傲慢と善良（2019）／辻村深月 "Arrogance and Virtue" (2019) by Mizuki Tsujimura

Virtually every Japanese book influencer I follow on IG recommends "Arrogance and Virtue" by Mizuki Tsujimura. It was also made into a hit movie in 2024. It has been said that this book is essential reading for the 25 - 40 age group. Essentially, this is a romance novel with a bit of mystery mixed in it - just before their wedding, the bride (mid-30s) goes missing, the groom (almost 40) traces her footsteps and, during the process, discovers her past, her psychology and ultimately more about himself. The title is a play on Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice", which is explicitly stated in a major conversation in Chapter 2. In this work. Tsujimura examines different aspects of modern relationships and marriage and "arrogance" and "virtue" form a dichotomy in this discourse. Why do people still struggle with relationships and marriage in this day and age, 200 years after the Regency era, when dating apps and matchmaking services provide more choices and flexibility than ever? The usual reasons go - societal expectations, family pressure, self-esteem, high expectations - but now in 21C, for independent women (and men), the need for personal development is a major reason why people avoid commitment. At which point does conforming to expectations (which is a "virtue" in Oriental societies) become self-gratifying "arrogance", and at which point is "arrogance" so pure and honest that it is now considered a "virtue" in the complex world of (Japanese) social etiquette? For the most part, this book is a linear survey of well-established viewpoints, but the most charming aspect in Tsujimura's writings always lie in her depictions of provincial life. The search for the bride takes the reader to Gunma Prefecture (known for its onsens) and later on to Miyagi, the heart of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Tsujimura puts in a lot of effort to contrast the life and ambitions among characters from metropolitan Tokyo (the groom and his friends), regional Maebashi (the bride and his family) and post-disaster Sendai. It might not be a literary masterpiece, but it is very real and emotionally relevant to the general reader, which makes it a very satisfying read. This explains why it is so popular.

かがみの孤城（2013 - 2014 / 2017）／辻村深月 "Lonely Castle in the Mirror" (2013 - 2014 / 2017) by Mizuki Tsujimura

The blurb of "Lonely Castle in the Mirror" boasts that Mizuki Tsujimura won nine literary awards for this work, including the 2018 Japan Booksellers' Award. It certainly deserves it. Because it was also made into an anime movie and a manga series, it is very easy to trivialise it and consider it a generic YA fantasy. The language and prose are indeed straightforward, but reading it as an adult adds a great level of complexity to it. The story is about a number of children who avoid school for various reasons. One day, they are invited to a mysterious castle by a masked "Wolf Queen" to participate in a game to look for a special key that will grant the winner a wish, and as with any game, it comes with a set of rules. So mystery and problem-solving are the first layer of the book. As the story progresses, it gets very dark and through the back stories of the children, the author examines bullying, primary and secondary traumas, negligence, sexual abuse, low self-esteem, poverty, isolation, loneliness, grief and death, in very direct terms as well. It makes a great impact not just because of the frank depiction of the children's (and adults') issues, but it also heavily underlines the importance of how people can support each other. During the adventure, these broken children learn to face their inadequacies and fears, to become more confident, to live with and support each other, and to go through adversities, but the most remarkable and heart-warming scene is the one where adults admit, and apologise for, their mistakes to children, to stand by the children and to bluntly confront the other adults who fail these children. Young readers will find the story epic and grown-ups will appreciate how the author emphasises the importance of education, rapport, empathy and sympathy. It is not without its flaws and can be slow at times, but the plot twists and conclusion make it a very satisfying read. Its success and popularity are absolutely justified.

鍵のない夢を見る（2012）／辻村深月 "Seeing Dreams without a Key" (2012) by Mizuki Tsujimura

Mizuki Tsujimura won the Naoki Prize in 2012 for the short story collection "Seeing Dreams without a Key". It was also made into a TV series in 2013. It consists of five independent stories, each told from the perspective of a female protagonist. The five stories are respectively about burglary, arson, murder and elopement, murder, and kidnap and child negligence. When I read the first two stories, I wasn't quite sure why it won a major literary prize, but by the end I was very convinced. If you read the stories in succession, you will quickly appreciate Tsujimura's narrative magic, how she organically unfolds the stories and smoothly reveals key information. Perhaps the most unique and charming aspect of her writing is that she writes a lot about provincial communities and local people. International readers might not necessarily connect with specific sentiments of Ibaraki or Yamanashi Prefectures, but emotional portrayals of the dreams and challenges of everyday people can surely resonate with anyone and that's the strength of these stories. Your best friend's mother is a serial burglar in the neighbourhood - what's the internal struggle of coming to terms with that? A firefighter deliberately burns down the fire station - does he do it just so he can meet a certain clerk? Troubled relationships, broken dreams, post-natal depression and anxiety - all so ordinary, yet all so emotionally impactful. They probably don't work well in translation, but through these stories I can understand why Tsujimura is so celebrated locally. They are great entry points to her more substantial and developed works.

London Literature Festival - Sayaka Murata: Vanishing World

22nd October 2025
Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, United Kingdom



The Akutagawa Prize-winning author Sayaka Murata 村田沙耶香 was on a UK book tour to promote the English release of "Vanishing World" (消滅世界) and her last stop was the opening night of London Literature Festival at the Southbank Centre. As it happens, a movie adaptation of the book is also coming out at the end of November in Japan but I doubt it will be released in the West - the ending would very likely cause some serious controversy. It's always interesting to attend these book events having read the book because you get to hear discussions from multiple perspectives that are almost always different from your own. There is a very strange boom of Japanese literature by female authors in the UK since the pandemic and the works chosen by the publishers to get translated are either the "healing", cozy, casual type of writings about coffee shops and cats, or "feminist" works about independent women fighting for emancipation from oppressive, conformist society. What I find particularly fascinating is that, as was mentioned by Murata herself during the event, a lot of these works are not necessarily set out to be deliberately feminist, but are interpreted as such by the West. Her works ask a lot of questions about what is "normal" in society and collective consciousness and her thought experiments stretch the limits of morality and can touch upon any themes from cannibalism to paedophilia, but somehow a lot of these discussions always end up going back to the female body and soul, as was tonight. "Convenience Store Woman" (コンビニ人間), which has now reached cult-following status, actually has a gender-neutral original title but because of the English title, the whole focus has shifted towards the female protagonist. I actually learned more about book marketing and narrative-shaping in these events than the books and authors themselves, and it's particularly interesting for me to look at a third culture (Japan) via a second (UK) and to experience the cultural clash. It's incredible. I will discuss Murata's books in series of IG posts at a later stage, but you are most welcomed to have a look at my blog to find some reviews that are already online, including "Vanishing World".

