Bachelor in Bangkok: Khun Lee on why you should NOT sleep with Thai women When I first lived in Paradise 8 years ago I made a lot of mistakes, the most noteworthy of these was exhibiting a total lack of discipline when it came to sleeping around. Now, I know my nickname is Khun Nana […]
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WoWasis book review: Haruki Murakami’s Japanese sci-fi novel ‘Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World’
In his sci-fi novel Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (2003, ISBN 978-0099-448-785), Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami weaves a cerebral tale of speculative fiction that explores the concept of parallel worlds. In one, a man finds himself tasked with reading the memories of previous residents of a walled town, by drawing out the […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Kenzaburo Oé’s Japanese novel ‘A Silent Cry’
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Kenzaburo Oé’s novel A Silent Cry (1994) is a psychological thriller relating to the familial travails surrounding two brothers. As in much of the author’s writing, there are no heroes here, as all protagonists are enveloped by a deep-seated malaise that continues to descend as the book progresses. Oé is a master […]
Read the rest of this entry »Dunkin’ Donuts blackface poster in Thailand raises ire with NGO Human Rights Watch
Dunkin’ Donuts Thailand is being called on the carpet by the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) for creating an advertising poster showing the CEO’s daughter in blackface, advertising a “charcoal donut.” Blackface comedy has been a staple in Morlam shows all over Thailand for decades, but it seems that the venerable doughnut institution crossed the […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Kenzaburo Oé’s Japanese novel ‘A Personal Matter’
As translator John Nathan writes, “Kenzaburo Oé, awarded the 1994 Nobel Prizein literature, is in a real sense Japan’s first modern writer, both in the sense of having come of age in the postwar era, and also in the sense of dealing with contemporary, and deeply personal, issues in a direct and sometimes violent way […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘Yankee Samurai,’ Nisei working for the US in WWII, by Joseph Harrington
Author Joseph D. Harrington has written an informative and insightful history of the Nisei (Americans of Japanese Ancestry, or AJAs, the first generation to be born outside of Japan, and children of Issei, their Japanese-born parents living in the United States), working for the U.S. armed forces in the Pacific during World War II. Yankee […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis Banned Book review: ‘Truth on Trial in Thailand: Defamation, Treason, and Lèse-Majesté’ by David Streckfuss
In our previous review of Paul Handley’s book The King Never Smiles, we quoted from the book’s back cover: “Any journalist or academic who takes an interest in Thailand soon learns that one topic is off limits: the modern monarchy… it is dangerous, and one risks expulsion or jail for lèse-majesté” for reporting on sensitive […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: Haruki Murakami’s Japanese novel ‘Dance Dance Dance’
Haruki Murakami, Japan’s best-selling novelist, likes his protagonists troubled, in love, work, and play. Except they never get to play much. In Dance Dance Dance (1994, ISBN 978-0-679-75379-7) Murakami’s protagonist’s occasional insecurities are augmented by the fact that his name is not mentioned once in this 393 page book in which the story is told […]
Read the rest of this entry »Why is my expensive Thai hotel is ripping me off with a 10% dining-in service charge?
The Good Manner: Advice on Thailand from WoWasis’ Pa Farang This week’s scam unveiled: My expensive Thai hotel is ripping me off with a 10% dining-in service charge Dear Pa Farang, I routinely stay at one of the top Western hotels in Thailand, and eat frequently at its top restaurant. Each time, a 10% “service […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis Book review: ‘Bangkok Haunts’ Bangkok Fiction by John Burdett
Bangkok Haunts (2007, ISBN 9780-5930-5544-1) is the third in writer John Burdett’s Detective Sonchai series, in which Sonchai, a colorful character in the Bangkok Fiction genre, attempts to get to the bottom of the death of an ex-lover, with other-worldly implications. Burdett’s protagonist, a Royal Thai Police detective operating in Bangkok’s District 8, offers up […]
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