The Tatami Galaxy (Yoj-Han Shinwa Taikei), a book by Tomihiko Morimi, has been nominated for the PEN Translation Prize by the nonprofit organisation PEN America, which revealed the contenders for its 2023 Literary Prizes on Friday. The award recognises the best book-length prose translation into English from any language. The book was translated by Emily Balistrieri. The honour comes with a $3,000 USD reward.
On December 6, the HarperVia imprint of HarperCollins released the book The Tatami Galaxy. In the summer of 2023, the sequel book Tatami Time Machine Blues will be published. Both works are being translated by Balistrieri. The Night is Young, Walk on Girl, a book by Morimi that Balistrieri previously translated, served as the basis for a 2017 anime film with a screenplay by Masaaki Yuasa.
The Tatami Galaxy by Morimi was published by Ohta Publishing in 2005, with a cover drawn by Nakamura. In April 2010, Yuasa produced an 11-episode animation based on the book.
On September 14, Disney+ in Japan debuted the television adaptation of the book Tatami Time Machine Blues (Yoj-Han Time Machine Blues) by Tomihiko Morimi. On November 9, Hulu started broadcasting the anime in the US. In September, the anime started streaming on Disney+ Hotstar in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.
There are five episodes in all, with a sixth original episode only available on Disney+. The sixth episode contains a novel-exclusive original tale and scenes not seen in the anime’s theatrical compilation film.
The restricted three-week run of the theatrical compilation film, which was exclusively streamed by The Walt Disney Company, began on September 30.
The Tatami Galaxy (Yoj-Han Shinwa Taikei), written by Morimi, is followed by Tatami Time Machine Blues. It was released in July 2020, sixteen years after the first book. Summer Time Machine Blues, a theatrical drama by Makoto Ueda, served as inspiration for the book. The book was written by Morimi, while the initial idea is ascribed to Morimi’s buddy Ueda. The characters from Morimi’s novel are combined with aspects of the tale from the stage production in the second book. Nakamura is back to draw the cover.
