Japanese books
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Books
Mornings Without Mii
Mayumi Inaba · 2025
<p><b>INDIE BESTSELLER</b><br><b><br>A <i>New Yorker</i> Best Book of the Year So Far<br>A Must-Read: <i>Literary Hub </i></b><b>• </b><b><i>The Millions </i></b><b>• </b><b><i>Kirkus Reviews </i></b><b>• </b><b><i>Shelf Awareness </i></b><b>• </b><b><i>BookPage </i></b><b>• </b><b><i>BookBub </i></b><br><br><b>“A great love story.” </b><b>—Sigrid Nunez, <i>The New Yorker</i></b><br><br><b>“I have never read a book quite like this. Profoundly real, specific, moving, and beautifully written.” ―Elif Batuman, author of<i> Either/Or</i></b><br><br><b><i>Mornings Without Mii </i>is a beloved Japanese modern classic: a deeply affecting story of solitude, independence, writing, grief, love, and life alongside a cat.</b><br><br>On a cool summer evening in 1977, Mayumi Inaba hears a forlorn cry carried by the breeze off Tokyo’s Tamagawa River. She follows the sound to the riverbank and finds a newborn kitten only the size of her palm dangling from a fence, abandoned. Overcome by tender affection, she takes the cat back to the small apartment she shares with her husband and christens her Mii: so begins an ineffable bond.<br><br>Over the next twenty years, we follow Inaba, a poet and novelist by moonlight, as she pursues quiet, solitude, and a room of her own. Through it all, her cat, a fiercely independent creature in her own right, is her confidante and muse.<br><br>From the late Mayumi Inaba, a winner of the Kawabata Prize and the Tanizaki Prize, <i>Mornings Without Mii </i>is not just a love letter to companionship: it’s a poignant, searching meditation on the forces that enable us to connect, to create, and to build a life.</p>
The Thorn Puller
Hiromi Ito · 2022
<p><b>Winner of the Sakutaro Hagiwara Prize and the Murasaki Shikibu Prize</b></p> <p><b>Caught between two cultures, award-winning author Hiromi Ito tackles subjects like aging, death, and suffering with dark humor, illuminating the bittersweet joys of being alive.</b></p> <p>The first novel to appear in English by award-winning author Hiromi Ito explores the absurdities, complexities, and challenges experienced by a woman caring for her two families: her husband and daughters in California and her aging parents in Japan. As the narrator shuttles back and forth between these two starkly different cultures, she creates a powerful and entertaining narrative about what it means to live and die in a globalized society.</p> <p>Ito has been described as a “shaman of poetry” because of her skill in allowing the voices of others to flow through her. Here she enriches her semi-autobiographical novel by channeling myriad voices drawn from Japanese folklore, poetry, literature, and pop culture. The result is a generic chimera—part poetry, part prose, part epic—a unique, transnational, polyvocal mode of storytelling. One throughline is a series of memories associated with the Buddhist bodhisattva Jizo, who helps to remove the “thorns” of human suffering.</p>
The Place of Shells
Mai Ishizawa · 2025
<p>In the summer of 2020, as Europe is beginning to open back up after the first phase of the pandemic, a young Japanese woman based in the German city of Göttingen is working on a PhD about the iconography of medieval saints. She waits at the train station to meet her old friend from graduate school, Nomiya, who died nine years earlier in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan, but has suddenly reemerged without any explanation.</p> <p>When Nomiya arrives, the narrator guides him through Göttingen's scale model of the solar system, talking about her studies, her roommate and their mutual friends. Yet it isn't long before his spectral presence in the city begins to fray the narrator's psyche and destabilize the world beyond: eerie discoveries are made in the forest, Pluto begins disappearing and reappearing, and snags run in time's fabric. The narrative continues to spiral and unfold to include the Japanese physicist Terada Torahiko, mysteriously sprouting teeth, Saint Lucia, all set against the ever-lingering presence of death.</p> <p>With a literary style reminiscent of W. G. Sebald, Yoko Tawada, and Yu Miri, The Place of Shells is a hypnotic, poetic novel that explores the ebbing and flowing of memory, its physical manifestations, its strange and sudden metaphors, and the overwhelming stranglehold of trauma.</p>
Set My Heart on Fire
Izumi Suzuki · 2024
<i>Hope I'm in for a good time, I thought. Even if it's just for tonight.</i><br><br>Set in the underground bar and club scene of 1970s Tokyo, <i>Set My Heart On Fire</i> tells the story of Izumi in her turbulent twenties. Through a series of disarmingly frank vignettes, author Izumi Suzuki presents an unforgettable portrait of a young woman encountering missteps and miscommunication, good music and unreliable men, powerful drugs and disorientating meds. Izumi usually keeps her relationships short but complicated, until she meets Jun.<br><br><i>Set My Heart on Fire</i> is a visceral novel about mistaken relationships and the convolutions of desire, about regret and acceptance. Pulsing through the narration is the protagonist's love of music, a vital soundtrack spanning the Zombies, T. Rex and the Rolling Stones as well as underground Japanese psychedelic-rock bands such as the Tigers and the Tempters.
