Today in pulp I'm looking back at one of #Japan's greatest science fiction magazines: Hayakawa S-F! #FridayFeelingpic.twitter.com/waSriY1ZzH
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Esu-Efu Magajin (S-F Magazine) was first published in February 1960 by Hayakawa Shobō publishing, and has gone on to shape both Japanese SF and champion Japanese authors.pic.twitter.com/VbP2ZKD9QT
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Science fiction had been reasonably popular in Japan before the war, but it was in the mid-1950s that specialist story magazines, such as Takumi Shibano's subscription fanzine Uchūjin (Cosmic Dust) began to appear.pic.twitter.com/Y4j7QkillK
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Hayakawa S-F soon followed. It was a 'prozine' - a professionally produced commercial fanzine - first edited by Masami Fukushima: "The demon of SF".pic.twitter.com/xMNGr6tZa8
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Initially it specialised in translations of western SF stories, mainly from The Magazine Fantasy and Science Fiction. However upcoming Japanese fan writers featured in Uchūjin were published in S-F Magazine, helping to create a career path for budding SF authors in Japan.pic.twitter.com/EF6ZDTziAR
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SF Magazine also coincided with the New Wave of speculative fiction happening in Britain and America. As a result Japanese SF of the 1960s is an amazing mix of speculative fiction, hard SF, monster fiction and scientific romance, all peacefully coexisting together.pic.twitter.com/qs949eTevP
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In 1962 S-F Magazine launched its Esuefu Kontesuto, a literary contest for new science fiction short stories and novellas written in Japanese. It helped pioneer the 'First Generation' of Japanese SF writers such as Sakyo Komatsu and Ryū Mitsuse.pic.twitter.com/PzlkeznXmu
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In the 1970s Japanese SF took a more speculative turn, exploring inner space as much as outer space. It also began to question whether the First Generation had been too subservient to American SF ideas.pic.twitter.com/oF1yqbrMxO
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Kôichi Yamano led the charge with a 1969 essay arguing that SF had the capacity to be avant garde, rather than simply copying the themes of Golden Age American stories. He launched his own magazine NW-SF to champion his ideas.pic.twitter.com/cz0wFBs00E
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With the rise of Japanese technology in the 1970s western writers began looking to Japan for SF inspiration. Cyberpunk embraced the hi-tec/low-life aesthetic, and along with growing western interest in Manga it was now Japan's turn to shape the SF novel.pic.twitter.com/zzbNVqPkH2
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S-F Magazine is still going strong, as is the influence of the New Wave. In 2006 S-F Magazine readers voted 10 Billion Days & 100 Billion Nights by Ryu Mitsuse as their all-time favourite Japanese SF novel. It includes an awesome cyborg deathmatch between Buddha and Jesus!pic.twitter.com/Lduyb4kN1o
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Many excellent artists have produced covers for S-F Magazine. Katsuya Terada provided this wonderful cover for the June 2013 edition.pic.twitter.com/0jaz3S3pXt
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If you're interested in Japanese SF a good place to start is with the Speculative Japan anthologies from Kurodahan Press. They covet a range of authors and the translations are very well done.pic.twitter.com/IFLDjCdgEB
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So here's to S-F Magazine, the kick starter foe an amazing range of books and authors from Japan. Twitter salutes you! More stories another time...pic.twitter.com/seyNKN3H8x
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