Psychology books set in Japan (16)
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1.
The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe EN
JapanDescription:
The Woman in the Dunes, by celebrated writer and thinker Kobo Abe, combines the essence of myth, suspense and the existential novel. After missing the last bus home following a day trip to the seashore, an amateur entomologist is offered lodging for the night at the bottom of a vast sand pit. But when he attempts to leave the next morning, he quickly discovers that the locals have other plans. Held captive with seemingly no chance of escape, he is tasked with shoveling back the ever-advancing sand dunes that threaten to destroy the village. His only companion is an odd young woman. Together th... continue
2.
The Devil's Disciple by Shirō Hamao EN
Description:
Two stories originally published in Japanese in 1929 in issues of Shinseinen.
3.
Rashōmon and Seventeen Other Stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa EN
Description:
Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) is one of Japan's foremost stylists - a modernist master whose short stories are marked by highly original imagery, cynicism, beauty and wild humour. "Rashomon" and "In a Bamboo Grove" inspired Kurosawa's magnificent film and depict a past in which morality is turned upside down, while tales such as "The Nose", "O-Gin" and "Loyalty" paint a rich and imaginative picture of a medieval Japan peopled by Shoguns and priests, vagrants and peasants. And in later works such as "Death Register", "The Life of a Stupid Man" and "Spinning Gears", Akutagawa drew from his own... continue
4.
Description:
The great Japanese author’s most famous novel, in its first new English translation in half a century No collection of Japanese literature is complete without Natsume Soseki's Kokoro, his most famous novel and the last he completed before his death. Published here in the first new translation in more than fifty years, Kokoro—meaning "heart"—is the story of a subtle and poignant friendship between two unnamed characters, a young man and an enigmatic elder whom he calls "Sensei." Haunted by tragic secrets that have cast a long shadow over his life, Sensei slowly opens up to his young disciple, c... continue
5.
What You Are Looking for Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama EN
Description:
For fans of The Midnight Library and Before the Coffee Gets Cold, this charming Japanese novel shows how the perfect book recommendation can change a reader's life. What are you looking for? This is the famous question routinely asked by Tokyo's most enigmatic librarian, Sayuri Komachi. Like most librarians, Komachi has read every book lining her shelves--but she also has the unique ability to read the souls of her library guests. For anyone who walks through her door, Komachi can sense exactly what they're looking for in life and provide just the book recommendation they never knew they neede... continue
6.
The Tale of Genji : (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) by Murasaki Shikibu EN
Description:
The world’s first novel, in a translation that is “likely to be the definitive edition . . . for many years to come” (The Wall Street Journal) A Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition, with flaps and deckle-edged paper Written in the eleventh century, this exquisite portrait of courtly life in medieval Japan is widely celebrated as the world’s first novel. Genji, the Shining Prince, is the son of an emperor. He is a passionate character whose tempestuous nature, family circumstances, love affairs, alliances, and shifting political fortunes form the core of this magnificent epic. Royall Tyler’s superi... continue
7.
The Forest of Wool and Steel by Natsu Miyashita, Philip Gabriel EN
Description:
OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD ''A mesmerising reading experience for all of us seeking a meaningful life' JAPAN TIMES What he experienced that day wasn't life-changing . . . It was life-making. Tomura is startled by the hypnotic sound of a piano being tuned in his school. It seeps into his soul and transports him to the forests, dark and gleaming, that surround his beloved mountain village. From that moment, he is determined to discover more. Under the tutelage of three master piano-tuners - one humble, one jovial, one ill-tempered - Tomura embarks on his training, never straying too far from a... continue
8.
Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri EN
Description:
WINNER OF THE 2020 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN TRANSLATED LITERATURE A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR A surreal, devastating story of a homeless ghost who haunts one of Tokyo's busiest train stations. Kazu is dead. Born in Fukushima in 1933, the same year as the Japanese Emperor, his life is tied by a series of coincidences to the Imperial family and has been shaped at every turn by modern Japanese history. But his life story is also marked by bad luck, and now, in death, he is unable to rest, doomed to haunt the park near Ueno Station in Tokyo. Kazu's life in the city began and ended in t... continue
9.
