New Japanese Voices: The Best Contemporary Fiction from Japan

by Helen Mitsios (Editor), Jay McInerney (Introduction)

A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice

Born after Hiroshima, the writers in this dazzling collection of short stories represent the American debut of the best contemporary Japanese fiction. Inhabiting the exotic interstice between cultural traditionalism and high-tech futurism, the stories in this volume offer a rich portrait of the Japanese sensibility — the zeitgeist that is transforming the way the rest of the world views itself. Sections include “Kitchen” by Banana Yoshimoto, “A Callow Fellow of Jewish Descent” by Masahiko Shimada, “On Meeting My 100 Percent Woman One Fine April Morning” by Haruki Murakami, “Swallowtails” by Shiina Mkoto, “God Is Nowhere; God Is Now Here” by Itoh Seikoh, “X-Rated Blanket” by Eimi Yamada, “Yu-Hee” by Yang Ji Lee, “On a Moonless Night by Sei Takekawa, “Living in a Maze” by Kyoji Kobayashi, “The Imitation of Leibniz” by Genichiro Takahashi, “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” by Tamio Kageyama, and “Wine” by Mariko Hayashi.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Japan, Japanese Literature, Unfinished

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Andrew]

This is an odd and somewhat dated collection, dating from peak Japan in the early '90s, but before Haruki Murakami took the world by storm, with other contemporary Japanese writers (Ryu Murakami, Banana Yoshimoto, etc.) in tow, edited by Jay "Was a Big Deal in the '80s" McInerney. The Japanese masters of 30 or 40 years previous were gone, and this was supposed to be America's introduction to the young Turks. It's... pretty solid? I would hardly call New Japanese Voices essential reading in 2019, but it ain't bad.

[Kyle Muntz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is easily the least interesting of the Japanese anthologies I've read recently, but there were a few good pieces from Kyoji Kobayashi and Masahiko Shimada, who in particular is becoming a favorite of mine. Also, there was an absolutely brilliant piece from Genichiro Takahashi (whose writing I'm essentially obsessed with), which seemed to be about baseball and analytic philosophy, that was good enough on its own to make the anthology worth picking up.

[Romana Lilic · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated getting to know more contemporary Japanse authors, but from all the stories in this book collection, I only liked about half of them. I'll be adding some new authors to my list of authors that I really like, like Murakami and Yoshimoto.

[Irina]

(not 0 stars, just gave up star ratings)
An interesting, albeit a bit short, feature of Japanese contemporary fiction in 1991 - yes, the graphic design really makes it clear it's from 33 years ago. The stories still feel fresh though, and could have mostly been written today. There is a lot of absurdity and humor, and Western philosophers pop up in several stories. For me, the highlights which definitely make me want to read more from the same authors were the opening story by Masahiko Shimada, A callow Fellow of Jewish Descent (interesting how a game was used in it), excerpt from Yu-Hee by Yang Ji Lee (really need to read the whole thing, the emotion was so well delivered) and Mariko Hayashi's Wine (I love stories where modern capitalist society's silliness is laughed at, reminded me of Fitzgerald's Diamond as Big as the Ritz and Mishima's The Pearl). Also, happily indulged in the excerpt of Banana Yoshimoto's Kitchen even though I have read the whole novella before, it really brings warmth that makes me want to re-read it.

[Redfox5 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not the biggest fan of short stories because I'm always left wanting to know more. But this is actually one of the better collections of short stories I've read. The problem with translated books is that they tend to mostly be 'prize' winning books. I usually find these sorts of books a bit tedious and I'm not clever enough to get what the book is trying to say to me. I want to read some Japanese popular fiction! Maybe some Japanese chick lit? This book does quiet a good job of giving us fiction from Japanese writers but without them being especially Japanese. I loved 'On a moonless Night'. I would have hated to have been the girl in the story. Scary stuff! X-Rated Blanket, Living in a Maze and The Unsinkable Molly Brown were stand out stories for me. I didn't really like Yu-Hee mainly because I just didn't get it and I didn't finish 'The Imitation of Leibniz' because it was a sports story and didn't hold my interest. Overall I think everyone would be able to find at least one story to enjoy from this collection.

[Sae-chan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was the reason people said Japanese literature was weird. The editor made sure that she picked the farthest cries from the sensual works of Tanizaki, the strength and sharpness of Mishima, the subtlety of Kawabata, just to be able say that this was the new Japanese voice. I strongly disagreed that these stories were the just representation of Japanese new voices. The works of Ogawa Yoko, Tawada Yoko, Miyabe Miyuki were certainly more representative of the main stream. Even the one by Murakami Haruki that she chose was rather weak. I really didn't know what she was thinking.

Anyhow the ones from Takekawa Sei and Kyoji Kobayashi were very good. I wished more of their works got translated to English.

[Mimi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Odd assortment of stories that tend to favor the "weird Japan" image. The stories and the collection seemed to be trying a bit too hard to shock the reader into continuing to read. "Swallowtails" had a nice touch of the everyday, however, and "A Family Party" showed a Tokyo in the midst of transition in the early Showa era, rather than old Edo or futuristic "Electric Town".

[Olive · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for the introduction of Japanese literature.
The stories that impressed me the most are:
"God Is Nowhere, God Is Now Here" by Itah Seikoh; "X-Rated Blanket" by Eimi Yamada and "On a Moonless Night" by Sei Takegawa.

[farah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love novels, but I can also get away with short stories.

[Ivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply exhilarating!