Stone Bridge Press publisher talks with author and reviewer Stephen Mansfield about his work and the current state of writing about Japan for an international audience. Topics covered include:

• Stephen's early work in street photography, war journalism, and travel (beginning in Southeast Asia)
• Trends in writings from and about Japan
• Early works in translation, foreign writers writing on Japan, popular nonfiction categories (books explaining Japan,  memoirs, lifestyle and self-help books), and books that have been adapted to television and film
• How superficial views of Japan are balanced by select writers who are informed and knowledgeable about culture and language
• Stephen's new book on modern Japanese gardens featuring his text and photographs

Stephen Mansfield is a British writer and photojournalist whose work has appeared in over 70 magazines, newspapers and journals worldwide. He is the author of several books, including Japan: Islands of the Floating World, Japan's Master Gardens and Tokyo: A Biography. His latest book, coming out in fall 2025, is The Modern Japanese Garden, with a Foreword by Pico Iyer. (US: Timber Press; UK: Thames and Hudson). He currently resides in Japan

Many books and authors are mentioned in the podcast. These include the following:

• Laos: A Portrait by Stephen Mansfield
• Lao Hill Tribes: Traditions and Patterns of Existence by Stephen Mansfield
• Bradt Guide to the Philippines by Stephen Mansfield
• China: Yunan Province by Stephen Mansfield 
• Japanese Stone Gardens: Origins, Meaning & Form by Stephen Mansfield
• Japan's Master Gardens: Lessons in Space and Environment by Stephen Mansfield
   
• Unbeaten Tracks in Japan: An Account of Travels in the Interior Including Visits to the Aborigines of Yezo and the Shrine of Nikko by Isabella Bird
• A Superficial Journey through Tokyo and Peking by Peter Quennell 
• The Flowery Sword by Ethel Mannin
• Sado: Japan's Island in Exile by Angus Waycott
• Walking the Kiso Road: A Modern-Day Exploration of Old Japan by William Scott Wilson
• Off the Beaten Tracks in Japan: A Journey by Train from Hokkaido to Kyushu by John Dougill 
   
• Jiro Osaragi
• Kobo Abe
• Junichiro Tanizaki
• Shusaku Endo
• Sawako Ariyoshi
• Fumiko Enchi
• Yoko Ogawa
• Yoko Tawada
• Haruki Murakami
• Mieko Kawakami
   
• Donald Richie
• Edward Seidensticker
• Donald Keene
• Suzanne Kamata
• Leza Lowitz
• Lafcadio Hearn
• John Nathan
   
• The Pine Islands by Marion Poschmann, translated by Jen Calleja
• Fracture: A Novel by Andrés Neuman, translated by Lorenza Garcia
   
• The Enigma of Japanese Power: People and Politics in a Stateless Nation by Karel Van Wolferen
• Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival by David Pilling 
• Tokyo Junkie: 60 Years of Bright Lights and Back Alleys . . . and Baseball by Robert Whiting 
• The Call of Japan: A Continuing Story-1950 to the Present Day by Hans Brinckmann 
• At Home in Japan: A Foreign Woman's Journey of Discovery by Rebecca Otowa 
• Water, Wood, and Wild Things: Learning Craft and Cultivation in a Japanese Mountain Town by
• Hannah Kirshner 
• Illusory Dwellings: Aesthetic Meditations in Kyoto by Allen S. Weiss
• The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise by Olivia Laing
• Green Tea Living: A Japan-Inspired Guide to Eco-Friendly Habits, Health, and Happiness by Toshimi A. Kayaki
   
• The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide, translated by Eric Selland 
• The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa, translated by Philip Gabriel 
• The Cat and The City by Nick Bradley
• The Cat with Three Passports by Cj Fentiman 
• Oh, Tama! by Mieko Kanai, translated by Tomoko Aoyama and Paul McCarthy
• A Cat, a Man, and Two Women by Junichiro Tanizaki, translated by Paul McCarthy 
• I Am a Cat by Soseki Natsume, translated by Aiko Ito
• Shogun by James Clavell
• The Earthquake Bird: A Novel by Susanna Jones
• Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan by Jake Adelstein
• Mirei Shigemori: Modernizing the Japanese Garden by Christian Tschumi

For a complete list of Stone Bridge Press books, visit www.stonebridge.com.

