John Bester
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John Bester
John Bester (1927-2010), born and educated in England, was one of the foremost translators of modern Japanese fiction. He was a Alumnus, graduate of the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies. Works * ''Classic Bonsai of Japan'' (New York: Kodansha International, 1989, ). Translations Among his translations are: * ''Masterworks of Ukiyo-e, Ukiyo-E: Utamaro'' by Muneshige Narazaki and Sadao Kikuchi (translation published in 1968). * ''Black Rain (novel), Black Rain'' by Masuji Ibuse (translation published in 1969). * ''Sun and Steel (essay), Sun and Steel'' by Yukio Mishima (autobiography, translation published in 1970). * ''The Waiting Years'' by Fumiko Enchi (translation published in 1971). * ''The Anatomy of Dependence'' by Takeo Doi (translation published in 1973). * ''The Silent Cry'' by Kenzaburō Ōe (translation published in 1974). * ''The Dark Room (Yoshiyuki novel), The Dark Room'' by Junnosuke Yoshiyuki (translation published in 1975). * ''The Relu ...
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England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It shares Anglo-Scottish border, a land border with Scotland to the north and England–Wales border, another land border with Wales to the west, and is otherwise surrounded by the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south, the Celtic Sea to the south-west, and the Irish Sea to the west. Continental Europe lies to the south-east, and Ireland to the west. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the population was 56,490,048. London is both List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, the largest city and the Capital city, capital. The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Paleolithic. It takes its name from the Angles (tribe), Angles, a Germanic peoples, Germanic tribe who settled du ...
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The Silent Cry
''The Silent Cry'' ( Japanese 万延元年のフットボール; ''Man'en gan'nen no futtoboru'', literally ''Football in the First Year of Man'en'') is a novel by Japanese author Kenzaburō Ōe, first published in Japanese in 1967 and awarded the Tanizaki Prize that year. Plot The novel tells the story of two brothers in the early 1960s: Mitsusaburo, the narrator, a one-eyed, married English professor in Tokyo; and his younger brother Takashi, who has just returned from the US. Mitsusaburo and his wife Natsumi have been through a series of crises. They left their physically and mentally handicapped baby in an institution, while Mitsusaburo's friend committed suicide (he painted his head crimson, inserted a cucumber in his anus and hanged himself). Natsumi has become an alcoholic. Mitsusaburo leaves his job and they all travel to the brothers' home village, set in a hollow in the forest on Shikoku. The brothers' family had been one of the leading families in the village. Tak ...
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Confessions Of A Yakuza
is a 1989 book by Japanese doctor and author Junichi Saga. It recounts a series of stories from the life of his patient Eiji Ijichi, a former Yakuza boss, as told in the last months of his life. The book starts with the teenage Ijichi running away from his family home in Utsunomiya to Tokyo, to find a judge's mistress who he was having an affair with. The book follows Ijichi through his first job at a family coal merchant in the then district of Fukagawa, his various mistresses and treatment for syphilis, the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, his initiation into the gang that controlled gambling in the Asakusa entertainment area, his various stretches in prison, his overseas service in occupied Korea in the 1920s, his rise to the boss of the gang, and his experiences during and after World War II. The book paints a colorful picture of life in Japan in the first half of the 20th century, the structure and customs of a yakuza gang, gambling sessions, prison, and army life. The o ...
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Gauche The Cellist
is a short story by the Japanese author Kenji Miyazawa. It is about Gauche, a struggling small-town cellist who is inspired by his interactions with anthropomorphized animals to gain insight into music. The story has been translated into English, Italian and Spanish, and was adapted into a critically acclaimed animated film in 1982 by Isao Takahata. It had previously been adapted to the screen several times. Synopsis Gauche is a diligent but mediocre cellist who plays for a small-town orchestra, , and the local cinema in the early 20th century. He struggles during rehearsals and is often berated by his conductor during preparations for an upcoming performance of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony (the Pastoral Symphony). Over the course of four nights, Gauche is visited at his mill house home by talking animals as he is practicing. The first night, a tortoiseshell cat came to Gauche and, giving him a tomato, asked him to play Schumann's "Träumerei". Gauche was irritated, as the tomato ...
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Kenji Miyazawa
was a Japanese novelist, poet, and children's literature writer from Hanamaki, Iwate, in the late Taishō and early Shōwa periods. He was also known as an agricultural science teacher, vegetarian, cellist, devout Buddhist, and utopian social activist.Curley, Melissa Anne-Marie, "Fruit, Fossils, Footprints: Cathecting Utopia in the Work of Miyazawa Kenji", in Daniel Boscaljon (ed.)''Hope and the Longing for Utopia: Futures and Illusions in Theology and Narrative'' James Clarke & Co. Lutterworth Press 2015. pp. 96–118. Some of his major works include '' Night on the Galactic Railroad'', '' Kaze no Matasaburō'', '' Gauche the Cellist'', and '' The Night of Taneyamagahara''. Miyazawa converted to Nichiren Buddhism after reading the Lotus Sutra, and joined the Kokuchūkai, a Nichiren Buddhist organization. His religious and social beliefs created a rift between him and his wealthy family, especially his father, though after his death his family eventually followed him in conv ...
