Japan’s ‘beat poet’ Kazuko Shiraishi, pioneer of modern performance poetry, dies at 93

Japan’s ‘beat poet’ Kazuko Shiraishi, pioneer of modern performance poetry, dies at 93

TOKYO — Kazuko Shiraishi, a leading name in modern Japanese “beat” poetry, known for her dramatic readings, at times with jazz music, has died. She was 93. Shiraishi, whom American poet and translator Kenneth Rexroth dubbed “the Allen Ginsberg of Japan,” died of heart failure on June 14, Shichosha, a Tokyo publisher of her works, … Read more