Host Club Research Articles

A look at Singapore hostess bars through the lens of Negri and Chakrabarty

This article, written in a confessional, autoethnographic style, explores the author’s experiences over a number of years with Singapore hostess bars/pubs. The research method is participant-observation of practices, discourses, pricing models and customer demographics, and knowledge gained from hostesses, bar managers and musicians. The law aspect of the article is critiquing the lack of citizenship rights and marriage rights for foreign workers in Singapore such as pub hostesses and construction workers. It also looks at the working conditions and cultures of the pubs, and describes the alienation and emotional labour involved in delivering heavily racialized and gendered services. Neither Filipina/Vietnamese hostesses nor Europeans have established places within the Singapore citizenship narrative or in government policy, which relies upon the hegemonic CMIO (Chinese, Malay, Indian, Others) Model. Filipina and Vietnamese pub hostesses do not fit neatly within this model and are hindered by the power of the narrative.

The second season of the Host Club at Ouran High School: What we know so far

The second season of the Host Club at Ouran High School: What we know so far

Political organizing and narrative framing in the sharing economyAirbnb host clubs in New York City

As cities accommodate, resist, and negotiate with the spread of so-called ‘sharing economy’ companies, the question of how these businesses actively construct new markets (or sub-markets) through political mobilization and rhetorical strategy has become increasingly salient. This paper explores the ways in which the home-sharing platform Airbnb has sought to carve out a regulatory and discursive space for operation through the political mobilization of its ‘hosts’ in New York City. Based on nearly two years of ethnographic research, the paper argues that host clubs are not merely top-down transmission belts for the company’s political lobbying strategy; beyond political organizing, they are also sites in which the very practices of hosting through Airbnb are affirmed, rehearsed, learned, and debated. On the one hand, Airbnb host clubs are both physical embodiments of, and mechanisms for, the narrative framing of ‘home-sharing’ as a particular kind of economic activity that is more democratic, inclusive, and sustainable than the traditional hospitality industry. On the other hand, Airbnb host clubs reveal and reflect the tensions – between hosts and Airbnb, and among hosts themselves – that persist over the practice of home-sharing. As the calls for tighter regulation and increased penalties for illegal short-term rentals continue to grow, however, the question of whether host clubs constitute a viable mechanism for political mobilization and regulatory reform remains an open one.

Tales of Idolized Boys: Male-Male Love in Medieval Japanese Buddhist Narratives by Sachi Schmidt-Hori

Reviewed by: Tales of Idolized Boys: Male-Male Love in Medieval Japanese Buddhist Narratives by Sachi Schmidt-Hori Margaret H. Childs Tales of Idolized Boys: Male-Male Love in Medieval Japanese Buddhist Narratives. By Sachi Schmidt-Hori. University of Hawai'i Press, 2021. 254 pages. ISBN: 9780824886790 (hardcover; also available as softcover and e-book). "Tales of idolized boys" in the title of this book is an inventive rendering of chigo monogatari, which might more literally be translated as "tales of acolytes." This subgenre of otogi zōshi (companion novels) from the Muromachi period was defined in hindsight and has seemed an unwieldy designation, but Sachi Schmidt-Hori does a superb job of bringing coherence to the category. Her persuasive analyses of six of the fourteen tales that comprise the subgenre are soundly grounded in their historical and sociocultural contexts and take the field far beyond previous interpretative work done in English by myself and others.1 In the prelude to Tales of Idolized Boys Schmidt-Hori explains that the origins of her interest in the "sexual agency and negotiation of power" in chigo monogatari (p. xiv) stem from her observations of her mother's work in hostess clubs and the "power equilibrium" that was established through the "manifold and multi-faceted" ways in which workers could "exert their power over clients" (p. xvii). This bold self-revelation inspires trust that frank and clear-eyed analysis lies ahead. The introduction lays the groundwork for Schmidt-Hori's analyses of specific chigo monogatari. Schmidt-Hori points out the multiple ways in which teenaged Buddhist acolytes, or chigo, represent a liminal existence that is "neither adult nor child, neither human nor divine, and neither male nor female" (p. 16). By her account, the chigo system worked to the mutual benefit of the priesthood and the youths of elite families who agreed to commitments of four or five years in length. She moreover [End Page 115] traces the history of the terms nanshoku (male-male love) and joshoku (male-female love) to show how "the architecture of the normative male erotic desire" was understood (p. 28) and to outline the relatively affirmative views of sexuality in Shinto and Buddhist discourse. Noting that there is a term for violating the precepts by having sexual relations with a woman (nyobon) but none for violating the precepts by having sexual relations with a man, she demonstrates that nanshoku was viewed leniently in Buddhist communities. She also challenges the prejudice shown alike by previous scholars who were influenced by homophobia and by current-day scholars who assume that transgenerational relationships are inevitably abusive. In chapter 1 Schmidt-Hori reviews how scholars have defined chigo monogatari and examines the extent to which the fourteen extant tales in the category fit that definition, which requires a chigo as a main character, love between the chigo and a monk, the death of the chigo, the religious awakening of the chigo's monk-lover, and the revelation that the chigo had been the manifestation of a bodhisattva (p. 46). She gives close readings of three archetypal chigo monogatari—Chigo Kannon engi (Story of Kannon's Manifestation as a Youth), Aki no yo no nagamonogatari (A Long Tale for an Autumn Night), and Genmu monogatari (Tale of Genmu)—comparing them with themes found in prominent monogatari like Genji monogatari (Tale of Genji), in which arranged marriages tend to be difficult and unofficial wives who enjoy "enchanted love" (p. 73) suffer from insecurity and anxiety. Schmidt-Hori makes the point that while chigo monogatari similarly tend to depict enchanted love, the chigo acts from a position of power because his status derives from his family connections and his position is not threatened by his infidelity. Another interesting conclusion is that insofar as the tales focus on the appealing relationship between a chigo and a relatively young and virile monk-lover, the arranged relationship between the chigo and his master is backgrounded and thus the tales do not challenge the chigo system. One puzzling moment in this chapter is Schmidt-Hori's characterization of the relationship between the chigo and Genmu as platonic: both do express romantic feelings, and the fact that they never...

