In this episode, we take a look at the Japanese cell phone novel and the classic story of Train Man.

We’re going to start today by explaining the Japanese cell phone novel, including some relevant background like the history of serialized publishing in Japan and the rise of Japanese cell phone culture.

We’ll spend some time on the early 2000s internet culture, especially on-line message boards.

And today’s focus text is Train Man, attributed to Hitori Nakano and translated into English by Bonnie Elliott.

content warnings: rape as a trope in romance novels, online misogyny

Transcript, notes and sources at the podcast episode website.

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Correction: Please note that this episode incorrectly calls the 2channel thread in which Train Man originally appeared Doko Otoko. The thread was actually called Doku Otoko. Doku is a play on words, meaning both "single" (独) and "poison" (毒).

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In this episode, we explore the enduring legacy of Greek/English/Irish/American/Japanese author Lafcadio Hearn and the ghost story The Peony Lantern.

We'll start out by looking at Hearn's life. We'll discuss the long history of the story Boton Doro, more commonly known as The Peony Lantern, including its most famous incarnation under Hearn's pen. And then we'll look at two modern adaptations of the story by Aoko Matsuda and Kyoko Nakajima.

Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.

Buy on In Ghostly Japan on Bookshop to support RJL.

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In this episode, we look at bullying in Japanese literature.

We'll start out by defining bullying and looking at bullying in Japanese schools as well as the Japanese workplace. We'll see some examples in Japanese novels. And then we'll talk about Mizuki Tsujimura's Lonely Castle in the Mirror, translated into English by Philip Gabriel.

This episode is rated mature. CW: bullying and suicide

If you're thinking about suicide, please get help. Open Counseling hosts a list of international suicide hotlines.

Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available. Be sure to check out the new and improved RJL website!

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In this episode, we look into the history of Christianity in Japan—especially the role Christianity has played in Japanese literature. Our focus text is Shusaku Endo's Silence.

Notes and sources on the episode page.  Transcript available.

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In this episode, we take a look at the Japanese proletarian writers’ movement of the 1920s and early 1930s. We also take a deep dive into the life of author Genzaburo Yoshino—not a proletarian writer, but a man who spent prison alongside them and for some of the same beliefs—and his novel How Do You Live?.

Notes and sources on the episode page.  Transcript available.

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For the first time ever, RJL brings you information from an interview with a Japanese author—Akutagawa-winner Keiichiro Hirano. This episode takes up his life and work, the influence of Yukio Mishima on his fiction, and his most-recently-translated novel, Eclipse.

CW: attempted suicide in a discussion of Yukio Mishima's The Temple of the Golden Pavilion

Notes and sources on the episode page.  Transcript available.

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Happy holidays! And, in the interest of today’s episode, merri kurisumasu!

Today we’re going to start with the origins of Christmas, especially why Christmas is celebrated in Japan at all. We’ll move on to how Christmas is celebrated in Japan. And we’ll end with some examples of what part Christmas seems to play in Japanese literature—or at least Japanese literature that gets translated.

Notes and sources on the episode page.  Transcript available.

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RJL is excited to bring you this two-parter about LGBTQ+ stories from Japan. Part two covers Taisho Japan (when women finally enter the stage) through through contemporary LGBTQ+ writing, especially the life and work of Nobuko Yoshiya, Edogawa Ranpo, Yukio Mishima, and Li Kotomi. We also spend a little time on the role of queer manga.

Part one covered some of the earliest writing in Japanese through the end of the Meiji Period in 1912.

Notes and sources on the episode page.  Transcript available.

This episode is rated mature.

CW for the two-part series: historical accounts of practices today recognized as pedophilia and pederasty, mentions of suicide and suicidal ideation (fictional and historical), rape, homophobia, harassment of a trans author

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All content © 2025 Read Japanese Literature.

RJL is excited to bring you this two-parter about LGBTQ+ stories from Japan. Part one covers some of the earliest writing in Japanese through the end of the Meiji Period in 1912.

Part two (coming soon) covers Taisho Japan (when women finally enter the stage) through some of Japan's contemporary queer writers.

This episode is rated mature.

CW for the two-part series: historical accounts of practices today recognized as pedophilia and pederasty, mentions of suicide and suicidal ideation (fictional and historical), rape, homophobia, harassment of a trans author

Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.

Let RJL know what you think! (Contact us through the website if you want a response.)

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Get in touch at www.readjapaneseliterature.com.
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All content © 2025 Read Japanese Literature.

Today, we’re talking about crime and mystery novels from Japan. We’ll start with the development of the crime and mystery genre in the English-speaking world. We’ll move on to Japanese crime and mystery writing—how it was inspired by Anglo-American crime and mystery writing and how it evolved in its own way. And we’ll end with the life and work of writer Seishi Yokomizo, especially his novel The Honjin Murders, translated into English by Louise Heal Kawai.

Notes and sources on the episode page. Transcript available.

CW: murder (obviously!) and a brief mention of a fictional character’s narcotics addiction

(Apologies for small pronunciation issues of English and French surnames. They’ve been corrected in the transcript.)

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