I must admit, this wasn't my favourite collection of writings, with a lot of the writing within this focussing heavily on very simple concepts. The quality was varied depending on the text in question and I didn't feel like there was a coherent structure to the book - rather, people just wrote things and they got put in the same volume. I'll still probably try to read future volumes, I was just a bit disappointed in my first try but having read reviews of other volumes, this appears to be an abnormality.

<i>Thank you to NetGalley for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review, which I leave voluntarily</i>.

I'm a huge fan of Monkey and it was a delight to be able to preview this issue in Netgalley. The quality of the pieces included varies, but overall it's a very strong effort. Well worth a read for anyone interested in Japanese literature.

This is my first book in the Monkey series, and it contained some of my favourite authors from Japan. Over all I considered it a good read but not a great one. The collections seems rather disjointed to me and doesn't seem to follow a theme as I had expected it too.

I shall probably try a future release, s other reviews seem to suggest this book is not indicative of the series.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for providing me with an earc in exchange for an honest review.

Obviously, Monkey was a very popular and highly appreciated magazine for us to discover new Japanese writing and I love this edition a lot too. From various authors short stories ans having to read many different topics open my eyes on the diversity and uniqueneas each of these pieces

I love anthologies and short stories so this really appealed to me however I just couldn’t get into it all. Thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read it.

This was such a fascinating read and I absolutely love this one. It is also my first time reading a Japanese translated literary journal so I didn’t know what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this.

The writing is so beautiful and I was introduced to many different writers and translators and was exposed to all the variety of writing styles. Reading this just made me appreciate Japanese so much more and I am so thankful to the wonderful translators for their hard work otherwise I would have completely miss out on this.

Thank you Netgalley and Stone Bridge Press for the arc.

The following review will be published on Japonica in the next week (https://medium.com/japonica-publication.) Thank you for the opportunity to review this wonderful book.

The best thing about heading to a buffet for dinner is the opportunity to sample a little bit of everything. Some of the offerings are wonderful, some merely okay, and some will remain mostly uneaten on the plate.
 
The same is true of any anthology of literature, and Monkey - New Writing from Japan Vol. 3 is eclectic as they come. This yearly anthology of contemporary Japanese writing translated into English by leading translators provides a few morsels of everything: short stories, poetry, essays, a chapter of a non-fiction book, a graphic narrative, even a Noh play. All illustrated in gorgeous 4 color print. 

Would I pick up a full book of Noh plays? To be honest, probably not, not even one from my favorite translator, Jay Rubin. But one play - sure. That would be something new and different, even if the story is more than 600 years old.

This collection is volume 3 in the annual Monkey anthology. The series is collected and edited by Ted Goossen and Motoyuki Shibata. The current series was preceded by 7 volumes of Monkey Business. 

This volume is collected around the theme of crossings, which unlike volume 1: food and volume 2: travel is a pretty loose concept that can and does encompass just about anything. 

For many people, the main attraction will be the short story, "Creta Kano" by Haruki Murakami, translated by Gitte Hansen.

The story, first published in 1990 and translated for the first time here, is about a woman raped by every man who sees her and is eventually murdered. This is one of only four stories by Murakami featuring a female narrator. The main character of this story, Creta Kano, later makes an appearance in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.

The Murakami story isn't bad, and the translation is wonderful, but neither is it one of Murakami's best. If you're only looking for another work by Murakami, this probably isn't the right book for you. 

What makes this anthology worth reading by everyone with an interest in Japanese literature is the wide range of different materials. It offers a sampling of some of the most popular contemporary writers to find ones to dig into.

What also makes this collection somewhat unique is a focus as much on the translator as the author. There is even a section at the end where each translator writes about how to render the author's unique voice. As Asa Yonda states: 

You need only look at two different translations of a text to see how individual two translator-readers' impressions of the same piece can be, and to understand that the voice you're reading really is the translator's.

Most books put together by a publisher to sell copies feature the writer and hide the name of the translator in small print. This collection was put together by translators to highlight their favorite materials regardless of commercial prospects. The intimate collaboration between writers and translators makes this book especially appealing to anyone who has struggled to translate Japanese into English. 

My personal favorites of the collection included the short story, "Someday with the One, the Perfect Bag" by Kaori Fujino, translated by Laurel Taylor. A woman disappears leaving behind thousands of unique handbags that each have to find their perfect owner.

