Two women win Japan s Akutagawa and Naoki literary awards Sorry, but your browser needs Javascript to use this site. If you re not sure how to activate it, please refer to this site: https://www.enable-javascript.com/
Rin Usami (right) and Naka Saijo pose for a photo at a Tokyo hotel on Wednesday, as they are selected to receive Japan s prestigious Akutagawa and Naoki literary awards for their works, respectively. | KYODO
Kyodo Jan 21, 2021
Two female novelists were selected Wednesday to receive Japan’s prestigious Akutagawa and Naoki literary awards for works depicting a high school girl’s obsession with a male idol and a poignant collection of stories set in old Japan.
In 1970, novelist and popular songwriter Rei Nakanishi practically dominated NHK Kohaku Utagassen (literally, Red and White song battle), an annual New Year s Eve television song-and-variety special produced and aired by Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK).
The show featured five of Nakanishi s big hits, including Tegami (The letter), Anata nara Dosuru (What would you do?) and Kyo de Owakare (We part today).
When I first heard his 1975 hit Ishikari Banka (Ishikari elegy), the arcaneness of the lyrics threw me. Nakanishi used unfamiliar words such as gome, tsuppo and yanshu, which translate as black-tailed seagulls, tight-sleeve kimono and fishermen, respectively.
However, once I found out that the theme of this song was the decline of the fisheries industry in Hokkaido, I was deeply impressed by Nakanishi s keen social awareness.
…The phisher, or phishers, employ clever tactics like transposing letters in official-looking email addresses (like “penguinrandornhouse.com” instead of “penguinrandomhouse.com“) and masking the addresses so they only show when the recipient hits “Reply”. They know how publishing works and appear to have access to inside information, utilizing not just public sources like acquisition announcements in trade publications, but details that are harder to uncover: writers’ email addresses, their relationships with agents and editors, delivery and deadline dates, even details of the manuscripts themselves.
And they are ramping up their operations. According to the
Times, the scam began appearing “at least” three years ago, but in the past year “the volume of these emails has exploded in the United States.”