Anne ALLISON, Nightwork: Sexuality, Pleasure, and Corporate Masculinity in a Tokyo Hostess Club, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994. 226 pages, US $14.95 (paper)

Anne ALLISON, Nightwork: Sexuality, Pleasure, and Corporate Masculinity in a Tokyo Hostess Club, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994. 226 pages, US $14.95 (paper). An article from journal Culture (Volume 16, Number 1, 1996, pp. 5-129), on Érudit.

Pricing policies and culture at two Singapore hostess bars: Is a grounded cosmopolitan ethics possible in such a setting?

We study two hostess pubs on Joo Chiat Road, Singapore - a “Filipina pub” and a “Vietnam pub”. We compare and contrast the customer demographics of each establishment, and the resultant culture, which is a function of the ethnic-group of the hostesses, the demographics of the customers, the policies and ethos of the owner/manager, and the pricing model whereby hostesses get financially rewarded. Regarding pricing model, the Filipina pub relies upon “ladies drinks” whereas the Vietnam pub fosters a tipping system. Whilst the ladies drinks model signifies a hyper-capitalist business environment, the tipping model is feudal, honour-based and debt-based. We use as a theoretical lens the concept of “cosmopolitanism” and ask whether a “grounded” “cosmopolitan ethics” is even possible in an industry which is attractive to customers largely because of its structural, racial, and gendered differences and inequalities.

Projecting a second wave of COVID-19 in Japan with variable interventions in high-risk settings.

An initial set of interventions, including the closure of host and hostess clubs and voluntary limitation of non-household contact, probably greatly contributed to reducing the disease incidence of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Japan, but this approach must eventually be replaced by a more sustainable strategy. To characterize such a possible exit strategy from the restrictive guidelines, we quantified the next-generation matrix, accounting for high- and low-risk transmission settings. This matrix was used to project the future incidence in Tokyo and Osaka after the state of emergency is lifted, presenting multiple ‘post-emergency’ scenarios with different levels of restriction. The effective reproduction numbers (R) for the increasing phase, the transition phase and the state-of-emergency phase in the first wave of the disease were estimated as 1.78 (95% credible interval (CrI): 1.73–1.82), 0.74 (95% CrI: 0.71–0.78) and 0.63 (95% CrI: 0.61–0.65), respectively, in Tokyo and as 1.58 (95% CrI: 1.51–1.64), 1.20 (95% CrI: 1.15–1.25) and 0.48 (95% CrI: 0.44–0.51), respectively, in Osaka. Projections showed that a 50% decrease in the high-risk transmission is required to keep R less than 1 in both locations—a level necessary to maintain control of the epidemic and minimize the risk of resurgence.

