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Matthew Legare - Thriller Author

Website for Matthew Legare, writer of historical, thriller, and noir novels, including the Reiko Watanabe/Inspector Aizawa series set in 1930s Japan.

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Japan

Eight Hundred Heroes Review & Stephen Robinson Interview

May 14, 2023 by Matthew Legare 1 Comment

Eight Hundred Heroes by RobinsonOctober 1937. Surrounded by an enormous Japanese Army, Chinese soldiers hunker down for a siege. Their fortress is the Sihang Warehouse, tall and sturdy, standing on the banks of Soochow Creek. For seven days, they beat off numerous attempts to storm their position. Historian Stephen Robinson recreates and documents these events in Eight Hundred Heroes.

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Tagged With: Author Interviews, China, Chinese History, Japan, Japanese History, Japanese Military, Shanghai, World War II

The Silent Dead by Tetsuya Honda – A Modern Japanese Crime Novel

April 15, 2023 by Matthew Legare 1 Comment

The Silent Dead by Tetsuya HondaThe Silent Dead is a Japanese crime novel by Tetsuya Honda and the first installment of the Reiko Himekawa series. It offers a glimpse into Japanese law enforcement, which is a huge blind spot to many Westerners. It also shines a light on corruption, sexism, and perversion that festers underneath the surface of Japanese culture, which is a blind spot to many Japanese themselves.

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Tagged With: Japan, Japanese fiction, mystery, Thrillers

The Thief by Fuminori Nakamura – A Fast-Paced Japanese Crime Story

March 16, 2023 by Matthew Legare Leave a Comment

The Thief by Fuminori NakamuraThe Thief by Fuminori Nakamura is a crime thriller set in modern-day Japan about an experienced pickpocket named Nishimura as he prowls the crowded streets of Tokyo, looking for his next mark. He floats through the metropolis, taking what he wants, as if in an ethereal, dreamlike state, unable to wake up.

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Tagged With: crime, Japan, Japanese fiction, literary, Thrillers

Shanghai by Riichi Yokomitsu – a Japanese Novel of Interwar Shanghai

February 17, 2023 by Matthew Legare 4 Comments

Shanghai by Riichi YokomitsuShanghai between the world wars is a fascination of Westerns, the Chinese themselves, but also the Japanese. The zeitgeist of 1920s Shanghai is reflected in the appropriately named Shanghai by Riichi Yokomitsu.
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Tagged With: China, Japan, Japanese fiction, Shanghai

Golden Kamuy Volumes 1-5 – A Shonen Manga of Adventure and History

January 15, 2023 by Matthew Legare Leave a Comment

Golden Kamuy Volume 1Golden Kamuy by Satoru Noda is a shonen manga series that covers a wide range of genres – adventure, war, political intrigue, comedy, and thrillers. Set shortly after the Russo-Japanese War (1904 – 1905) it follows Saichi Sugimoto, a veteran of the conflict, and his quest for a legendary stash of gold hidden in Hokkaido, the most northern of Japan’s main islands. While fighting at the vicious Battle of Port Arthur, he earned the nickname “Immortal Sugimoto,” given his almost legendary ability to avoid death, which he keeps throughout the remainder of this series.

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Tagged With: comics, historical fiction, Japan, Japanese fiction, Japanese History, Japanese Military, manga

Human Bullets by Tadayoshi Sakurai – A Memoir of the Russo-Japanese War

December 16, 2022 by Matthew Legare 1 Comment

Human Bullets by Tadayoshi SakuraiThe Russo-Japanese War is a fascinating conflict that, arguably, was one of the most important events in the 20th century. It contributed to the decline of the Russian Empire, paving the way for the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, and gave rise to the Japanese Empire, paving the way to Pearl Harbor. And yet, this war is often overlooked in the West, leading to a dearth of first-hand English language accounts. Thankfully, Human Bullets (1906) by Tadayoshi Sakurai survives to fill that void.

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Tagged With: History, Japan, Japanese History, Japanese Military, Memoirs, Military History

5 Horror Manga Recommendations That Aren’t Junji Ito

October 11, 2022 by Matthew Legare Leave a Comment

Fuan no tane (Seeds of Anxiety)It’s spooky season again, so that means horror, specifically, horror manga. Japanese comics have a long history of horror stories, but the mangaka Junji Ito has become synonymous with the genre. He’s an indisputable master at the craft, no doubt, I even spotlighted 10 recommendations of his work, but there are many other horror manga to choose from. Here’s a list of 5 to choose from, that aren’t from Junji Ito.

 

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Tagged With: horror, Japan, Japanese fiction, manga

Japan’s Greatest Victory, Britain’s Worst Defeat By Masanobu Tsuji Review

June 10, 2022 by Matthew Legare 1 Comment

Japan's Greatest Victory by Masanobu Tsuji

It’s often said, “history is written by the victors,” and this only half true. While the narrative of World War II is definitely constructed from the Allied lens, this does not mean that the vanquished were unable to tell their stories. German officers and soldiers pumped out volumes of memoirs during the postwar years, many of which were consumed voraciously by readers in America and Britain. Japanese memoirs were more sparse, at least regarding translations that made it to the West. One notable exception was Masanobu Tsuji’s memoir Japan’s Greatest Victory, Britain’s Worst Defeat.

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Tagged With: History, Japan, Japanese History, Japanese Military, Memoirs, World War II

Tokyo Vice Book Vs TV Show Review

May 15, 2022 by Matthew Legare Leave a Comment

Tokyo Vice posterTokyo Vice is a crime thriller series currently on HBO Max and based on the memoirs by Jake Adelstein. Set in 1999 Japan, it follows an American reporter working for a Japanese newspaper as he delves deep into Tokyo’s seedy underworld and the criminal kingdom of the yakuza.

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Tagged With: film noir, Japan, noir, TV Series

Japanese Destroyer Captain – A Memoir of The Pacific War

April 14, 2022 by Matthew Legare 6 Comments

Japanese Destroyer Captain by Tameichi HaraJapanese Destroyer Captain is the postwar memoir of Tameichi Hara, a Japanese Navy officer who earned the nickname the “Miracle Captain.” He is one of the only Japanese captains to have survived the entire Pacific War from its beginning in 1941 to its end in 1945. Of the 175 destroyers the Imperial Navy possessed during World War II, 129 were sunk.

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Tagged With: History, Japan, Japanese History, Japanese Military, Memoirs, nonfiction, World War II

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