Mizuki Tsujimura in Conversation with Filippo Cervelli

9th October 2025
Foyles Bookshop, Charing Cross Road, London, United Kingdom



Last night I had the great pleasure to meet the multi-award-winning, bestselling Japanese author Mizuki Tsujimura 辻村深月 (big thank you to the Asian literature specialist at the Foyles language department who invited me in June), who was on a UK book tour organised by the Japan Foundation to promote the English release of two of her works - "Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon" (ツナグ) and its sequel "How to Hold Someone in your Heart" (ツナグ 想い人の心得). Tsujimura is a fascinating author who successfully bridges serious literature and popular culture, so the event attracted people ranging from university professors of Asian literature to anime otakus. She has practically won all the major literary prizes in Japan; she made her name writing horror fictions; her mystery, romance and coming-of-age works have been made into bestselling movies and TV series; she was the screenwriter for one of the "Doraemon" movies; and she was even made into an anime character in "Bungou Stray Dogs" next to all the other classic authors. It was never meant to be an in-depth discussion due to time constraint, but if you paid attention to what she mentioned within the hour on top of what we know about her, it was incredible - Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, Seichou Matsumoto 松本清張 (Akutagawa Prize-winning author of detective fictions currently very popular in the West), Ango Sakaguchi 坂口安吾 (a post-WWII decadent school author whom she cited as being liberating), the "Persona" JRPG series (which is in turn inspired by Jungian psychology; "You'll never see it coming" indeed!), her native Yamanashi Prefecture and the delicacy of writing about small towns and local people. I am in the middle of going through several of her novels, and this talk just added a great extra level of complexity to it. They are very emotional works and it's not difficult to see why she is so celebrated. I have much more to say, but I will share them at a later stage.

BBC Proms 2025: Last Night of the Proms 2025 (BBC SO / Elim Chan)

13th September 2025
Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

MUSSORGSKY A Night on the Bare Mountain (original version)
HUMMEL Trumpet Concerto
LUCY WALKER Today
ARTHUR BENJAMIN Storm Cloud Cantata (from The Man Who Knew Too Much)
GOUNOD "Ah, je ris de me voir" from Faust
LEHÁR "Vilja Song" from The Merry Widow
CAMILLE PÉPIN Fireworks
DUKAS The Sorcerer's Apprentice
FREDDIE MERCURY (arr. Stuart Morley) Bohemian Rhapsody
SHOSTAKOVICH Festive Overture
LERNER AND LOEWE (arr. Paul Campbell) Medley from My Fair Lady - "Wouldn't it be Loverly", "Without You", "On the Street Where You Live", "Show Me", "I Could Have Danced All Night"
BERNSTEIN (arr. Simon Wright) Prelude, Fugue and Riffs
L. ANDERSON The Typewriter
RACHEL PORTMAN The Gathering Tree
TRADITIONAL (arr. Wood) Fantasia on British Sea-Songs
ARNE (arr. Sargent) Rule, Britannia!
ELGAR Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1
PARRY (orch. Elgar) Jerusalem
TRADITIONAL (arr. Britten) The National Anthem
TRADITIONAL (arr. P. Campbell) Auld Lang Syne

Alison Balsom (trumpet)
Axelle Saint-Cirel (mezzo-soprano)
Louise Alder (soprano)
Sam Oladeinde (tenor)
Brian May
Roger Taylor
Bill Bailey (typewriter)
BBC Singers
BBC Symphony Chorus
National Youth Choir
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Elim Chan (conductor)



Last Night of the Proms. I only joined this mosh pit for seniors because of Elim Chan 陳以琳, and also for the retirement performance of Alison Balsom, who gave an exhilarating performance of the Hummel "Trumpet Concerto". Queen performing "Bohemian Rhapsody" to celebrate the song's 50th anniversary, Bill Bailey performing Leroy Anderson's "The Typewriter" and other fun and frolics have been well documented in the media already. Judging from the more serious items - Mussorgsky's "A Night on the Bare Mountain", Duka's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", Bernstein's "Prelude, Fugue and Riffs" and Shostakovich's "Festive Overture" - the pacing of the works, the transparency of the musical layers, the rhythmic agility, I am very convinced that the Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition winner is a seriously good major talent, and I really hope that she will take over the LA Philharmonic. In her speech, she even gave a very subtle nod to Hong Kong's classical music icon Yip Wing-Sie 葉詠詩. But the Last Night is a very strange event. On my left in the Arena there were EU supporters donning full EU gear and on my right there were people drinking beer in black tie complaining all night about these "Europeans waving the EU flag" and asserting that only the Union Jack should be allowed. I genuinely felt unwelcomed by some, but everything was in line with expectations really. As the night progressed, I felt more comfortable pretending to be a tourist not understanding a single word of English. That allowed me to remain a neutral bystander during the singalong and to soak it all in while standing in the literal middle of the Royal Albert Hall surrounded by thousands of people belting out the favourites in the name of nationalism and patriotism, the very notion that brings together and tears apart people in equal measure, and one that is so very foreign to our generation of Hong Kong people who grew up on both sides of 1997. Very useful experience, and I had a lot of fun, but I don't think I belong here.

BBC Proms 2025: R. Strauss: Don Juan; Bernstein: Serenade; Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé (Ehnes / Sinfonia of London Chorus / Sinfonia of London / Wilson)

12th September 2025
Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

R. STRAUSS Don Juan
BERNSTEIN Serenade
RAVEL Daphnis and Chloé

James Ehnes (violin)
Sinfonia of London Chorus
Sinfonia of London
John Wilson (conductor)



Sinfonia of London and John Wilson, fascinating group of musicians. It is an orchestra (re-)established in 2018 (i.e. post-Brexit referendum) and is known as the "super orchestra" that consists of principals and leaders from various UK and international orchestras and chamber groups. They have recorded 19 albums for Chandos in 7 years. BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone have piled numerous awards on them. The British press sing endless praises on them. And then no one else cares. Are they just a local hype driven by a massive PR machine? Three works of erotic love tonight - tragedy of love in Strauss' "Don Juan", a discourse on love in Bernstein's "Serenade after Plato's 'Symposium'" and the happily thereafter in Ravel's "Daphnis et Chloé". What's there to love? Without a doubt, the playing was outstanding, the virtuosity was stunning throughout and the orchestral colours enabled by these masterpieces were sensational live. Everyone in the audience was impressed by the performance. But something bugged me. I could not understand all the 5-star reviews and I started to question myself if I was just being obnoxious going against mainstream opinion, until I saw some similar comments on social media. There was something quite superficial and vacuous about it. Beyond the sweeping big tunes, you could hardly tell the difference between the characteristics of the different scenes and characters in the ballet, or "symphonie chorégraphique" as Ravel called it. Why was Dorcon's dance not grotesque and Daphnis' not gracious? And how were they different from the pirates in Part II? Again in the Bernstein, James Ehnes was somewhat academic and the drama was not big enough to distinguish between the subtle joy in "Aristophanes" and the yearning in "Agathon". This is a B-composer of "West Side Story" and "Candide", not Bach, Beethoven or Brahms, and one can milk the big tunes a lot more. If anyone has time to hear any of their recordings, I would love to get a second opinion from someone not associated with the British press, especially American and French audiences. I would also love to hear the orchestra play under a different conductor, and that would be telling.