Wildcat Dome
Yuko Tsushima · 2025
<p><b>An epic novel of postwar, nuclear-age Japan, by the author of <i>Territory of Light<br></i></b><br>Mitch and Yonko haven’t spoken in a year. As children, they were inseparable, raised together in an orphanage outside Tokyo—but ever since the sudden death of Mitch’s brother, they’ve been mourning in their private ways, worlds apart. In the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe, they choose to reunite, finding each other in a city undone by disaster.<br><br>Mitch and Yonko have drifted apart, but they will always be bound together. Because long ago they witnessed an unspeakable tragedy, a tragedy that they’ve kept secret for their entire lives. They never speak of it, but it’s all around them. Like history, it repeats itself.<br><br>Yuko Tsushima’s sweeping and consuming novel is a metaphysical saga of postwar Japan. <i>Wildcat Dome</i> is a hugely ambitious exploration of denial, of the ways in which countries and their citizens avoid telling the truth—a tale of guilt, loss, and inevitable reckoning.<br><br>'Tsushima evades any label, her fiction transcends gender to focus on the existential loneliness that is at the heart of humanity.' <i>Japan Times</i></p>
Manazuru
Hiromi Kawakami · 2017
Startlingly restless and immaculately compact, Manazuru paints the portrait of a woman on the brink of her own memories and future. Twelve years have passed since Kei’s husband, Rei, disappeared and she was left alone with her three–year–old daughter. Her new relationship with a married man—the antithesis of Rei—has brought her life to a numbing stasis, and her relationships with her mother and daughter have spilled into routine, day after day. Kei begins making repeated trips to the seaside town of Manazuru, a place that jogs her memory to a moment in time she can never quite locate. Her time there by the water encompasses years of unsteady footing and a developing urgency to find something. Through a poetic style embracing the surreal and grotesque, a quiet tenderness emerges from these dark moments. Manazuru is a meditation on memory—a profound, precisely delineated exploration of the relationships between lovers and family members.
Hardboiled & Hard Luck
Banana Yoshimoto · 2015
A pair of thematically linked novellas from the acclaimed author of Lizard, Amrita, and Goodbye Tsugumi. In cherished novels such as Kitchen and Goodbye Tsugumi, Banana Yoshimoto’s warm, witty, and heartfelt depictions of the lives of young Japanese have earned her international acclaim and bestseller status. Her insightful, spare vision returns in two novellas possessed by the ghosts of love found and lost. In Hardboiled, the unnamed narrator is hiking in the mountains on an anniversary she has forgotten about, the anniversary of her ex-lover’s death. As she nears her hotel—stopping on the way at a hillside shrine and a strange soba shop—a sense of haunting falls over her. Perhaps these eerie events will help her make peace with her loss. Hard Luck is about another young woman, whose sister is dying and lies in a coma. Kuni’s fiancé left her after the accident, but his brother Sakai continues to visit, and the two of them gradually grow closer as they make peace with the impending loss of their loved one. Yoshimoto’s voice is clear, assured, and deeply moving, displaying again why she is one of Japan’s, and the world’s, most beloved writers. “A sparkling book.” —The Washington Post
The Housekeeper and the Professor A Novel
Yoko Ogawa · 2009
<p>Yoko Ogawa's <i>The Housekeeper and the Professor</i> is an enchanting story about what it means to live in the present, and about the curious equations that can create a family.<br><br> 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. <br><br>She is an astute young Housekeeper—with a ten-year-old son—who is hired to care for the Professor. <br>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 memories for long (his brain is like a tape that begins to erase itself every eighty minutes), the Professor's mind is still alive with elegant equations from the past. And the numbers, in all of their articulate order, reveal a sheltering and poetic world to both the Housekeeper and her young son. The Professor is capable of discovering connections between the simplest of quantities—like the Housekeeper's shoe size—and the universe at large, drawing their lives ever closer and more profoundly together, even as his memory slips away.</p>
The Tatami Galaxy A Novel
Tomihiko Morimi · 2022
<br> <br> <p>*SHORTLISTED FOR THE PEN TRANSLATION PRIZE*</p> <p>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.</p> <p>Our protagonist, an unnamed junior at a prestigious university in Kyoto, 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 two years, our protagonist has made all the wrong decisions, and now he's about to make another mistake. He and Ozu are preparing for revenge--a fireworks attack at the film club's welcoming party for new members. Then, a chance encounter with a self-proclaimed god sets the confused and distraught young man on a new course. Destiny will bring him together with Akashi, the blunt but charming sophomore he has a crush on--if he's brave enough to make a move. Yet our protagonist cannot get beyond his profound disillusionment and the moment is lost. But what if there's a universe where he did join the club of his dreams, ditched Ozu for good, and was confident enough to get the girl A realm of possibility opens up for our protagonist as time rewinds, and from the four-and-a-half-mat tatami floor of his dorm room, he is plunged into a series of adventures that will take him to four parallel universes. In each universe, he is given the opportunity to start over as a freshman, in search of a rose-colored campus life.</p> <p>The inspiration behind the much-loved anime series, Tomihiko Morimi's contemporary classic is a fantastic journey through time and space, where a half-eaten castella cake, a photograph from Rome, and a giant cavity in a wisdom tooth hold the keys to self-discovery. A time-traveling romp that speaks to everyone who has wondered what if, The Tatami Galaxy will win readers' hearts over . . . and over . . . and over again.</p>
