The Briefcase - Hiromi Kawakami

 Second contemporary Japanese female writer.  Story of the development of a hesitant relationship between a woman and her former teacher, who meet by accident in a bar.  Sensei is 25 to 30 years older than her.  Like Yashimoto's book, there is a dominant theme of female character's alienation and sense of not belonging within the general society.  The story can also be interpreted as a look at people within society who do not fit the accepted molds or roles.  Given the amount of time characters spend getting drunk in the book, there is also a sense that the society as a whole is quite repressed and strained, and alcohol is used to loosen the strictures imposed by social norms. 

I also see traces of Murakami's influence in this book, with strange surrealistic sequences as part of the narrative.  In this book however, the surrealistic elements are presented as dreams of the characters. 

The Lake - Banana Yoshimoto

 Contemporary Japanese woman author.

Strange little book about an alienated young woman drifting through her life, having recently moved to Tokyo.  Also includes a male character who was traumatized by his childhood in a strange religious cult. 

Currently, Japanese women authors are getting a lot of attention/publication.  I am interested in looking at why:  what themes, commonalities?

So far, I am guessing they are writing as a group that has been marginalized in Japanese male-oriented society.  Not so much looking for their place, but expressing their feeling of alienation living within the strictures of the dominant social structure.

Wind/Pinball - Haruki Murakami

 Two of Murakami's first works, both novellas.  Interesting from a development perspective.  One of them (I forget which) is basically an autobiographical piece about his life right around when he decided to write novels, and also an explanation of the completely random way in which he decided to become a writer, and his first steps in finding his own particular style (turns out he first started to try writing in English and liked the simplified, pared down result, which he then translated into a writing technique in Japanese)

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage - Haruki Murakami

 Fairly straight-forward plot - an early life trauma, its effects and the final quest to untie the knots.  Perhaps a look at how great a distance there can be between our memory or image of reality and the actual reality itself.

Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami

 An earlier book by Murakami.  Like all his books, the plot is continually unraveling out in left field somewhere.   A mix of daily grit and occult with some parallels to Greek mythology thrown in - Hades, trips to the land of death.  The characters are unusual well- developed.  Especially the old man, Nakata, grows on you - in his mental simplicity, he has almost a Zen character.   The nominal theme would seem to be about the search for identity and the sense of self, but there are other threads - nature of time and death, the act of reading, the shallowness of most social constructs we live by.  

Worth a reread.

Killing Commendatore - Haruki Murakami

Another strange book from Murakami.  Such a mix of things - traditional Japanese art crossed with opera; caves, pits and tunnels like some neolithic religious or birth ritual, a pursuit of a girl into what seems basically to be the Greek land of the dead with the River Styx and the boatman,  underground plots to assassinate Nazi officers, impregnation through dreams - really a bit of everything.
The main character is a painter, and there are some great descriptions of the creative process behind his paintings. 
As in his last book, you go the whole way round to end up back where you started - a separated couple getting back together.
A unique author.

Les cahiers japonais - Igort

Un autre B.D. par Igort.  Il raconte son obsession avec le Japon et le B.D. japonais, et comment il a fini par travailler dans l'industire Manga (Il est l'auteur d'une célèbre série manga).  Cela lui donne aussi l'excuse d'explorer différents aspects de l'art japonais.  Il y a aussi quelques reflections sur la culture japonaise.  Bien dessiné mais son livre sur la Russie et L'Ukraine est toujours le meilleur.

Why Nations Fail - Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson

A brilliant analyses of the state of many of the world's countries based on the nature of the economic and political structures within the country, and also the relationship between the two.
They analyze many examples to back up their central ideas.
They analyze both economics and governments based on two polar opposites which are different aspects of the same dichotomy.  Economically, there are inclusive or extractive structures operating.  Politically, there are inclusive or exclusive/oligarchic/dictatorial structures in place.  Inclusive economic structures encourage the dispersion of wealth through society, extractive structures concentrate wealth at the top.  Inclusive structures encourage innovation, economic renewal/evolution and competition.  Exclusive structures discourage investment and promote stasis and stagnation, as change threatens the economic and political elite.  Same for exclusive/inclusive political structures. Oligarchic or dictatorial political structures can promote strong short-term growth as they can dictate where resources, both financial and human, are directed.  The growth does not last, though, because of the tendency towards stasis and economic stagnation to guard positions of privilege.
They analyze various political and economic structures - colonialism and post-colonial government and economics, Stalin, Britain, China, and others - within their parameters, and a lot of it makes sense.  I find I am seeing current events and history in a different light using these concepts.

There are also several sections on a question that has puzzled me for quite some time - how the British ended up developing this particular democratic system in combination with a strong economy.  An interesting read.

Some other ideas worth considering - the importance of a centralized state as a prerequisite for inclusive economic and political structures.  Centralized states can go both ways, but without centralized power there is no chance for inclusive structures.  Everything is just chaos and infighting.

Another is the sheer chance of Britain and Europe developing the systems they now have.  They talk about critical historical junctures, or moments of possible conflict - which forces win is not a forgone conclusion.   If you are lucky, the inclusive forces win and life improves for most people.  If not...
It also makes you realize that the continued existence of inclusive structures and economies is not a given; they can be slowly eroded by small changes in laws and regulations - I think you see this happening to a degree in the U.S. for the past decade or two.

The ideas in this book also make you realize the enormous difficulties of changing exclusive structures in failed and failing states, as these structures often have very deep historical roots.  Our current structures are the result of centuries of slow change and growth - it is close to impossible to impose these in a country in a short time, especially if the elites benefit from the existing exclusive structures.

Another idea that strikes me is that most people on the planet live in extractive economic structures of varying degrees, and with no real political or social power.  I can't imagine what it is like to live in a society where you are seen as something to be exploited (labour, taxes) and where the government has absolutely no care taking function.  Pirate states...

Dance Dance Dance - Haruki Murakami

Not sure where I picked up the reference to this author - wish I could, as the novel was quite quirky and a good read.  Murakami is a modern Japanese author who seems to have been strongly influenced stylistically and tonally by the noir genre of American detective novels.  While the main character is not a detective, he spends most of the book trying to unravel a mystery, or series of linked mysteries introduced into his life through some kind of paranormal experience.   There is something of the Paul Auster mysteries in this book, but it is more disturbing and unpredictable, less of a philosophical or existential exercise.

It's hard to say in any sense what the book is really about, either story-wise or theme-wise.  It hangs together though, partly as a look at some kind of life experience existing beneath or outside the normal surfaces of existence.  Almost like some kind of parallel universe.  I suspect I may have gotten the reference from Robert Anton Wilson, as there is something of the idea of reality tunnels at the heart of this book.

I would like to find more by this author to see if he carries through with this approach.