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Once And Forever, The Tales Of Kenji Miyazawa
Once may refer to: Film, television and theatre * ''Once'' (film), a 2007 Irish musical film by John Carney ** ''Once'' (musical), a 2011 stage adaptation of the film * ''Once'' (TV series), a 2017–2019 Argentine telenovela * Canal Once (Mexico), a Mexican public television network Music Performers * The Once, a Canadian folk trio * Once Mekel (born 1970), Indonesian singer * Once, fans of the South Korean girl group Twice Albums * ''Once'' (Nightwish album), 2004 * ''Once'' (Roy Harper album), 1990 * ''Once'' (The Tyde album), 2001 * ''Once'' (soundtrack), from the 2007 film * ''Once'' (EP), by Peggy Gou, 2018 Songs * "Once" (Diana Vickers song), 2010 * "Once" (Pearl Jam song), 1991 * "Once", by Liam Gallagher from '' Why Me? Why Not.'', 2019 * "Once", by Rascal Flatts from ''Unstoppable'', 2009 * "Once", by Shane Filan from '' You and Me'', 2013 Organizations * ONCE, the Spanish National Organization of the Blind ** ONCE cycling team, a Spanish cycling team 1989 ...
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Seven Stories
Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children's Books is a museum and visitor centre dedicated to children's literature and based in the Ouseburn Valley, Newcastle upon Tyne, close to the city's regenerated Quayside. The renovated Victorian mill in which it is housed has seven levels. It is the first and only museum in the UK wholly devoted to the art of British children's books. Their archive is housed in a separate building in Felling. History Seven Stories opened in August 2005 after a £6.5 million conversion from a former granary building. In March 2006, the centre received the Centre Vision Award, the Civic Trust's national award for best practice in town centre regeneration. Seven Stories celebrated their fifth birthday in August 2010 with an exclusive golden ticket event with popular children's author Dame Jacqueline Wilson. In September 2010, Seven Stories purchased several original typescripts by Enid Blyton, making Seven Stories the largest public collector of B ...
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Salamander And Other Stories
Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All ten extant salamander families are grouped together under the order Urodela, the sole surviving order from the group Caudata. ''Urodela'' is a scientific Latin term based on the Ancient Greek : ourà dēlē "conspicuous tail". ''Caudata'' is the Latin for "tailed ones", from : "tail". Salamander diversity is highest in eastern North America, especially in the Appalachian Mountains; most species are found in the Holarctic realm, with some species present in the Neotropical realm. Salamanders never have more than four toes on their front legs and five on their rear legs, but some species have fewer digits and others lack hind limbs. Their permeable skin usually makes them reliant on habitats in or near water or other cool, damp places. Some ...
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Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved following surrender of Japan, Japan's surrender in World War II. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) was formed between 1952 and 1954 after the dissolution of the IJN. The IJN was the third largest navy in the world by 1920, behind the Royal Navy and the United States Navy (USN). It was supported by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service for reconnaissance and airstrike operations from the fleet. It was the primary opponent of the Allies of World War II, Western Allies in the Pacific War. The IJN additionally fielded Imperial Japanese Navy land forces, limited land-based forces, including Special Naval Landing Forces, professional marines, Japanese marine paratroopers of World War II, marine paratrooper units, anti-aircraft defense units ...
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Isoroku Yamamoto
was a Marshal Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II. He commanded the fleet from 1939 until his death in 1943, overseeing the start of the Pacific War in 1941 and Japan's initial successes and defeats before his plane was shot down by U.S. fighter aircraft over New Guinea. Yamamoto graduated from the Imperial Naval Academy in 1904 and served in the Russo-Japanese War, where he lost two fingers at the Battle of Tsushima. He later studied at Harvard University in the United States and was appointed naval attaché to the Japanese embassy in Washington. His experiences convinced him that naval power depended on access to oil and industrial capacity, and that Japan thus had little hope to defeat the U.S. in a war. He was one of the first naval leaders to conclude that naval aviation and aircraft carriers would play a decisive role in any future conflict. In 1936, Yamamoto was appointed navy vice minist ...
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Hiroyuki Agawa
(December 24, 1920 – August 3, 2015) was a Japanese author. He was known for his fiction centered on World War II, as well as his biographies and essays. Literary career Agawa was born in Hiroshima, Japan. As a high school student Agawa was influenced by the Japanese author Naoya Shiga. He entered the Tokyo Imperial University to study Japanese literature. Upon graduation in 1942, Agawa was conscripted to serve in the Imperial Japanese Navy, where he worked as an intelligence officer breaking Chinese military codes until the end of the war. He returned to Hiroshima, where his parents had experienced the atomic bomb, in March 1946. After World War II Agawa wrote his first short story ''Nennen Saisai'' (Years upon Years, 1946), which was a classic I Novel, or autobiographical novel, recounting the reunion with his parents. It follows the style of Naoya Shiga, who is said to have praised the work. ''August 6'' as Agawa notes in a postscript, combines the stories of friends and ...
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The Reluctant Admiral
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pronoun ''thee' ...
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