About "Japan Earthquake Charity Literature" and "Charity project by Waseda-Bungaku"

The earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11th 2011 claimed the lives of more than 15,000 people, displaced many more times that number from their homes, schools and workplaces, and triggered a nuclear accident whose effects are sure to last for decades.

These unprecedented events have forced people in Japan to think and act in new ways. We recognize our responsibility to mourn the dead and do what we can to help the people whose lives have been turned upside down. We realize that we are victims ourselves – both of the short to mid-term damage from the earthquake and the long-term damage from the nuclear accident. We cannot escape the fact that we are somehow responsible for the effects that the contamination from the nuclear accident will have on current and future generations both at home and abroad.

In towns where street lights and neon signs have been dimmed and where air-conditioning and the number of trains running have been reduced, everyone – regardless of whether they were directly affected or not – has been thinking about what they can do as well as what it means to use nuclear energy.

Writers are no exception. J.P. Sartre once famously asked what literature can do for starving children. Each one of us began to ask ourselves similar questions: What can we write or not write? What can and should we be doing other than writing? What is it that we really have to offer?

The damage wrought by the disaster and the reconstruction process that followed on the one hand, and the accident at the nuclear power plant on the other, each raised issues that had to be thought about quite separately.

In responding to the first, we searched for words to mourn the dead and encourage survivors who were trying to get back on their feet. Some tried to write pieces that would bring solace to these survivors, while others composed requiems, just as Shoyo Tsubouchi, one of the founders of Modern Japanese literature, did in 1923 following the Great Kanto Earthquake. It is often said that "authors always arrive last". Some made a conscious decision not to write, choosing instead to write about these events as history one day. There were those who questioned the value of writing fiction, while others did not hesitate to write when asked to do so. Some considered it their duty as a writer not to be moved by it all and chose to go on as always with daily life.

It was (and continues be) terribly difficult to find the words to offer those who have been directly affected by the disaster. Faced with the continuing effects of the nuclear accident, some shed tears thinking of the people in Fukushima they had grown up with; others joined demonstrations calling for the government and the electricity company to be held responsible for their mismanagement; still others began to rethink the way they had lived, dependent on electricity supplied by nuclear power; and some even called for the need to reevaluate the Modern Era that had 'progressed' in that direction.

Such reactions naturally extended beyond the borders of Japan. We all imagined, lamented, and felt anger at the thought of the many devastating disasters that have shaken our world, the accidents that all kinds of technologies have caused, and similar events that are sure to happen again in the future, as if they were happening to our neighbors, our friends, and to ourselves. We think of Hemingway rushing to Madrid with rifle in hand to report on the Spanish Civil War as we head to Fukushima armed with (not rifles) but buckets and shovels.

But for those of us who make a living by writing, it is clear that the biggest contribution we can make is through doing what we do. (Standing in front of a mound of rubble and debris with shovels, we are far less useful than local high school students.) Although they have used different methods and approaches, all the authors who participated in this project chose to try to do something for the areas and people affected through their writing. They all struggled in different ways as they wrote these short pieces that have been made available in English through the efforts of a number of translators.

This program aims to give serious thought to the disaster and accident, then bring these words that were born, directly or indirectly, through this thought process, to people across the world. We hope that after reading these texts you will choose to make a donation to the Red Cross in Japan or in your country or another charity.

We hope that these pieces, written for ourselves as much as for anyone else, will reach people around the world, and eventually, in some small way, also serve to help the people in Northern Japan who are now working hard to rebuild their lives.
September 11, 2011
Makoto Ichikawa (literary critic / director of The WASEDA bungaku)
translated by David  Karashima
 

How to purchase the Waseda Bungaku charity contents

On behalf of the East Japan earthquake that occurred on March 11th 2011, Waseda Bungaku has organized a charity project that has gathered free of charge, newly published stories by contemporary Japanese writers. These publications are issued domestically through e-book and all sales have been donated to the beneficial use of the disaster victims.

Literary works have been contributed by Hideo Furukawa, Kazushige Abe, Mieko Kawakami, Toh EnJoe, Shin Fukunaga, Yasuhisa Yoshikawa, Jungo Aoki, Aoko Matsuda, Sayaka Murata, Fuminori Nakamura, Akio Nakamori, Furukuri Kinoshita, Mayuko Makita, Maki Kashimada and Kiyoshi Shigematsu. Author profiles, contributed short stories and essays can be found at the following URL (All stories are downloadable in PDF format).

Downloaded PDF files will be issued for a limited period of time until March 2012. Posting URLs through e-mail or copying issues onto secondary distribution is　permitted. (All sales, commercial enterprises and reproduction on any printed media by third parties other than the publisher, the writer or individuals whose permissions are granted by the writer, is prohibited.　In addition, all data alteration is prohibited).

Readers of these stories would be greatly appreciated for voluntary donations to the Japanese Red Cross Society bank account, global Red Cross Societies and to organizations supporting natural disaster relief. In case of data transfer, we suggest you send us notification beforehand.

