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Japanese Voices in Fiction
- Abe, Kobo
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(1992)A man who masks himself to cover his disfigured face consequently takes on a new personality.
- Akutagawa, Ryunosuke
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(1999)Before his tragic death in 1927, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, author of Rashomon, one of the most renowned stories of Japanese literature, wrote more than 100 short stories. Since his death, he has been described as one of the best-read men of his generation.
- Ariyoshi, Sawako
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(1972)A retelling of the legendary temple dancer who first performed on a stage in the heart of the Imperial city of Kyoto.
- Endo, Shusaku
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(2000)These five stories capture Shusaku Endo's subtle, yet poignant, treatment of the human spirit. A winner of every major Japanese literary prize, Endo's writing is sympathetic without being overly sentimental.
- Kawabata, Yasunari
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(1999)The stories of Yasunari Kawabata evoke an unmistakably Japanese atmosphere in their delicacy, understatement and lyrical description. Kawabata lets us slide into the lives of people who have been shattered by war, loss and longing.
- Kuroi, Senji
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(2001)In this domestic fable, award-winning novelist Senjui Kuroi explores modern Japan through the lives of four families who live on a typical street in contemporary, suburban Tokyo.
- Mishima, Yukio
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(1998)Using believable, fictional characters, Mishima crafts a historically accurate tale of the most important postwar labor movement in Japan. In telling the story of a worker's strike at a silk thread and fabric manufacturing plant near Kyoto, Mishima captures the feelings of strife and tension upon which Japan's later successful labor relations were built.
- Mori, Ogai
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(1996)A middle-aged man reminisces about an unconsummated affair, dating to his student days, between his classmate and a woman kept by a moneylender.
- Murakami, Haruki
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(2002)In 1995, the physical and social landscape of Japan was transformed by the Kobe earthquake and the poison gas attacks in the Tokyo subways. By a world-class writer, this is a short but powerful book whose importance is emphasized by its hideous timeliness, and whose great gift is both comfort and understanding.
- Murakami, Ryu
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(2003)Tokyo tour guide Kenji takes on Frank--a great white whale of an American tourist--and soon begins to suspect that he might be the serial killer that is terrorizing the city. Full of dark humor and suspense, this book takes readers on a wild ride through the underbelly of Tokyo compliments of the legendary Ryu Murakami.
- Natsume, Soseki
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(1878)A Tokyoite leaves an arranged marriage and becomes a miner.
- Oe, Kenzaburo
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(2003)In the first new novel Oe has published since winning the Nobel Prize, he makes an immense departure from the autobiographical fiction he is most known for, in a magnificent story of the charisma of leaders, the danger of zealotry and the mystery of faith.
- Shiba, Ryotaro
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(1998) )The life story of Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1837-1913), the 15th and final successor to the powerful Tokugawa shogunate.
- Shono, Junzo
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Evening clouds(2000)Junzo Shono's portrait of a Japanese family's daily life, filled with the most minute details, suggests a changing, unforgiving universe.
- Tanizaki, Jun'ichir, 1886-1965
(2001)This dazzling collection of six decadent tales spans 45 years in the extraordinary career of Japan's modern master storyteller.- Tatematsu, Wahei
(1999)Set in rural Japan at the time of the bubble economy, the book tells of a farming village affected by corruption, greed and urbanization.- Yokomitsu, Riichi (1989-1947)
(2001)Published as a serial between 1928 and 1931, Shanghai tells the story of a group of Japanese expatriates living in the International Settlement at the time of the May 30th incident of 1925.- Yoshikawa, Eiji
(1995)An epic retelling of the story of master samurai Musashi's exploits in battle and in love. Yoshikawa populates this tale with an assortment of characters, each portrayed with imaginative subtlety.- Yoshimoto, Banana
(2002)When charismatic and spoiled Tsugumi invites her cousin Maria to spend a last summer by the sea, a restful idyll becomes a time of dramatic growth as Tsugumi finds love and Maria learns the true meaning of home and family. A 2002 Kiriyama Prize Book.