Category: James Au Kin-Pong
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Mariko Nagai’s Imaginary Death: The Genre-Bending Architecture of Wartime Testimony” by James Au Kin-Pong Mariko Nagai, Imaginary Death, Punctum Books, 2025. 297 pgs. It is difficult to determine the genre to…
![[REVIEW] “Mariko Nagai’s 𝐼𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ: The Genre-Bending Architecture of Wartime Testimony” by James Au Kin-Pong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/imaginary-death-mariko-nagai.png?w=600)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Cho Nam-joo. Cho Nam-Joo (author), Jamie Chang (translator), Saha: A Novel, Liveright, 2023. 161 pgs. Cho Nam-Joo’s Saha: A Novel (《사하맨션》, 2019) presents a dystopian…
![[REVIEW] “Narrating the Margins of the Future: Cho Nam-Joo’s 𝑆𝑎ℎ𝑎” by James Au Kin-Pong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/cho-nam-joos-saha.jpg?w=789)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Idol, Burning. Rin Usami (author), Asa Yoneda (translator), Idol, Burning, Canongate, 2022. 96 pgs. Rin Usami’s Idol, Burning (『推し、燃ゆ』, 2020) offers an incisive exploration of…
![[REVIEW] “Belief, Devotion, and Estrangement in Rin Usami’s 𝐼𝑑𝑜𝑙, 𝐵𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔” by James Au Kin-Pong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/idol-burning-canongate.jpg?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on The Woman in the Purple Skirt. Natsuko Imamura (author), Lucy North (translator), The Woman in the Purple Skirt, Penguin Random House, 2021. 224 pgs. In Natsuko…
![[REVIEW] “Lingering Suspense: Natsuko Imamura’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑢𝑟𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑆𝑘𝑖𝑟𝑡” BY James Kin Pong Au](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/the-woman-in-the-purple-skirt.jpg?w=925)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Osamu Dazai (author), Sam Bett (translator), The Flowers of Buffoonery, New Directions, 2023. 63 pgs. The Flowers of Buffoonery (『道化の華』/ Dōke no Hana), an early work by Osamu Dazai…
![[REVIEW] “Constructing a Performative Self: Osamu Dazai’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐵𝑢𝑓𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑦” by James Kin Pong Au](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/the-flowers-of-buffoonery.jpg?w=778)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Touring the Land of the Dead. Maki Kashimada (author), Haydn Trowell (translator), Touring the Land of the Dead (and Ninety-Nine Kisses), Europa Editions, 2021.…
![[REVIEW] “A Profound Exploration of Reality—Maki Kashimada’s 𝑇𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑑: 𝑇𝑤𝑜 𝑁𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑠” by James Kin Pong Au](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/touring-the-land-of-the-dead-and-ninety-nine-kiss.jpg?w=890)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on People from My Neighbourhood. Hiromi Kawakami (author), Ted Goossen (translator), People from My Neighbourhood, Granta Books, 2021. 96 pgs. The world depicted in Kawakami…
![[REVIEW] “Coexistence of the Familiar and the Unfamiliar: Hiromi Kawakami’s 𝑃𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑀𝑦 𝑁𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑟ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑑” by James Kin-Pong Au](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/people-from-my-neighbourhood.jpg?w=1005)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Tanizaki Jun’ichirō (author), Anthony H. Chambers & Paul McCarthy (translators), Longing and Other Stories, Columbia University Press, 2022. 145 pgs. Tanizaki Jun’ichirō’s Longing and Other Stories, translated by Anthony…
![[REVIEW] “Clash of Ideas: Tanizaki Jun’ichirō’s 𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑂𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠” BY JAMES KIN-PONG AU](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/longing-and-other-stories_cha.png?w=1024)
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[REVIEW] “An Intellectual Exchange: A Review of 𝐸𝑑𝑜 𝐽𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑛 𝐸𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑” by James Kin Pong Au
{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} {This review is cross-posted on Agora.} Donald Keene and Shiba Ryōtarō (authors), Tony Gonzalez (translator), Edo Japan Encounters the World: Conversations Between Donald Keene and Shiba Ryotaro, Japan Library, 2018. 137 pgs.…
![[REVIEW] “An Intellectual Exchange: A Review of 𝐸𝑑𝑜 𝐽𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑛 𝐸𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑” by James Kin Pong Au](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/edo-japan-encounters-the-world-conversations-between-donald-keene-and-shiba-ryotaro.png?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Takashina Shūji (author), Matt Treyvaud (translator), Japanese Art in Perspective: East-West Encounters, Japan Library, 2021. 191 pgs. An amateur of Japanese art might have heard about ukiyo-e (or floating painting), as well…
![[REVIEW] “(Re)formation of Ideas: 𝐽𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝐴𝑟𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒” by James Au Kin-Pong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/japanese-art-in-perspective-east-west-encounters.jpeg?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Yū Miri (author), Morgan Giles (translator), Tokyo Ueno Station, Tilted Axis Press, 2021. 197 pgs. Though hosting the Olympic Games has often been seen as an attempt by governments to boost the…
![[REVIEW] “The Plight of the Homeless in Japan: A Review of Yū Miri’s 𝑇𝑜𝑘𝑦𝑜 𝑈𝑒𝑛𝑜 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛” by James Au Kin-Pong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/tokyouenostation-2.jpg?w=762)
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{Written by James Au Kin-Pong, this review is part of Issue 46 of Cha.} {Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Minae Mizumura (author), Juliet Winters Carpenter (translator; in collaboration with the author), An I-Novel, Columbia University Press, 2021. 325 pgs.…
![[REVIEW] “Pursuing Her Japanese Identity: A Review of Minae Mizumura’s An I-Novel” by James Au Kin-Pong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/an-i-novel-minae-mizumura-cha-an-asian-literary-journal.png?w=1024)
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{Written by James Au Kin-pong, this review is part of Issue 46 of Cha.} {Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Steven D. Carter, How to Read a Japanese Poem, Columbia University Press, 2019. 317 Pgs. How to Read a…
![[REVIEW] “A Diversity of Poems: A review of Steven D. Carter’s 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑜 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑎 𝐽𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑃𝑜𝑒𝑚” by James Au Kin-pong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/how-to-read-a-japanese-poem-1.jpg?w=1024)
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{Written by James Au Kin-Pong, this review is part of Issue 42 (January 2019) of Cha.} {Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Jun’ichirō Tanizaki (author), Phyllis I. Lyons (translator), In Black and White, Columbia University Press, 2018. 256 pgs.…
![[REVIEW] “Between Fiction and Reality: Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s In Black and White” by James Au Kin-Pong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/in-black-and-white1.jpg?w=1024)
Cha 