Athlete concussion history recall is underestimated: a validation study of self-reported concussion history among current professional rugby union players

ABSTRACT Objective: To assess the concurrent validity and test re-test reliability of the Michigan Traumatic Brain Injury Identification Method (MTBIIM). The psychometric properties of this concussion index were investigated by comparing the agreement between player self-reported diagnosed concussions and medical record diagnosed concussions among professional rugby union players. Study Design: Cross-sectional study i) validation and ii) test re-test reliability. Methods: The MTBIIM was administered via a structured interview to obtain the number and nature of player self-reported concussion histories from players, while contracted to the host club. Self-reported concussion history information was compared to medically recorded data captured between 2008 and 2017. A mixed-effects logistic regression model explored predictors of player self-report accuracy. Results: Data from 62 players (25.39[4.36] years) included 99 unique rugby related concussions. Medically documented concussions (n = 92) per player (1.48 [1.96]) were 30% more than the mean number of self-reported diagnosed (n = 63) concussions per player (1.02 [1.21] events). Overall, self-reported diagnosed concussions and medical record diagnosed concussion histories had a ‘fair’ level of agreement (k=0.274; SE [0.076]), p=.001). Self-reported lifetime concussion history was signicantly negatively correlated with recall of concussions. Conclusions: Initial concurrent validity of the MTBIIM was found to be fair with the average athlete under-reporting the number of clinically diagnosed concussions.

Hospital Caseload Demand in the Presence of Interventions during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Modeling Study.

A surge in hospital admissions was observed in Japan in late March 2020, and the incidence of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) temporarily reduced from March to May as a result of the closure of host and hostess clubs, shortening the opening hours of bars and restaurants, and requesting a voluntary reduction of contact outside the household. To prepare for the second wave, it is vital to anticipate caseload demand, and thus, the number of required hospital beds for admitted cases and plan interventions through scenario analysis. In the present study, we analyzed the first wave data by age group so that the age-specific number of hospital admissions could be projected for the second wave. Because the age-specific patterns of the epidemic were different between urban and other areas, we analyzed datasets from two distinct cities: Osaka, where the cases were dominated by young adults, and Hokkaido, where the older adults accounted for the majority of hospitalized cases. By estimating the exponential growth rates of cases by age group and assuming probable reductions in those rates under interventions, we obtained projected epidemic curves of cases in addition to hospital admissions. We demonstrated that the longer our interventions were delayed, the higher the peak of hospital admissions. Although the approach relies on a simplistic model, the proposed framework can guide local government to secure the essential number of hospital beds for COVID-19 cases and formulate action plans.

On the Road With Minor League Baseball Externalities

Investigation of minor league demand is scant relative to major leagues, particularly at the game level. This presents not only a contextual gap in the research, but also a conceptual one related to demand externalities. Minor League Baseball differs from major professional leagues in that gate revenue sharing is not a fixture in league policy, and talent investment decisions are made by the parent club. Nonetheless, it may be the case that a host club benefits from characteristics of its opponent. Econometric examination of over 31,000 minor league games across multiple leagues and seasons finds proximity to an opponent’s major league parent team increases attendance. Although the authors find evidence of increased demand for a top prospect from the home club, the presence of visiting top prospects is not associated with changes in attendance, prompting the question as to whether effective marketing efforts in this regard would increase home club revenues.

Akiko Takeyama, Staged Seduction: Selling Dreams in a Tokyo Host Club

Au Japon, l’hote (host, mot anglais utilise tel quel en japonais) est le pendant plus recent de l’hotesse professionnelle (hostess) dont l’expertise, au-dela de la relation de seduction, est evaluee selon sa capacite a mettre a l’aise et a converser avec le client. Les hotesses travaillent depuis plus longtemps, dans des clubs et des bars plus ou moins select et selon des statuts plus divers que les hommes. Ce n’est qu’au cours des annees 1990 et 2000 que les clubs offrant des services d’hote...

Prostitución: ¿qué castigar? Trabajadoras, burdeles, rufianes y clientes

The present investigation analyzes the legal treatment of prostitution and its form of punishment when it is done coercively. From a Criminal Law perspective, there is some debate on whether it is necessary to expand the field of potential authors who, in some way, obtain economic or social benefits from prostitution:. Among the first are, on the one hand, the non-coercive pimps, basically, the owners of brothels and hostess clubs and ruffians, and, on the other hand, those who practice prostitution. Among the second are the customers. This article looks at the different models that speak of the punishment of this practice and exposes its characteristics, and then goes on to develop its central objective that to analyze the legitimacy of such models from a criminal perspective, which implies to investigate the basis of the punishment of the behaviors whose criminalization is defended.

