JAPAN: AMID US-CHINA TENSIONS, JAPAN MUST CHOOSE DEFT DIPLOMACY, NOT TOP GUN TOMFOOLERY, TO ENSURE PEACE

This column originally appeared in the South China Morning Post on January 4, 2023. CLINICAL PROFESSOR TOM PLATE WRITES – Is it conceivable that the risk-taking pilot of the Chinese Navy J-11 fighter that flew within metres of a US Air Force RC-135 over the South China Sea two weeks ago…

Full Article JAPAN: AMID US-CHINA TENSIONS, JAPAN MUST CHOOSE DEFT DIPLOMACY, NOT TOP GUN TOMFOOLERY, TO ENSURE PEACE

BOOK REVIEW: WEASELS IN THE ATTIC (2022) BY HIROKO OYAMADA – WHAT’S HIDING IN THE DARK?

BOOK REVIEW EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ELLA KELLEHER WRITES – The “perfect suburban life” is pretty simple in theory: get married, buy a house, and have children. Invite your neighbors over. Take up a hobby – like raising exotic fish. Yet, this seemingly picturesque ideal of marital bliss is scrutinized in Japanese storyteller…

Full Article BOOK REVIEW: WEASELS IN THE ATTIC (2022) BY HIROKO OYAMADA – WHAT’S HIDING IN THE DARK?

BOOK REVIEW: WATERSONG (2022) BY CLARISSA GOENAWAN — THE SUBMERGING AND GRIPPING POWERS OF THE PAST

GABY RUSLI WRITES – The world is so much more than black and white, for there are always things unbeknown to us— secrets. A person is not who you know they are unless you know what they hide from the world. In the fictional Japanese town of Akakawa, Watersong (2022) by Clarissa Goenawan tells…

Full Article BOOK REVIEW: WATERSONG (2022) BY CLARISSA GOENAWAN — THE SUBMERGING AND GRIPPING POWERS OF THE PAST

BOOK REVIEW: SOLO DANCE (2022) BY LI KOTOMI – A TANGO WITH DEATH AND QUEER IDENTITY

**Trigger Warning: This article recounts experiences of homophobia, suicide, physical abuse, and rape. BOOK REVIEW EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ELLA KELLEHER WRITES – “Love conquers all” – we are often taught this maxim as children. We are persuaded to believe the very essence of love can solve all life’s problems. Yet, for those…

Full Article BOOK REVIEW: SOLO DANCE (2022) BY LI KOTOMI – A TANGO WITH DEATH AND QUEER IDENTITY

BOOK REVIEW: DEAD-END MEMORIES (2022) BY BANANA YOSHIMOTO – A MEDITATION ON MODERN LOVE

BOOK REVIEW EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ELLA KELLEHER WRITES – Why do people assume relationships could ever make logical sense? Love and relationships – the shimmering red strings that tie humans together – are convoluted at best. At their most devastating, they are temporary and ephemeral, like the changing ginkgo leaves that pile on the…

Full Article BOOK REVIEW: DEAD-END MEMORIES (2022) BY BANANA YOSHIMOTO – A MEDITATION ON MODERN LOVE

BOOK REVIEW: FISH SWIMMING IN DAPPLED SUNLIGHT (2022) BY RIKU ONDA – WHO IS THE KILLER?

BOOK REVIEW EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ELLA KELLEHER WRITES – Japanese suspense author, Riku Onda, presents us with a psychological thriller that spans the course of a single night. A man and woman decide to spend one final evening together in their shared Tokyo apartment before going their separate ways. Over the course…

Full Article BOOK REVIEW: FISH SWIMMING IN DAPPLED SUNLIGHT (2022) BY RIKU ONDA – WHO IS THE KILLER?

BOOK REVIEW: PEOPLE FROM MY NEIGHBORHOOD (2020) BY HIROMI KAWAKAMI – DO YOU REALLY KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORS?

BOOK REVIEW EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ELLA KELLEHER WRITES – Hiromi Kawakami’s collection of vignettes titled People From My Neighborhood (2020), recently published into English, details the individuals of her neighborhood in a brilliant piece of bite-sized fiction. In 120 pages, the reader is plunged into a lifetime of drama, secrets, and otherworldly quirkiness…

Full Article BOOK REVIEW: PEOPLE FROM MY NEIGHBORHOOD (2020) BY HIROMI KAWAKAMI – DO YOU REALLY KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORS?

BOOK REVIEW: AT THE EDGE OF THE WOODS (2022) BY MASATSUGU ONO – THE EXISTENTIAL TERROR OF THE MODERN MAN

BOOK REVIEW EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ELLA KELLEHER WRITES – In an unnamed country, a family of three settles into a creaking house at the edge of an ominous forest. The father cannot help but notice that something is quite off about this place. Are the trees coughing? No… laughing? As so many…

Full Article BOOK REVIEW: AT THE EDGE OF THE WOODS (2022) BY MASATSUGU ONO – THE EXISTENTIAL TERROR OF THE MODERN MAN

BOOK REVIEW: THE COLOR OF THE SKY IS THE SHAPE OF THE HEART (2022) BY CHESIL – A BEAUTIFUL AND HEARTBREAKING COMING-OF-AGE STORY

BOOK REVIEW EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ELLA KELLEHER WRITES – “The sky is about to fall. Where do you go?” To be a child is to imagine a world made of glass. All your romanticized beliefs about your country and its people are contained within one fragile crystal sphere that can fracture at…

Full Article BOOK REVIEW: THE COLOR OF THE SKY IS THE SHAPE OF THE HEART (2022) BY CHESIL – A BEAUTIFUL AND HEARTBREAKING COMING-OF-AGE STORY

BOOK REVIEW: WOMAN RUNNING IN THE MOUNTAINS (2022) BY YŪKO TSUSHIMA – WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A SINGLE PARENT?

BOOK REVIEW EDITOR ELLA KELLEHER WRITES – Society’s rejection of Takiko is not solely because of her sudden pregnancy at the tender age of twenty-one. It is Takiko’s unfettered commitment to herself and her happiness that causes her family and Japanese society to ostracize and condemn her. Takiko’s self-conviction is…

Full Article BOOK REVIEW: WOMAN RUNNING IN THE MOUNTAINS (2022) BY YŪKO TSUSHIMA – WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A SINGLE PARENT?