Author, editor, podcaster, and cultural critic and observer Patrick Macias talks about manga, anime, and the general state of pop culture in Japan.

Topics include:

• Manga's reputation in the past vs. today
• Differences between manga made in Japan vs. those produce in the US
• The future of anime and AI
• The evolution of pop culture in Japan
• The Japanese attitude toward rebellion and how it has changed over time.
• Writing and moderns perspectives on the Gaijin Memoir
• Patrick's recommended reading

Patrick Macias is the editor-in-chief of Otaku USA magazine, the founding editor of Crunchyroll News, and the author of numerous books about Japanese pop culture including Mondo Tokyo: Dispatches from a Secret Japan, published in 2024, and  (with Tomohiro Machiyama) Cruising the Anime City, published by Stone Bridge Press in 2004.

Patrick also wrote the original story for the anime series URAHARA that was simulcast globally in 2017. 

Patrick was born and raised in Sacramento, California, and now lives in Tokyo.

 Books by Patrick Macias include:

• Mondo Tokyo: Dispatches from a Secret Japan
• The Essential Anime Guide
• A Kid’s Guide to Anime and Manga

Patrick's recommended books on the podcast are

• Pure Invention by Matt Alt
• Watching Anime, Reading Manga by Fred Patten

Patrick is also cohost, with Matt Alt, of the podcast Pure Tokyoscope.

For a complete list of Stone Bridge Press books, visit www.stonebridge.com.

Steve Beimel, a long-time resident of Kyoto, is the driving force behind Japan Craft 21, whose goal is to preserve and nourish Japanese crafts. Here he discusses the variety and significance of crafts in Japan and what makes them so special. 

“The crafts of Japan are an international treasure that have enriched and inspired people around the world for hundreds of years.”--Steve Beimel

Topics include

• What is JapanCraft21 and its mission?
• Why are traditional Japanese crafts dying?
• The challenge of preserving traditional crafts today
• The Japanese vs. foreign perspectives on traditional japanese crafts
• How JapanCraft21 approaches promoting and preserving Japanese crafts
• Tourism in Kyoto and Japan today; is it crowded as people say? (Hint: now is a great time to come to Japan!)

Links

• https://www.japancraft21.com/what-we-do
• https://japanlivingarts.com/
• http://www.stevebeimel.com/bio.html

Participants

A Japanophile for over thirty years, Steve Beimel founded Esprit Travel & Tours in the early 1990's, as a U.S.-based tour company specializing in culturally focused tours to Japan and catering to enthusiasts of the arts. Over the years, he has worked with a wide range of masters of traditional culture including art, crafts, architecture, gardens, music, theater, cuisine and religion. "The most fulfilling part of my Japan-related life is working with so many amazing and talented men and women. It has been a great privilege for me to introduce guests from abroad to these people, in a true spirit of cultural exchange." For ten years Steve published the The Kyoto Diary, a quarterly journal celebrating the arts of Japan and featuring interviews with many of the Japan's renowned craftsmen and artists. He now lives with his wife Ritsuko in the northern foothills of Kyoto.

For further information, see this article about Steve Beimel in All About Japan.

Peter Goodman is publisher of Stone Bridge Press in Berkeley, California, which for over thirty years has specialized in books on Asia, especially Japan and China. For a complete list of Stone Bridge Press books, visit www.stonebridge.com.

For a complete list of Stone Bridge Press books, visit www.stonebridge.com.

Translator Mark Gibeau and publisher Peter Goodman discuss Mark’s translation of Osamu Dazai’s novel Ningen Shikkaku, which Stone Bridge published as A Shameful Life. Why is this mid-20th-century Japanese author's portrait of an alienated (and alienating) personality still so attractive to contemporary audiences, especially teens and young adults?

