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List of Japanese Fiction in Translation
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This is so useful! Thank you so much! (Don’t forget to add our current author, Akita Yoshimura.)
An honorable & much appreciated endeavor!!!!!
Awesome! I hope you don't mind some feedback..."Hideo Furkawa" -> "Hideo Furukawa"
"Masuiji Ibuse" -> "Masuji Ibuse"
Yasushi Inoue: "Wind and Waves", "The Blue Wolf"
Kyotaro Nishimura: "The Mystery Train Disappears"
Natsume Soseki: "Kusamakura" and "The Three Cornered World" are the same book
I can go through this in more detail if you like, and point out more additions. Just ask!
Bill wrote: "Awesome! I hope you don't mind some feedback..."Hideo Furkawa" -> "Hideo Furukawa"
"Masuiji Ibuse" -> "Masuji Ibuse"
Yasushi Inoue: "Wind and Waves", "The Blue Wolf"
Kyotaro Nishimura: "The Myst..."
Absolutely! I'm totally open to suggestions/edits.
Thank you so much for this wonderful list. I'm aware of 2 other translated books of Otsuichi ie. "Zoo" and "Goth"...https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
Hope this helps with your list.
This takes me up through "M" on my bookshelf... more later.The Dark Maidens
Akiyoshi, Rikako
A Caring Man
Arai, Akira
Shoshaman: A Tale of Corporate Japan
Arai, Shinya
A Certain Woman
Arishima, Takeo
Another
Ayatsuji, Yukito
Mandala Road
Bandō, Masako
Sachiko
Endō, Shūsaku
The Bamboo Sword: And Other Samurai Tales
Fujisawa, Shuhei
One Hundred Mountains of Japan
Fukada, Kyuya
Flowers of Grass
Fukunaga, Takehiko
Gush
Hemmi, Yo
The Silent Dead
Honda, Tetsuya
Lieutenant Lookeast and Other Stories
Ibuse, Masuji
Shank's Mare
Ikku, Jippensha
Confucius
Inoue, Yasushi
Roof Tile of Tempyo
Inoue, Yasushi
Shirobamba
Inoue, Yasushi
The Samurai Banner of Furin Kazan
Inoue, Yasushi
Wild Grass on the Riverbank
Itō, Hiromi
Farewell, My Orange
Iwaki, Kei
The Saint of Mt. Koya
Izumi, Kyōka
In Light of Shadows: More Gothic Tales by Izumi Kyoka
Izumi, Kyōka
Japanese Gothic Tales
Izumi, Kyōka
The Marvelous Village Veiled in Mist
Kashiwaba, Sachiko
Kannani and Document of Flames: Two Japanese Colonial Novels
Katsuei, Yuasa
Mistress Oriku: Stories from a Tokyo Teahouse
Kawaguchi, Matsutaro
Before the Coffee Gets Cold
Kawaguchi, Toshikazu
People From My Neighbourhood
Kawakami, Hiromi
Tales of the Ghost Sword
Kikuchi, Hideyuki
A Wind Named Amnesia / Invader Summer
Kikuchi, Hideyuki
Boy
Kitano, Takeshi
A Guru Is Born
Kitano, Takeshi
A Dog in Water
Kiuchi, Kazuhiro
Shield of Straw
Kiuchi, Kazuhiro
The Crab Cannery Ship and Other Novels of Struggle
Kobayashi, Takiji
River Mist and Other Stories
Kunikida, Doppo
Life in the Cul-de-Sac
Kuroi, Senji
A Day in the Life
Kuroi, Senji
A Flock of Swirling Crows: And Other Proletarian Writings
Kuroshima, Denji
Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window
Kuroyanagi, Tetsuko
The Paradise Bird Tattoo
Kurumatani, Choukitsu
Pagoda, Skull Samurai
Kōda, Rohan
Love of Mountains: Two Stories
Kōji, Uno
Single Sickness and Other Stories
Masuda, Mizuko
Confessions
Minato, Kanae
Madame de Sade
Mishima, Yukio
Thirst for Love
Mishima, Yukio
Freezing Point
Miura, Ayako
A Heart of Winter
Miura, Ayako
Shiokari Pass
Miura, Ayako
River of fireflies
Miyamoto, Teru
Spinning Tropics
Mochizuki, Asuka
Vita Sexualis
Mori, Ōgai
Youth and Other Stories
Mori, Ōgai
The Name of the Flower
Mukoda, Kuniko
Awesome idea! Included here are the ones in my personal collection that I didn't see in your list. The Tales of Ise by Anonymous
The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji
Shield of Straw by Kazuhiro Kiuchi
All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka
Slum Online by Hiroshi Sakurazaka
Tattoo Murder Case by Akimitsu Takagi
Strangers by Taichi Yamada
Zak wrote: "Thank you so much for this wonderful list. I'm aware of 2 other translated books of Otsuichi ie. "Zoo" and "Goth"...https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/..."
