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📁RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Toshihiko Tanaka (director), Rei 莉の対, 2024. 190 min. Toshihiko Tanaka, an actor and photography enthusiast, crafts a compelling narrative in his minimalist yet emotionally resonant debut, Rei. The story…
![[REVIEW] “The Parallax Effect: Toshihiko Tanaka’s 𝑅𝑒𝑖” by Marianna Jaśniak](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/rei-1.png?w=1024)
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📁RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Matthew Meyer (author and illustrator), The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons: A Field Guide to Japanese Yokai, Hardcover Collector’s Edition, 2015. 224 pgs. Images copyright 2015-2025 © Matthew…
![[REVIEW] “Tales of Japanese monsters, ghosts, and spirits: Matthew Meyer’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝐻𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝐷𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑠” by Marsha McDonald](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/screenshot-2024-11-29-at-22.20.32.png?w=1024)
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![Protected: [REVIEW] “The Strangeness Within: On Rajyabardhan Dhal Mahapatra’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑑’𝑠 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒” by Kathiravan Annamalai](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/copy-of-copy-of-copy-of-untitled-design.png?w=600)
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📁RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Yan Lianke (author), Carlos Rojas (translator), Sound and Silence: My Experience with China and Literature, Duke University Press, 2024. 192 pgs. In late April 2024, Literary Hub released an…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Yan Lianke: The Reader Comes First” by A. B. Freeman](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/feb5978a-5dfd-11ea-be3e-43af5536d789_image_hires_104029.jpeg?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 Life of Tu Fu. Eliot Weinberger, The Life of Tu Fu, New Directions, 2024. 64 pgs. A flying goose dropping out of…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “A Fictional Autobiography: Eliot Weinberger’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑇𝑢 𝐹𝑢” by Juan José Morales](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/screenshot-2024-11-29-at-17.39.54.png?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Beyond Stereotypes: Ronald Weitzer’s Sex Tourism in Thailand” by Akin Jeje Ronald Weitzer, Sex Tourism in Thailand: Inside Asia’s Premier Erotic Playground, New York University Press, 2023. 337 pgs. Ronald…
![[REVIEW] “Beyond Stereotypes: Ronald Weitzer’s 𝑆𝑒𝑥 𝑇𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑” by Akin Jeje](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/sex-tourism-in-thailand-inside-asias-premier-erotic-playground-1.jpg?w=1000)
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📁RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Sanaka Hiiragi (author), Jesse Kirkwood (translator), The Lantern of Lost Memories, Picador, 2024. 224 pgs. What if, when you die, someone greets you with drinks and snacks, briefing you…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Between the Living and the Dead: Sanaka Hiiragi’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑀𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠” by Aditi Yadav](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/sanaka-hiiragi.png?w=1024)
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📁RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Benjamin Hegarty, The Made-Up State: Technology, Trans Femininity, and Citizenship in Indonesia, Cornell University Press, 2022. 198 pgs. I grew up seeing transwomen day and night. During the day,…
![[REVIEW] “Dress Up for Indonesia: Benjamin Hegarty’s The Made-Up State” by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/finalreadingsbooklaunch20april2023_poster.jpg?w=816)
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📁RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Yasunari Kawabata (author), Edward G. Seidensticker (translator), Snow Country, Vintage, 1996. 192 pgs. The short review goes a little something like this: Is it possible for one to love…
![[REVIEW] “Love Lies Wasted: Yasunari Kawabata’s 𝑆𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑦” by A. B. Freeman](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/yasunari-kawabata.jpeg?w=1000)
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📁RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Paul French, Her Lotus Year: China, the Roaring Twenties, and the Making of Wallis Simpson, St. Martin’s Press, 2024. 298 pgs. Wallis Simpson will forever be imprinted on British…
![[REVIEW] “Remembering Wallis—Paul French’s 𝐻𝑒𝑟 𝐿𝑜𝑡𝑢𝑠 𝑌𝑒𝑎𝑟: 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑎, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑅𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑇𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑊𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑠 𝑆𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑠𝑜𝑛” by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/f09d90bbf09d9192f09d919f-f09d90bff09d919cf09d91a1f09d91a2f09d91a0-f09d918cf09d9192f09d918ef09d919f-f09d90b6e2848ef09d9196f09d919bf09d918e-f09d91a1e2848ef09d9192-f09d9185f09d919cf09d918ef.png?w=1024)
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