Japanese Literature

[Gatomon41]

This semester I had a class which studied the contemporary issues of Japan. Our Professor was a big fan of Japan, and assigned us a alot of great translations of Japanese works.

I was wondering if anyone has read any Japanese literature, other than manga. It would be neat to have a discussion about a number of works.

Especially Murakami's "A Wild Sheep Chase", talk about surreal.

[GWOtaku]

I can't say that I have, although I'd be very interested to hear some recommendations.

[EscaflownePilot]

Yeah, same here.

I took a Japanese history class last semester, and we briefly touched upon some classic works like Kagerou Nikki and Tale of the Genji, but never went too deep even though it piqued my interest.

But, problem is, it's always hard to just delve into something like this without getting overwhelmed by what's available and not knowing what's actually entertaining.

[rubberchicken]

I've read the first two of books of Koji Suzuki's Ring trilogy (the books the horror movies were based on), Koushun Takami's Battle Royale (ditto), and just started on Kaoru Kurimoto's Guin Saga. They were all enjoyable books, if not exactly literary (although I suspect my enjoyment of BR was more fanboyism than anything; I haven't tried to read it again for a few years now).

I also took a Japanese Lit. class; most of our material was taken from a book of short stories called Monkey Brain Sushi, which I recommend you check out if you're interested in Japanese fiction. We also read a couple of stories by Yukio Mishima, Banana Yoshimoto's Kitchen, and Yasunari Kawabata's Thousand Cranes.

[Kuroba]

I'm a big fan of Haruki Murakami. "The Wind-Up Bird Chonicle" is one of my favorite books. I love how the protagonist is a passive everyman and the book starts out seemingly mundane but winds up being this complicated, fantastic, and exciting story. I also liked his "Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" which tells two stories simultaneously until they merge. I preferred the "End of the World" part of the book; I found it to be very similar to the anime "Haibane Renmei" (which I love) in many ways.

Annnnd I still have his "Kafka on the Shore" and "After Dark" sitting on my shelf waiting to be read.

I've also read Banana Yoshimoto's "Kitchen" and it was pretty good.

[Ben]

I love Kawabata. His work is evocative, poetic and quietly dramatic. Mishima is a whack job but a fascinating whack job.

If you want an entertaining piece of Japanese Literature with a capital L, try The Life of an Amorous Woman by Ihara Saikaku. There is no better introduction to the "floating world" of the Edo era, and this book (about a sometimes-prostitute recounting her various liaisons and struggles through the years) is moving, funny and tragic.

Heike Monogatari is a great samurai story if you can handle long descriptions of lacquer armor. I always recommend it over Genji, at least to guys who like samurai battles.

The Waiting Years by Enchi Fumiko is also an excellent dip into Japanese culture. I very much loved The Girl I Left Behind by Shusaku Endo, so that I can recommend to anyone. The rest of his works are really of interest only if you're into Christian literature, however.

Murakami's Underground, the interviews with the victims and perpetrators of the Tokyo subway sarin gas attack, was extremely compelling. I haven't really connected with his fiction so far, though I'm certainly still open to trying.

For poetry, the anthology I always recommend is Traditional Japanese Poetry by Steven Carter (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0804722129/). It's a historical overview of ancient, classical and modern Japanese poetry with all the greats, good translations and transliterations and most importantly it contains the originals (though romanized, they're still very valuable if you want to hear how the original flowed). The cultural notes are also excellent and provide all you need to know about why each poet was important and about their techniques.

[Undrave]

The only thing I read were four volumes from the Twelve Kingdom series (the first two stories). Very great read but a tad light I suppose.

[Gatomon41]

I'm a big fan of Haruki Murakami. "The Wind-Up Bird Chonicle" is one of my favorite books. I love how the protagonist is a passive everyman and the book starts out seemingly mundane but winds up being this complicated, fantastic, and exciting story. I also liked his "Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" which tells two stories simultaneously until they merge. I preferred the "End of the World" part of the book; I found it to be very similar to the anime "Haibane Renmei" (which I love) in many ways.


We read Muakami's "A Wild Sheep Chase", and talk about surreal. No one is ever referred to by their real name, and described by how the protagonist remembers them. And there's a total weird and odd story involving a Sheep and world conquest. I highly recommend it.

We also read "All She Was Worth" by Miyuki Miyabe, who also wrote Brave Story. Basically, it's a detective story dealing with identity theft. And yet it gives an interest review of modern Japan.

"A Personal Matter" by Kenzaburo Oe has a main protagonist that makes Shinji Ikari look likable. It also is a gross but interesting look into the life of Bird and the issue of his son. A highly mature and graphic novel, it's not easy to read and not suitable for anyone below 18.

"Kokoro" by Soseki was another interesting tale. It's about a young student and an older friend's tragedy. It's sad, and yet poetic and beautiful.

"Naomi" is a hilarious and semi-tragic tale of an older man and his much younger teenage wife. It's hilarious how they both love Western culture (like reverse Otakus). But the real humor is how the tale unfolds.


I love Kawabata. His work is evocative, poetic and quietly dramatic. Mishima is a whack job but a fascinating whack job.
We got to read his "Snow Country". It's about the doomed affair of a guy and his girl friend. Deals with a number of interesting motifs.