mannerisms, and speech of her colleagues, playing the part of a “normal” person excellently, more or less. Managers come and go, but Keiko stays at the store for eighteen years. It’s almost hard to tell where the store ends and she begins. Keiko is very happy, but the people close to her, from her family to her coworkers, increasingly pressure her to find a husband, and to start a proper career, prompting her to take desperate action… A brilliant depiction of an unusual psyche and a world hidden from view, Convenience Store Woman is an ironic and sharp-eyed look at contemporary work culture and the pressures to conform, as well as a charming and completely fresh portrait of an unforgettable heroine.

Review by GoodReads

[illustration-alcove]

Shoko Ishida’s illustrated book cover for Shaw Kuzki’s Soul Lanterns.

[haveyoureadthismgyabook]

Have you read Soul Lanterns by Shaw Kuzki?

Yes

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No

I'd like to

Voting ended onFeb 28, 2024

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Soul Lanterns | Author: Shaw Kuzki | Publisher: Delacorte Press (2021)

[whitetulip900]

2022 reads: Soul Lanterns

Soul Lanterns by Shaw Kuzki, translated from the Japanese by Emily Balistrieri.  Delacorte Press, 2021, 176 pages.

After the 25th anniversary of the day Hiroshima was bombed, a group of middle schoolers begin a project to uncover and memorialize their community's experiences.  One girl's search for the secrets of her family's history inspires her classmates to seek out stories from their relatives, teachers, and neighbors.  Ostensibly Nozomi is the protagonist, but Soul Lanterns is less a cohesive novel then a series of interconnected stories about the cost of war.  The trauma explored in this book is harrowing, but the text is clearly meant to be accessible to young readers (grades 3-6) as an introduction to this tragic event and the years that followed it.  Highly recommended for any classroom study of World War II, Japanese history, or peace movements.

notes: whenever any american asks me where to go in japan i tell them to go to the peace museum.

content warnings: graphic descriptions of the effects of the atomic bomb and radiation exposure, references to suicide

[starminesister]

Started yesterday (and finished this morning): Soul Lanterns by Shaw Kuzki (translated by Emily Balistrieri)

[joys-bookshelf]

Rating: 4

Re-read Factor: No

Genre: middle grade, historical fiction

"When the sunlight fades on August 6, the lantern floating begins by the bridge."

Shaw Kuzki details a wonderful narration of the wonders and curiosities second-generation children in Hiroshima have of their parents and elders. They learn of intimate histories beyond their textbooks and into their communities, and the mysteries uncover are more so tragedies than happy ones. The result is the students' new appreciation for life around them, the importance of telling your loved ones you love them before you can never again, and the ramifications of war on a societal and personal level. Soul Lanterns is a book all middle-grade students should read and is a cherished story to introduce the effects war has on the people after it ends and beyond.