Books on Asia

This is Part 1 of a 3-part series on Yamagata Prefecture, as part of our Travel & Books focus. In this episode, we discuss Michael Booth’s Sushi and Beyond: What the Japanese Know About Cooking, (also known as Super Sushi Ramen Express: One Family's Journey Through the Belly of Japan) which explores the myths and semi-myths behind Japanese beef—from beer-drinking, massaged cows to the influence of breed and diet. You may be surprised at some of the truths. Then we’ll trace the story of Yamagata's Yonezawa beef, the legendary samurai Uesugi Kenshin, and the influence of British English teacher Charles Henry Dallas, who helped introduce the Yonezawa beef brand to the world.
We also follow Matsuo Bashō’s journey through the sacred mountains of Dewa Sanzan, as described in his travelougue The Narrow Road to the Deep North. as translated by Yuasa Nobukyuki. We’ll also look to Leslie Downer’s travelogue, On Basho’s Narrow Road to the Deep North: Journey into a Lost Japan, for another perspective on retracing the poet’s route.
Along the way, Amy recalls stays at the traditional Yamagata ryokan Gotenmori said to be the family villa of one of Japan's most famous samurai Uesugi Kenshin.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.
Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.
The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.

Japan by Charinko: Tom Gibb’s 2,500-Kilometer Ride
John Ross chats with Tom Gibb about his cycling adventures in Japan, the subject of his newly released Charinko. In the summer of 2005, Tom set off to see Japan properly. His transport was a cheap bike. And his Japanese was just about good enough for the modest challenge he had set himself: have at least one conversation every day. Six weeks and 2,500 kilometers later, Tom had pedalled from Kyushu back home to Ibaraki (still his home today) and discovered that cycling might be the perfect speed for getting to know a country.
The ebook is available from the Plum Rain Press website and from Amazon.

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.
Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.
The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.

Amy and John talk about recent travels in Japan including great museums, treasure halls full of ancient art and manuscripts, and travel by ferry vs. shinkansen. (Don't miss the Paseo ferry if you're traveling between Kure, Hiroshima and Matsuyama on Shikoku). John introduces a great outdoor museum in Osaka for architecture lovers, and a naval museum. Amy introduces Nara e-hon—which replaced illustrated emaki scrolls of the Heian and Kamakura periods—that started in the Muromachi period (1336-1573) and remained popular through the Edo period). Published in Kyoto (not Nara) they were one of Japan's first codices to use this particular illustration style. The co-hosts also talk about what they're reading and Amy introduces a blast from the past for Asian literature: Dawson's Bookstore in Los Angeles, which is still going, but in an alternate form. Join them for their romp around Japan's book history!


The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.
Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.
The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.

Alternative title: Lonely Planet arc—from pre-internet days to Instagram + a new Japanese etiquette tip + a couple more guidebook options
Amy opens the show with her recent experience as a tour guide in the Seto Inland Sea islands. She also introduces a new Japanese manners tip, a result of her etiquette skills being put to shame recently when she traveled with Japanese people on a business trip.
From there she delves into the new Lonely Planet Guidebooks and gets a little nostalgic about the older pre-internet publications and tells why they were better than the new editions. She then pivots and tells us why the new Lonely Planet destination guidebooks are better than the old. In other words, neither is better nor worse; the changes are more a reflection of the times (good riddance to tiny font sizes!)
At the end of the show, for those old-schoolers who prefer the old LP guidebook style, she introduces Cicerone guidebooks to fill the gap: fewer photos, but better maps. Less Instagram; a more hands-on approach. And the quality of writing a rare find in guidebooks.
See the Show Notes for links on the Books on Asia site at www.booksonasia.net


The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.
Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.
The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.

Adachi Masao (born 1939) has lived one of the most extraordinary lives in Japanese cinema. He has made experimental films, worked with leading figures of the Japanese New Wave, and spent decades in Lebabon alongside the radical left-wing Japanese Red Army.

John talks to Tokyo-based researcher, writer and translator William Andrews about Pink Auteur, Red Outlaw, his new biography of this provocative filmmaker and revolutionary. Recording this episode, John and William faced radical conditions themselves – annoying ambulances, copulating cats, and clanking bottle collection, and more cats – but for you, dear listener, all that artistic struggle was left on the cutting-room floor.

William Andrews’ two books mentioned were:

Pink Auteur, Red Outlaw: Adachi Masao and Japan’s Cinema of Revolution (Awai Books, 2026). It is the first English-language book devoted to Adachi and draws on extensive interviews and years of research.

Dissenting Japan: A History of Japanese Radicalism and Counterculture, from 1945 to Fukushima (Hurst, 2016)

William’s three Adachi film recommendations are (in the order discussed):

Revolution+1 (2022) – Adachi’s film about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s assassin.

A.K.A. Serial Killer – completed in 1969, first publicly shown in 1975, it follows the landscapes associated with a serial killer and is the key film associated with Adachi’s “landscape theory.”

Galaxy (1967) – one of Adachi’s early experimental films.

 

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.
Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.
The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.