Queer-coded yakuza story wins prestigious U.K. crime writing award
The genre-bending novel takes place in Japan's 1970s yakuza underworld and centers on two women, Yoriko Shindo, a ruthless martial arts fighter, and 'the princess' Shoko, daughter of a mob boss, for whom Yoriko serves as a bodyguard.
"In form and style and content, 'The Night of Baba Yaga' is unlike any book I've translated, but it's also eerily familiar, like a myth you overheard before you learned to talk,' Bett tells The Japan Times.
Contributor Kris Kosaka writes in her review, '(The novel) radiates with both cinematic grandeur and a subtle, constant railing against normalization of any kind, the latter of which can be seen in another aspect of queerness that permeates the novel: its framing of what it means to be the 'other' in society.'
'The Night of Baba Yaga' was a commercial success in Japan and was shortlisted for the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 2021. It's Otani's first novel to be translated into English, by Soho Press in the U.S. and Faber and Faber in the U.K.
Translating the novel was not a safe, obvious venture from the start. "'The Night of Baba Yaga' has no obvious comparison title among what's been published from Japan,' Bett says. 'It's more like a 1970s exploitation film than any book that comes to mind. It's built differently, somehow both borrowing from action cinema and playing entirely by its own rules.
'After today, those of us working in publishing should all feel more encouraged to take risks on the books that we believe in.'
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The shōtengai (shopping streets), rows of wooden houses and the haphazardly placed potted plants in front of them, utility poles and train tracks — what he calls 'a streetscape formed of tasteful clutter' — created a dense, layered environment in which 'you can walk anywhere freely, like in a forest.' The image of a growing forest serves as both muse and leitmotif in Fujimoto's largest exhibition to date, 'The Architecture of Sou Fujimoto: Primordial Future Forest,' on view at Mori Art Museum in Minato Ward through Nov. 9. Fujimoto and the team at Mori Art Museum wanted to create an exhibition that's more than simply displaying drawings and models. | ZORIA PETKOSKA The exhibition presents a thicket of projects spanning three decades, divided into eight sections — five of which include the word 'forest.' The first, titled 'Forest of Thoughts,' features more than 1,000 architectural models, some handmade by Fujimoto himself. 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The exhibition visualizes inspiration for design by juxtaposing the architectural models with mundane objects such as a sieve, a loofa and a stack of matchboxes or potato chips. | ZORIA PETKOSKA Architectural models are displayed in both expected and unexpected ways, with some hanging from the ceiling or stuck to the walls. | ZORIA PETKOSKA While these buildings are set for completion in the near future — the Sendai building is set to be completed in 2031 — the exhibition ventures further into speculative territory. Titled 'Forest of Future, Forest of Primordial — Resonant City 2025,' it presents a vision of a floating city composed of latticed spheres. Developed in collaboration with Hiroaki Miyata, data scientist and university professor, the model imagines a world of personal drones that would eliminate the need for elevators and stairs. To produce the intricate 3D-printed model, Kondo says the team needed to purchase 20 3D printers. "The models in the first room were in the air, too,' adds Miyata with a laugh. 'I think Fujimoto—san wants to float and fly! This is not an answer, but a question for the future." Fujimoto later adds that this design is 'a trigger to keep imagining.' The future, however, is never disconnected from the past. When asked what he thinks about the neglect and loss of Metabolist architecture in Japan, Fujimoto maintains that its ideas remain vital to architects' thinking. '(Ideas) of organic design and sustainability come from there,' he says before gesturing to his Resonant City 2025 model. 'In fact, I think this is something like updated Metabolism." It's a continuation of his signature style — airy structures with organic shapes that don't fight surrounding nature, but don't completely blend in, either. There's room for bold design, innovation and experimentation. In Fujimoto's utopian architecture, we can have it all: the forest and the metropolis, the public and the private. 'With the rise of computers and the internet, I started to wonder what would happen to physicality,' he says. 'The conclusion I reached was that it would likely grow in importance.' 'The Architecture of Sou Fujimoto: Primordial Future Forest,' is on view at Mori Art Museum through Nov. 9. For more information, visit
