After all, The Inugami Clan…

Time flies! It has been already close to one year since I was noisy about the remake of The Inugami Clan movie. My right eye has still not completely recovered yet. However, if I wait for it to recover, I might end up back in the hospital; the anxiety gave me a shove, and we went to see the 2006 version of The Inugami Clan at the movie theatre.

21 December 2006 | Text

Forty Years of Detective Stories (4)

It was very hard to get western books from 1937 to 1945. After the war, there were books left by American soldiers at used book stores in Kanda, and the American army opened a library; however, for some reason, the Kanda book stores couldn’t handle books from the Occupation forces after 1946. And it was also impossible for people to import books by themselves.

28 March 2006 | Text

Forty Years of Detective Stories (3)

World War II had a big effect on Rampo, too. First of all, his style of story was incompatible with militarism. His stories failed to pass the censors, and his publishers also gave up on reprints, so he couldn’t expect any income from royalties. Detective writers had to channel their strengths in other fields, such as science stories, war stories, and spy stories. But there was no such path open to Edogawa Rampo.

18 March 2006 | Text

Forty Years of Detective Stories (2)

In 1923, Rampo made his professional debut ‘Nisen dôka’ (The Two Sen Copper Coin); in 1925, he became a full-time writer. He later thought this was his best time as a writer, but he felt his novelist’s power had been exhausted during those two years; so, in 1927, he first announced his intention to stop writing.

17 March 2006 | Text

Forty Years of Detective Stories (1)

…but it isn’t about myself: Forty Years of Detective Stories is the title of a two-volume collection of essays by Edogawa Rampo which we bought recently (volumes 28 and 29 of the new Kôbunsha edition of his collected works). We bought volumes 24 to 30 of the Kôbunsha edition (seven volumes of Rampo essays) the most recent of which was published in February this year.

16 March 2006 | Text

The visual side of Japanese gothic

The dominant colours: black and red; the kimono patterns: vivid. Ninety percent Japanese and ten percent western sense; although, in Rampo’s case, I guess the western sense was more prominent. But even when people wore western dress, they never lost the Japanese sensibility.

28 January 2006 | Text

‘Kurotoka—ge!’ (The Black Lizard)

At last, an English translation of Edogawa Rampo’s Kurotokage (The Black Lizard) and Injû (Beast in the Shadows) has been published by Kurodahan Press! And Chris was the editor and did the book design for it! In the past, I couldn’t find books like this when I wanted to, but now you can read mid-length Edogawa Rampo stories in English!

23 January 2006 | Text