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alessandrajj's review against another edition
5.0
Completamente apaixonada por essa leitura e ansiosa pelas próximas edições
lauren_endnotes's review against another edition
THE PASSENGER: JAPAN, Iperborea and Europa Editions @europaeditions, 2020.
Long-form essays & journalism, excerpts from books, outstanding infographics + photography, translated pieces and English originals.
This was an outstanding reading experience that I'll be thinking about for months... years.
Each essay here captivated. Here's a quick list + description of my faves:
▫️"Ghosts of the Tsunami" by Richard Lloyd Parry - excerpt from the book of same name. Grief processing after 20,000 people disappear in a great wave. Ghosts, Zen counseling, Shintoism, phone booths to talk to departed loved ones... This was such an emotional read.
▫️"A Simple Thank You" by Banana Yoshimoto, tr. by Meredith McKinney - a tribute to a beloved Tokyo neighborhood, a broken tailbone, and gratitude.
▫️"Of Bears and Men" by Cesare Alemanni, tr. from Italian by Katherine Gregor - Ainu Indigenous peoples of Hokkaido, their language, subjugation by Yamato, and the sacredness of bears in their traditional beliefs
▫️"Sea of Crisis" by Brian Phillips - longest piece in the book, stunned by the scope. Phillips studies sumo wrestling, following matches, profiling the champion Hakuhou Shō. He blends this story with a detailed look at Yukio Mishima's seppuku & the ritual beheading performed by one of his lieutenants, searching for the sword & the man who did it.
▫️"Sweet Bitter Blues" by Amanda Petrusich - the Japanese love of blues music... When emotions can be raw and unleashed in a restrained society.
Some pieces worked so well together: Ryū Murakami writes about the loss of connection in "The Withering of Desire" (tr. from Japanese by Meredith McKinney) which dovetails Léna Mauger's essay on people who run away from their lives in "The Evaporated", translated from the French by Tina Kover.
Ian Buruma writes about populism in "Why Japan is Populist-Free", and Jake Adelstein studies the rise of a nationalist cult.
Domestic engineering, depictions of family in Japanese cinema, toilet design, J-Pop...
Long-form essays & journalism, excerpts from books, outstanding infographics + photography, translated pieces and English originals.
This was an outstanding reading experience that I'll be thinking about for months... years.
Each essay here captivated. Here's a quick list + description of my faves:
▫️"Ghosts of the Tsunami" by Richard Lloyd Parry - excerpt from the book of same name. Grief processing after 20,000 people disappear in a great wave. Ghosts, Zen counseling, Shintoism, phone booths to talk to departed loved ones... This was such an emotional read.
▫️"A Simple Thank You" by Banana Yoshimoto, tr. by Meredith McKinney - a tribute to a beloved Tokyo neighborhood, a broken tailbone, and gratitude.
▫️"Of Bears and Men" by Cesare Alemanni, tr. from Italian by Katherine Gregor - Ainu Indigenous peoples of Hokkaido, their language, subjugation by Yamato, and the sacredness of bears in their traditional beliefs
▫️"Sea of Crisis" by Brian Phillips - longest piece in the book, stunned by the scope. Phillips studies sumo wrestling, following matches, profiling the champion Hakuhou Shō. He blends this story with a detailed look at Yukio Mishima's seppuku & the ritual beheading performed by one of his lieutenants, searching for the sword & the man who did it.
▫️"Sweet Bitter Blues" by Amanda Petrusich - the Japanese love of blues music... When emotions can be raw and unleashed in a restrained society.
Some pieces worked so well together: Ryū Murakami writes about the loss of connection in "The Withering of Desire" (tr. from Japanese by Meredith McKinney) which dovetails Léna Mauger's essay on people who run away from their lives in "The Evaporated", translated from the French by Tina Kover.
Ian Buruma writes about populism in "Why Japan is Populist-Free", and Jake Adelstein studies the rise of a nationalist cult.
Domestic engineering, depictions of family in Japanese cinema, toilet design, J-Pop...
buta_comes_home's review against another edition
4.0
First of all, my thanks for an advance copy via NetGalley.
The Passenger series is a collection of pieces (mostly essay/non-fiction) about the country named - in this case Japan. I thought I knew a lot of random things about Japan but I’d barely scratched the surface. Writers, journalists, pieces in translation come together in a brilliant collection shining a spotlight on so many facets of the culture. I can’t wait to read more from the Passenger series! (Can recommend for general interest and observations with a difference..)
