Subject: Sociology? Self-help? But it’s listed as essays Available formats: physical / ebook / audiobook (audiobook.jp+audible)
Content warnings
None known
Reason(s) for nominating: I’ve had this on my TBR for awhile after seeing it referenced by a few random Japanese people (probably on youtube but it’s been too long to remember) and audiobook.jp at least calls it a best seller. The tag line is 見えない「壁」がわかると世の中が見えてくる。気が楽になる。 and it seems kind of generally about the walls that divide people which I think is an interesting topic. It’s also fairly short at only 204 pages.
Subject: Linguistics Available formats: physical / ebook / audiobook (audiobook.jp+audible)
Content warnings
None known
Reason(s) for nominating: I think it’s fun to read about Japanese in Japanese and see what points of it confuse native speakers as opposed to learners. I actually have another two books in this vein I’ve been meaning to read, but I figure the book with an ebook copy is more likely to get votes so I’m nominating this one
Subject: Art history/Japanese history/Economics Available formats: physical / ebook
Content warnings
None that I know of
Reason(s) for nominating:
It seems super interesting! I’m expecting a mix of art history of both European Impressionism and Japanese woodblock prints and some interest Meiji and late 1800s era French history + some economic stuff? It also seems a bit “poppy” and looks like it’d be lighter and easier to read than a serious type of history book!
Subject: Anime history Available formats: physical / ebook
Content warnings
None that I know of
Reason(s) for nominating: An anime critic writing all about the history of anime and certain anime masterpieces + what makes the masterpieces. Even if you don’t watch anime often it’s an interesting cultural topic.
Ok here’s a post with the third nomination again haha:
I’m not sure how we feel about this (I guess we let votes decide), but a essay/memoir type nomination…
Subject: Memoir Available formats: physical / ebook
Content warnings
None that I know of
Reason(s) for nominating: This appears to be a collection of essays about the authors experience learning Chinese starting from the age of 36 and interacting with a foreign culture. I suspect a lot of us here on natively would relate to some aspects of it or maybe even get some tips!
@shablul might be worth adding what type of nonfiction each nom is in the table, since we’ve already got a pretty good variety and it can be tough to tell what’s what just by title and cover alone.
Subject: Investigative journalism, history Available formats: physical / ebook / audiobook (audiobook.jp only, no audible)
Content warnings
This is kind of on the line of true crime given it is about an island known for human trafficking (historically, but not currently).
Reason(s) for nominating: I’ve been meaning to read this for ages, and I know at least one other person on the forum has it in their TBR. I put it in the content warnings but this does toe the line of ‘true crime’ given the subject matter it’s covering, but I think it should steer clear of the more problematic aspects of that genre as it seems to be taking on the topic through a journalistic and historical lens.
Subject: Autobiographical novel Available formats: ebook / physical book
Reason(s) for nominating: So far I read volume #1 which played at the time of WW2, the author 角野栄子 was evacuated somewhere north of Tokyo. It ends with the end of the war and her finishing elementary school. イコ is the author’s pseudonym in these two books. No guessing here, she said so herself, but now I don’t remember where.
Volume #2 - this nomination - continues from there, she got optimistic again, goes to junior high and on up to university and afterwards starts traveling, which is if we can trust the title the main contents of this book. E.g. I know of her going to Brasil, before she returned to Japan which is where I suppose this book ends…and later she starts writing.
So we will get some first hand impressions about life in Japan and at least one other country at 1945 1948 onwards.
Btw: though the MC of the first book is just ten years old, the target group of these two books are not children, as e.g. the first book has old kanji and just minimal furigana.
Uff, there are already several nominations I would really like to read… But looking through the samples, they would definitively be quite hard. Any idea on the reading speed for these? That would decide for me, if I participate in the voting or not
pace would probably depend on the type and difficulty. I know that my reading speed goes down with non-fiction even in my native language. Memoirs will be easier to read, imo, than let’s say a book about linguistics or biology.
I will poll on pace as well but from my guess the options will be between 10 pages to 30 pages
I myself don’t read fast enough to promise more and I feel uncomfortable forcing on others a pace I’m not keeping up with myself
Subject: History/Culture/Linguistics Available formats: physical / ebook (seems to be image based, so no easy lookups) /
Reason(s) for nominating:
It’s one of the earlier books I bought while in Japan. I have had this for at least 10 years. Time to read it at last. (I find the topic interesting, not sure why I never got around to actually reading it. )
Note: There is the orignal 2011 version and a new updated 2021 version to reflect the current society.
Subject: Memoir/Disability/Society Available formats: physical (incl. a furigana version) / ebook
Content warnings
The book probably also discusses discrimination against ppl with disabilities
Reason(s) for nominating:
Again, one of those long-term residents on my TBR. I am always interested in minorities and societal issues but just never got around to finally reading this. It’s a bit older by now, so it likely suffers from “inspiration porn”.
Subject: Linguistics, Manga Essay Available formats: physical / ebook
Reason(s) for nominating:
Guess what? Yes, it’s another ancient inhabitant of my physical TBR. I remember reading one of the chapters as part of a class and becoming interested in reading the rest. And, then just never picked it up, despite owning all 4 volumes… Are we seeing a trend here?
The layout is typical for the genre with an essay on one page and a related manga on the other.
But it’s listed as essays
(I find the topic interesting, not sure why I never got around to actually reading it. 
)