I also loved "Lost and Found Babies", written by Eli K.P. William. Set in Tokyo, the narrator searches for the lost and found department for things lost at the lost and found. This was brilliant, especially when the department itself was lost.

Having dealt with Japanese bureaucracy on many occasions, I really enjoyed the short story "Mysterious Deaths, The Formula, Electricians, Prohibitions" by Hiromi Kawakami, translated by Ted Goossen. An investigation of the history of a town leads the narrator to discover annoying laws being promulgate by horned beetles in the basement of city hall for the sole purpose of aggravating humans. Kafka, with a sense of humor.

But the highlight of the collection for me was "The Little Woods in Fukushima", an except from the full-length book by Zero F by Hideo Furukawa, translated by Kendall Heitzman. 

Furukawa writes about his family of mushroom farmers in Fukushima and everything that happened before and after the disaster. This personal story brings the rural region of Fukushima into focus and adds a human face to the tragic events. I'm looking forward to reading the full book and thankful for this collection for bringing it to my attention.

If I have one criticism of Monkey, it's that all of the short stories feel like Murakami. Perhaps that's the state of modern Japanese writing, or simply that many of the translators here have ties to Murakami and selected works with a similar feel. 

While I enjoy Murakami, I wish there were more contemporary novelists emulating the humor of Soseki, the gonzo grittiness of Sakaguchi, or the psychological portails of Tanizaki. Instead, all the stories have an absurdist, disconnected feel where everything happens for unknown reasons. Or perhaps that's simply a reflection of modern Japanese society where people toil at jobs they have no interest in and follow absurd rules promulgated by unseen bureaucrats with no way to protest other than through literature.

Monkey or Monkey Business of old is an incredible gateway into Japanese literature and fiction. This edition as with previous ones has the perfect mix of well known writers and lessee known ones which is great. Loved it and can't wait to get a hard copy.

MONKEY New Writing from Japan
Volume 3: CROSSINGS
by Ted Goossen, editor and Motoyuki Shibata, editor
Pub Date 10 Jan 2023
Stone Bridge Press
General Fiction (Adult) | Literary Fiction | Multicultural Interest


I am reviewing a copy of Monkey: New Writing from Japan Volume 3: Crossings and Netgalley:



Monkey, New Writing from Japan is an annual anthology that brings anthology to English readers. This volume, the third is a celebration Transitioning Out of the Pandemic, we are inspired by stories of transformation and the joyful play between Japanese and Western literatures.


MONKEY offers short fiction and poetry by writers such as Mieko Kawakami, Haruki Murakami, Hiromi Kawakami, and Aoko Matsuda; a graphic narrative by Satoshi Kitamura; and contributions from Stuart Dybek and Matthew Sharpe.



I give Monkey five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

Monkey is an anthology collection of essays and poems on Japanese literature and releases a volume annually.

The eighth piece is a favourite and I’d like to find a full translation of the entire report and continue reading it. I’d love to hear more from the people of Fukushima and how the nuclear melt down affected their lives from many different perspectives.

The eleventh piece, Lost and Found Babies, was really interesting. I think I’d like to read a fully fleshed out version of that one, it was quite mind bending and the mc kind of fell down a rabbit hole, and I loved it.

I rated each piece separately and worked out an overall average rating of 4 stars. Overall, I really enjoyed this! I would recommend reading the pieces sporadically rather than trying to read them all one after the other in one sitting. But I think a lot of people would enjoy this!

Rep - Japanese (authors); Trans (Kuze, MTF, #4); Disability (leg injury, chronic sinusitis, asthma #8); They/Them (Mehsa #9); Gay (Matsuo Takahashi #15)

Tropes - Unreliable narrator (Malig, #9)

TWs/CWs - Ableism; Abortion; Alcohol; Animal Death; Beheading; Blood; Bugs; Cancer; Corpse; Cults (mentioned); Death; Death of a loved one; Disembowelment; Divorce; Domestic Abuse; Drugs (mentioned); Earthquake; Infertility; Medical Detail; Misogyny; Natural disasters; Nuclear Meltdown; Pandemic; Polio; Pregnancy; Rape; Sex; Sexual Harassment (mentioned); Stroke; Suicide (mentions); Tsunami; Vomit; War

I look forward now every year to the new issue of Monkey. The previous 2 issues in its new incarnation were really enjoyable, with a strong theme that held everything together. This one, with the theme of 'Crossings', felt a little looser and some of the stories/content were a little vague in holding the theme together. Nonetheless, the variety and range of the content makes it a really interesting read. 3.5 to 4 stars.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

An absolute delight to read and travel with these writers through an anthology of stories.
I will be seeking out other volumes of Monkey - New writing from Japan.