Got it! Thanks!
I don't think my list is so interesting... mostly older things, and these are just the print editions I have.Kôbo Abé The Woman in the Dunes
Kôbo Abé The Ruined Map
Kôbo Abé The Man Who Turned into a Stick and other plays
Kôbo Abé Beyond the Curve
Kôbo Abé The Box Man
Kôbo Abé The Ark Sakura
Kôbo Abé Kangeroo Notebook
Kôbo Abé Inter Ice Age 4
Kôbo Abé The Face of Another
Kôbo Abé The Box Man
Kôbo Abé The Woman in the Dunes
Kôbo Abé The Ruined Map
Yasunari Kawabata First Snow on Fuji
Yasunari Kawabata The Old Capital
Yasunari Kawabata The Lake
Yasunari Kawabata Snow Country
Yasunari Kawabata Thousand Cranes
Yasunari Kawabata The House of the Sleeping Beauties
Yasunari Kawabata Palm of the Hand Stories
Yukio Mishima After the Banquet
Yukio Mishima Spring Snow
Yukio Mishima The Decay of the Angel
Yukio Mishima The Temple of Dawn
Yukio Mishima Runaway Horses
Yukio Mishima The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
Yukio Mishima Forbidden Colors
Yukio Mishima Confessions of a Mask
Yukio Mishima Death in Midsummer
Yukio Mishima The Sound of Waves
Yukio Mishima The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
Yukio Mishima The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea
Yukio Mishima Forbidden Colors
Haruki Murakami Kafka on the Shore
Karuki Murakami A Wild Sheep Chase
Haruki Murakami 1Q84
Shikibu Murasaki The Tale of Genji
Shikibu Murasaki The Tale of Genji
Kenzaburo Oe A Personal Matter
Junzo Shono Evening Clouds
Natsume Sôseki Sanshiro
Natsume Sôseki Kokoro
Natsume Sôseki Botchan
Natsume Sôseki The Three Cornered World (Kusumakura)
Natsume Sôseki The Wayfarer (Kojin)
Natsume Sôseki Mon “The Gate”
Natsume Sôseki And Then (Sorekara)
Natsume Sôseki Sanshiro
Natsume Sôseki Kokoro
Natsume Sôseki Light and Darkness
Junichiro Tanizaki In Praise of Shadows
Junichiro Tanizaki The Key
Junichiro Tanizaki Two Novellas by
Junichiro Tanizaki A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tanizaki The Gourmet Club
Junichiro Tanizaki The Makioka Sisters
Junichiro Tanizaki Some Prefer Nettles
De Bary, Keene (eds.) Tsunoda Sources of Japanese Tradition I
De Bary, Keene (eds.) Tsunoda Sources of Japanese Tradition II
Banana Yoshimoto Kitchen
Banana Yoshimoto Lizard
Banana Yoshimoto Asleep
And one more:Futabatei Shimei The Drifting Cloud, (Ukigumo (浮雲))
Bill wrote: "This takes me up through "M" on my bookshelf... more later.The Dark Maidens
Akiyoshi, Rikako
A Caring Man
Arai, Akira
Shoshaman: A Tale of Corporate Japan
Arai, Shinya
A Certain Woman
Arishim..."
This is quite the list! Thank you so much.
I've gotten through the Inoue adding everything that didn't look like NF or YA. Lots and lots of books! Thanks.
I tried to screen out both NF and YA, but maybe I wasn't completely successful. Let me know when you're ready, and I'll make an N-to-Z batch.