“What makes us strong” – the role of sports clubs in facilitating integration of refugees

Many refugees who are located in Germany come from countries with significant cultural differences to the latter and experienced major trauma prior to their arrival. Both factors have been found to affect and hinder integration into the host community. Since refugees have joined over 3000 German clubs, this study focuses on potential factors in clubs that may support or hinder the refugees’ integration. Hence, this study explored which structural conditions help refugees get access to clubs and overcome challenges associated with their participation in the organized sports setting, which conditions or factors influence the integration into club life and which characteristic features help or impede the clubs’ ability to moderate the refugees’ integration into society. While literature shows that influences at the individual and societal level play a significant role in acculturation, the sports club environment may also be important and constitutes a central component of the framework as a potentially moderating factor at other levels. Semi-structured interviews with 35 refugees and 32 professional and voluntary staff members from 15 clubs were conducted. Results indicate that coaches, team members, and club leadership play a key role in helping refugees, and host club members, overcome challenges and support an acculturation strategy towards integration if the refugees’ performance matches the club level, and their involvement goes beyond sport.

Staged Seduction: Selling Dreams in a Tokyo Host Club by Akiko Takeyama

Reviewed by: Staged Seduction: Selling Dreams in a Tokyo Host Club by Akiko Takeyama Nana Okura Gagné (bio) Staged Seduction: Selling Dreams in a Tokyo Host Club. By Akiko Takeyama. Stanford University Press, Stanford, 2016. xvii, 225 pages. $80.00, cloth; $22.95, paper. In September 2004, Akiko Takeyama walked into Kabukicho, Tokyo's red-light district, and experienced firsthand the district's (in)famous hosts and their aggressive flirtation. Being an inquisitive anthropologist, Takeyama immediately felt some familiarity with the host who approached her—someone pursuing an "alternative" life path to "conventional salarymen/housewives roles" (p. xiii). Feeling "like a celebrity" (p. xiv), Takeyama "grew attracted to" the host (p. xv). Not knowing how to characterize "the nature of [her] relationship" (p. xvii) which involves monetary transactions, this became the initial trigger for Takeyama's long-term research to explore the labyrinth of male escorts in the early 2000s. Based on frequent visits to host clubs in Tokyo as well as in Osaka in 2003–4 and in follow-up research until 2013 (p. 17), Takeyama unravels what is commonly known as the "Kabukicho Dream," where "people's temporal sense of future, present, and past … fold into restless feelings of both hope and despair" (p. xviii). Suggesting that "the host's aspirations and the client's dreams may already have aligned in the future-oriented neoliberal cultural ethos" (pp. 12–13), she argues that "the art of seduction mirrors neoliberal governance and permeates social interactions" (p. 16). Staged Seduction is "an account of host club participants' human dramas" (p. xviii), where male hosts sell "romance" to female patrons and simultaneously pursue their own economic goals. According to Takeyama, Tokyo is a "futuristic," "affective cityscape" that provides opportunities for young people to achieve their dreams through flexible labor and lifestyle consumption (p. 32). This cityscape overrides the previous political economic paradigm, she argues, and host clubs offer "the emancipatory possibilities of flexible labor, expressive consumption, and neoliberal subjectivity in the new millennium Japan" (p. 38). Hosts are "young, handsome men" who are "self-employed, independent agents who exercise autonomy over their tables" (p. xiii). Without formal skills or qualifications, their job is to "arouse women's sensual fantasies" (p. 1) and to "produce and consume love" (p. 3), by entertaining female customers as well as drinking, eating, dating, and having sex with their patrons. Coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, hosts are desperate, aspire to get rich quickly, and seek upward mobility by selling their "love" through "their paradoxical—commodified yet entrepreneurial—male subjectivity" (p. 21). [End Page 186] In contrast, female clients are mostly sex workers and hostesses, as well as some widows, unhappy housewives, and lonely career women. Their stories reveal multivalent reasons that drive customers to consume hosts' "pseudo-romance" and explain why they often come with considerable disposable income or inheritances. Takeyama argues, "it is the anticipation of aging" that provokes women's fear (p. 106) and spurs them to "battle against" it. Takeyama sees the power of romantic excitement as "a technology of the self" (p. 114), arguing that these women "have become neoliberal female subjects, while simultaneously subjecting to the new mentality of self-governed freedom and feminine power" (p. 132). Staged Seduction eloquently reveals the particular temporality of hosts and their clients and their self-justifications, which are rigidly bounded in time and space. For hosts, this performance has to be enacted while they are young, mainly in their 20s, and staged in Japan's red-light district (p. 99). This is precisely because this particular configuration of rigid and limited temporality enables them to perform this hyper-demanding job: binge drinking, sleep deprivation, and constantly lying, faking romance and engaging in sex in order to extract enormous sums of money from female clients. Takeyama calls this "entrepreneurial temporality" and particularizes this as Japan's "affect economies,"1 as well as reflective of globalizing "neoliberalism." Yet, her subjects' experience intriguingly resonates with the subjectivities revealed in ethnographies of other groups such as Tom Gill's day laborers, Tiantian Zheng's male tongzhi sex workers, and Don Kulick's transgendered travesti prostitutes.2 Despite their differences, all of these individuals become enthralled (or survive, in Gill...

