Category Archives: Japanese Study: Advanced

Japanese literature review: “大きな鳥にさらわれないよう” (“To Avoid Being Swept Away by a Large Bird”) by 川上弘美 (Hiromi Kawakami)

I picked up “To Avoid Being Swept Away by a Large Bird” by Hiromi Kawakami for the usual reasons––an interesting description on the cover, a curious title, and a reasonable length––but reading the first few paragraphs helped me close the deal (although I admit it was more because the prose was easy to read than… Read More »

Japanese expression: とんだとばっちりを食う (tonda tobacchiri wo kuu)

In this post I’d like to go over the expression “とんだとばっちりを食う” (tonda tobacchiri wo kuu) which can be a little tricky to understand. Before talking about the overall meaning I want to look at each of the components. With the exception of children’s books, written Japanese generally does not have spaces between the words. Having… Read More »

Japanese literature review: “The Legend of Fukiage: Book 1″ (吹上奇譚 第一話) by Banana Yoshimoto (吉本バナナ)

Banana Yoshimoto is one of the most well-known Japanese authors in the Western world, with over 10 novels translated into English. Because I generally try to read, review, and translate authors which are not yet very well known in the West, it might seem odd that I choose to read and review one of her… Read More »