BBC Proms 2025: Pärt: Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten; Dvořák: Violin Concerto; Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 (Faust / Gewandhausorchester Leipzig / Nelsons)

26th August 2025
Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

ARVO PÄRT Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten
DVOŘÁK Violin Concerto
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 2

Isabelle Faust (violin)
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Andris Nelsons (conductor)



Leipzig Gewandhausorchester and Andris Nelsons. I was only here because my friend wanted to see Hilary Hahn performing the Dvořák VC, but unfortunately she had to withdraw due to an ongoing injury so Isabelle Faust stepped in at the last minute. As with her usual high standards, it was technically very impressive, and Nelsons gave her much room to shine, but it was actually quite painful to go through. Put crudely, it was "too German" - everything was very clean, precise, straight-to-the-point and notes and phrases were practically uttered one at a time with brute force. Yes, I know it was written for Joachim and Anne-Sophie Mutter could make it work with a muscular approach, but this was no fun, especially in III when we needed the rhythmic rigour (and the playful violin-flute dialogue, which could barely be heard). However, this kind of music-making actually worked to the advantage of Sibelius 2, where the three-note motif morphed and flourished gracefully across the orchestral texture throughout in an austere sound world. To be honest, I have never emotionally synced with Sibelius 2, but there was much to admire in this top-class performance. The tectonic movements from the thunderous strings, the Sibelius hallmark timpanis, the brasses in II, etc. It was well-paced and spacious and the overall rich sound was wonderful. Potent also was the opener "Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten" (for Arvo Pärt 90). Holy minimalism or "tintinnabuli" - chilling strings and haunting bells. Effective companion to Sibelius 2.

消滅世界（2015）／村田沙耶香 "Vanishing World" (2015) by Sayaka Murata

George Orwell writes in "1984" that the Party wants to abolish the orgasm, because without the individual's existential desire, people become easier to control. In Kazuo Ishiguro's "Never Let Me Go", when a farmed individual becomes tools and objects of "higher" beings, one's notion of sex and reproduction becomes meaningless. Sayaka Murata performs a different thought experiment in "Vanishing World". The book describes a world in progress, where humanity has technologically reached a point where artificial insemination is the norm and culturally sex between married couples is considered incest. But society hasn't completely removed the innate desire and mechanism for sex, so suddenly "love" and "reproduction" are delineated and it's fashionable for married couples to look for lovers outside. Sex is just viewed as being old-fashioned like burial on ground. The commentary at the end of the Japanese edition calls this "a utopia for women and dystopia for men" based on Freudian psychology because power, desire and existence no longer stems from the phallus. In the last part of the book, the story takes place in a futuristic experimental city where even men and old people can carry an artificial womb to bear children. The children born are immediately taken from their parents and are raised collectively in a centre. Every adult is their "mother" and every "child" dresses, speaks, smiles and behaves almost identically without identity, and when people die, their ashes got poured on the same communal pile. Sexual desire is treated like excretion and dedicated toilet-like facilities are provided for "cleaning" purposes. The book concludes with an explosive "He loved Big Brother" ending that triggers a lot of Western readers but asks an important question - if sex becomes an obsolete activity, why are certain things immoral? This book provides much room for thought, but while the premise is very interesting, Murata has not fulfilled its full potential, leaving many areas yet to be explored (e.g. evolution of gender dynamics). It does has its quirky charm and is best enjoyed as a casual read. It is particularly suitable for people who like asking uncomfortable questions.

コンビニ人間（2016）／村田沙耶香 "Convenience Store Woman" (2016) by Sayaka Murata

Sayaka Murata won the Akutagawa Prize in 2016 for "Convenience Store Woman" (the original Japanese title is actually gender neutral), a book which has now practically become mandatory reading for all Japanese learners. Indeed, the language used never ventures beyond N3 grammar and its brevity makes it a great, easy read. It belongs to the long list of contemporary Japanese literature that questions the individual's position in a conformist society - what is normal? Should one be "normal"? 36-year-old Keiko Furukura uses to be a child considered "different" whose individualism was curbed after a school incident. Since 18, she has been working as a "temporary" staff at the same convenience store since its opening, watching customers and staff come and go, listening to the same noises which are now hardwired in her brain and doing the same mundane tasks every day (Murata herself used to work as a konbini staff in real life). She has no plans nor goals for the future and sees the world via the people around her. That is her world, that is her comfort and she can't leave, and that is basically the whole story. It is a tragicomedy. The dialogues and events are so absurd that it's funny to read, but it's also tragically real in the modern world - what is the meaning of life? The impactful thing is how the world around her evolves - her parents were happy that she got a temp job, then gets worried that she stays in the same job. Everyone is worried that she stays single and does not have a family, and when she gets a cohabiting partner (albeit just faking a relationship with a problematic outcast), people judge her on the partner and it becomes an outcry. You are damned if you do and damned if you don't, and such is how a conformist society functions. This little book does pack a punch, and is a great, realist entry point to Murata's world, which tends to shock with more outlandish thought experiments.

BBC Proms 2025: Sørensen: Evening Land; Clyne: The Years; Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (Thomsen / White / Savage / Pałka / DR VokalEnsemblet / DR Symfoniorkestret / Luisi)

21st August 2025
Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

BENT SØRENSEN Evening Land
ANNA CLYNE The Years
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9

Clara Cecilie Thomsen (soprano)
Jasmin White (contralto)
Issachah Savage (tenor)
Adam Pałka (bass)
DR VokalEnsemblet
DR Symfoniorkestret
Fabio Luisi (conductor)



Here is an embarrassing confession - before tonight, I had never heard Beethoven 9 live. DR Symfoniorkestret, DR VokalEnsemblet and the criminally underrated Fabio Luisi came to celebrate the orchestra's centenary. Their 2015 4 h Nielsen Prom was one of the best concerts I have ever been to so expectations were high. They went well beyond that tonight. I had the rare sensation of being shaken to the core by the sheer power and emotion of the music and performance. It was clean, sharp, spirited, disciplined, dramatic, never sentimental, phrases finely accented and articulated, layers transparent without sounding HIP. Sure, there were murky brasses and winds here and there, but Luisi paced and balanced the music with such a stylish narrative that you can forgive the little blemishes. The timpanis were so effective in generating the earth shattering effects, always propelling the music forward. I felt that a standing ovation was needed even just after the first movement and by the time when the "Ode to Joy" fugue flourished, Luisi had become my favourite living conductor. But the real reason I was here was because of the opener "Evening Land" by the Grawemeyer-winning Bent Sørensen, a work that contrasts the cosmopolitan night of NYC with that of the Danish countryside. Sørensen's music got me through the early stages of the pandemic. His penchant for micro-fragments, microtones and micro-glissandi in a continuous flow generates music that are simultaneously serene and eerie. This is one of several pieces he has written that depicts microcosms during magic hours (c.f. two of his piano concertos). It is always an evolving contrast between local and global mysteries. It was sublime and beguiling, perfect for inquisitive minds, though perhaps RAH was the wrong venue for this sort of music. NY-based British composer Anna Clyne's pandemic-inspired "The Years" consisted of 20 min of repetitive, linear blocks of chords sung by a choir churning through a text against slightly more variable orchestral textures. It might appeal more to smooth classical listeners than fans of Danish New Simplicity. Both pieces were very politely received before the interval.