Topics include:

• Teaching Japanese in Australia
• The original Donald Keene translation and why Mark decided to translate it again
• How many other translations of this work are there, and are there more to come?
• Why isn’t Mark’s translation called No Longer Human like the other editions?
• Mark's process of translation
• The importance of being a sensitive reader
• What is Dazai's lasting appeal to younger readers?
• What is translation and what is the hardest part about it (hint: it's not the language per se).
• Challenges of translating Japanese, a high-context language
• AI and future implications for translating and translators. Are jobs at risk?

Tony's Reading List recently compared  Mark Gibeau’s translation of Ningen Shikkaku  to Donald Keene's:

• Review of the work
• The Gibeau translation
• The Keene translation

Mark Gibeau is Senior Lecturer, School of Culture, History & Language, at Australian National University in Canberra.

Peter Goodman is publisher of Stone Bridge Press in Berkeley, California, which for over thirty years has specialized in books on Asia, especially Japan and China. 

For a complete list of Stone Bridge Press books, visit www.stonebridge.com.

John Dougill is author of Off the Beaten Tracks in Japan: A Journey by Train from Hokkaido to Kyushu, a remarkable travel memoir that details observations on culture, history, local lore, and personal ruminations based on decades of living in Japan.

In discussion with publisher Peter Goodman, John talks about his love for travel and how pleasurable it is to travel along the less-touristed western coast. Encounters in the south with echoes of the war still lingering bring to mind how intimately history is tied to place. Among the topics discussed are:

• The travel memoir genre and the influence of  writers like Alan Booth and Donald Richie
• How John got to Japan and his first impressions
• Comparing Britain to Japan
• British railways vs Japanese railways
• What traveling during COVID was like and how the 3-month trip was done.
• The cultural landscape of Japan across different regions
• Depopulation in western Japan and immigration
• What it's like to ride trains in Japan
• Why so many foreigners who stay in Japan  settle in Kyoto
• Kyoto post-COVID
• The Green Shinto blog:  can Shinto  spread internationally?

Off the Beaten Tracks in Japan by John Dougill

Green Shinto blog by John Dougill

Writers in Kyoto

Japan Travel Planner and Route Finder by Navitime

Seishun 18: Hop on hop off travel using non-reserved seats in ordinary cars on ordinary or rapid trains on any JR line in Japan.

John Dougill has lived in Japan since the 1990s and is the author of several books about the country. His 2012 book, In Search of Japan’s Hidden Christians, was hailed as “one of the most compelling and important books on Japan in recent years.” For seven years he ran the Writers in Kyoto website and oversaw the anthologies the group produced. He also runs the Green Shinto blog.

Peter Goodman is publisher of Stone Bridge Press in Berkeley, California, which for over thirty years has specialized in books on Asia, especially Japan and China. For a complete list of Stone Bridge Press books, visit www.stonebridge.com.

For a complete list of Stone Bridge Press books, visit www.stonebridge.com.

Managing Editor Meg Taylor talks about  MONKEY, an annual anthology that showcases  translations of works by top Japanese writers and that has recently launched a new fiction-in-translation imprint with Stone Bridge Press.

MONKEY New Writing from Japan is set to launch volume 4, whose theme is Music. Previous volumes have focused on Food, Travel, and Crossings (transitioning out of the pandemic). Printed in color throughout and featuring fiction, essays, graphic art, and photographs, MONKEY is a stunning overview of Japanese literary and artistic creativity, each year presenting new creators and contexts, as well as introducing the very best talent in the art of translation. Expertly edited and curated by Motoyuki Shibata in Japan and Ted Goossen in Toronto, MONKEY is a must-read for anyone interested in Japanese literature and culture.

From December 2022 Stone Bridge Press began publishing new book-length works under the MONKEY imprint for distribution in print and digital formats throughout the world. The first two titles were The Thorn Puller by Hiromi Ito (trans. Jeffrey Angles)  and Dragon Palace by Hiromi Kawakami (trans. Ted Goossen). In spring of 2024 Stone Bridge/MONKEY will release Takaoka's Travels by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa (trans. David Boyd).