All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami EN
Description:
FINALIST for the 2022 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction A BEST BOOK OF 2022 Oprah Daily・TIME Magazine・Washington Post・Publishers Weekly・Lit Hub Bestselling author of Breasts and Eggs Mieko Kawakami invites readers back into her immediately recognizable fictional world with this new, extraordinary novel and demonstrates yet again why she is one of today's most uncategorizable, insightful, and talented novelists. Fuyuko Irie is a freelance copy editor in her mid-thirties. Working and living alone in a city where it is not easy to form new relationships, she has little regular contac... continue
10.
Description:
"Shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize. From the bestselling author of Breasts and Eggs and international literary sensation Mieko Kawakami, a sharp and illuminating novel about the impact of violence and the power of solidarity. A bold foray into new literary territory, Kawakami’s novel is told in the voice of a 14-year-old student subjected to relentless torment for having a lazy eye. Instead of resisting, the boy chooses to suffer in complete resignation. The only person who understands what he is going through is a female classmate who suffers similar treatment at the hands o... continue
11.
Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami EN
Description:
'Breathtaking' – Haruki Murakami author of Norwegian Wood A beguiling novel about three women struggling to determine their own lives in contemporary Tokyo. A New York Times 'Notable Book of the Year' and one of Elena Ferrante's 'Top 40 Books by Female Authors' On a hot summer’s day in a poor suburb of Tokyo we meet three women: thirty-year-old Natsuko, her older sister Makiko, and Makiko’s teenage daughter Midoriko. Makiko, an ageing hostess despairing the loss of her looks, has travelled to Tokyo in search of breast enhancement surgery. She's accompanied by Midoriko, who has recently stopped... continue
12.
All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami EN
Description:
From the bestselling author of Breasts and Eggs and international literary sensation Mieko Kawakami comes a deeply moving and magnificently observed story about a young woman searching for meaning.
13.
The Tatami Galaxy by Tomihiko Morimi EN
Description:
An unfulfilled college student hurtles through four parallel realities to explore the what-might've-been and the what-should-never-be in this Groundhog Day meets The Midnight Library-esque novel from one of Japan's most popular authors. Our protagonist, an unnamed junior at the prestigious Kyoto University, is on the verge of dropping out. After rebelling against the dictatorial jock president of the film club, he and his worst and only friend, the diabolical creep Ozu, are personas non grata on campus. For three years, our protagonist has made all the wrong decisions, and now he's about to ma... continue
14.
Description:
"Akari is a high school junior obsessed with "oshi" Masaki Ueno, a member of the popular J-Pop group Maza Maza. She writes a blog devoted to him, and spends hours addictively scrolling for information about him and his life. Desperate to analyze and understand him, Akari hopes to eventually see the world through his eyes. It is a devotion that borders on the religious: Masaki is her savior, her backbone, someone she believes she cannot survive without-even though she's never actually met him. When rumors surface that her idol assaulted a female fan, social media explodes. Akari immediately beg... continue
15.
The Maids by Junichiro Tanizaki EN
Description:
A major discovery: Tanizaki's wonderful final novel--now in English
16.
Spring Garden by Tomoka Shibasaki EN
Description:
Winner of the Akutagawa Prize A sharp, photo-realistic novella of memory and thwarted hope set in modern-day Tokyo—an “unflinching . . . powerful” showcase of the best in contemporary Japanese literature (Shelf Awareness) Divorced and cut off from his family, Taro lives alone in one of the few occupied apartments in his block, a block that is to be torn down as soon as the remaining tenants leave. Since the death of his father, Taro keeps to himself, but is soon drawn into an unusual relationship with the woman upstairs, Nishi, as she passes on the strange tale of the sky-blue house next door.... continue