BBC Proms 2025: Hisaishi: Symphonic Suite: The Boy and the Heron, The End of the World; Reich: The Desert Music (Holiday / BBC Singers / National Youth Voices / Philharmonia Chorus / RPO / Hisaishi)

14th August 2025
Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

JOE HISAISHI Symphonic Suite: The Boy and the Heron
JOE HISAISHI The End of the World (2015 version)
STEVE REICH The Desert Music

John Holiday (counter-tenor)
BBC Singers
National Youth Voices
Philharmonia Chorus
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Joe Hisaishi (conductor)



It was the 80th anniversary of VJ Day (Japan surrendered in WWII on US 14/8 and JP 15/8) and the BBC recruited the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and, of all people, Joe Hisaishi to commemorate the event with a very bleak and pessimistic programme. Fans of Studio Ghibli anticipating tuneful music for fantasy worlds got 15 min of that in the form of a "Symphonic Suite" from the Oscar-winning "The Boy and the Heron", but even that movie was set in WWII and a tragedy of war and destruction. Outside his Ghibli work, Hisaishi is a minimalist composer. "The End of the World" is a 2015 global generalisation of a 2008 work written in response to 9/11 and is inspired by the 1962 song by Skeeter Davis which starts with the line "Why does the sun go on shining?" (think about the Japanese flag; song is reharmonised as V). The work is tuneful and shows Hisaishi's mastery in colourful orchestration and even includes joyful big band jazz in II, but it is always played against a recurring siren and unsettling chimes - it's tragicomedy again - can we still live as usual and have fun in the face of adversity? In Steve Reich's "The Desert Music", the desert refers to many things, especially Alamogordo, the site of the atomic bomb testing, and the desert left behind by human destruction. Hearing 45 min of a constantly evolving rhythmic and harmonic continuum was a special sonic experience. One has to appreciate the sheer stamina and virtuosity of the players and three chorus. It takes the kindred spirit of a fellow minimalist to unearth the fascinating nuances like the fugue in IIIA and the gliss en masse in IIIC. Compared to the recent recording, RPO and Hisaishi were on aggressive high octane mode. It was rich, spiky and relentless and I feared getting shell shock from the beats. There is no real resolution to any of these. We humans have not learnt anything in 80 years either. "How are you going to live your life?" ("君たちはどう生きるか" - original title of "TB&TH") Leaders who discuss Ukraine and Gaza today, those who deforest the world every day, and those who insult Miyazaki and the human spirit with AI - do you want to turn this planet into a desert? How do you want to live your life?

BUTTER（2017）／柚木麻子 "Butter" (2017) by Asako Yuzuki

Asako Yuzuki's "Butter" has been crazily successful in the UK since the English translation came out, winning Waterstone's "Book of the Year" in 2024 and "Debut Book of the Year" from The British Book Awards in 2025, and it has been all over social media. Interestingly, if it wasn't for the overseas success, it was relatively unnoticed in the East. Yuzuki herself pointed out in interviews that it is marketed as a "feminist" novel in the West and, judging from online commentaries, the theme of "Japanese women fighting for emancipation from repressive social expectations" resonates with a lot of Western readers and is the major driving force behind the massive boom of Japanese literature by female authors in recent years. From the opening chapters, it is indeed interesting to notice that Yuzuki writes with a very direct, powerful and outright polemic language which is not a very typically Japanese way of communication. The story is about a female reporter trying to get an exclusive interview with an "unattractive" female prisoner alleged to have killed three men. It is less concerned about the case itself but an extensive examination on (Japanese) social standards. It covers everything from biased media representation of women (including anime), toxic online communities, idol worshipping, sexless marriages, parental relationships, to acceptance of foreign cultures (e.g. struggle to cook turkey for thanksgiving and understand fasting for Ramadan). "Butter" is used as a metaphor for authenticity ("There are two things that I can simply not tolerate: feminists and margarine"), an agent of fattening leading to discussions on body image, a subliminal image for bodily fluids with regards to the female body, erotic relationships and motherhood and an indicator of variable economic values (price of butter fluctuates with scarcity in the book). As social commentary, it is very comprehensive; but as a work of fiction, it goes on for way too long. 2/3 of the book have no real development and overall it feels like a generic J-drama. The east-west disparity in reception becomes clear: if commentaries on Japanese society is an exotic novelty for you, there is much to offer in "Butter". Otherwise, those looking for hard literature, there are alternatives.

BBC Proms 2025: Adams: The Chairman Dances; Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 4; Berio: Sinfonia (Lim / BBC Singers / CBSO / Yamada)

1st August 2025
Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

JOHN ADAMS The Chairman Dances
RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No. 4
BERIO Sinfonia

Yunchan Lim (piano)
BBC Singers
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Kazuki Yamada (conductor)



I don't know if the organisers were being deliberately sardonic or not, but placing Berio's modernist masterpiece "Sinfonia" right after the titular "Yunchan Lim Plays Rachmaninov" amused me, and of all pieces they went for "Piano Concerto No. 4", a divisive work which some consider an understated gem and others an incoherent mess that even Michelangeli could not make it work. Is Lim just a media hype? He sure has a fantastic palette of sounds, dreamy phrasings and a clean, bright tone, but Rach 4 hardly does anybody justice and is not a good indicator for anything. It didn't help when the fire alarm went off mid-I and the pre-II pause killed everybody's mood. The harmonic tension in the Korngold encore was quite stunning. I have no interest in John Adams so I didn't pay much attention to the opening "Chairman Dances", but as my mind drifted I realised I was standing behind a couple of Japanese, in front of a Korean, left to a Taiwanese family and right to a mainland Chinese. Something from "Nixon in China" in the current global and geopolitical climate is actually a perfect companion to the Berio. 2/3 of the Arena audience left before "Sinfonia" and more walked out during the fantastic performance by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers conducted by the animated Kazuki Yamada. Fans of Rachmaninov would probably struggle with Berio's penchant for using the piano to punctuate extended ethereal orchestral and choral textures generated by chordal suspense. CBSO's brass and winds were outstanding, as were the BBC Singers, of course. I actually thought Yamada's rendition was too smooth and pretty, especially when III needed the political angst, and he glossed over the "Pli selon Pli" chord, which was a little bit disappointing, but Yamada was such a passionate communicator and you can see why the CBSO loves him. It was a chaotic Prom from beginning to end and everyone was lost one way or another. Irony indeed, as nobody could have organised anything more appropriate to celebrate Berio 100 than this level of authentic absurdity.

