Abe Kobo (HRC)- The Woman in the Dunes. A university professor goes on an insect collecting trip and finds himself "collected," trapped by the villagers in a bizarre community in the sand dunes.

Ariyoshi Sawako -Kabuki Dancer This historical novel is based on the life of the woman who founded Kabuki. It blends actual events of the 16th century with the story of a highly independent, creative, and passionate woman.

Ariyoshi Sawako - The River Ki. The story of several generations of women in one family. Full of details showing the changes in daily life and family relationships as society changes.

Ariyoshi Sawako - The Twilight Years. This realistic story depicts a contemporary Japanese family as they struggle to care for a senile grandfather - a sensationally successful novel in Japan in the 1970s.

Ariyoshi Sawako - (HRC) The Doctor's Wife. Based on the lives of an actual doctor and his family who lived during the late Tokugawa Era, this novel explores the roles of women within traditional family structure, especially the conflict between mother-in-law and daughter -in-law.

Enchi Fumiko - The Waiting Years. A long-suffering wife gains revenge only when she dies. The traditional notion that unhappy spirits will return to to avenge themselves reappears in this modern novel.

Endo Shusaku - (HRC) Deep River. Four Japanese tourists visit India, each on an individual quest of the spirit. All gain new perspectives on their beliefs, themselves, and contemporary Japan.

Endo Shusaku -Silence. (HRC) In the early 1600s, two Portuguese priests smuggle themselves into Japan to help the hidden Christians. Their arrest and subsequent actions raise cross-cultural and religious questions. This is a serious inquiry into the nature of Christianity in Japan.

Endo Shusaku - Wonderful Fool - A mysterious, awkward and childlike Frenchman visits Japan. His trust and naivete leave a profound on the cynical Tokyoites he meets. This novel is satirical, humorous, whimsical and serious all at once.

Fukuzawa Yukichi (J/92/Fukuzawa) The Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi. (1835-1901) Founder of Keio University and leading intellectual during the Meiji Era, Fukuzawa describes learning Dutch and then having to begin again with English. A good picture of Meiji life and the attitudes of this influential leader.

Go Shizuko - Requiem. A description of life in Yokohama and Tokyo during the fire bombings of WWII. Narrated by a dying sixteen- year old girl, the story is a powerful appeal against militarism and war.

Hoshi Shinichi - The Spiteful Planet and Other Stories. Simple but ironic short short stories by a contemporary science fiction writer who is skeptical about many "advances."

Ishiguro Kazuo -An Artist of the Floating World. The author, although Japanese by birth, has been educated and spent his adult life in England. He writes in English, but in this novel imagines the postwar life of a Japanese artist who had devoted his work to the prewar militarist and ultra-nationalist regime.

Ishimoto Kadzue - Facing Two Ways. (J/92/Ishimoto) Born into a wealthy Meiji family, Ishimoto married into the nobility but later rejected the comforts of her class, and devoted herself to feminism and socialism. She continued to be a force in Japanese society well into the 1980s.

Ibuse Masuji - Black Rain. (HRC) A recent film was made of this novel based on experiences of Hiroshima survivors. In diary form, the novel includes scenes of daily life as well as descriptions of the bomb's fearful effects.

Kobayashi Ayumi -Pipimpap Paradise An autobiographical account of two years spent by a Japanese high school student at the Seoul International School. Some episodes may remind you of ASIJ. (See J. Kushida for copy.)

Kuroyanagi Tetsuko - Totto-chan: the girl at the window. (J/92/Kuroyanagi) Autobiographical description of the unique school this TV star attended in pre-war Japan.

Matsumoto Seicho - The Voice. This is a collection of mystery stories by one of Japan's most famous mystery writers. The stories concern the lives of ordinary people but are full of ironic twists.

Mishima Yukio – (HRC) The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea. Although set in Yokohama in the 1960s, the generation gap and violence and nihilism of the middle school students in this novel eerily foreshadow some actual behaviors of Japanese students in the 1990s.

Mishima Yukio -(HRC) The Sound of Waves. A story of teen-age love, set on an isolated and idealized island. The time is the 1950s.

Matsubara Hisako - Samurai. Set in the early 20th century, this is the story of a samurai father whose rigidity destroys the lives of his children.

Matsubara Hisako - (HRC) Cranes at Dusk. The main character is daughter of a Shinto priest and describes growing up in Kyoto during the immediate post-war years.

Mori, Kyoko - Shizuko’s Daughter (HRC) Although the author now lives in the U.S.and writes in English, her novel is set in Japan. It is a series of poignant vignettes reflecting the inner life of the main character from ages 12 to 18 as she struggles with the fact of her mother’s death and learns to live as a strong woman.

Mori, Kyoko (J92) -Polite Lies. In this series of autobiographical and reflective essays, Mori reflects on her experiences in Japan and in the American Midwest. Her topics range from family to school to language and woman’s place.

Mori Ogai - The Wild Geese. Set in the Meiji Era, this is the story of a girl forced to become a moneylender's mistress by poverty and a sense of obligation to her father.

Murakami Haruki - The Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. A futuristic novel that includes humor and surrealism as the narrator explores his dividing consciousness in a series of bizarre adventures. This is a completely "non-traditional" voice in Japanese literature.

Murakami Haruki - The Elephant Vanishes. This collection of short stories includes several that have been published in The New Yorker in recent years. Murakami's humor and surrealism are once again apparent in these puzzling stories.

Murakami Haruki - The Wind-up Bird Chronicles. Toru Okada, perhaps a modern Japanese Everyman, tries to find meanings in bizarre yet everyday events. The novel interlaces references to the present with alternative realities, including memories of an aged WWII soldier.

Murakami Ryu - Sixty-nine. The first person narrator is a sort of Holden Caulfield in his irreverent view of Japanese high school and society in 1969. A humorous and self-deprecating view of a seventeen year old boy’s world.

Ooka Shohei - Fires on the Plain. A Japanese soldier is trapped in the Philippines after Japan's defeat. He and the others are driven to desperate means of survival.

Senoh Kappa A Boy Called H. (J 92) Senoh’s memoir of the war years in Kobe shows us an inquisitive, lively boy growing up in an era when no one was supposed to ask questions. His story is humorous, sad, and thought-provoking.

Soseki Natsume - Kokoro. Its title meaning "heart" or "soul," this is a story of loneliness and isolation as a student comes to understand his sensei's experiences and views.

Sugimoto Etsu - (J/92/Sugimoto) Daughter of a Samurai. Raised in the Meiji Era as a samurai daughter, Matsumoto later lives in the U.S. and contrasts the two societies in the early 1900s.

Takeyama Michio - Harp of Burma. A popular novel in Japan, this anti-war story has been filmed twice. A former soldier in the Japanese Army in Burma returns as a monk in order to understand the war and the past.

Yoshimoto Banana- Kitchen and Moonlight Shadow. (HRC) A best seller in Japan in 1988, this book sold well in translation in the U.S. in 1992. The narrator is a young woman preoccupied by the themes of loneliness and friendship.

Yoshimoto Banana – Lizard. A collection of short stories both whimsical and serious, about young people finding their way in contemporary Tokyo.

Back to Top    Back to Curriculum Book Lists     Back to Main Library