Living Japan: Essays on Everyday Life in Contemporary Japan

This volume forms a unique and remarkable enterprise in the context of contemporary Japanese literature, social studies and the nature of Japanese society. It comprises 70 essays by private individuals living in Japan today (members of a writing club) who have chosen a subject to write about with a view to projecting a genuine insight into the events, issues and aspirations that make them who they are - from life in a condominium to dealing with in-laws, early retirement and life after children. Edited and introduced by the distinguished best-selling author Harumi Kimura (winner of the Ohya non-fiction prize for her book 'Letters from Twilight London'), the book's objective is to make 'Japan'more accessible to the nonspecialist general reader and provide a counter-balance to Western media images and reporting as well as conventional academic theory and observation about modern Japanese society. By definition, it also offers an invaluable primary source for scholarly reference.

Harumi Kimura is Professor Emeritus of Kyoritsu Women’s University. She graduated from the postgraduate school of Tokyo University of Education with a Master of Arts (English and American Literature) and has published many academic essays in English and Japanese. She stayed in London from 1974 to 1975 and her first book Letters from London at twilight was awarded the eighth Ohya Soichi Non-fiction Award. Since then she has been active as a writer and journalist in various fields. She is president of the KEG (Kimura Harumi Essayists’ Group), which has published many books of essays.