Fantasy books from Japan
Recommended fantasy books (28)
Travel the world without leaving your chair.
If you are into fantasy here are some fantasy books from Japan for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge.
1.
Bakemonogatari, Part 1 by NISIOISIN EN
Description:
There’s a girl at their school who is always ill. She routinely arrives late, leaves early, or doesn’t show up at all, and skips gym as a matter of course. She’s pretty, and the boys take to whispering that she’s a cloistered princess. As the self-described worst loser in her class soon finds out, they just don’t know what a monster she is. So begins a tale of mysterious maladies that are supernatural in origin yet deeply revealing of the human psyche, a set of case files as given to unexpected feeling as it is to irreverent humor. So begins the legendary novel that kicked off the MONOGATARI s... continue
2.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi EN
Description:
*NOW AN LA TIMES BESTSELLER* *OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD* *AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER* If you could go back in time, who would you want to meet? In a small back alley of Tokyo, there is a café that has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. Local legend says that this shop offers something else besides coffee—the chance to travel back in time. Over the course of one summer, four customers visit the café in the hopes of making that journey. But time travel isn’t so simple, and there are rules that must be followed. Most important, the trip can last only as long... continue
3.
Before We Forget Kindness by Toshikazu Kawaguchi EN
Description:
In the fifth book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, translated from Japanese, the mysterious café where customers arrive hoping to travel back in time, welcomes four new guests:
- The father who could not allow his daughter to get married
- A woman who couldn't give Valentine's Day chocolates to her loved one
- A boy who wants to show his smile to his divorced parents
- A wife holding a child with no name . . .
4.
Colorful : A Novel by Eto Mori EN
Description:
A beloved and bestselling classic in Japan, this groundbreaking tale of a dead soul who gets a second chance is perfect for readers of The Midnight Library. "Congratulations, you've won the lottery!" shouts the angel Prapura to a formless soul. The soul hasn't been kicked out of the cycle of rebirth just yet—he's been given a second chance. He must recall the biggest mistake of his past life while on 'homestay' in the body of fourteen-year-old Makoto Kobayashi, who has just committed suicide. It looks like Makoto doesn't have a single friend, and his family don't seem to care about him at all.... continue
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6.
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami EN
Description:
A narrative particle accelerator that zooms between Wild Turkey Whiskey and Bob Dylan, unicorn skulls and voracious librarians, John Coltrane and Lord Jim. Science fiction, detective story and post-modern manifesto all rolled into one rip-roaring novel, Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is the tour de force that expanded Haruki Murakami's international following. Tracking one man's descent into the Kafkaesque underworld of contemporary Tokyo, Murakami unites East and West, tragedy and farce, compassion and detachment, slang and philosophy.
7.
Kafka am Strand by Haruki Murakami DE
Description:
Der Held in diesem Entwicklungs- und Liebesroman heisst Kafka Tamura und ist fünfzehn Jahre alt. Er läuft von zu Hause fort, um der stärkste 15-Jährige der Welt zu werden. Eine kafkaeske Reise voller Mythen und Mysterien beginnt.
8.
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami EN
Description:
A teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom.
9.
Kiki's Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono EN
Description:
Read the modern classic about a young witch and her clever cat that started it all! Nostalgic fans of the Hiyao Miyazaki film, Kiki's Delivery Service and newcomers alike will love this exciting new translation of the beloved fantasy story. "A gentle story of magic-tinged independence."—The Wall Street Journal Half-witch Kiki never runs from a challenge. So when her thirteenth birthday arrives, she's eager to follow a witch's tradition: choose a new town to call home for one year. Brimming with confidence, Kiki flies to the seaside village of Koriko and expects that her powers will easily brin... continue
10.
Killing Commendatore : A novel by Haruki Murakami EN
Description:
A tour de force of love and loneliness, war and art, Killing Commendatore is a stunning work of imagination from one of our greatest writers. When a thirty-something portrait painter is abandoned by his wife, he secludes himself in the mountain home of a world famous artist. One day, the young painter hears a noise from the attic, and upon investigation, he discovers a previously unseen painting. By unearthing this hidden work of art, he unintentionally opens a circle of mysterious circumstances; and to close it, he must undertake a perilous journey into a netherworld that only Haruki Murakami... continue