Things Remembered and Things Forgotten By Nakajima Kyoko Translated by Ian MacDonald and Ginny Tapley Takemori (2014, translated 2021) Sort of Books (Short Stories) Nakajima is also the author of the 2010 novel The Little House, which features the account of an extraordinary maid/cook/nanny who records current events, the personal dramas of her employers, and her own family story. The Little House is a complex masterwork spanning the years from 1926 to 1989. Nakamori’s Things Remembered and Things Forgotten is a collection of short stories that range across a similar time period, each addressi ..read more

The Forest Brims Over By Ayase Maru Translated by Haydn Trowell 2019, Translated 2023 Counterpoint Love triangles are a perennial favorite of readers and streamers, and in The Forest Brims Over, the plot features any number of triangle-based complications focused on the 21st-century production, promotion, and consumption of popular fiction. Ayase sets her sites on the exploitative relationships between publishers and their content creators and male writers and their female muses. The first triangle consists of the fraught relationship between the author Nowatari Testusya, his wife Rui, and the ..read more

A True Novel By Minae Mizumura Translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter (2002, translated 2013) Other Press Minae Mizumura was born in Japan in 1951. At the age of twelve, her family moved to Long Island. She studied studio art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and French at The Sorbonne, later earning a degree in French from Yale University. She has taught at Princeton, Stanford, and the University of Michigan. In order to understand the complexity of Minae’s project in the provocatively titled A True Novel, it is essential to comprehend the deep, deep study of literature and language she i ..read more

Diary of a Void By Emi Yagi Translated by David Boyd and Lucy North (2020, Trans. 2022) Viking Penguin Random House LLC In the “Translators’ Note,” Boyd and North explain the original title of this short novel alludes to a “Pregnancy Diary” issued by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare to all expectant mothers. The second word refers to the product manufactured by the company the heroine works for: “Empty (cardboard) Cores,” the tubes found at the center of toilet paper rolls, wrapping paper, and wallpaper. They have translated this word as “Void.” Shibata is a college-educated girl ..read more

Sacred Cesium Ground and Isa’s Deluge Two Novellas of Japan’s 3/11 Disaster By Kimura Yusuke Translated by Doug Slaymaker (2014 and 2016,  trans. 2019) Weatherhead Books on Asia Columbia University Press For newcomers to Japanese literature and those interested in the emotional and psychological impact of the triple disaster of 3/11 and its aftermath, Kimura’s novellas are essential reading. The first, Sacred Cesium Ground, addresses the government’s decision to abandon or destroy all animals left in the areas affected by flooding and irradiation. Here, Kimura builds his fiction on the fo ..read more

Go, A Coming of Age Novel By Kaneshiri Kazuki Translated by Nieda Takami (2000, translated 2018) Amazon Crossing (Zainichi) On its publication, Go, A Coming of Age Novel, won a Naoki Prize, and the following year, a film adaptation directed by Isado Ukisada, won prizes from  Hochi Film Awards and The Japanese Academy. The novel is a coming-of-age story that is complicated by racism. The central character, Sugihara, is a Zainichi, which means he is an ethnic Korean residing in Japan who can trace his roots to the period of Japanese rule over Korea (1910-1945). The state of being Zainichi i ..read more

Heaven  by Kawakami Mieko Translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd (2009, translated 2021) Europa Editions  (Novel) Kawakami’s ironically titled Heaven is a harrowing, nightmarish account of two fourteen-year-olds who suffer bullying at the hands of sadistic students in a Japanese high school. The narrator is a boy who is targeted because he has a lazy eye. The other victim is an all but silent girl with bad hygiene, Kojima. Before picking up this book, it is essential that the reader rid themselves of any expectation that Heaven is the equivalent of an After School Special anti-bullyin ..read more

The Nakano Thrift Shop By Kawakami Hiromi Translated by Allison Markin Powell (2005, translated 2017) Europa Editions (Novel) The Nakano Thrift Shop sells lightly-used, cheap household items and the occasional tchotchke. Savvy dealers know better than to waste their time hoping to come across a rare find at Nakano. Couples, penny-pinching students, and the down-on-his-luck salaryman might stop in to laugh into their hands about a tacky curio, pick up a cheap fan, or assemble a dinner service for one. The business model is moribund, but the owner is dedicated. The staff is, well…perhaps, if you ..read more

The Easy Life in Kamusari (Forest Book One) By Miura Shion  Translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter (2012, translated 2021) Amazon Crossing  (Novel) Miura Shion’s hero, Yuki Hirano, is a directionless young man who has just graduated from a Yokohama high school. His parents regard him as a remarkably undistinguished scholar who has yet to find a subject or career that interests or inspires him. In keeping with his drifting-through-life personality, he has made no plans for summer employment beyond imagining that he might be able to pick up a string of low-skill temp jobs and occupy hi ..read more

The Thief By Nakamura Fuminori Translated by Satoko Izumo and Stephen Coates Penguin Random House (2009-translated 2012) Soho Crime Nakamura’s stock in trade is the first-person narrator, short-form crime novel. Narrators tend to be criminals, sometimes psychotic amateurs, sometimes seasoned professionals. In The Thief, Nakamura takes us into the mind of a pickpocket working the crowds outside tony venues and bullet train platforms. Unlike most members of his trade, he works alone. He targets wealthy men, dipping slender fingers into jackets or slicing the bottom of a pocket with his knife. Th ..read more