Contents
General Literary Links
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A blog (more properly, a "collaborative web journal") dealing with various aspects of Japanese culture and society. The content is wide ranging and lively in style, with an emphasis upon the modern (the Modern Stuff label is the most frequently used). A wiki-style encylopedia (a planned five sections of short descriptive entries) and a similarly collaborative bookmarks page are available, although the latter is relatively uninviting in format. Postings on the main page seem to be averaging about 10 a month.
According to its home page, "JALInet is a network that, through the voluntary contributions of five famous authors: Yasutaka Tsutsui, Kyōji Kobayashi, Akira Hori, Yūji Usui, and Aki Satō, seeks to express Japanese literature to the world. More than a network, JALInet is just a place where members act freely, there are no plans to dictate what directions it will take. Similarly, we want to invite authors of all genres and writing styles; and offer links to the authors' home pages who aren't participating in JALInet." When set against this ambitious introduction, the English content turns out to be rather meager -- and in 2010 greatly outdated -- but the Tsutsui page (the link to which appears broken but can be found here) does include English translations of nine short stories.
A project by students and staff at the University of Sheffield to build a collection of 2001 classical Japanese waka in translation (about halfway there as of January 2002). Background information includes an introduction to ancient phonology and (on the Commentary page) descriptions of major anthologies and poets. The site is a recognized "event" of the Japan 2001 Festival that was held in Britain up to March 2002.
The Japanese Literature Publishing Project
According to its original home page, the Japanese Literature Publishing Project (JLPP) is "an initiative of the Agency of Cultural Affairs of Japan promoting the translation and publication of Japanese contemporary fiction." Twenty-seven titles were selected for translation in 2002, and 34 were added in 2005. There are currently four target languages involved: English, French, German, and Russian. The site appears to have been transferred to direct management by the Agency of Cultural Affairs in 2009, and the only information available consists of downloadable lists of the titles published under the project's supervision..
The Japanese Literature Publishing and Promotion Center
The Japanese Literature Publishing and Promotion Center (J-Lit Center) is the nonprofit organization responsible for administering the JLP Project mentioned above. The site itself is currently promotional in nature.
The Japanese Literature Readers Group
A Yahoo readers group for the discussion of Japanese literature in English. Works are selected and then read by the group, whose members comment in bulletin-board style. The group supposedly has 133 members, but there have been only a handful of messages since 2008.
Part of a larger Web Japan site affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that offers a variety of information meant to introduce the world to modern Japan. The page contains collections of PDF files in six different categories, including "Culture." The informative documents in this category cover such topics as Bunraku, Kabuki, No, and Kyogen, and contain attractive photographs as well. The PDF document on literature can be viewed or downloaded directly from this link.
A site that refers to itself as "an independent site for books on Japan." The books reviewed are mostly nonfiction, reflecting the academic background and professional experience of the site's two manager-editors. The site currently contains reviews of 41 books (nine of which are classified as fiction); a number of the reviews originally appeared in other publications. Also of interest is a series of casual interviews with people directly connected in various ways with Japan. There have been no updates to the site since 2005.
A rather eclectic site -- based at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas -- containing introductions, reflections, and comments on a number of Japanese authors, works, and literary topics. Personal in tone and discursive in approach, it focuses especially on novelist Mishima Yukio and playwright Betsuyaku Minoru, the writers who have apparently made the deepest impression impact on the site's manager. Overall, a substantial amount of material, although a certain amount of academic caution seems in order given such characterizations as that the Edo period was the historical equivalent of the British Renaissance and that Saikaku wrote middle-class fiction.
Premodern Japanese Texts and Translations
An ambitious "bibliography in progress of translations from classical Japanese up to about 1600, including also works written in kanbun and Chinese," based at Meiji Gakuin University. Currently a single, large webpage, "equivalent to some 170 pages printed," arranged in the alphabetical order of the Japanese titles. There seems to be a major revision in format underway, but details are unspecified.
The Publishers Association for Cultural Exchange (PACE)
The site of a non-profit organization whose activities are "aimed at promoting cultural exchange between Japan and other countries through the exchange of publications." The value of the site lies in the downloadable version of "The Practical Guide to Publishing in Japan," a source of detailed advice about obtaining, publishing, and translating Japanese books.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan
A haphazard site that is essentially a directory of members with links to a number of individual home pages.
A site with literary translations (and a few unrelated oddities) by a business/commercial translator named John Gardner. Translations include fiction by Miyazawa Kenji, Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, Hoshi Shin'ichi, and Miura Shumon, along with English versions of various Japanese folk tales, including a set of tales from the Kojiki..