Lauren Scharf talks about Japan's minka, kominka and akiya houses in Japan.

MinkaCon 2025, is an event to be held from Nov. 7-9, in Shinshiro, Aichi Prefecture. The two-and-a-half-day event features discussions, presentations, workshops and a writers panel for those interested in life in the Japanese countryside and preserving traditional Japanese houses. There will be a bevy of authors present, many of whom we've featured in previous episodes of the Books on Asia podcast: Azby Brown, author of Just Enough (Ep 26); photographer and writer Everett Kennedy Brown; Alex Kerr (Lost Japan, Finding the Heart Sutra) (Ep 8) who will be beamed in via pre-recorded message; Iain Maloney author of The Only Gaijin in the Village (Ep 24); and David Joiner, author of The Heron Catchers and Kanazawa (Ep. 19).

Lauren's recommended books on Japan's countryside:

Inaka: Portraits of Life in Rural Japan (various authors)

The Only Gaijin in the Village, by Iain Maloney

The Widow, The Priest and The Octopus Hunter, by Amy Chavez

Just Enough by Azby Brown

Lost Japan by Alex Kerr

Hokkaido Highway Blues, by Will Ferguson

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.

Asia Bookroom exhibits their most precious items at rare and antiquarian book fairs in Melbourne, Sydney, and Hong Kong. Look for them at the Sydney Rare Book Fair from Oct. 23-25.

In this podcast we discuss some of the items on offer at the Sydney Rare Book Fair:

The Disputed Islands Controversial Japanese Map by Hayashi Shihei from around 1790. This is a manuscript copy (written by hand), and includes the Takeshima/Dokdo islands indicating they belong to Korea.

A silk sample book from the 1950s

A Japanese policeman's notebook from shortly after Japan took over Taiwan. It details experiences with indigenous people of Taiwan.

Materials from Communist China

Books:

The Tokyo Higher Normal School: Life of the Japanese Women of Today (from 1937)

Samurai Tales: Manuscript Writing's on Revenge Killings and Loyalty

Books mentioned in the podcast:

The Shortest History of Japan, by Lesley Downer, China Running Dog by Mark Kitto, Samurai and Silk, by Haru Matsukata Reischauer.

Books recommended by Sally Burdon:

Myself a Mandarin by Austin Coates, about Hong Kong,

Country Driving by Peter Hestings

Ghosts of the Tsunami by Richard Lloyd Parry

You can visit Asia Bookroom online at https://www.asiabookroom.com/

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.

Adelstein introduces the people behind Mt. Gox, one of the world's largest Bitcoin exchanges, based in Tokyo and run by Frenchman Mark Karpeles. As a reporter for The Daily Beast, Japan-based Adelstein starts researching Mt. Gox, to figure out how it got hacked, and how it collapsed i 2014 with over 650,000 Bitcoins gone missing. He covers the laws, customs and quirks of Japan's hostage-justice system and how the entire investigation into Karpeles and Mt. Gox played out. And yes, it includes cats!

The Devil Takes Bitcoin: Cryptocurrency Crimes and the Japanese Connection will be published by Scribe, Oct. 14, 2025.

Jake is an book junkie who reads across a variety of genres. He is currently reading:

1. The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto by Benjamin Wallace about the founder of Bitcoin.
2. The Sweet Spot by Paul Bloom
3. 大阪府警暴力団担当刑事
4. Yellow Face by R.F. Kuang

The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.

Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan.

The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.