Bill wrote: "This takes me up through "M" on my bookshelf... more later...How'd you get a copy of Before the Coffee Gets Cold? It looks like a great read, but the internet says it isn't available until November.
I copied and pasted from my "Japan" bookshelf here on GR. It includes quite a few books I haven't bought yet :)
(*facepalm*) You obviously meant your digital bookshelf...Your list is very thorough! I'm just through the "Ki"s.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold is already published in the UK. :)
It's going to be hard for the group to read it in August, though.
It was released in the US last September 2019. Is our availability problem a UK one, not solved with shipping from the US? It wasn’t my nomination but I had checked availability before voting and didn’t realize it’s an issue. We *could* read our June and July selections, vote in July for August through October, and slot Coffee in to November.
What say those with availability issues?
Carol wrote: "It was released in the US last September 2019. Is our availability problem a UK one, not solved with shipping from the US? It wasn’t my nomination but I had checked availability before voting and d..."No, it's not a UK issue. We definitely have it here, I've ordered it and had it delivered within a few days.
I've done a bit more digging and it looks like there's a hardcover being released for it in Nov 2020, so that's where the date has come from.
I ordered a copy with ISBN 1529029589, which should be arriving today. It's a British edition.
Jeshika wrote: "Carol wrote: "It was released in the US last September 2019. Is our availability problem a UK one, not solved with shipping from the US? It wasn’t my nomination but I had checked availability befor..."That’s great news! Plus, if Bill has broken down and ordered a physical book to be delivered it would be a shame not to honor that action with a corresponding discussion. :)
Tim wrote: "Awesome idea! Included here are the ones in my personal collection that I didn't see in your list. The Tales of Ise by Anonymous
The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji
Shield of Straw by K..."
Thanks!
Bill wrote: "This takes me up through "M" on my bookshelf... more later.The Dark Maidens
Akiyoshi, Rikako
A Caring Man
Arai, Akira
Shoshaman: A Tale of Corporate Japan
Arai, Shinya
A Certain Woman
Arishim..."
Alison wrote: "(*facepalm*) You obviously meant your digital bookshelf...
Your list is very thorough! I'm just through the "Ki"s."
I finally got all the way through your list!
Here's the rest from my bookshelf:The Bells of Nagasaki
Nagai, Takashi
The Moon Over the Mountain: Stories
Nakajima, Atsushi
The Little House
Nakajima, Kyōko
Nocturne of Remembrance
Nakayama, Shichiri
Portal of the Wind
Natsuki, Shizuko
Innocent Journey
Natsuki, Shizuko
Inside My Glass Doors
Natsume Sōseki
Lost Souls, Sacred Creatures
Nishimura, Juko
"Dark Pictures" and Other Stories
Noma, Hiroshi
The Pornographers
Nosaka, Akiyuki
Deep Red
Nozawa, Hisashi
Nan-Core
Numata, Mahokaru
Stories of Osaka Life
Oda, Sakunosuke
The Restaurant of Love Regained
Ogawa, Ito
Cage on the Sea
Ohno, Kaoru
A Riot of Goldfish
Okamoto, Kanoko
The House Spirit and Other Stories
Okamoto, Kanoko
The Curious Casebook of Inspector Hanshichi: Detective Stories of Old Edo
Okamoto, Kido
J-Boys: Kazuo's World, Tokyo, 1965
Oketani, Shogo
The Book of the Dead
Orikuchi, Shinobu
The Journey
Osaragi, Jirō
Homecoming
Osaragi, Jirō
The Mad Kyoto Shoe Swapper and Other Short Stories from Japan
Otowa, Rebecca
Not a Song Like Any Other: An Anthology of Writings
Mori, Ogai
The Blade of the Courtesans
Ryû, Keiichirô
The Running Boy and Other Stories
Sagisawa, Megumu
The Sick Rose: A Pastoral Elegy
Satō, Haruo
Clouds Above the Hill: A Historical Novel of the Russo-Japanese War, Volumes 1-5
Shiba, Ryōtarō
Gaku Stories
Shiina, Makoto
Demon at Agi Bridge and Other Japanese Tales
Shirane, Haruo
Watcher from the Shore
Sono, Ayako
The Hundred-Yen Singer
Suenaga, Naomi
The River with No Bridge
Sumii, Sue
Wind and Stone
Tachihara, Masaaki
Outlet
Taguchi, Randy
Fujisan
Taguchi, Randy
Honeymoon to Nowhere
Takagi, Akimitsu
The Glass Rabbit
Takagi, Toshiko
Case of the Sharaku Murders
Takahashi, Katsuhiko
The Soil
Nagatsuka, Takashi
This Outcast Generation and Luminous Moss
Takeda, Taijun
Harp of Burma
Takeyama, Michio
Frozen Dreams: A Japanese Adventure Novel
Tatematsu, Wahei
Distant Thunder
Tatematsu, Wahei
The Quilt and Other Stories by Tayama Katai
Tayama, Katai
Country Teacher
Tayama, Katai
The Crimson Thread of Abandon: Stories
Terayama, Shuji
Rough Living
Tokuda, Shūsei
Building Waves
Tomioka, Taeko
Twenty-Four Eyes: A Novel
Tsuboi, Sakae
Bullseye!