BBC Proms 2025: Berio: Sequenza V, Recital I (for Cathy); Boulez: Dialogue de l’ombre double (Ounissi / Comte / Aristidou / IRCAM / Ensemble Intercontemporain / Bleuse)

23rd July 2025
Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

BERIO Sequenza V
BOULEZ Dialogue de l’ombre double
BERIO Recital I (for Cathy)

Lucas Ounissi (trombone)
Jérôme Comte (clarinet)
Sarah Aristidou (soprano)
IRCAM (live electronics)
Ensemble Intercontemporain
Pierre Bleuse (conductor)



2025 is the centenary of the births of Berio and Boulez, and no celebration is complete without a performance by Boulez's babies for contemporary music, IRCAM and the Ensemble Intercontemporain. This was a genius programme if you know the works. The common theme of the programme is the "tragicomedy", a term which is now synonymous with "Waiting for Godot" (and of course Beckett was extensively quoted in "Sinfonia"). By continuously contrasting extreme absurdity against the tragic reality, these works lay bare the predicaments of the world and force the audience to ask all the big questions - Why are we here? What do these mean? The concert opener "Sequenza V" for solo trombone (Lucas Ounissi) by Berio, which calls for numerous extended techniques, is a memorial for a clown and it immediately set the tone for the evening - a dead clown, is it funny anymore? Boulez's "Dialogue de l'ombre double" was written for Berio's 60th birthday. As the name suggests, it is a dialogue between a live-performed solo clarinet (Jérôme Comte) and pre-recorded material realised in real-time spatially by IRCAM technicians - Which one is real? Which one is the shadow? The main event was Berio's rarely performed "Recital I (for Cathy)", which is a stage work that takes tragicomedy to the extreme. The soprano (Sarah Aristidou) started off comically looking for her pianist (Sébastien Vichard) and singing excerpts from Monteverdi, then turning to monologues asking existential questions and singing a collage (a Berio hallmark) of opera excerpts from Rossini to Schoenberg before descending into madness with quotes from "Hamlet" and "Pierrot lunaire". EIC's virtuosity hardly needs special praises, and together with their new director Pierre Bleuse (and his magnificent facial hair), they totally embraced the absurdity of the work. Whilst none of these works are legitimately contemporary anymore, it's even more relevant in the post-truth and AI-driven 2025. It made me nostalgic of the times when these masters were alive, but I am glad new talents are keeping "the spirit of irreverence" (Boulez's words) going. One of the most profound Proms I have ever been to.

BBC Proms 2025: Ravel: Rapsodie espagnole, La valse; Bologne: Violin Concerto, Op. 8; Sohy: Danse mystique; Chausson: Poème (Goosby / Orchestre national de France / Măcelaru)

23rd July 2025
Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

RAVEL Rapsodie espagnole
BOLOGNE Violin Concerto, Op. 8
SOHY Danse mystique
CHAUSSON Poème
RAVEL La valse

Randall Goosby (violin)
Orchestre national de France
Cristian Măcelaru (conductor)



My 2025 has been very French for some reason and it's great to start the Proms season with an all-French evening. Almost exactly one year ago, the poor souls of the Orchestre national de France and their fantastic Romanian director Cristian Măcelaru got completely drenched during the Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympics and there were some discussions about whether or not they used real instruments or if it was a genuine performance. Tonight we could hear them live in their full glory. Celebrating Ravel 150, the programme started with "Rapsodie espagnole" and ended with "La valse". They were sweet, well-balanced, well-paced, transparent, light, elegant, immaculate - the best sounds French music can offer *chef's kiss*. I can listen to them playing Ravel and nothing else all season. Randall Goosby was the soloist for two concertos in between - Op. 8 of Joseph Bologne (Chevalier de Saint-Georges) and the Chausson "Poème". The Chevalier's is very pleasant, virtuosic in the outer movements, emotional in the middle and the rapport between soloist and orchestra was perfect. Op. 8 is not as daring as Op. 5/2 that Mutter championed, but I would love to hear his VCs hitting the big time more often. It's a shame that Chausson died young and we never get to hear more of his lush French Romantic sound beyond the handful of works he left behind. Goosby shifted gears from the clean Classical finger works to the deeper emotional tones for this concertante work. I have heard more passionate renditions, but it was very moving nonetheless. Charlotte Sohy's 1922 symphonic poem "Danse mystique" was nicely performed, but it was 13 minutes of mood-painting wandering around the same motifs going nowhere. Apparently it is meant to be programmatic, so I must have missed something important. It's an obscure work for a reason though. According to Wikipedia, her works were loved by the likes of Dukas, Ravel and Fauré. Tastes have moved on, I suppose. This is one fine orchestra and they need to come back soon.

ヘヴン（2009）／川上未映子 "Heaven" (2009) by Mieko Kawakami

Mieko Kawakami's "Heaven" was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2022. In several ways it is the most profound work of the trilogy. The story is about school bullying and the actions are described in bloody detail throughout the book - it can be distressing to read if you are easily triggered. Picking on somebody is one thing, but the events in the story are so elaborate that it reaches a point where the reader will ask, "do these bullies have nothing better to do in life than to spend so much time and effort just to pick on somebody?" - and that is the central objective here. Kawakami has a background in philosophy and she states that "Heaven" is inspired by Nietzsche's "Thus spake Zarathustra". The story of bullying is used as a platform to explore master and slave morality, and nihilism. In the latter half of the book, there is a couple of discussions about why bullies bully and why victims let that happen. The title "Heaven" refers to a painting that one of the victims adore and she considers being bullied her role in the world and it purifies her - she is tied to "moral ideals". One of the bullies believes that there is no reason for what they do and they do so just because they can. The main character is philosophically torn for the majority of the book but in the end breaks the dichotomy and pursues the third path. He chooses to overcome a physical condition in hope for a brighter future and to avoid further bullying, which in a way is a manifestation of the will to power. "Heaven" is a finely crafted allegorical story if one appreciates the underlying philosophy, but there are also themes of friendship, self-awareness and overcoming hardship which make it a great general read. Powerful work.

乳と卵（2007）／川上未映子 "Breasts and Eggs" (2007, original novella version) by Mieko Kawakami

Mieko Kawakami won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize in 2007 for her novella "Breasts and Eggs" (the original novella version, not to be confused with the longer novel "Natsu monogatari 夏物語" which is the expanded version that was translated and published under the same title internationally). Despite its short length, it is very challenging for language learners to read because it is entirely written in Osaka-ben and the prose is always in one long stretch with no breaks in between at all. As the title suggests, this is a feminist novel examining the challenges concerning the body that women face on a daily basis. Three characters - a mother, a daughter and the mother's sister. The single mother is a hostess from Osaka and wants to get breast implants in Tokyo; the daughter starts to experience changes in her body and discusses them in a series of notes; and the aunt wants to conceive a child. These are some brutal and at times literally bloody discussions on body image, child bearing and why a woman should or should not conform to social expectations - real issues that affect directly half of the population and indirectly the other half. It is remarkable that, almost 20 years on, society still remains highly polarised on these subjects, with liberal minds openly discussing them and conservative circles avoiding them altogether. Regardless, the writing is still as fresh and explosive (even uncompromising) as ever and it must have made quite a big impact in the male-dominated world in 2007. It is certainly very progressive compared to the traditional testosterone-driven Japanese literature or softer female writings of the past. As a male reader, while none of them are particularly new concepts in this day and age, it is still a rewarding and enriching read. The novella is accompanied by a short story about a woman browsing cosmetics in a store and musing on casual sex, to further the discussion on the position of the modern woman.

