Every Halloween we share a scary folktale that's been keeping Japanese children up at night for centuries. This year's tale is adapted from Lafcadio Hearn's Kwaidan, a classic book of Japanese ghost stories.
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Every so often we’ll share a few thoughts on the books we’re reading outside the office. For the first time in the history of Rikumo Book Club, we bring you one story in two forms: a cult video game and its novelization by one of the most important contemporary Japanese writers.
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Long ago, when we were wanderers of a wild Earth, our lives came to be ruled by the cosmic spectacle of the moon. Nowhere was this more true than in Japan, where the moon takes a leading role in poetry, art, and folklore.
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If you grew up in Japan, it's likely your growth was marked by the books, board games, toys and TV shows of your youth. Here are three picture book series that Japanese kids have enjoyed for years.
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Though it once was the dominant form of literary expression, poetry has since been eclipsed by prose for most of the world. Not so in Japan, where the influence of one particular 13th century collection has inspired works of art and even games.
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Work, life, and writing lessons from Japan’s most important contemporary writer.
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In this short tale about the superstitious minister Fujiwara Sanesuke, we learn the exact time and place when we begin to fear old age.
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Expat. Intellectual. Writer. As one of the first writers to venture outside of Japan, Natsume Soseki documented the struggle of finding your place in a modern world without losing your identity.
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Printmaker and poet William Morris is best remembered for writing “The Earthly Paradise”. He had no idea that his artistry and writings would eventually inspire Yanagi Soetsu to begin the Japanese folk art movement.
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Written by us.
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Every month we share one story with you that has been shared many times before. In this season of gratitude, we honor the legacy of Japanese stone cutters and other craftsmen who persevere in humble circumstances.
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Just in time for Halloween, we present a spooky Japanese folktale to keep you up through the night.
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On Friday the Rikumo team took a field trip to the New York Art Book Fair to scope out new books for our upcoming in-store library. Here are the favorites we picked up along the way.
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The Japanese concept of wabi-sabi, in its purest, most idealized form, is all about delicate traces of imperfection, showcasing faint evidence of human life at the borders of nothingness.
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