In this conversation with Stone Bridge Press publisher Peter Goodman, Meg Taylor talks about MONKEY's mission and approach to presenting Japanese literature for an international audience. Topics covered include:

• What is MONKEY?
• How does MONKEY find writers and translators?
• Has the style of editing and translating changed across generations?
• MONKEY's goal: playfully enticing the audience to Japanese literature.
• Changing tastes in readers of Japanese literature, and the rise of women writers in translation and elements of magical realism.
• Contemporary editorial perspectives for Japanese literature and the role of the editor and translator.
• The need to give full recognition to translators for the important work they do.
• MONKEY vol 4. and the themes across each issue.
• The MONKEY imprint and announcing the Sibley subvention award to Takaoka's Travels

Click here to visit the MONKEY website.

The MONKEY fiction imprint at Stone Bridge Press
The Thorn Puller by Hiromi Ito
Dragon Palace by Hiromi Kawakami

Managing Editor Meg Taylor is the founder of the nonprofit MONKEY New Writing from Japan, based in Pittsburgh. She edits Japanese literature in translation and art books and exhibition catalogues. She is also the academic coordinator for the Publishing program at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson) in Toronto.

Peter Goodman is publisher of Stone Bridge Press in Berkeley, California, which for over thirty years has specialized in books on Asia, especially Japan and China. For a complete list of Stone Bridge Press books, visit www.stonebridge.com.

For a complete list of Stone Bridge Press books, visit www.stonebridge.com.

Helen McCarthy, one of the key figures in the introduction of anime culture into the English-reading world back in the age of VHS and basement viewing parties, looks at how the medium has changed over the years and become a profit center for big streaming corporations while at the same time (mostly) hanging on to its creative vitality.

In this podcast Helen discusses anime and anime culture and history from a number of different perspectives and speculates on some future directions with host and Stone Bridge publisher Peter Goodman. Helen also talks about her love of haiku and how it helps refresh her view of the world around her. Topics include:

• How anime has changed from the medium's beginnings to today.
• The cast who brought anime to the world.
• What has made anime appealing to an international audience.
• How modern anime has changed for its international audience.
• Who is pushing the boundaries in modern anime and manga.
• The impact of AI on anime.
• Copyright protection

Helen's upcoming lecture

• The Art History of Studio Ghibli

Helen's anime recommendations:

• My Neighbor Totoro (absolute must see!)
  Slam Dunk
  Urusei Yatsura

Helen McCarthy is an award-winning author, lecturer, and reviewer who since 1981 has been a key figure in introducing anime to audiences outside Japan, especially in the UK and the USA. Her books include Anime! A Beginners Guide To Japanese Animation,  The Anime Movie Guide: Japanese Animation since 1983, The Erotic Anime Movie Guide, Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation (Stone Bridge Press), The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917  with Jonathan Clements, The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga, and Manga Cross-Stitch: Make Your Own Graphic Art Needlework. She is currently active on Bluesky and Facebook.

Peter Goodman is publisher of Stone Bridge Press in Berkeley, California, which for over thirty years has specialized in books on Asia, especially Japan and China. For a complete list of Stone Bridge Press books, visit www.stonebridge.com.

For a complete list of Stone Bridge Press books, visit www.stonebridge.com.

Japan is officially open with no pandemic restrictions! Author Gilles Poitras offers first travel impressions of newly liberated Tokyo, based on his new book Tokyo Stroll: A Guide to City Sidetracks and Easy Explorations.

Topics include:

• What is it like in Tokyo post-pandemic? What's changed?
• Advice and tips for those planning on heading to Tokyo
• How to use the digital map feature for Tokyo Stroll and what can be discovered.
• Walking and shopping strategies, especially for those looking for manga- and anime-related merch
• And what it is about Tokyo that makes it so intriguing to visit and stroll its streets.

Gilles has created an online resource with additional features and updates, plus all the links and instructions you need to use the book's digital map feature for easy on-the-spot navigation. 

