Books from Japan
231 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.
172.
The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo EN
Description:
One of Japan's greatest classic murder mysteries, introducing their best loved detective, translated into English for the first time In the winter of 1937, the village of Okamura is abuzz with excitement over the forthcoming wedding of a son of the grand Ichiyanagi family. But amid the gossip over the approaching festivities, there is also a worrying rumour - it seems a sinister masked man has been asking questions around the village. Then, on the night of the wedding, the Ichiyanagi household are woken by a terrible scream, followed by the sound of eerie music. Death has come to Okamura, leav... continue
173.
The House of Nire by Morio Kita EN
Description:
The House of Nire will come as a surprise to readers who expect a Japanese novel to be a mixture of gloom and sensitivity. This one is unashamedly comic, and its view of human life derives from a warm curiosity that accepts the world as it is and wastes no time complaining about it. Readers will feel themselves in the company of somebody who understands with intelligence, judges with generosity, and often, sometimes uproariously, laughs and enjoys. The book relates the history of the Nire family from the end of the First World War to the end of the Second. We meet Kiichiro Nire, founder not on... continue
174.
The House of the Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories by Yasunari Kawabata EN
Description:
From Japan's first Nobel laureate for literature, three superb stories explore the interplay between erotic fantasy and reality in a loner's mind. Kawabata's fiction is noted for combining a traditional Japanese aesthetic with modernist, often surreal trends: his richly lyrical prose is imbued with a sense of loneliness and alienation. In these three tales, underlying the erotic fantasy is the protagonists' lack of connection with other people, and their memories of past loves in an empty sterile life. The title story, "House of the Sleeping Beauties," is about a man who visits a brothel where... continue
175.
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
176.
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
177.
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
178.
The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai EN
Description:
The Kamogawa Food Detectives is the first book in the bestselling, mouth-watering Japanese series, for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold. What’s the one dish you’d do anything to taste just one more time? Down a quiet backstreet in Kyoto exists a very special restaurant. Run by Koishi Kamogawa and her father Nagare, the Kamogawa Diner serves up deliciously extravagant meals. But that's not the main reason customers stop by . . . The father-daughter duo are 'food detectives'. Through ingenious investigations, they are able to recreate dishes from a person’s treasured memories – dishes that ma... continue
179.
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
180.
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.