Tsutsui, Yasutaka
The Togakushi Legend Murders
Uchida, Yasuo
Tales of Moonlight and Rain
Ueda, Akinari
The Sound of the Wind
Uno, Chiyo
Confessions of Love
Uno, Chiyo
Light That Casts No Shadow
Watanabe, Junichi
A Cop's Eyes
Yakumaru, Gaku
I Haven't Dreamed of Flying for a While
Yamada, Taichi
In Search of a Distant Voice
Yamada, Taichi
Strangers
Yamada, Taichi
The Flower Mat
Yamamoto, Shūgorō
Legends of Tono
Yanagita, Kunio
Six Four
Yokoyama, Hideo
Hardboiled & Hard Luck
Yoshimoto, Banana
Amrita
Yoshimoto, Banana
Kitchen
Yoshimoto, Banana
Goodbye Tsugumi
Yoshimoto, Banana
Lizard
Yoshimoto, Banana
The Lake
Yoshimoto, Banana
Asleep
Yoshimoto, Banana
N.P
Yoshimoto, Banana
The Letters
Yumoto, Kazumi
The Spring Tone
Yumoto, Kazumi
The Ginza Ghost
Ōsaka, Keikichi
Next I need to go through your list and look for books I don't know! :)
Short stories selected (from www.apersonalanthology.com):‘Tattoo’ by Tanizaki Jun’ichirō, translated by Ivan Morris (first published in Japanese 1910. Collected in Modern Japanese Short Stories, Tuttle 2019. Read a different translation by Howard Hibbett under the title ‘The Tattooer’ available for PDF download here, or as ‘The Victim’ in the Paris Review here)
A twisted tattooist finds the perfect human canvas on which to tattoo a spider. The joke’s on him, of course…
‘The Spider Thread’ by Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, translated by Jay Rubin (first published in Japanese 191. Included in Rashōmon and Seventeen Other Stories, Penguin 2006. Available to read online here)
Fantastic morality story from the master of Japanese short stories, pontificating on a man’s journey climbing a spider’s thread from hell to heaven.
‘Delira’ by Kanehara Hitomi, translated by Dan Bradley (first published in Japanese 2009. Published by Granta in 2015. Avaliable to read online here)
I love this writer. Everyone should go read her first novel Snakes & Earrings.
‘I Am a Novelist’ by Murakami Ryū, translated by Ralph McCarthy (first published in Japanese in the collection Run, Takahashi! in 1986.. Collected in Tokyo Decadence: 15 Stories, Kurodahan Press 2016. I cannot find a version of this online, but apparently it’s available to subscribers of The New Yorker through online archives… I think…)
Murakami Ryū is so compelling. This is an amazing premise, too – a writer gets a call from a hostess club where someone has been impersonating him, running up a massive drinks tab, and having an affair with one of the hostesses at the club.
‘The Second Bakery Attack’ by Murakami Haruki, translated by Jay Rubin (first published in Japanese 1986. Included in The Elephant Vanishes, Vintage 2003. Available to read online here)
It was literally impossible to pick one short story from Murakami Haruki. I thought about picking just 12 from him alone. Thinking about it, I should’ve picked ‘Silence’. But I didn’t. Whoops.
