Contemporary fiction books from Japan
Recommended contemporary fiction books (28)
Travel the world without leaving your chair.
If you are into contemporary fiction here are some contemporary fiction books from Japan for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge.
1.
Almost Transparent Blue by Ryu Murakami EN
Description:
This controversial novel touched the raw nerves of the Japanese and became a million seller within six months of publication. It is a semi-autobiographical tale of the author's youth spent amidst the glorious squalor of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll in 1970s Japan. Almost Transparent Blue is a brutal tale of lost youth in a Japanese port town close to an American military base. Murakami's image-intensive narrative paints a portrait of a group of friends locked in a destructive cycle of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. The novel is all but plotless, but the raw and
2.
Description:
This thought-provoking and intriguing tale, by the Akutagawa Prize-nominated master short story writer Kanji Hanawa, revolves around the extraordinary real story of the seven-year-old boy who went missing in the bear-inhabited forests of northern Japan for six whole days in 2016, after his parents had apparently abandoned him as a punishment. In Backlight, a child is left alone at the side of a road in the mountains of Hokkaido in northern Japan by his parents. When they return moments later, the boy is gone. Ishida, a Professor of Psychology is enlisted as part of the search team. As days pas... continue
3.
Battle Royale by Kōshun Takami EN
Description:
This classic yet controversial Japanese novel is available for the first time in English--a high-octane thriller about senseless youth violence that is a potent allegory of what it means to be young and survive in today's dog-eat-dog world.
4.
Birthday Stories by Haruki Murakami EN
Description:
In this enviable gathering, Haruki Murakami has chosen for his party some of the very best short story writers of recent years, each with their own birthday experiences, each story a snapshot of life on a single day. Including stories by Russell Banks, Et
5.
Butter : A Novel of Food and Murder by Asako Yuzuki EN
Description:
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER The cult Japanese bestseller about a female gourmet cook and serial killer, and the journalist intent on cracking her case, inspired by a true story There are two things that I simply cannot tolerate: feminists and margarine. Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in the Tokyo Detention House convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, whom she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation's imagination, but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is until journalist Rika Machida writes a lett... continue
6.
Come Rain Or Come Shine by Kazuo Ishiguro EN
Description:
In Kazuo Ishiguro's hands, a snapshot of domestic realism becomes a miniature masterpiece of memory and forgetting.
7.
Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami EN
Description:
High-class call girls billed to Mastercard. A psychic 13-year-old dropout with a passion for Talking Heads. A hunky matinee idol doomed to play dentists and teachers. A one-armed beach-combing poet, an uptight hotel clerk and one very bemused narrator cau
8.
Honeybees and Distant Thunder by Riku Onda EN
Description:
THE MILLION-COPY AWARD-WINNING JAPANESE BESTSELLER In a small coastal town just a stone's throw from Tokyo, a prestigious piano competiton is underway. Over the course of two feverish weeks, three students will experience some of the most joyous - and painful - moments of their lives. Though they don't know it yet, each will profoundly and unpredictably change the others, for ever. Aya is a piano genius, well, she was, until she ran away from the stage and vanished; will Makun, tall and talented in every way, bring her back? Or will it be child of nature, Jin, a pianist without a piano, who ca... continue
9.
Description:
A tale of twisted love from Yoko Ogawa—author of The Diving Pool and The Housekeeper and the Professor. In a crumbling seaside hotel on the coast of Japan, quiet seventeen-year-old Mari works the front desk as her mother tends to the off-season customers. When one night they are forced to expel a middle-aged man and a prostitute from their room, Mari finds herself drawn to the man's voice, in what will become the first gesture of a single long seduction. In spite of her provincial surroundings, and her cool but controlling mother, Mari is a sophisticated observer of human desire, and she sees ... continue
10.
Description:
A bombshell bestseller in Japan, a defiant, darkly funny debut novel about a young woman in a care home seeking autonomy and the full possibilities of her life—“not only a major achievement in disability literature but great literature period” (Johanna Hedva) “Uproariously funny, unflinching, and merciless.”—Mariana Enriquez, author of Our Share of Night “Unforgettable.”—Sayaka Murata, author of Convenience Store Woman “A sly whirlwind of madness and brilliance.”—Weike Wang, author of Chemistry A Most Anticipated Book of 2025: Vulture, Publishers Weekly, BBC, Ms. Magazine, AnOther Magazine, Ra... continue