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.
171.
Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami
EN
Rating: 4 (5 votes)
Description:
A male college student falls in love with a woman who, over the years, guides him in her travels, and then disappears without trace. Assisting in the search, he goes home to Japan, where he finally achieves a true understanding of his beloved.
172.
Sputnik, mi amor by Haruki Murakami
ES
Rating: 3.2 (5 votes)
Description:
Del mismo modo en que, en el viaje del satélite ruso Sputnik, la perra Laika giraba alrededor de la Tierra y dirigía su atónita mirada hacia el espacio infinito, en Tokio tres personajes se buscan desesperadamente intentando romper el eterno viaje circular de la soledad. El narrador, un joven profesor de primaria, está enamorado de Sumire; pero ella, quien se considera la última rebelde, tiene una única obsesión: ser novelista. Sumire conocerá a Myû, una mujer casada de mediana edad tan hermosa como enigmática, y juntas emprenderán un viaje por Europa tras el que nada volverá a ser igual.... continue
173.
Spy x Family, Vol. 1 by Tatsuya Endo
EN
Description:
An action-packed comedy about a fake family that includes a spy, an assassin and a telepath! Master spy Twilight is unparalleled when it comes to going undercover on dangerous missions for the betterment of the world. But when he receives the ultimate assignment—to get married and have a kid—he may finally be in over his head! Not one to depend on others, Twilight has his work cut out for him procuring both a wife and a child for his mission to infiltrate an elite private school. What he doesn’t know is that the wife he’s chosen is an assassin and the child he’s adopted is a telepath!... continue
174.
Star by Yukio Mishima
EN
Description:
A haunting novella of fame and disillusionment by a Japanese literary icon All eyes are upon Rikio. And he likes it, mostly. His fans cheer from a roped-off section, screaming and yelling to attract his attention. They would kill for a moment alone with him. Finally the director sets up the shot, the camera begins to roll, someone yells "action"; Rikio, for a moment, transforms into another being, a hardened young yakuza, but as soon as the shot is finished, he slumps back into his own anxieties and obsessions. Written shortly after Yukio Mishima himself had acted in the film Afraid to Die, th... continue
175.
Strange Pictures by Uketsu
EN
Description:
"Wonderfully innovative. . . . Delightfully macabre and fiendishly clever. Seemingly unconnected stories tie themselves into a complicated knot, which Uketsu masterfully unravels."--G. T. Karber, author of the national bestseller Murdle "Uketsu is a disrupter, the master of quiet horror."--Janice Hallett, internationally bestselling author of The Appeal The spine-tingling mystery horror bestseller that has taken Japan by storm--an eerie fresh take on horror for fans of Hidden Pictures and Junji Ito, in which a series of seemingly innocent pictures draws you into a disturbing web of unsolved my... continue
176.
Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami
EN
Description:
Tsukiko is in her late thirties and living alone when one night she happens to meet one of her former high school teachers, Sensei, in a bar. After this initial encounter, the pair continue to meet occasionally to share food and drink sake and come to develop a hesitant intimacy which tilts awkwardly into love.
177.
Summer, Fireworks, and My Corpse by Otsuichi
EN
Description:
A coming of age story, right after death. L to R (Western Style). Two short novels, including the title story and Black Fairy Tale, plus a bonus short story. Summer is a simple story of a nine-year-old girl who dies while on summer vacation. While her youthful killers try to hide the her body, she tells us the story—from the POV of her dead body—of the boys' attempt to get away murder. Black Fairy Tale is classic J-horror: a young girl loses an eye in an accident, but receives a transplant. Now she can see again, but what she sees out of her new left eye is the experiences and memories of its ... continue
178.
Sun & Steel by Yukio Mishima
EN
Description:
This is the personal testament of Japan's greatest novelist, written shorty before his public suicide in 1970. Through Mishima's finely wrought and emphatic prose, the mind and motivation behind his agonized search for personal identity is revealed. In this fascinating document, one of Japan's best known-and controversial-writers created what might be termed a new literary form. It is new because it combines elements of many existing types of writing, yet in the end fits into none of them. At one level, it may be read as an account of how a puny, bookish boy discovered the importance
179.
Suzuran by Aki Shimazaki
ES
Description:
Anzu acaba de modelar y hornear un delicado jarrón de arcilla. Está satisfecha, lo exhibirá en su próxima exposición, y, como su forma le recuerda la de una campanilla, lo llama Suzuran. Porque Anzu es una joven y reputada ceramista consagrada al mundo de la loza tradicional japonesa. Está divorciada, vive con su hijo preadolescente y, por más que le insistan sus amigas, no quiere volver a enamorarse. Su apacible vida cotidiana, en una ciudad junto al mar del Japón y al pie del monte Daisen, se ve alterada de pronto cuando su hermana mayo... continue