Japan – Susan Hated Literature

12 APR

The cat who walked a thousand miles

reread in April, 2018 and loved it just as much.

A long time ago in Japan, when cats were new there, an earthquake shook Small Cat’s home, and her city caught fire. In escaping the fire she ran too far from her home and her fudoki. “The fudoki was the collection of stories about all the cats who had lived in a place. It described what made it a home, and what made the cats a family.” In fleeing the fire the Small Cat gets lost in the city but decides to follow the story of her aunts, The Cat Who Came From the North. And so she heads North. But she goes too far and soon is so far from home that she thinks she will never find her way to her fudoki again.

23 SEP

Fudoki

Princess Harueme is dying. She can feel it, a great weight inside her, so she is preparing for death. Emptying out old trunks, burning the notebooks she has spent a lifetime filling. Reading old letters and poems, remembering her life, and, because she has found so many blank notebooks writing a story. The story of […]

18 MAY

Godzilla

Is there a point to me doing a quick recap of a Godzilla movie plot? I mean, you all know that Godzilla means monsters and destruction, possibly Japan, and possible monster fights, right? That’s all there in the title. So what does this film add to the whole Godzilla mythology? Well, it does have Bryan […]

13 NOV

Kafka on the Shore

trans from the Japanese: Philip Gabriel ISBN: 0099494094 ; Mental mayhem ; Mindspill “So you’re all set for money, then?” the boy named Crow asks in his characteristic sluggish voice. The kind of voice you have when you’ve just woken up and your mouth still fells heavy and dull. But he’s just pretending. He’s totally […]

13 JUL

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

Car go fast. Car go bang. And look, pretty girls in short skirts. Come on, that’s all you were expecting right? I mean, yes I enjoyed the first film, way back when. But it was nonsense. I avoided the second because I was afraid of a Paul Walker overdose. But I’ve been a fan of […]

03 FEB

Memoirs of a Geisha [based on book]

In short, this is a film that is pretty to look at, but boring to watch. Okay, I’ll say a bit more about it: Memoirs of a Geisha has been somewhat controversial. Some people complained about casting Chinese actors in the roles of Japanese women. And recently China banned it because, well I suppose because […]

21 JUL

1610: A Sundial In A Grave

ISBN: 0575072504 According to the mathematic calculations of the Hermetic astrologer Robert Fludd, 1610 is the pivotal year in deciding the world’s future. It is the year that the King of England must die. And as his assassin he picks Valentin Rochefort, spy and duellist of no-little fame in France. He is also responsible for […]

13 JAN

The Last Samurai

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I went to see this film. Sure Japanese swords, fights and Tom Cruise, but apart from the basic plot, which is American soldier with troubled past goes to Japan and finds himself, I did not know what to look forward to. And now that I have seen it I don’t really know what to say. Read more about The Last Samurai …