Staged Seduction: Selling Dreams in a Tokyo Host Club

Staged Seduction: Selling Dreams in a Tokyo Host Club

Profesi Host yang Tercermin dalam Manga Hosutan e Youkoso Karya Makoto Tateno

This research’s title is “Host Profession which had Reflected in Manga Hosutan e Youkoso by Makoto Tateno”. This research aimed to know the criteria to be a host in a host club in Japan. This research used the sociology of literature theory by Ratna (2009), literary trilogy theory by Wellek and Warren (1993), and semiotics theory by Danesi (2012). The results of this research showed that there are two criteria to be a host, i.e. physical criteria and non-physical criteria. In detailed, has an attractive face and has a good looking respectively. On the other hand, there are five parts of non-physical criteria to be a host, which have tolerance to alcoholic beverages, have skills to communicate with costumers, have a broad insight, adjusted well with costumer needs, and should be between 20 years to 30 years. Host profession which had reflected in manga Hosutan e Youkoso are host assignment, host level, working hours of host, host earnings, host identity, and host club. There are three parts of host assignment, i.e. welcoming costumers, assisting the costumers, and giving attention to costumers. Moreover, there are two parts of host level, that are number one host and host as herupu ‘a junior host who help the number one host in host club’.

Editorial: Many Voices

In February of this year, I was fortunate to attend Bodies in/and Asian Theatres, a regional conference of the International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR, the scholarly organization with which this journal is affiliated). It was held at the University of the Philippines Diliman under the aegis of the IFTR Asian Theatre working group. Toward the end of a plenary panel on contemporary South East Asian dance on the final day, a debate arose over the work of one of the speakers, Eisa Jocson. A dancer and choreographer, Jocson's work explores the aesthetics of local and transnational performative labour, and is often based on forms she learns from Filipinos working in the entertainment industry. For example, Macho Dancer (2013) is based on a distinctive style of erotic male nightclub performance, Host (2015) on the work of Filipinas in Japanese hostess clubs, and the HAPPYLAND series (2017) on the high number of Filipinos employed at the Hong Kong Disneyland. In response to her presentation on these and other works, some scholars from the Philippines asked Jocson, who mainly performs in Manila and on the international contemporary performance circuit, why she did not tour nationally. After all, they reasoned, since Jocson's performances are inspired by the work of entertainers who often come from regional cities and rural areas, is it not right to present the work ‘back’ to such a workforce and their communities? Such questions are, of course, complex and loaded. In so far as Jocson's performances address the exploitation of Filipino entertainers’ affective labour, is there any risk that Jocson compounds that exploitation for her own benefit? And in so far as those performances explore the choreographies of entertainment capital and commodified desire, should Filipino audiences not be informed and perhaps educated about such things? Jocson countered that while wider local exposure for her work was desirable, it was wrong to presume that it could readily be presented in such circumstances. She makes her work within a specific critical and discursive context, she explained, and as part of a long-term thematic and aesthetic enquiry. To present it outside such contexts would benefit neither the audience, nor the artist, nor the work. If anything, she seemed to be suggesting, the work is not made for the producers of such performance forms, but for their consumers, and those who elsewhere participate in and benefit from such economies. She recounted making the ‘mistake’ of asking the owners of a ‘macho dancer’ nightclub if she could perform Macho Dancer there, as part of their regular line-up, late at night. They offered her an early slot, so as not to disrupt business as usual.

