while heading home on my bicycle, I spotted a young copper pheasant walking across the road.

#shonan #japan #pheasant

I'm looking into installing solar panels on our house, so I climbed up on the roof with the installer yesterday. I was expecting to be nervously watching my step the whole time, but a breeze was blowing, and it seemed like a nice place to lie down and have beer (not that I'd risk it)

#solarenergy

me last Saturday just before giving a talk and reading from my Japanese language debut short story Photo Bomber (フォトボマー), as part of SF Carnival, held at Daikanyama T-Site.

Photo c/o @sakaisampo.bsky.social

#SFカーニバル #SF #scifi #speculativefiction #exophony

The award ceremony for the 46th Japan SF Grand Prix was held last night at Daikanyama T-Site in Tokyo. Congratulations to all the winners!

#Japan #SF #scifi #speculativefiction #award #ceremony
#日本SF大賞 #tokyo

Final photo (from the left): Kazuya Tsurumaki, Natsuhi Ito, Hiroshi Ramata, Chitoshi Shimizu (the COO of Pixiv, who sponsored the event)

The lifetime achievement award went to Junichiro Kida（紀田順一郎, 1935-2025), a critic, fantasy (genso) author, and key figure in the formation of domestic fandom. The award was received by fantasy author Hiroshi Aramata.

The special prize went to Sunrise Studios for Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX, a recent addition to the Gundam franchise. The award was received by director Kazuya Tsurumaki.

Norio Ito's eldest son Natsuhi is pictured here receiving the award on his father’s behalf and subsequently giving a heartfelt speech. Norio was given a grim prognosis after contracting pneumonia last year but has since recovered enough to send a brief video message (pictured here).

The grand prize winner was Norio Ito (伊藤典夫, 1942-present) for his Collected Criticism of Norio Ito, a mammoth tome some 1400 pages long (1412 to be precise!) that brings together decades of his critical writings on speculative fiction, dating all the way back to 1960.

The award ceremony for the 46th Japan SF Grand Prix was held last night at Daikanyama T-Site in Tokyo. Congratulations to all the winners!

#Japan #SF #scifi #speculativefiction #award #ceremony
#日本SF大賞 #tokyo

Come hear me read from my latest short story, Photo Bomber ("フォトボマー") this Saturday at 2:45 pm, as part of SF Carnival. Speculative fiction talks and events happening at T-site in Daikanyama all weekend. Join us!

store.tsite.jp/daikanyama/s...

#scifi #speculativefiction #reading #festival #tokyo

when the government withdraws my income tax for last year from my account, I can declare that as a business expense on my tax return for next year, right? That is how it works, isn't it? (If only...)

#taxes #accounting #writesky

started reading All Systems Red by Martha Wells. Let's see if this novel lives up to the hype.

#scifi #reading #hype #booksky

Although my path to Japan was quite different from Khezrnejat's, I related to many of his experiences, and I suspect that anyone who was drawn to live here by a fascination with the Japanese language will feel the same way. He may have captured something universal about that experience.

The premise is identical to that of Hideo Levy's 1992 debut novel A Room Where The Star-Spangled Banner Cannot Be Heard, but Khezrnejat updates it for the early 21st century and executes it with his own prose style and eye for detail.

Just finished the title novella Kamogawa Runner. Told in the second person, this is the story of an American man modelled on the author who discovers himself through studying Japanese and settling in Japan. Khezrnejat's facility with the language is astounding!

#exophonic #literature #japanese

I'm beginning my exploration of exophonic novelists, who write in Japanese but whose mother tongue is another language, with Gregory Khezrnejat's Kamogawa Runner (鴨川ランナー).

#exophonic #literature #japanese

"Translator Eli KP William is equal to Hoshino’s lyricism... and his passion for the project shines through in a fluid and considered prose that hardly feels like a translation at all."

Very kind words. Makes me want to translate another book.

#japanese #literature #memoir #translation #booksky

15 years since the 3/11 earthquake, since I sheltered under a desk in Tokyo while the corners of the room opened and closed like mouths, since the tsunami washed so many poor souls away, since the meltdown that changed everything

#march11 #tohoku #earthquake #tsunami
#fukushima #nuclear #meltdown

@christophercorker.bsky.social’s review of Michio Hoshino’s The Traveling Tree (trans @elikpwilliam.com)

I have forgotten the precise rate! It wasn't that high, it just seemed overpriced to me if you consider the quality of the rooms and facilities.

Japanese Literature in English - Book Readings YouTube video by Human Arts Studio

watch the recording of me reading from my latest translation, The Traveling Tree by Michio Hoshino, livestreamed March 1st from Human Arts Studio in Tsukuba. Then treat yourself to the smorgasbord of other readings.

youtu.be/cJ3LgHNQdh8?...

#japanese #literature #translation #reading #booksky

This is happening today! Don't miss it.

#japanese #literature #translation #reading #tsukuba #livestream #booksky

Japanese Literature in English - Book Readings March 1st @ 1 PM. Japanese literature in English is booming! We will celebrate with an afternoon of readings hosted by Tsukuba local, translator Ginny Tapley Takemori. Come and meet some of the transl...

Calling all literature lovers! I'll be reading this Sunday from my latest translation,The Traveling Tree by Michio Hoshino, alongside an epic roster of other translators. Watch the livestream, or come join us in Tsukuba!

#japanese #literature #translation #reading #tsukuba #livestream #booksky

‘The Traveling Tree’: Essays from Alaska offer lessons from the edge of the wild Michio Hoshino’s Alaska essays, now translated into English, reflect on fragility, risk and living close to nature.

my latest translation, The Traveling Tree by Michio Hoshino, receives its second review, this one in the Japan Times!

www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2026...

#japanese #literature #travel #essay #nonfiction #translation #bookreview #booksky

Japanese Literature in English - Book Readings March 1st @ 1 PM. Japanese literature in English is booming! We will celebrate with an afternoon of readings hosted by Tsukuba local, translator Ginny Tapley Takemori. Come and meet some of the transl...

Japan friends, this Sunday March 1st, from 1pm we’ll be celebrating Japanese literature in translation at Human Arts Studio in Tsukuba. Some of my literary translator friends have kindly agreed to come along and read from their work - free and open to all, so do join us!
#translation #literature

My latest translation, The Traveling Tree by Michio Hoshino, has received its first review, in the current issue of Literary Review!

literaryreview.co.uk/into-the-wil...

#japanlit #japanese #literature #essay #collection #nature #writing

Terminal Capitalism Revisited (part 1/2) How my declaration of a new economic phase fares one year later

In my latest essay, I revisit the notion of terminal capitalism that I wrote about last year and analyze political and financial shifts in the USA to consider whether we have indeed entered a new economic era.

#cryptocurrency #trump #economics #fascism #capitalism #liberalism #terminalcapitalism

Politics officially getting weird in Japan (this AI video was prompted by a critic of the Takaichi administration) www.instagram.com/reel/DUmiyeD...

The Traveling Tree: Lessons from a Nomadic Life Buy The Traveling Tree: Lessons from a Nomadic Life on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders

I'm delighted to announce the American release of my latest translation: The Travelling Tree (旅をする木) by Michio Hoshino!!! Published by Gaia (Hachette) in the UK this fall and now in the USA today!

#japaneseliterature #travel #essay #memoir #translation
#USA #release #booksky