Salon.com > Jennifer Hanawald

“The Dark Side” by Mark Schreiber

Wed, 16 Jan 2002 15:30:00 +0000

Kidnapping, cannibalism and mass murder -- not commonly associated with Asia's most prosperous people. But author Mark Schreiber eschews the "ridiculous two-dimensional cardboard characters" that foreigners writing about Japan have a tendency to deliver, and his latest work, "The Dark Side," affirms that there is a lot more to this country than Sony PlayStations, rampant consumerism and the meticulous cultivation of small trees. In fact, the book -- a compilation of the writer's weekly crime columns published in the Mainichi Daily newpaper -- could give Hollywood plenty to draw upon.

Take Aum Shinrikyo, for example. Schreiber details the religious cult's rise to prominence, which escalated from brainwashing and robbing its followers to bullying the government, intimidating and murdering those seeking to check its power. Its misdeeds culminated in the 1995 sarin gas attack carried out on the Tokyo subway, an act of terrorism that killed 12 and injured thousands. Even as Aum enjoyed tax-preferential status and protection from state interference as a religious organization, its members experimented with anthrax as a means of mass destruction. At one point, according to Schreiber's account, karate and medical experts were dispatched by Aum leaders to murder and mangle beyond recognition the family of a lawyer who was representing plaintiffs against the cult.

Armless (and legless) in Japan

Mon, 11 Sep 2000 07:50:00 +0000

When Hirotada Ototake was born, his mother was told she couldn't see him straight away because he was "too weak." A few days later it was: "They say you can't see him for a little while longer because he has severe jaundice." She soon understood that something serious was going on, but being in Japan, where a doctor's word is gospel, she felt unable to ask what was happening. Eventually, Ototake's mother was informed that a disability -- not jaundice -- was the reason she had not been allowed to see her baby. And so it was that three weeks after his birth, Ototake met his mother for the first time, staff standing by to assist her if she fainted. It's through this anecdote that readers, like his mother, are introduced to Ototake, a Japanese man born with congenital tetra-amelia, that is, without arms or legs.

Ototake, now 24, wrote and published his autobiography, "Gotai Fumanzoku" in 1998. It became the No. 1 bestseller in Japan from December of that year through November 1999, and since its release, the book has sold about 4.5 million copies, which, according to publisher Kodansha Ltd., makes it the No. 2 bestseller in Japan since World War II. Called "No One's Perfect" in English and translated by Gerry Harcourt, the book has just been published in the United States.

Not big in Japan

Wed, 03 May 2000 16:00:00 +0000

In America, everyone loves her. Through her journey from fisherman's daughter born near the Sea of Japan to her ascent into the upper echelons of Kyoto geishahood, Arthur Golden's Sayuri has charmed Western hearts, and his novel has leapt onto American bestseller lists. Now, more than two years after "Memoirs of a Geisha" was first published in the United States, the book is getting a big shrug from Japanese readers and a decisive thumbs down from the woman Golden credits with teaching him the most intimate aspects of geisha life.

"Sayuri" -- as the novel is called in Japan -- is in all the posh bookshops in central Tokyo, from Aoyama Book Center to Shibuya's Book 1st, where browsers can find it wedged between the likes of Banana Yoshimoto's latest novel and other recent translations, such as Melissa Bank's "The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing." In proper Japanese style, the book has been elegantly packaged with a traditional textile pattern cover (making it look serious and not sleazy) and an extra half-sleeve informing readers that it has been a bestseller in the United States and will be made into a movie by Steven Spielberg.