Japanese Books (non train)

[Tony Galiani]

I have been following the Japanese Music thread when it struck me that a thread on Japanese books might be interesting.  I read a lot and always like to read books about where I travel - both fact and fiction - so have been reading some Japanese themed books more often in the recent past.

 

Here are some of my reads over the last couple of years.

 

Tokyo Ueno Station - about a ghost living in Ueno Park.

 

Convenience Store Woman - the title says it all

 

Before the Coffee Gets Cold - time travel from a cafe in Tokyo

 

The Cat Who Saved Books - seems to me the protagonist, Rintaro, does the heavy lifting here but the cat is important

 

Clark & Division and The Summer of Big Bachi - both about Japanese-Americans - the first set in Chicago during World War 2 and the second later in the century and set in California

 

I also came upon some Japanese detective fiction but cannot remember authors or titles at this point.

Hoping this inspires suggestions for additional interesting reading.

 

Tony

 

[miyakoji]

Good idea Tony.  We do have a thread about Japanese railway specific books, linked below.

 

As for Japanese themed fact or fiction, but not related to railways, I have read David Peace's Tokyo Trilogy.  For mature audiences and not exactly light reading, but it fits the topic.

 

 

 

 

[cteno4]

Yes cool toni, get some litratchure in here! We have the train book thread but that’s all just basic non fiction train stuff. Fun to see ideas for interesting Japanese fiction.

 

works best if you (I can help if you want) keep adding suggestions to your first post so there is a nice list there and not spread thru the whole topic.

 

thanks,

 

jeff

[Cat]

Basho's Narrow Road: Spring and Autumn Passages, translated by Hiroaki Sato is one of my favourite books of poetry. 

 

The Penguin books translation is incredibly dry.  Translating poetry is always a very tricky balancing job, you can never get all of the imagery/emotion and literal words and meter.  Sato really breathes a lot of life into it.

Edited April 28 by Cat