すべて真夜中の恋人たち（2011）／川上未映子 "All the Lovers in the Night" (2011) by Mieko Kawakami

A lot of commentators like to compare Mieko Kawakami with Haruki Murakami. One can see why - Kawakami confessed to have been influenced by Murakami and they published a collection of conversations together. "All the Lovers in the Night" has all the Murakamian qualities - mood-driven narratives describing the lives of lonely people in a cosmopolitan setting; classical music decorating the scenes, which, in this case, Chopin's "Berceuse" is the recurring theme; and the slow burn. Fuyuko Irie is a 34-year-old freelance proof-reader who works remotely, lives alone, has almost no social interactions with anybody, has no goals, interests or purpose in life and starts to develop a habit of heavy drinking. One day she meets a 58-year-old man at a community centre and starts to develop romantic feelings towards him. Because ultimately it is a story of little plot and no resolution, a lot of online reviews dismiss this book as a mere "sad girl book". This was the first Kawakami book that I read and I only appreciated it more retrospectively after reading her other works. I think the primary focus of her works are people who quietly suffer in society, those who might not be able to articulate their suffering or even recognise that they are suffering at all. The protagonist obviously falls into this category, but the limited number of characters she interacts with, no matter how outwardly confident or supportive they are, with or without family life (as women), knowledgeable or not (referring to the single male character here), they are insecure one way or another, and some people are even suffering from long term traumas. They bluff, they lie, they put on masks to socialise and it forms an intriguing contrast with the protagonist - are any of these actually better than living a quiet life alone (a question of personality, I'd think)? It's too real a novel and I can immediately think of a couple of friends who might be devastated by it. It might be more rewarding to read as part of a(n unrelated) trilogy. A winter book, definitely, if you enjoy that solitude feeling.

Wagner: Die Walküre (ROH / Kosky / Pappano)

Die Walküre
Music Drama in Three Acts
4th May 2025
Royal Opera House, London, United Kingdom

Composer Richard Wagner
Libretto Richard Wagner
Director Barrie Kosky
Orchestra Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Conductor Antonio Pappano

Cast list at the bottom of post.



Let's talk about incest. For a long time I have wondered why this is a major theme in one of the most important operas in history. Seeing "Die Walkürie" live at the ROH forced me to pay close attention to the libretto, then I realised how it is a crucial plot device to show the conflict of morals, the struggles of defining the "free" hero (will), how even the gods reek of, and rule by, hypocrisy and fear, and the perennial fight between the love of power and the power of love. One needs to process the Ring cycle like a deep neural network - forward propagation gives you the story, backward propagation explains the philosophy - and we are currently processing the weights into and out of the second layer. Having read Nietzsche is incredibly important and useful at this point as all the themes can be cross-referenced. The Yggdrasil fragment from "Das Rheingold" returned in Act 2 as a backdrop for the deadly duel. Now blood flowed out from the same source where gold used to flow, again perpetually looked on by Erda - providing continuity from two years ago and setting up the theme of decay for the next two operas. It was also an artistic statement to highlight the destruction of Nature both in context and as a reflection of our current world. Costume choice was specific too - the ill-fated and backstabbed Siegmund, victim of multiple levels of toxic masculinity, was dressed in the colour of the Ukrainian flag. The Valkyries dressed as zombies trolleying out (literally) heaps of ash remains of fallen heroes was definitely a bold modern artistic take. Singing - sensational all round, Sieglinge and Siegmund in particular, very moving exchanges in Act 1; powerful father-daughter struggles between Brünnhilde and Wotan in Act 3. Antonio Pappano's musical direction was pure perfection - supporting the voices at the right level, dramatic when needed, layers and leitmotifs always transparent - for me it was a winning realisation of Wagner's vision of the total integration of music and drama. If you want to understand the appeal of Wagner, this was as good a live experience as it could get. Standing for 5.5 h was totally worth it.



Wotan - Christopher Maltman
Brünnhilde - Elisabet Strid
Sieglinde - Natalya Romaniw (replaces Lise Davidsen)
Siegmund - Stanislas de Barbeyrac
Fricka - Marina Prudenskaya
Hunding - Soloman Howard
Helmwige - Maida Hundeling
Ortlinde - Katie Lowe
Gerhilde - Lee Bisset
Waltraute - Claire Barnett-Jones
Siegrune - Catherine Carby
Rossweisse - Alison Kettlewell
Grimgerde - Monika-Evelin Liiv
Schwertleite - Rhonda Browne
Erda - Clare Almond
Concert Master - Magnus Johnston

Boulez: Deux Études, Douze Notations, Incises, cummings ist der Dichter, Pli selon pli (Stefanovich / Dennis / BBC SO and Singers / Brabbins)

30th March 2025
Barbican Hall, London, United Kingdom

BOULEZ Deux Études, musique concrète for tape
BOULEZ Douze Notations
BOULEZ Incises
BOULEZ cummings ist der Dichter
BOULEZ Pli selon pli

Tamara Stefanovich (piano)
Anna Dennis (soprano)
BBC Singers
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Martyn Brabbins (conductor)



Boulez centenary celebration concert with the BBC SO, a pretty odd one if I am honest. It started off with "Deux Études", a pair of musique concrète for tape which were one-time experiments that Boulez considered unsatisfactory. Then the exhausted and overworked Tamara Stefanovich (according to her own IG) gave a surprisingly sloppy performance of "Douze Notations", taking a lot of liberty in the phrasing and note duration... and the notes themselves. But the following virtuosic "Incises" (2001) was astonishing. The fabulous BBC Singers then gave a rare performance of "cummings ist der Dichter". I don't think I have ever seen a choral work so difficult to pitch that each singer "tuned" him/herself with a tuning fork every 10s or so during the performance. The cluster sound is wonderful. "Pli selon Pli" got me nostalgic. I heard it live for the first time in 2010. Boulez conducted it himself and he had to cut a large portion from "Tombeau" to make it work. Second time in 2015 before he died. Now we listen to this music from the other side. The reliable Martyn Brabbins and soprano Anna Dennis gave a wonderful performance. I didn't know "Improvisation I" can sound so... romantic, and the hypnotic pointillism from the plethora of percussion in "Improvisation II" was so, so pretty. The piano and celesta got over-excited in "Improvisation III". Then you have the continuous fireworks in "Tombeau". The evolution of timbre by instrumentation was mesmerising in itself, and the deconstruction and reconstruction of texture from I-V made this labyrinth-like music a captivating journey. Just when you think everything went perfectly, someone (I think the timpani) got impatient and hit the last note early, completely ruining the monumental final chord. I was so desperate for closure I had to listen to "Le Marteau" immediately when I got home. You can check it out from the Radio 3 archive. We need AI to erase that. IRCAM knows RNN, right? Boulez might approve. It will keep the music in progress too. Attention is all the music needs.

