Japanese fiction is my favourite kind of fiction. I have a degree in East Asian Studies and as part of this I ended up studying a lot of Japanese literature, with a small amount of Chinese Literature on the side. I think that apart from one or two writers, namely Haruki Murakami, Japanese literature is mostly an unknown area for the average reader. But I don’t feel like this should be the case! Within Japanese literature there is something for everyone. There is so much to it, a mass of variety, and I feel as though it has something that you cannot get from Western Literature. So I thought I would do an introduction to Japanese literature on a whole, that way anyone who is interested can get some idea of who they may or may not like to read.
Haruki Murakami
I think that the more modern novels will be considered the most accessible to most people. Haruki Murakami is an author that cannot be ignored when introducing Japanese literature, he was a favourite to win this year Nobel Prize for literature. His books are immensely popular in Japan and around the world and yet I have to say I don’t think they are for everyone. My all time favourite of his is ‘Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World’. The plot is split into two vastly different stories, and none of the characters have names. In one story a man is hired by a scientist who lives underground and who needs him to process data in his brain, somehow altering it into unreadable number, thus rendering it safe from enemy scientists. In another story he is living ‘at the end of the world’, a walled in town which he cannot leave because his shadow is held hostage by the gate keeper. He must read the memories of unicorn skulls in the town library and try to figure out how he can leave. A lot of authors have been credited with being influenced by Murakami. He certainly has a distinct style, one that I have encountered no where else. His books all delve into what would be called magical realism, although the realism is sometimes cloudy. His books are certainly different, you cannot imagine where the story lines comes from. And even though they are bizarre I find them very easy to read. I think that a lot of people look to Japan for something a bit ‘crazy’ or they immediately expect something different. Well, in Murakami they will find that. Although you should not be put off by this if you think you just don’t want to read something daft! They are not daft. They are truly amazing.
Hitomi Kanehara
The second author you should be looking at is Hitomi Kanehara. She has written ‘Snakes and Earrings’ and ‘Autofiction’. Snakes and Earrings has since been made into a rather popular film, although admittedly not one that I have gotten around to watching. Snakes and Earring is about a young girl living in Tokyo. She is viewed as a ‘Barbie’ girl, but is really into piercings. She meets a man at an alternative club who she soon begins to live with. He is also into piercings, he convinces her to get a large tattoo on her back. The book is based amongst Japanese subcultures. It’s really about how a ‘normal’ looking girl can fit into this world, or into any world really. Autofiction has some similarities. It also features around one girl and her relationships and life in Tokyo. The women in both books are unsatisfied with their lives and Japanese society in general. In Autofiction the plot goes backwards, so the reader can experience why a young Japanese girl can come to be so disillusioned and unhappy in today's society. Neither book is very long, but a lot happens in each, and there is certainly an aspect of the edgyness that people come to expect from Japan these days.
Natsuo Kirino
Again she does not have many book available in translation, but what she does have available to western audiences is certainly worth reading. My favourite book of hers is ‘Out’. It’s about a group of women who work nights shifts in a factory. When one of the women kills her abusive husband the women band together to help her out. This leads the women down a destructive path and they get mixed up in some seriously unsavory situations. What is great about this book is how the characters are developed how the novel portrays real life. In fact, I think that is what Natsuo Kirino is good at in general. It is so easy to read. Because of this I think this novel doesn’t feel so Japanese. It’s like a book you are used to reading, but with the names and places slightly harder to pronounce, does that make sense??
There are dozens more Japanese authors that I would like to introduce in other posts, but if you want to read some Japanese literature, these three are a good starting point. So, to clarify, these are my recommendations. They are not too taxing and will give you a really good idea of what Japanese literature has to offer.
Natsuo Kirino - Out
Hitomi Kanehara - Snakes and Earrings
Autofiction
Haruki Murakami - Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Kafka on the Shore
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle
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