Books from Japan
162 popular japanese books
Travel the world without leaving your chair.
The target of the Read Around The World Challenge is to read at least one book written by an author from each and every country in the world.
All books that are listed here as part of the "Read Around Asia Challenge" were written by authors from Japan.
Find a great book for the next part of your reading journey around the world from this book list. The following popular books have been recommended so far.
121.
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yōko Ogawa EN
Description:
Yoko Ogawa's The Housekeeper and the Professor is an enchanting story about what it means to live in the present, and about the curious equations that can create a family. He is a brilliant math Professor with a peculiar problem—ever since a traumatic head injury, he has lived with only eighty minutes of short-term memory. She is an astute young Housekeeper—with a ten-year-old son—who is hired to care for the Professor. And every morning, as the Professor and the Housekeeper are introduced to each other anew, a strange and beautiful relationship blossoms between them. Though he cannot hold mem... continue
122.
The Ink Dark Moon by Izumi Shikibu, Ono no Komachi EN
Description:
Here is a collection of sexy, brief, fleeting poems about love, lust and longing. They originate from a time in Japanese history where aristocratic women of the Heian court were free to marry and conduct love affairs according to their desires. Education and refinement were so highly valued that the courtly manner of expressing oneself, whether to give condolences for a death, to send back a forgotten fan, or to heighten the anticipation of a lover's visit, was with a poem of just five lines. A convention of secrecy surrounding love affairs fills these verses with palpable emotion. These vivid... continue
123.
The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife Vol. 1 by Iwatobineko EN
Description:
A sweet and supernatural love story at a detective agency, by the creator of The Country Without Humans (also from Seven Seas)! Yakou Shizuka, a quiet and bashful woman, works at a detective agency. Her boss Tounome, who owns the company, is the gentlemanly type, kind and dapper, though he has an extra talent—he’s invisible! His special ability is perfect for detective work, but he quickly comes to find it doesn’t work on Yakou, who is blind and always knows if he’s near. Charmed, Tounome is determined to get her to date him and isn’t against using his many skills. Yakou’s quirky coworkers, a ... continue
124.
The Key by Junichiro Tanizaki EN
Description:
'This Year I Intend To Begin Writing Freely About A Topic Which, In The Past, I Have Hesitated To Mention Even Here. I Have Always Avoided Commenting On My Sexual Relations With Ikuko, For Fear That She Might Surreptitiously Read My Diary And Be Offended-'So Begins The Key - A Forthright And Moving Tale Of A Middle-Aged Man Deeply In Love With His Younger Wife. In Spite Of That Love, They Have Grown Physically Apart, Each Unsure Of The Other'S Thoughts And Desires-Until The Day Ikuko Discovers The Key To Her Husband'S Diary With Its Desperate Hints Of Jealousy And Voyeurism. The Key, She Reali... continue
125.
The Last Children of Tokyo by Yoko Tawada EN
Description:
A dreamlike story of filial love and glimmering hope, set in a future where the old live almost-forever and children's lives are all too brief.
126.
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo EN
Description:
A #1 New York Times BestsellerAn Amazon Best Book of 2014 in Crafts, Home & GardenThis #1 New York Times bestselling guide to decluttering your home from Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes readers step-by-step through her revolutionary KonMari Method for simplifying, organizing, and storing.
127.
The Liminal Zone by Junji Ito EN
Description:
Three-time Eisner Award winner Junji Ito presents brand-new nightmares! What destiny awaits them after the screaming? After abruptly departing from a train in a small town, a couple encounters a “weeping woman”—a professional mourner—sobbing inconsolably at a funeral. Mako changes afterward—she can’t stop crying! In another tale, having decided to die together, a couple enters Aokigahara, the infamous suicide forest. What is the shocking torrent they discover there? One of horror’s greatest talents, Junji Ito beckons readers to join him in an experience of ultimate terror with four new stories... continue
128.
The Lonesome Bodybuilder: Stories by Yukiko Motoya EN
Description:
Winner of the Akutagawa Prize and the Kenzaburo Oe Prize, these eleven surreal tales, set in the offices, zoos, bus stops, boutiques, and homes of contemporary Japan "are reminiscent, at least to this reader, of Joy Williams and Rivka Galchen and George Saunders" (Weike Wang, The New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice). In the English-language debut of one of Japan’s most fearlessly inventive young writers a housewife takes up bodybuilding and sees radical changes to her physique, which her workaholic husband fails to notice. A boy waits at a bus stop, mocking commuters struggling to keep... continue
129.
The Maids by Junichiro Tanizaki EN
Description:
A major discovery: Tanizaki's wonderful final novel--now in English
130.
The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki EN
Description:
'An exquisite novel about four sisters living though a turbulent decade...I'd put it in the 10 greatest books of the 20th century' David Mitchell 'A near-perfect novel' Hanya Yanagihara In the years leading up to the Second World War, four sisters live in dilapidated houses in Osaka and Ashiya, and each navigate their own complex, personal relationship to the fading lustre of the Makioka family name. Rich with breathtaking descriptions of ancient customs and an ever-changing natural world, Junichiro Tanizaki evokes in loving detail a long-lost way of life even as it withers under the harsh gla... continue