Online supplement:

• http://www.koyagi.com/TokyoStroll/TSmain.html

Map supplement

• http://www.koyagi.com/TokyoStroll/TSMaps.html

Gilles's recommended book links

• Tokyo Stroll: A Guide to City Sidetracks and Easy Explorations
• Prayer and Play in Late Tokugawa Japan: Asakusa Sensōji and Edo Society
• Edo, The City That Became Tokyo
• Tokyo Before Tokyo : Power and Magic in the Shogun's City of Edo

Gilles Poitras has produced three books on anime and has written for magazines including NewType USA and Otaku USA and served as a member of the senior board of Mechademia. He has made presentations at various Japan-US friendship groups, the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, the Smithsonian, and Pixar. He has been organizing trips to Japan since 2007. Gilles resides in Oakland, California

Peter Goodman is publisher of Stone Bridge Press in Berkeley, California, which for over thirty years has specialized in books on Asia, especially Japan and China. For a complete list of Stone Bridge Press books, visit www.stonebridge.com.

For a complete list of Stone Bridge Press books, visit www.stonebridge.com.

Sake expert Jim Rion, author of the new book Discovering Yamaguchi Sake, talks about local Yamaguchi brews  as well as some sake basics and insight into brewing and ingredients.

Topics include:

• How did Jim end up  in Yamaguchi and how did he get interested in sake?
• Does "terroir" exist in sake?
• What makes Yamaguchi sake distinctive?
• What do the Yamaguchi sake breweries have in common and what kind of people become brewers today?
• How  is sake marketed today and what is the impact of social media?
• How did you go about gathering information from the 23 breweries for the book and writing about their history?
• If someone is going to visit Yamaguchi, what are some tips for sake tasting there, and what are some other places to visit in between the brewery tours? (Hint: one of the best ways to taste local sake is to hit up an izakaya with a friend and work your way through their selection!)

Jim Rion's book Discovering Yamaguchi Sake: A Taster's Guide to Breweries, Culture & Terrain is available in print and ebook editions at bookstores around the world and online.

Jim Rion is a licensed international kikizakeshi (sake sommelier), certified sake professional, and freelance translator and writer working in the sake industry since 2018. He has lived in Yamaguchi Prefecture since 2004. 

Peter Goodman is publisher of Stone Bridge Press in Berkeley, California, which for over thirty years has specialized in books on Asia, especially Japan and China. For a complete list of Stone Bridge Press books, visit www.stonebridge.com.

For a complete list of Stone Bridge Press books, visit www.stonebridge.com.

Landscape architect Marc Peter Keane, based in Kyoto, talks about art and aesthetics in Japanese gardens.

Topics include:

• Marc's background – when did he first come to Japan and what brought him back?
• What has changed in terms of Japanese garden design aesthetic since his first arrival and now?
• What it's like for a foreigner working in garden design in Japan.
• The three levels the Japanese garden works on: aesthetic, narrative, and spiritual.
• What are karesansui gardens and the levels of interaction of each design component?
• Can Japanese gardens save the world?
• Why there isn't a mainstream movement to incorporate conceptual ideas into architecture and design.
• Are there "modern" Japanese gardens?
• What constitutes an authentic Japanese garden? Can you make a Japanese garden in Arizona using cactuses instead of pine trees.
• Educating clients on thinking beyond the cliches of the Japanese garden.
• Marc's writings and its recurring themes of process and change in the natural world.
• Sourcing materials like stones: How it’s done in Kyoto and how it's done abroad.

Garden designer and writer Marc Peter Keane (www.mpkeane.com) has made Kyoto his home for over twenty years. He has written several books on Japanese gardens, such as the following, all published by Stone Bridge Press:

• Of Arcs and Circles
• The Art of Setting Stones
• The Japanese Tea Garden
• Japanese Garden Notes

The Tiger Glen Garden designed by Marc is open to the public. It is at the Johnson Museum of Art on the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, New York.

• https://www.mpkeane.com/tiger-glen-garden

Marc and be found online at:

• Website:  www.mpkeane.com
• Instagram:  www.instagram.com/marcpeterkeane
• Facebook:  www.facebook.com/marc.peter.keane

Peter Goodman is publisher of Stone Bridge Press in Berkeley, California, which for over thirty years has specialized in books on Asia, especially Japan and China. For a complete list of Stone Bridge Press books, visit www.stonebridge.com.

For a complete list of Stone Bridge Press books, visit www.stonebridge.com.