Perceived occupational stigma and coping strategies among host club (male-company cabaret club) employees

Perceived occupational stigma and coping strategies among <i>host club</i> (male-company cabaret club) employees

Seduction and the self: movements through precarity, race and sexuality in Japanese host clubs

In this article, I build on the notion of precarity to argue that Japanese host clubs are sites in which a particular kind of intimacy and sense of ‘belonging’ are produced. The analysis highlights host clubs as necessary spaces among many in the precarious economy and as important venues for the production of subjectivity for the male hosts (both migrant and Japanese) as well as for the migrant women who frequent these establishments. In particular, host clubs provide a lucrative employment opportunity for young men – particularly young men who are migrants from the rural parts of Japan or the Philippines (and often Japanese-Filipino young men) who are trying to make a living in the context of what has been characterised as ‘precarious Japan’. I draw on extended ethnographic fieldwork to show how the host clubs, though a part of the precarious economy, provide sites of home and belonging for both hosts and their clients.

I Hear Your Voice by Krys Lee

(Südlich von Abisko), and now Philipp, who retreat to the barren landscapes of the cold European North to escape the world, to be absorbed in nature, or to redeem themselves. Their development is accompanied by sentences of slow and subliminal rhythms and resonance as well as an appeal to melancholy. By the end of this slim volume, it seems as if Philipp’s wanderings might never end, as if he would walk forever, deeper into the landscape in order to become one with it and finally disappear into his own self. What remains in the final pages of Der Atem der Vögel is a nature with no need for Homo sapiens. As a result, Böldl arrives at quietness—and a long, majestic reverberation in the reader’s mind. Harald Leusmann Ball State University Young-Ha Kim. I Hear Your Voice. Trans. Krys Lee. Boston. Mariner Books / Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2017. 259 pages. Young-Ha Kim’s I Hear Your Voice begins with a lens at once magical and perturbing as the reader glimpses the Express Bus Terminal in Seoul where the country’s persisting problem with infanticide is shown up close when a woman births the main character in a bathroom stall flooded with amniotic fluid. The boy, Jae, grows up among orphans like himself and befriends the mute Donggyu. Together, they acquaint themselves with the outcasts of society in a hostess club where slips of paper are turned into bounties of alcohol and dried seafood—both boys still innocent as they get hard imagining girls kissing them for fun. But the scenes of domestic violence or even quiet times of neglect strike the reader closer to the heart. The boys survive an environment of underage orgies and starvation, the violent backdrop of neglected children in South Korea. In time, they join a motorcycle gang where Jae leads the Liberation Day Motorcycle Rally in Gwanghwamun district, the center of the government, to rebel against the police force on Independence Day, March 1, 1919, which commemorates the historical march against Japanese colonialism . Jae prophesizes that humanity, with its marginality and materiality, has lost all understanding of value. This is the basis of anarchy that Jae depends on and what Donggyu fears will be his undoing. The book questions whether this is sincerely outlandish based on the current economic, social, cultural, and government practices of the country. Korea is a country as ravaged as its orphaned and disabled children, a country invaded by Russia, France, Germany, China, occupied by Japanese and then American soldiers, preceded by a civil war. Korea outlived major massacres from the leftist and rightist struggle for power, including the Jeju Massacre, and a generation of girls forced into prostitution; a country where it was outlawed to speak Korean or have a Korean last name. The Liberation Day Motorcycle Rally against the police force is a continuation of the long-sought desire for progress—from a lack of human rights for its growing number of outcasts and a lack of cultural reform. The motorcycle rally, although severely minimized by police regulation today, is a reminder of the youth that seek to inherit a different nation than the one belonging to their forefathers and mothers. The reader cannot ignore these historical contexts within the microcosm of the city’s struggle between its gangs of youth and the police force. I Hear Your Voice is ultimately an invitation for the reader to further seek out Korean literature—and to truly understand the nuanced distinctions of a people both celebrating and bleeding. E. J. Koh Seattle, Washington Lorenzo Marone The Temptation to Be Happy Trans. Shaun Whiteside Oneworld Italian author Lorenzo Marone’s main character in The Temptation to Be Happy is the seventy-seven-year-old widower, Cesare, who lives rather aimlessly until he receives a new neighbor he cannot help but investigate. Marone’s characters, irreverent and absurd, embark on adventures they had ceased to allow themselves to imagine in this darkly comedic take on aging. maremare: Antologia Poetica Mediterranea Ed. Lino Angiuli, Maria Rosaria Cesareo & Milica Marinković Mario Adda Editore Presented in Italian by a multitude of translators and now collected into this admirable flagship of...