January 7: We receive a notification informing us that Oe Kenzaburo’s novel "The beautiful Annabel Lee was chilled and killed", which we published in "Shincho", was selected for the "Annual Foreign Novels 21st Century Award" in China…

Toward the end of the year my batteries are running low, and I crash-land as soon as we're done with the February issue. It’s been a custom for several years now that I spend…

I love music, and consequently I'm also quite interested in technical equipment for playing back recorded music. I used to think that the quality of the equipment doesn't matter as long as the music itself is good, but…

November 5: A sample of our December issue arrives from the printer. It’s the second ever that comes with a CD, following this year’s January edition that included a CD containing Furukawa Hideo’s…

A day in September: We have a screening meeting to pick this year’s winner of the "Shincho Award for New Writers" at our office’s conference room…

Last time I shared some thoughts on music here, and now I'll tell you where and how it all began. It was an old cassette tape that I "unearthed" and listened to for the first time in more than ten years…

When trying to forecast developments in technology, I'm mostly wrong. Or better, I'm always wrong. Nonetheless, every time a technological innovation is…

Ever since I began to commute between central Tokyo and that rural harbor town on the Miura peninsula, I've been thinking about the pros and cons of living in Tokyo…..

"Authors mature towards death." This line in a manuscript that arrived earlier today gives me goose bumps…..

It’s been five years now since I started working as an editor for an art and literature magazine. An experienced writer gave me an advice the…..

March 1: Just one day after finishing the April issue of Shincho, I get up early to catch a flight from Haneda Airport to Yamaguchi. My final destination…..

When you're doing a monthly magazine, you automatically adopt a monthly rhythm also in private life. During the first nine or ten days of my monthly…..

The "book" that had the greatest impact on me in 2007 was probably Nintendo’s "DS" (game). But I really ask myself, to what extent the folks at…..

November 28 Final proofreading of the newest issue of "Shincho" (out on 12/7). In the after noon I have an appointment with a Yomiuri Shimbun reporter…..

First of all, let me briefly introduce myself. I'm the editor-in-chief of an art and culture magazine called "Shincho"…..