"Tennin Gosui" (The Decay of the Angel, 1970 - 1971) by Yukio Mishima

The final book of the tetralogy "The Decay of the Angel 天人五衰" was formally completed on 25th November, 1970, the morning of Mishima's dramatic coup and death (also the anniversary of Hirohito becoming regent in 1921). The "Angel" in the title refers to mortal angels Devas in Buddhism who will show (five) signs of decay before death and reincarnation. Shigekuni is now a widowed 76-year-old retiree and is still fixated on his childhood friend and his supposed reincarnation(s). He encounters a 16-year-old observation tower signalman (harking back to "The Sound of Waves") whom he believes to be the one and goes on to adopt him. The adoption became a disaster, his predictions with regards to reincarnation did not come to reality, his relationships with his friends and wider society all ended in failure with all bridges burnt and, suffering from declining health, the former judge ended up getting arrested for a lewd activity. The tetralogy ended by asking some big questions - did it all happen? Was it all blind faith? Does it matter? Given this is Mishima's final testament, the unsettling and unresolved conclusion leaves readers wondering for decades if this is his own vision of Japan, of the world and of modern life in general - one of pessimism and nihilism. One of mental satisfaction too - by destroying every bit of detail in the tetralogy, it reaches a point of transcendence and confines beauty to memory - harking back to his opus magnum "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion". This tetralogy is the ultimate culmination of Mishima's aesthetics, philosophy and literary skills. Nothing came before it and very little will likely come after.

"Akatsuki no Tera" (The Temple of Dawn, 1968 - 1970) by Yukio Mishima

After failing to save Isao from death, Shigekuni, the symbol of logic and reason and now a 58-year-old wealthy private lawyer, begins to reflect on his own irrationality in "The Temple of Dawn 暁の寺", in which he travels around Thailand and India to explore the concept of reincarnation, how reincarnation is believed in ancient Greece, Buddhism and Hinduism. It even touches upon the philosophy of Nietzsche. His obsession led him to a Thai princess, whom he believes to be the reincarnation of Kiyoaki and Isao but does not have the key evidence to support it - three moles on the side of the body that appeared on the other two. The focus of the tetralogy now shifts to Shigekuni, who is revealed to be a voyeur and has passions of his own - a sharp development from the previous two titles. The novel covers the period of 1941 - 1952, so it contrasts the social climate before and after WWII, and notes the decline of the aristocracy from the first book. Recurrence and fatalism of reincarnation are manifested by returning objects and characters, but the overall tone is one of decline and decay and total breakdown of morals and values - driven by passion and obsession, Shigekuni had to commit a crime to establish the evidence of reincarnation. After a shocking revelation, the third book concludes with a puzzling deus ex machina ending that makes the reader questions every aspect of the story, which will be the major objective of the final volume to come.

"Honba" (Runaway Horses, 1967 - 1968) by Yukio Mishima

The second volume of the tetralogy, "Runaway Horses 奔馬", is intense from the beginning to end. The tone of the narration changes from the coming-of-age innocence of the previous title to one of highly-charged, ultra-conservative, political extremism. The focus of the story is the 18-year-old Isao, who is portrayed as an athletic, patriotic, stubborn, pure-minded fanatic who is heavily influenced by the ideologies of the Shinpuuren rebellion 神風連の乱 of 1876, in which an extremist Shinto organisation previously of the bushi 武士 class, against the backdrop of Meiji Restoration, launched a surprise attack on the army and government officials of Kumamoto, killing dozens of people, and eventually each surviving member committed the ritualistic seppuku 切腹 to "return the glory to the Emperor". Mishima dedicated a full section chronicling the event in its entirety. Isao religiously inherits the same anti-westernisation sentiments and plots to assassinate key government figures with his peers. Shigekuni, now a 38-year-old judge, believes Isao to be the reincarnation of Kiyoaki. He tries to reason with Isao but finds himself sympathising with him and eventually quits being a judge to become his defending lawyer before the story collapses to its inevitable tragic ending. It is shocking to read considering Mishima's own death, which he actually thoroughly argues against in the book but goes on to do it anyway. It provides the religious and mental "purity" dimensions of the actions but also shows the nihilistic nature of the author's thinking. It is an explosive book and indispensable work in Mishima's oeuvre.

"Haru no Yuki" (Spring Snow, 1965 - 1967) by Yukio Mishima

"Spring Snow 春の雪" sets the scene for the tetralogy and is loaded with events and information that are irrelevant until the later books. The epic story starts at the end of the Meiji period and concerns families of the kazoku 華族 aristocracy. The subject of reincarnation, Kiyoaki, is an 18-year-old son of a family of the koushaku (marquis) 侯爵 rank. He falls in love with a childhood friend from a declining hakushaku (count) 伯爵 family, which is lower in the social hierarchy, but out of vanity refuses to admit it, until it is too late when the girl is betrothed to a royal prince. Shigekuni, the tetralogy's main observer, is the son of an esteemed judge and classmate of Kiyoaki. He acts as a logical and impartial witness to events of burning passion, struggles among classes and unsolicited westernisation, and also the knowledgeable character who initiates discussions on dreams, foretelling, (Buddhist belief of) reincarnation and political ideologies with characters such as Thai princes and the families' tutor and maids who will be key recurring characters in later volumes. It has plenty of "exotic", classical cultural and religious elements which would interest "foreign" readers on its own if one chooses to see it as a pure romance novel (the title comes from a love scene representing the pure heart and innocence), but ultimately everything is deliberately left unresolved and the story of decline, decay and nihilism truly begins at the end when Kiyoaki's death kickstarts the cycle of reincarnation and the logical Shigekuni becomes increasingly obsessed with the notion, much like spring snow eventually becomes dirty and melts away.

"Houjou no Umi" (The Sea of Fertility, 1965 - 1971) by Yukio Mishima

The next four posts will be about the epic tetralogy "The Sea of Fertility 豊饒の海" Mishima wrote towards the end of his life, with the last volume formally completed on the day he committed seppuku at the age of 45. This series of novels covers over 70 years of history from the Meiji period to the post-war era and is centred around two characters - a "logical" independent observer, Shigekuni Honda, and a variable subject who is, or reincarnates as, a different person in each of the four novels. It contains the universe in much the same way a Mahler symphony does and discusses everything from conservative societal practices to local and foreign religious beliefs, especially on the subject of reincarnation. Each novel needs to be appreciated on its own merits but also as part of a set. The perspectives and density of the narration evolve over the four books and all the fictional events are contrasted against the complex real-life historical context. The sheer scale of this tetralogy makes it a huge challenge to read. As the literal last words of Mishima, there is an overwhelming amount of information to unpack and the literary world is still trying to interpret the politics and philosophy of the author behind this enormous undertaking. It is mind-blowing even just scratching the surface. To the best of my knowledge, there is nothing quite like this in all of modern Asian literature. I am very glad to complete it over five months last year. Hopefully these posts will manage to cover enough and do some justice.