Kazushige Abe "RIDE ON TIME" (click to download) Translated by Michael Emmerich
Born in Yamagata 1968. He graduated from the Japan Academy of Moving Images. 　In 1994, his novel "Amerika (America) no Yoru" was awarded the Gunzo Prize for New Writers, which was chosen by a committee members including Kojin Karatani, whom at the time had considerable influence in the Japanese literary scene. 　Since then, he has established himself as a literary pioneer and in 2004 with his full-length novel "Sin-semilla", he has received the 'Itō Sei Prize for Literature (Itō Sei Bungaku Shō)' and the 'Mainichi Publishing Culture Award'. In 2005, he won the 'Akutagawa Prize (Akutagawa Ryūnosuke Shō)' which is the most renowned literary award in Japan, for his novel "Grand Finale". 　His most recent work, "Pistils" achieved the 'Tanizaki Prize (Tanizaki Jun'ichirō Shō)' and has constantly earned high compliments.
Hideo Furukawa "Poola's Return" 　(click to download) Translated by Satoshi Katagiri
Born in 1966. He dropped out of Waseda University. He has been an active stage director while still in college, and began his career as a novelist in 1998. In 2002, with the novel "The Arabian Nightbreeds" he received both the 'Mystery Writers of Japan Award' and the 'Japan SF Grand Prize (Nihon SF Taisho)' 　Initially, he was better known as a mystery and science fiction writer, yet gradually by 2006, on achieving the 'Mishima Prize(Mishima Yukio Sho)' with the novel "LOVE", he emerged as a avant garde / experimental writer, collaborating with the likes of dancers, becoming a young writer worthy of attention in the art scene. Critics have praised him as, "In spite of all his various work style and experimentalism, the end results are somehow easy to comprehend and that is where his exceptional talent lies". 　With the current East Japan Earth quake, he has been invited from New York, along with other various regions, as the native writer of the disaster-stricken area.
Mieko Kawakami "March Yarn" 　(click to download) Translated by Michael Emmerich
Born in Osaka in 1976. In 2007, she made her debut with the novel “Watakushiritsu in Ha - matawa Sekai”. This novel was widely recognized as it became the nominee for the most renowned award in Japan, the ‘Akutagawa Prize (Akutagawa Ryunosuke Sho)’. She won this award with the novel, “Chichi to Ran”. 　She was described as “Depicting objects with shapes in front of her eyes, like the touch of the hand, trailing her finger tips through them, with her very own stroke of gest. While she appears to be freewheeling, in truth her ability to weave the words with the utmost care is quite remarkable”. She is also active as a singer and a poet. She was awarded the ‘Nakahara Chuya Award (Nakahara Chuya Sho)’ in 2009, with her poetry collection “Sentan de Sasuwa Sasareruwa Soraewa”. Her first full length novel “Heaven” won the ‘the award of the Ministry of Education,Culture,Sports,Science and Technology (Geijutsu Sensho Monbukagakudaijinn Sinjinsho)’ and the ‘Murasaki Shikibu Award (Murasakishikibu Sho)’. 　She is widely recognized as the most sought after writer in Japan today.
Shin Fukunaga "Almost Everything in the World" (click to download) Translated by Michael Emmerich
Born in Tokyo 1972. He dropped out of the Kyoto University of Art and Design. 　He began his career in 1998 when he published the novel "Yomioete" and with the release of "Acrobat Zenya" in 2001, he brought the horizontal writing style, uncommon in conventional Japanese novel writing, to the literary world. Whereas the reader usually starts reading at the top of the 1st page and 1st sentence, the reader is eventually lead to the final page, further on the reader is lead back to the 2nd sentence of the very 1st page, zigzagging through an unusual sight of the readers eyes. 　He has collaborated with artists in many projects, writing art reviews, publishing works that constantly redefine the contextual perspectives of story telling.  "Acrobat Zenya" has been described as, "What gives significance to these short stories are the writer's  imagination and rationality, manifesting some truth to the word of the title 'Acrobat'. It is herein we find the liberty of form in fiction writing".
Toh EnJoe "Silverpoint" 　(click to download) Translated by Jocelyne Allen
Toh EnJoe was born in Hokkaido in 1972. He carries a post-doctoral degree in the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. He made his debut into the world of literary novels with the story “Off the Baseball”. Around the same period, he entered the world of science fiction with “Self-Reference ENGINE”. He is considered as a writer capable of crossing various genres. 　In 2010 he released “Uyushitan” which received the ‘Noma Prize of Literature’, a newcomers award organized by Kodansha, Japan’s largest publisher. 　Tawada Yoko, a writer who spans both the German and Japanese literary scenes, writes that EnJoe is “A writer who extends his interests from the field of natural science onto contemporary poetry. He absorbs the far reaches of eastern and western culture, widening the terrains of various categories. In doing so, he questions our existence, through introducing the readers to an unconventional reality.”
Aoko Matsuda "Planting" 　(click to download) Translated by Angus Turvill