‘A Clean Marriage’ by Murata Sayaka, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori (first published as part of the collection Satsujin shussan, Kodansha 2014. First published in English in Granta 127: Japan in 2014, and available to read online here)
You might know her from Convenience Store Woman, but this was my first exposure to Murata Sayaka. An asexual man and woman get together with the understanding that there will be no sex in this marriage, thank you very much.
‘The Magic Chalk’ by Abe Kōbō, translated by Alison Kibrick (first published in Japanese 1950. Collected in The Shōwa Anthology: Modern Japanese Short Stories, Kodansha 1992. Available to read online here)
I read this story years and years ago when I first lived in Japan. I haven’t re-read it since, but I remember it blew my socks off. A guy finds a piece of magic chalk and draws a door to another universe on his apartment wall. A bit like that cartoon Penny Crayon.
‘Enoki’ by Matsuda Aoko, translated by Polly Barton (first published in Japanese 2018. Included in Where the Wild Ladies Are, Tilted Axis 2020. Available to read online here)
I love Matsuda Aoko’s writing. I wanted to choose The Girl Who Is Getting Married (part of the Keshiki series of chapbooks from Strangers Press), but I thought I’d pick something people can read online instead.
‘Come Out’ by Hoshi Shin’ichi, translated by Stanleigh Jones (first published in Japanese 1957 and available in the collection Bokko-chan in Japanese. Available here and there online: On someone’s blog here or there’s a weird scanned version here)
Hoshi Shin’ichi is awesome. I feel like he deserves to be translated into English more than he currently is. He writes these great Sci-Fi short, short stories. This one is a sort of morality tale about the environment (and an increasingly relevant one).
‘Closet LLB’ by Uno Kōji, translated by Jay Rubin (Collected in The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories, Penguin 2018)
I don’t know what it was about this story, but I loved how arrogant and silly the main character is.
‘The Bridegroom Was a Dog’ by Tawada Yōko, translated by Margaret Misutani (first published in Japanese 199). Included in The Bridegroom Was a Dog, New Directions 2012 or Kodansha 1998)
In Japanese literature, you often get these long short stories which are part of a mini-collection. This is one of those. I remember really enjoying this story when I read it – I remember it being narrated by the town, following the exploits of one woman who lives there.
‘The House of the Sleeping Beauties’ by Kawabata Yasunari, translated by Edward Seidensticker (first published in Japanese 1961. Included in The House of Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories, Vintage International 2017)
Similar to ‘The Bridegroom Was a Dog’ mentioned above, this is also a long short story available in a mini-collection form. But this is just about the creepiest, weirdest story I’ve ever read. An older man pays to sleep next to a young woman at a weird brothel-esque house for narcoleptics.
Carol wrote: "It was released in the US last September 2019. Is our availability problem a UK one, not solved with shipping from the US? It wasn’t my nomination but I had checked availability before voting and d..."My UK copy of Before the Coffee Gets Cold arrived a week or so ago. I really, really wanted to like the book more than I did. Maybe not worth the wait.
Thoughts here: https://readjapaneseliterature.com/20...
Incidentally, it's not slated for release in the US until November.
It's available in Australia, too. My used copy is priced in A$ and was originally sold by the Hobart Bookshop (in Tasmania, I guess).
I've got a list of Akutagawa Prize winners available in English going up. I'm only through 1990-2020. Honestly, there's more out there than I thought.
Just a follow-up here: I finally got around to finishing (I think) the list of Akutagawa Prize Winning Novels and Novelists in English Translation.Now I've got to get back to finishing up the bigger list of JLit in English translation.
Alison wrote: "Just a follow-up here: I finally got around to finishing (I think) the list of Akutagawa Prize Winning Novels and Novelists in English Translation.Now I've got to get back to finishing up the big..."
This link is broken for me - could you repost it?
Jordan wrote: "Alison wrote: "Just a follow-up here: I finally got around to finishing (I think) the list of Akutagawa Prize Winning Novels and Novelists in English Translation.Now I've got to get back to finis..."
Oops. Guess my HTML is a little rusty. I fixed the original post, and its also here: the list of Akutagawa Prize Winning Novels and Novelists in English Translation.
https://readjapaneseliterature.com/a-...
Edit: See also the list of Akutagawa Prize Winning Novels and Novelists in English Translation.