Job Discussion Forums

purple_piano · Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 8:34 pm Post subject: Good fiction books set in Japan?

This may be a slightly odd question but can anyone suggest any good fiction set in Japan (written in or translated into English) ?

I want to read about the country, and yes I could read non-fiction and culture advice books but they can get a bit dry and I'd like to be entertained while learning.

I suppose what I'm looking for is a book that does for Japan what "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns" (which I think is better) do for Afganistan. A look at the country and the people who live there while telling a good story.

Any ideas?

wintersweet · Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 9:13 pm Post subject:

A lot of people like Banana Yoshimoto's fiction (I enjoyed Kitchen in particular). Not a very good range of books gets translated into English, in my opinion, compared to the reverse...oh well. An off-the-wall recommendation is Kamikaze Girls (really not serious or "literary" at all, but an entertaining look at youth subcultures--and as a friend recently said, a very strong narrative voice!).

seklarwia · Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 9:58 pm Post subject:

Whilst I was in China, I read 'The Harsh Cry of the Heron" by Lian Hearn which was a deep period fiction (don't ask me which one, because I don't know... imagine lords, retainers and swords).

It was given to me, so I didn't realise it is actually the continuation of an epic known as the 'The tales of Otori' which already had 3 books:

1. Across the Nightingale Floor
2. Grass for His Pillow
3. Brilliance of the Moon

I haven't read these three, but if they are as good as book 4 then they could be a good read too.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Miyuki Miyabe's story: All She Was Worth.

wintersweet · Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 3:54 am Post subject:

I've heard that Lian Hearn's Otori books are quite fun but it's worth noting that they're fantasy novels set in another world that's just based on Japan. So if the OP wants to pick up real place names and history through fiction, they might not be the best choice. For fictionalized history, I found Yoshikawa Eiji's Musashi very entertaining (that's surname Yoshikawa if you check the library). If you check the Japanese literature in translation subject heading of your library's online card catalog, you might as well just raid it and see what you like--the translations have been increasing a bit lately, and you never know what will strike you.

Sujata Massey's mystery novels that move between Japan and San Francisco are entertaining, although again, not literary. They get better after the first one (The Salaryman's Wife). There are various nonfiction memoirs such as Hokkaido Highway Blues and Untangling My Chopsticks that are not dry at all. Massey herself used to teach English in Japan.

mc · Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Posts: 90 Location: Aichi, Japan

Shogun (James Clavell) and Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden) are two more. Whether you'd think they're "good" or not is anyone's guess.

basilbrush · Joined: 23 Feb 2009 Posts: 61

Haruki Murakami is a really famous Japanese author. I really enjoyed his books, they're really surreal. The Wind Up Bird Chronicles is probably his most famous.