Jay Rubin is the famed translator who brings us, Haruki Murakami. Murakami even writes the introduction to these stories. Stories, apparently, even Murakami was not familiar with. Rubin continues to illuminate us with these Japanese short stories broken up into sections. They are not linear timelines but themed together in common Japanese stories. Language and Culture go hand and hand. I think there is no better way to understand the culture and people than through their fiction.

Japan and the West: Most of this section is taken up with the novella The Story of Tamoda and Matunaga whereas the narrator must find a woman's estranged husband. A man he has found has disappeared into western culture.

Loyal Warriors: Most of these stories focus on Samurai culture and the horror of Seppuku. These are very visceral and honor driven as well as graphic.

Men and Women: Dynamic of relationships from courting to old age. Key parts are the burden laid on the motehr that is acknowledged but love not returned. Particular true in The Smile of the Mountain Witch and A Bond for Two Lifetimes.

Nature and Memor: Nostalgia for the past, but what does it mean? Includes short story by Murakami.

Modern Life and other Nonsense: This one was a bit of a slog to get through. Modern life and their everyday drudgery are relatable in any culture, but equal parts boring.

Dread: Now we are getting into it. The weird, the strange, and the terrifying. Just three stories in this section, the longest being Hell Screen. How can you paint hell without having seen it? The emperor can make arrangements. Diseases turn people into sugar and other bizarre and dark happenings.

Disasters, Natural and Man-Made: This is the top. These are the best stories in the book. The destruction wrought by men, small and large. Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and more destruction. These are the stories that drew me to Japanese fiction in the first place. The work on the Hiroshima bomb was the best I have ever read on the topic. Occupation, Earthquakes, and Fukushima.

Japanese fiction can have a nihilistic strange viewpoint on the future. Natural Disasters create a vision that is surreal and post-apocalyptic. A sense of dread fills the works.

Overall, an amazing journey through Japanese short stories using themes instead of time period makes wonderful connections. An excellent introduction into the genre.

This is a stunning collection of Japanese short stories and shows, once again, the power of this form to both endure across and transcend different cultures.

The introduction by Murakami is worth a read in itself as he shares his thoughts on the form, on some of the stories here, and some others that he has found to hold well over time.

This should be a must-read for anyone interested in the short story and in Japanese culture.

A full review coming at PopMatters. Link will be added then.