The Passenger series is a collection of pieces (mostly essay/non-fiction) about the country named - in this case Japan. I thought I knew a lot of random things about Japan but I’d barely scratched the surface. Writers, journalists, pieces in translation come together in a brilliant collection shining a spotlight on so many facets of the culture. I can’t wait to read more from the Passenger series! (Can recommend for general interest and observations with a difference..)
shivermetimbers's review against another edition
4.0
Whether you're passionate about Japanese culture or just have a passing interest in the land of the rising sun I highly recommend this book! It contains a great selections of articles and dives into unique topics that are rarely explored in western media surrounding Japan. Plus, the book is beautifully made and the design/layout is a true pleasure to view. I am excited to see what country The Passenger delves into next!
obione_tdg's review against another edition
3.0
I saggi brevi contenuti nel volume sono ben scritti, d'impatto e senza dubbio molto interessanti. La selezione pero' appare non solo un po' casuale e poco organizzata, ma si ci e' voluti concentrare troppo su aspetti negativi o sensazionalistici. Purtroppo questo e' un difetto comune di tutto il giornalismo o la saggistica riguardo i paesi asiatici (non solo il Giappone, ma anche ad esempio Cina e Corea), soprattutto di parte statunitense, che tende a esagerare troppo sul negativo, talvolta applicandolo ad un contesto molto piu' ampio di quanto non sia nella realta', senza dare credito agli innumerevoli esempi positivi, virtuosi e di esempio. Davvero un peccato che non si riesca ancora a risolvere questo problema (mi sono onestamente stancato di continuare a leggere e sentire lodi sperticate sugli Stati Uniti, e denigrazioni abbastanza pesanti su Cina e Giappone).
luftschlosseule's review against another edition
4.0
trigger warning
suicide, mention of bullying and domestic violence, mention of organised crime violence, grief, mental illness, misogyny
This collection of essays centres around societal issues Japan faces right now. There is one about the ghosts left by the tsunami in 2011, about a cult that infiltrates the politics, about blues music affectionados in Tokyo, about the art of sumo wrestling.
While the first essays are long and take a while to read, towards the end we have some shorter ones. There are photographs and illustrations, there's a section with further reading materials that mentions One Piece for some reason.
I liked this a lot. As a typical middle European person, I am fascinated by Japan, and while I read a lot of manga in my teens, I am always down for learning more about Japan-that-is. While some articles, like the one about sumo wrestling, come from a very positive-enthusiastic side, there is also criticism to be found in these pages. One article is about the evaporated, people who simply leave their old lifes because they made mistakes, and start new somewhere else. Most often, this is down to trusting one will be able to pay back a loan shark, and has to face serious consequences if not. I have toyed with the idea of starting somewhere else anew multiple times, but it was more a what if exploration of a situation, and I came to the conclusion that my problems are illness-related and won't go away by adopting a new name. I never heard about this before, that it's legal in Japan to simply... go. That it's possible to live a new life somwhere else, sometimes just at the other edge of Tokyo, a city so big that you're basically the famous needle in the haystack.
I learned while being entertained which is the best kind of learning.
Recommendations go out to japanophiles and people who like essays or travelling. Essays about travelling. Travelling to write essays.
You get the gist.
I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.
This collection of essays centres around societal issues Japan faces right now. There is one about the ghosts left by the tsunami in 2011, about a cult that infiltrates the politics, about blues music affectionados in Tokyo, about the art of sumo wrestling.
While the first essays are long and take a while to read, towards the end we have some shorter ones. There are photographs and illustrations, there's a section with further reading materials that mentions One Piece for some reason.
I liked this a lot. As a typical middle European person, I am fascinated by Japan, and while I read a lot of manga in my teens, I am always down for learning more about Japan-that-is. While some articles, like the one about sumo wrestling, come from a very positive-enthusiastic side, there is also criticism to be found in these pages. One article is about the evaporated, people who simply leave their old lifes because they made mistakes, and start new somewhere else. Most often, this is down to trusting one will be able to pay back a loan shark, and has to face serious consequences if not. I have toyed with the idea of starting somewhere else anew multiple times, but it was more a what if exploration of a situation, and I came to the conclusion that my problems are illness-related and won't go away by adopting a new name. I never heard about this before, that it's legal in Japan to simply... go. That it's possible to live a new life somwhere else, sometimes just at the other edge of Tokyo, a city so big that you're basically the famous needle in the haystack.
I learned while being entertained which is the best kind of learning.
Recommendations go out to japanophiles and people who like essays or travelling. Essays about travelling. Travelling to write essays.
You get the gist.
I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.
8little_paws's review against another edition
5.0
My first from The Passenger series--absolutely loved it. Cannot wait to start on Greece! I feel I learned so much from this collection, loved the pictures, the charts and graphs, the playlist. I want to throw this into everyone's hands.
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