Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru
Japan Stories
Japan Stories
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Disgrifiad Cymraeg / Welsh Description
Casgliad newydd o straeon byrion Jayne Joso yn portreadu bywyd dinesig a gwledig Siapaneaidd drwy lygaid amrywiaeth o gymeriadau gwâr.
Disgrifiad Saesneg / English Description
Joso's new collection of short stories reveals Japanese life in city and countryside through a variety of characters notable for their shared humanity.
Manylion y cynnyrch / Product details
- ISBN 13
- 9781781725894
- Gwales Code
- gwales.com.9781781725894
- Gwerthwr / Vendor
- Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru
- Long Title
- Japan Stories
- Awdur / Author
- Joso, Jayne
- Current Price ex VAT
- £9.99
- Current Price inc VAT
- £9.99
- Availability Status (EN)
- Temporarily out of stock
- Availability Status (CY)
- Allan o stoc dros dro
- Dyddiad argaeledd / Availability Date
- 2021-05-28
- Dyddiad cyhoeddi / Publication Date
- 2021-05-28
- Cyhoeddwr / Publisher
- Seren
- Media Type (EN)
- Paperback / softback
- Media Type (CY)
- Clawr meddal
- Pages
- 152 pages
- Size
- 135 × 208 mm
- Language Code
- English
- Categori / Category
- CY: Nofelau a Storïau ar Gyfer Oedolion (yn Saesneg) | EN: Adult Fiction and Stories (in English)
- Is-gategori / Subcategory
- CY: Straeon Byrion (yn Saesneg) | EN: Short Stories (in English)
Bywgraffiad yr Awdur / Author Biography
Jayne Joso, is the author of five novels, including My Falling Down House (2016 – also set in Japan) and From Seven to the Sea (2019). She now lives in London after spending a number of years in Japan, where her fascination with that country began. She is the recipient of the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Award, given to artists whose work interprets Japan to other cultures.
Adolygiad y Cyhoeddwr / Publisher Review
Jayne Joso is perhaps better known for her novels but this is a collection of short stories, with some monologues and poems, delightfully illustrated by Manga artist Namiko, and it is one of the most enjoyable and intriguing collections I have read. The author received an award for interpreting Japanese culture to others and these stories give insights into all manner of aspects of contemporary Japanese lives, and concerns. Some are expected, some universal and some very surprising, but all her characters engage her readers and remain with us. In Oona’s story we may expect the enthusiasm for technology but her desire for an (un-needed) pacemaker is so that ‘part of me is mechanical, no longer am I frail’ but also, more tellingly, ‘finally I am not alone.’ Loneliness is a strand in several others: Mr Yoneyama is a harassed businessman who longs for time to spend with his wife, but his ‘normal’ situation is achingly sad. Perhaps the extreme example is Kenji, who has inherited a large fortune but lost his parents. He has no work or framework and does not know how to deal with his grief – ‘I wanted to be bonded to others … but I didn’t know how … Is that something I could buy?’ Many of the stories are about people’s need to connect and problems doing so. Sometimes that is across a cultural barrier. In ‘Shohei’ the speaker is a novice monk who meets an English student. They love one another but their time together means different things to each of them. Joso has entered into Japanese life but she knows there are deep differences, especially in the expression of feelings. Two of the stories involve someone taking a stranger into their home. In the first, Ms Saeko lets a room to Sachiko (whose name means ‘happiness’), who is young, homeless and initially very grateful but who comes to feel that the emotional price is too high. She exemplifies an important quality in the culture in the phrase, ‘all you have is who you are and who you are must be enough.’ In Hiromichi’s story, he takes in a mysterious homeless man who leaves him with a precious gift. This connects us with the Japanese tradition of folk tales involving supernatural messengers – cats and foxes can be shape-changers. Another Japanese tradition is the ghost story and ‘Misaki’ draws on this. The spiky dental student who escapes to the country during Covid lockdown becomes first victim then nightmare ghost. It also suggests that old, misogynistic attitudes persist. ‘Mr Takahashi’ is an almost comically typical, entitled male chauvinist but in his case the women in his life are not as he supposes. Jayne Joso takes us into the houses with their tatami mats, paper walls and futons but also into the hearts of so many memorable characters – some very ordinary, some eccentric, but all engaging our interest and (usually) our sympathy. The final story is apparently the most autobiographical and describes the author’s own early visit to stay in a Japanese household. She finds kindness, hospitality and mystery – things she does not understand and people she likes and remembers. This is the experience her stories give us, and this is a collection to treasure.
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