Thank you to Stone Bridge Press and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
MONKEY New Writing from Japan aims to introduce contemporary Japanese writers to English audiences accompanied by splendid translations. This collection focuses on post-pandemic reflections. There are a range of genres covered here from short stories to noh play excerpts to haikus and even an illustrated story. There are a variety of plots and characters introduced and it would have been great to see some of the shorter stories given more space to expand on the narratives.

Many thanks to Stone Bridge Press and Netgalley for the advance copy of the anthology in exchange for an honest review.

MONKEY New Writing from Japan, is one of my favorite annual anthologies. Edited by Ted Goosen and Motoyuki Shibata, this Volume 3: Crossings is filled with beautiful selections of fiction and poetry from the most talented authors of contemporary Japanese literature. It's purely amazing to have access to the works of Japanese authors such as Haruki Murakami, Hiroko Oyamada, Mieko Kawakami, Hideo Furukawa, Hiromi Kawakami, Aoko Matsuda, and so on, since non-Japanese speakers/readers may not have access to them anywhere else.

A beautiful treat for contemporary Japanese literature lovers everywhere.

Exceptional short stories, plays, poems and artwork … a delight to read. Every creative story in the collection kept you interested in the outcome. A well put together and highly recommended read.

While I appreciate another anthology of new writing from Japan, I found little in this volume to love. But that is just me, personally, and the upside of anthologies is the thought that perhaps every reader will find their own particular jewel and go on to explore the writer whose work they've enjoyed. Keep them coming, MONKEY!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this anthology.

To be honest, I was a bit disappointed with this collection. It isn't my first time reading MONKEY, but if it was, I doubt I'd be compelled to pick up another. The theme of "Crossings: Transitioning Out of the Pandemic" didn't come across clearly in the included works, and some of them were just kind of awful (by most standards, I'd say...I'm looking at you Murakami).

I did enjoy some of the nature poetry (especially Awajijo Takahashi's haiku), and the illustrations were nice. Sadly, I don't think that's enough to recommend this collection.

My thanks to Netgally and the publisher Stone Bridge Press, for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. All opinions are my own,

Monkey New Writing from Japan was such a treat to read. I loved discovering a few new authors and reading work from known authors (Kawakami, Murakami, etc.) I really loved the nature poetry.

Anthologies are always tricky to review - there are some things that you love and other that you don’t. That said, most of the 23 entries didn’t grab me and given the sexual content of this volume, it’s for over 18s only.
- Makoto Takayanagi’s The Graffiti was the standout story about a world slowly taken over by alien graffiti - think If Cats Disappeared from the World as a short story
- The first chapter from Hideo Furukawa’s Zero F was fascinating in its look at the very human fallout from the Fukushima disaster through the eyes of his own family’s shiitake mushroom farm. I’d love to read the whole book.
- Satoshi Kitamura’s The Cave is a sweet interlude short graphic story and lovely to look at
- The nature poetry selections were evocative and most have both the Japanese and translation on the same page if you want to practice your Japanese
- Murakami’s and Mieko Kawakami’s entries were let-downs and I agree with another reviewer that Creta Kano is a very problematic story in its victim blaming/shaming

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I was fortunate to read an ARC of Monkey volume 2 and once I saw volume 3 was available I had to request it. This time I was a bit disappointed in the selection. I got really upset about Murakami's "Creta Kano". I understand it was written in 1989 but it's just so bad. UTTER TRASH. He can't write and shouldn't write from a woman's perspective. It's quite frankly offensive (and I've read his major works: Norwegian Wood, 1Q84 (Aomame is another botched female character), Killing Commendatore, which is the only one I really enjoyed).

*SPOILER ALERT*
Creta basically states that she always gets raped and she can't go out of the house. So she lives with her sister. She also thinks "it's partly her fault"!!!!!!!! because she looks like a victim. Wtf.
Then she gets raped and killed in the end. What on earth was the point of this story?! I feel like there should have been a warning or explanation attached to this piece. I honestly felt the editors should have left this story out. I know he's a big author and has his fanbase but this really brought down the quality of the collection.
*SPOILER END*

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.