Tokyo Ueno Station by Yū Miri
As a Book Club attendee, you can obtain a 20% discount on Tokyo Ueno Station by ordering from Blackwell’s, either in person or over the phone on 01865 792792, and quoting the discount code DKQUEENS20%.
About the book
Born in Fukushima in 1933, the same year as the Emperor, Kazu’s life is tied by a series of coincidences to Japan’s Imperial family and to one particular spot in Tokyo; the park near Ueno Station – the same place his unquiet spirit now haunts in death. It is here that Kazu’s life in Tokyo began, as a labourer in the run up to the 1964 Olympics, and later where he ended his days, living in the park’s vast homeless ‘villages’, traumatised by the destruction of the 2011 tsunami and enraged by the announcement of the 2020 Olympics.
Akutagawa-award-winning author Yu Miri uses her outsider’s perspective as a Zainichi (Korean-Japanese) writer to craft a novel of utmost importance to this moment, a powerful rebuke to the Imperial system and a sensitive, deeply felt depiction of the lives of Japan’s most vulnerable people.
About the translator
Morgan Giles is a literary translator and critic. Her translation of Yu Miri’s Tokyo Ueno Station won the 2020 National Book Award for Translated Literature and the 2019 Translators Association First Translation Prize; she has also translated work by authors including Nao-cola Yamazaki, Hitomi Kanehara, Hideo Furukawa, and Edogawa Rampo. She lives in London.
You can find out more about the book and translator on our website: www.queens.ox.ac.uk/international-book-club
Date:
26 October 2022, 19:30 (Wednesday, 3rd week, Michaelmas 2022)
Venue:
Online via Zoom
Speakers:
Chair: Polly Barton (Translator-in-Residence),
Morgan Giles (Translator)
Organising department:
The Queen's College
Part of:
Translation Exchange: International Book Club
Booking required?:
Required
Booking url:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/international-book-club-tickets-417908594857
Cost:
Free
Audience:
Public
Editor:
Belinda Clark