"Kinkaku-ji" (The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, 1956) by Yukio Mishima

What is beauty? Why is something beautiful? "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion 金閣寺" is well-known to be an extraordinary masterpiece. It is based on the real-life event of a young monk burning down Kyoto's Rokuon-ji in 1950. It is not just a fictionalised account of a historical event, but Mishima framed it as a full discourse on beauty itself. Beauty as a subject of contrast (against ugliness), the relative against the absolute, beauty as a personal mental entity versus a universal physical manifestation, beauty of the ephemeral versus beauty of the permanent (if such thing exists), the transcendence by destruction, the necessity of immorality to reach transcendence (by negation and contrast again), the embrace of the imperfect (the notion of wabi-sabi 侘び寂び) - all of these are not extrapolations but explicitly discussed in the text, and all reach the same nihilistic and pessimistic conclusions, while simultaneously channelling the wider post-WWII sentiments at the time. This masterpiece is a shock to the senses, expertly paced and constructed in ten chapters. Essential reading in all of literature. There is nothing quite like it.








【IG 日本語作文練習】（４）ーー文学作品を読むことについて

練習として、今回は、原文と中国語の翻訳本を同時に読んだ。日本語のを読んでから、同じ段落をもう一度翻訳で読み、こんなふうに本を一章ずつ読んでしまった。実際に、原文は、仏教の専用名詞を除いて、思ったほど読みにくなかった、せめて翻訳本より読みやすかった。唐月梅氏の翻訳は精確のだが、改めて多くの日本語の文法が中国語で表現できないので、訳文が、特に三島の詳しすぎる心理描写や分析、あまりに複雑で読みにくかったのだ。それに、小説の衝撃や緊張感や暗示の言葉（関西弁も）が日本語でしか表現できない。例えば、第三章の NTR シーンには、蚊帳の「不自然な動き」という段落が日本語で滑らかに流れ一方、中国語では無意味そうで少し可笑しい。作家の作風に慣れた後、もう翻訳の必要がなくなった。日本語を読むことに自信が強くなったと思う。時間がかかったことのだが、役に立つ練習を済ましてよかった。


As a language learning exercise, this time I read the Japanese original and the Chinese translation simultaneously. I first read a passage in the original, then re-read it in translation, and in this way completed the book one chapter at a time. I have come to realise that the original was not as difficult as I thought, at least it was easier to read than the translation - unfortunately, a lot of Japanese grammar does not work in Chinese so any translation sounds rather clumsy, especially when it comes to Mishima's overly detailed psychological descriptions and analyses. Moreover, some impact or tension can only be subtly implied in Japanese. For example, in the NTR scene in Chapter 3, there is a lengthy description of some "unnatural movement" of a mosquito net which works smoothly in Japanese but sounds rather meaningless and weird in Chinese. Once you have gotten used to the author's style and language, a translation is no longer needed. I think I am getting more confident in reading Japanese now. It was a great, and essential, exercise.

"Shiosai" (The Sound of Waves, 1954) by Yukio Mishima

Mishima is known for his extreme politics and obsession with immorality and death, yet "The Sound of Waves 潮騒" is a notable abnormality. It is a rare case in Japanese literature that contains no suicide, no immorality, and no discussions of any ideology. The author wrote this short novel after a trip to Greece. He was inspired by the classical story of Daphnis and Chloe in which two (heterosexual) lovers, a shepherd and a goatherd, overcome much difficulties to become a couple. In Mishima's version, it is set on a rural island, where a young couple meets, overcomes some Shakespearean misunderstanding and eventually gets everyone's approval to become a couple. It celebrates the rustic, faithfulness, celibacy, youth, determination, the beauty of nature and, indeed, the sound of waves. Also rare for Mishima, the prose is very easy to read. It sets the standard for many love dramas of the day. Put simply, it is a very happy and beautiful story. It makes you warm inside.

"Kinjiki" (Forbidden Colors, 1951 - 1953) by Yukio Mishima

"Forbidden Colours 禁色" was published two years after "Confessions of a Mask" and, like its predecessor, it is now also an LBGTQ+ classic, though it takes a considerably different approach. It is known for its all-encompassing description of the Tokyo underground gay scene of the 1950s, but not so much an explicit psycho-analysis like that of the previous title. At the epic length of 600 pages, it comes across as being an immoral retelling of Mann's "Death in Venice" and Dicken's "Great Expectations" - after a chance encounter at a shore with a poor, "beautiful" young man who is "unable to love women", a wealthy, "ugly" old man manipulates him and his beauty to seduce and break the hearts of women, in particular the women who offended the old man in his youth. In the story, everyone, men or women, eventually falls in love with the young man one way or another, almost becoming a farcical (gay) harem towards the end. It is a controversial work and a challenge to read, not just because of the sheer length, density and subject matter, but primarily because of the emotional ambivalence and lack of resolution which, in retrospect, are hallmarks of Mishima's aesthetics. Not being a member of the LBGTQ+ community, I am unable to comment on the context or accuracy of the events or physical and social challenges of the characters. In 2025, some progress have been made in more liberal societies to make this book a historical document, but sadly it remains gruesomely relevant in other parts of the world. No colours should be forbidden. Let people love, that's what I will say.

"Kamen no Kokuhaku" (Confessions of a Mask, 1949) by Yukio Mishima

One of Mishima's earliest novels, written when he was 24, "Confessions of a Mask 仮面の告白" is a so-called watakushi-shousetsu 私小説, in which the author makes real-life confessions in the form of a fiction. These works often blur the boundaries between fiction and reality and it is a fascinating genre in Japanese literature. It was the first Mishima work that I read and eventually I had to revisit it after going through his later works. It is now hailed as an LBGTQ+ classic. Indeed, on first read, it is an acute psycho-analysis on a youth's realisation and acceptance of his homosexuality, depicting in great detail the thought process as well as various physical manifestations. There is always too much to unpack from the excessively verbose prose. Re-reading it at the end, one marvels at how prophetic it is on the author's life. All the features of Mishima's oeuvre are here right at the beginning - ancient Greek aesthetics, infatuation towards physical and conceptual beauty, extreme political views, ultra-conservative patriotism, thirst of blood and death, religious obsession with bushidou 武士道 and the ritual of seppuku 切腹 - either hinted at or fleshed out completely. Whether or not one agrees with any of these sentiments, it is immediately obvious that we are looking at a highly complex and conflicted individual who requires some serious attention from readers looking for an intellectual challenge. More earth-shattering works are to come, but this early short fiction has stood the test of time and deservedly holds a special place in all of literature.

Yukio Mishima Special: Foreword

Today is the centenary of the birth of Yukio Mishima, the prolific and controversial Japanese author who (in)famously staged a coup and committed the ritual of seppuku in the name of patriotism in 1970. An author of extremes, his works stimulate the senses, challenge the intellect and are political explosive. His proses are often encyclopaedically overwritten, covering anything from underground social activities to ancient religious beliefs, reflecting on Western civilisation while emphasising on the Oriental, leaving the readers much food for thought but little room for debate. Like I did with his mentor and friend Yasunari Kawabata in 2017, over the next few posts, I will be sharing with you a selection of novels written by this fascinating, highly knowledgeable and surprisingly ultra-conservative individual. One does not need to agree with everything he writes, but his writings certainly give a shock to the system. Working with IG/FB word limits, I won't have the resources for deep analysis, but descriptions of the books should be more than sufficient. Fasten the seatbelt.


Mishima 100 website:
https://mishima100.jp/