The Convenience Store by the Sea
Sonoko Machida · 2025
<b>The international bestseller with over half a million copies sold.<br><br>"An unexpected treasure." —Laurie Gilmore, bestselling author of <i>The Pumpkin Spice Cafe</i></b><br><br><b>Welcome to Tenderness!</b><br><br>A quaint seaside town in Kitakyushu, Mojiko is full of hidden delights. And one unexpected treasure is the 24/7 convenience store, Tenderness.<br><br>Sure, it's a bit odd that the incredibly handsome manager has his own fan club. And perhaps the customers are somewhat eccentric, if not entertaining. But there's a warmth about the store that draws you in.<br><br>The truth is, Tenderness <i>is</i> different. Operating only in Kyushu, Tenderness stands firm and proud by its motto “Caring for People, Caring for You”, no matter the cause. And for Mitsuhiko, dishing out delicious food is simply the appetizer to his unsolicited but hearty wisdom on the town’s shenanigans.<br><br>An international bestseller with over half a million copies sold between Japan and South Korea<i>, The Convenience Store by The Sea</i> tells the delightfully quirky and heartfelt stories of the store’s customers and employees, offering us all a unique recipe for a good, fulfilling life.
People from My Neighbourhood
Hiromi Kawakami · 2021
"Take a story and shrink it. Make it tiny, so small it can fit in the palm of your hand. Carry the story with you everywhere, let it sit with you while you eat, let it watch you while you sleep. Keep it safe, you never know when you might need it. In Kawakami's super short 'palm of the hand' stories the world is never quite as it should be: a small child lives under a sheet near his neighbour's house for thirty years; an apartment block leaves its visitors with strange afflictions, from fast-growing beards to an ability to channel the voices of the dead; an old man has two shadows, one docile, the other rebellious; two girls named Yoko are locked in a bitter rivalry to the death. Small but great, you'll find great delight spending time with the people in this neighbourhood."--Provided by publisher.
The Full Moon Coffee Shop
Mai Mochizuki · 2024
<b>A TALE OF CATS, CAKES AND ASTROLOGY FOR READERS OF <i>BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD</i></b> <br> <b><i>Humans are stars in their own right, Mizuki. Every one of them.</i></b> <b><br></b> <b>THE #1 INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING HEALING SERIES FROM JAPAN</b> <br> Under a glittering full moon, a Kyoto coffee shop appears only where and when it's needed. It's run by talking cats serving delicious desserts and age-old astrological wisdom. This coffee shop attracts customers who have lost their way in life, from a failed video game developer to a romantically challenged TV director. In the middle of the night, the feline guides will set everyone on their destined paths...<br> <br> Heartwarming and magical, <i>THE FULL MOON COFFEE SHOP</i> will remind you that it's never too late to discover your purpose.<br> <br> <b>'Lose yourself in a world of talking cats with this cult bestseller' <i>GLAMOUR</i></b> <b><i>⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐</i></b><br> <b>'Feel-good fiction for those needing a redirection' <i>BOOKLIST</i></b> <b><i>⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐</i></b><br> <b><br> '</b><b>I don't think I'll ever forget it' READER</b> ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐<br> <b>'A slice of magic</b> <b>I hope to one day discover is true' READER</b> ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐<br> <br> <b><i>THE FULL MOON COFFEE SHOP</i> has sold over half a million copies across 20 languages, including Italian, French and German.</b>
All the Lovers in the Night
Mieko Kawakami · 2022
Selected as one of The Oprah Daily's Best Books of 2022The acclaimed and bestselling author of Breasts and Eggs and Heaven returns with a blistering, shocking and poetic story set in contemporary Tokyo.Shy, lonely and introverted Fuyuko lives alone and fills her days with her job as a freelance proofreader. About to turn thirty-five, she cannot imagine ever having any emotional or successful relationship in her life as it currently stands. She is regularly haunted by encounters of the past.But Fuyuko loves the light and goes out on the night of her birthday, Christmas Eve, to count the lights.Her only friend, Hijiri, offers some light in her life, but it is a chance encounter with another man, Mr. Mitsutsuka, a physics teacher, who offers her access from another dimension to light.Pulsing, poetic, modern and shocking, All The Lovers in The Night is the third novel from internationally bestselling author Mieko Kawakami.Translated from the Japanese by Sam Bett and David Boyd.