Aoko Matsuda was born in Hyogo in 1979. She graduated from Doshisha University Faculty of Letters, Department of English. She published her first novel in 2007. 　Her keen mixture of rhythmical spoken language and bookish sensibility suggests fresh possibilities for Japanese literature. Of her small number of publications to date, the short story in this collection is the first to be translated into English. She looks set to become one of Japan’s leading young authors.
Akio Nakamori "The Day the World Ends, We... 2011" 　(click to download) Translated by David Boyd
Born in Mie in 1960. He dropped out of Meiji University High School. He has been active as a columnist and as an editor for sub-culture related articles. He was widely regarded as one of the leading figures of the new herd of writers for the post-modern writing genre in Japan. Such writers include Professor of Religion, Shinichi Nakazawa and Philosopher Akira Asada. He is well known as the writer who popularized the word 'otaku' in the mass media, a word widely used around the world today. 　As a novelist, he portrayed the anarchist Sakae Osugi who was an activist in 1920’s Japan. He revived Osugi in the present age with the novel "Anarchy in the JP" published in 2010. It became a nominee for the 'Mishima Prize of Literature (Mishima Yukio shô)'. The novel was described as "A story written for every boy and girl living in the 21st century". 　He published a story in the 1980's called "Sekai no Owarini, Bokutachiwa..." which is included in the book "Tokyo Tongari Kids". In this novel he describes an end of the world image along with a sound track of popular music of that time period and a bicycle named Chernobyl. The story in this charity collection is a 2011 rewrite of this short novel.
Mayuko Makita "Signals" 　(click to download) Translated by Allison Markin Powell
Mayuko Makita was born in Kyoto in 1980. In 2007, she received an Encouragement Award from the enduring Bungakukai Newcomers' Prize for her short story, Isu. 　The story describes a protagonist in a state of ontological anxiety, engaged in dialogue with an unusual secondary character, observing themselves according to their own particular coordinates. Makita has not written much fiction, but the writing of this talented young author is eagerly anticipated in literary magazines.
Fuminori Nakamura "When the Earthquake Hit" 　(click to download) Translated by Michael Staley
Fuminori Nakamura was born in Aichi Prefecture in 1977. He debuted as a writer in 2002, when he won the Shincho Newcomers' Awardfor his novel Ju (A Gun). In 2004 he received the Noma Literary Prizefor New Writers, for Shako (Shade). And in 2005 he was awarded the Akutagawa Prize—Japan's most prestigious literary award for new writers. 　Within the short span of a few years, he has achieved much acclaim. In 2010 his novel Suri (The Thief) won the Kenzaburo Oe Prize, awarded by the Nobel Laureate himself. Oe described the novel as, "A work done by a writer who realizes the possibilities of introducing the contemporary perspective into the form of todays novel writing." 　Nakamura has been translated into various languages and The Thief will be published by Soho Press (N.Y.) in March 2012. (Photo by Shinji Kubo)
Jungo Aoki " Special Edition: Sack-toting Turtle Spotted in West Ikebukuro " 　(click to download) Translated by Ian MacDonald
Jungo Aoki was born in Saitama Prefecture in 1979 and graduated from Waseda University. In 2003 he received the literary journal Shincho’s New Writers Award for his novella “Forty Days and Forty Nights in Munich” (Yonjunichi to Yon-juya no Meruhen), which was republished in book form in 2005 together with the short story “On the Edge of the Crater” (Kureta No Hotoride). This book earned him the Noma Literary Newcomer’s Prize, sponsored by Kodansha, Japan’s largest publisher. An established fellow writer has praised Aoki as “the Japanese Thomas Pynchon.”
Yasuhisa Yoshikawa " SNOW DUSK, DEATH DUSK " 　(click to download) Translated by Lucy North
Yoshihisa Yoshikawa was born in 1951. He has a post-doctoral degree from Waseda University Graduate School of Letters, Arts and Sciences. Active as a translator and critic of contemporary Japanese and French literature, he started publishing novels relatively recently. In 2010 his novel "Kantai" was awarded the 'Kojima Nobuo Prize', an award named after one of the most important writers of Japan's post-war era. Yoshikawa's works of criticism include "Murakami Haruki & HARUKI MURAKAMI - Seishin Bunseki Suru Sakka" and "Deleuze, Sen no Bungaku" (both co-authored). His translated works include "Les Géorgiques" by Claude Simon.
Sayaka Murata " Lover on the Breeze " 　(click to download) Translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori
Born in Chiba in 1979 and graduated from Tamagawa University. In 2003, her novel Junyu (“Suckling”) received the Award for Excellence in the Gunzo Newcomers Awards sponsored by Kodansha, Japan’s largest publisher. This story, with its echoes of Beauvoir, has won her many fans. In it she depicts the sexual behaviors of human females, gradually moving towards a departure from the duality of the sexes with the emergence of “the third sex.” Her 2009 novel Gin-iro no uta (“A Silver Song”) won the Noma Prize for New Writers. The well-known writer Mitsuyo Kakuta commented that, “The central motifs of her novels may be appreciated by readers of all ages anywhere in the world.”
coming soon... Furukuri Kinoshita, Maki Kashimada & Kiyoshi Shigematsu