Diary of a Void
Emi Yagi · 2022
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker · NPR · WBEZ’s Nerdette · The New York Public Library · Literary Hub A New York Times Editors’ Choice “One of the most passionate cases I’ve ever read for female interiority, for women’s creative pulse and rich inner life.” ―Katy Waldman, The New Yorker “Always expect the unexpected when you’re not expecting.” ―Sloane Crosley A woman in Tokyo avoids harassment at work by perpetuating, for nine months and beyond, the lie that she’s pregnant in this prizewinning, thrillingly subversive debut novel about the mother of all deceptions, for fans of Convenience Store Woman and Breasts and Eggs When thirty-four-year-old Ms. Shibata gets a new job to escape sexual harassment at her old one, she finds that as the only woman at her new workplace—a manufacturer of cardboard tubes—she is expected to do all the menial tasks. One day she announces that she can’t clear away her coworkers’ dirty cups—because she’s pregnant and the smell nauseates her. The only thing is . . . Ms. Shibata is not pregnant. Pregnant Ms. Shibata doesn’t have to serve coffee to anyone. Pregnant Ms. Shibata isn’t forced to work overtime. Pregnant Ms. Shibata watches TV, takes long baths, and even joins an aerobics class for expectant mothers. She’s living a year of rest and relaxation, and is finally being treated by her colleagues as more than a hollow core. But she has a ruse to keep up. Before long, it becomes all-absorbing, and with the help of towel-stuffed shirts and a diary app that tracks every stage of her “pregnancy,” the boundary between her lie and her life begins to dissolve. Surreal and absurdist, and with a winning matter-of-factness, a light touch, and a refreshing sensitivity to mental health, Diary of a Void will keep you turning the pages to see just how far Ms. Shibata will carry her deception for the sake of women, and especially working mothers, everywhere.
The Goodbye Cat
Hiro Arikawa · 2023
<b>The uplifting new cat novel from the multi-million-copy bestselling author of <i>The Travelling Cat Chronicles</i><br> <br> 'Quirky and life-enhancing' <i>THE TIMES</i> Biggest Books of the Autumn</b><br> <b>_____________________</b><br> <i>Against changing seasons in Japan, seven cats weave their way through their owners' lives.</i><br> <br> - A needy kitten rescued from the recycling bin teaches a new father how to parent his own human baby<br> - An elderly cat hatches a plan to pass into the next world as a spirit so that he and his owner may be together for ever<br> - A colony of wild cats on a holiday island shows a young boy not to stand in nature's way<br> - A family is perplexed by their cat's devotion to their charismatic but uncaring father<br> - A woman curses how her cat constantly visits her at night<br> <br> Bursting with empathy and love, <i>THE GOODBYE CAT</i> explores the unstoppable cycle of life as we see how the steadiness and devotion of a well-loved cat never lets us down.<br> <br> <b>A huge bestseller in Japan, every page is a joyous celebration of cats and how we cannot resist sharing our lives with them.</b><br> <br> <b>'A book for every cat lover.</b> An <b>enchanting</b> insight into the <b>mysterious world of cats</b> and their humans' CELIA HADDON, author of <i>Being Your Cat</i><br> <br> **Includes seven beautiful cat drawings**<br> <b>_____________________<br> READERS ADORE <i>THE GOODBYE CAT</i><br> <br> - 'Wonderful!</b> These cats are charming and truly come alive. The book is full of human - or rather, cat kindness' <b>*****<br> - 'Irresistible.</b> This is the first time since <i>The Travelling Cat Chronicle</i>s that I cried my eyes out over a book' <b>*****<br> -</b> 'I'm glad I didn't read it outside because I couldn't stop crying. <b>Truly life-enhancing' *****</b>
