What books should I read before I travel to Japan?
If you’re planning a holiday to Japan you might like to consider reading one of the following books.
The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide (translated by Eric Selland)
A couple in their thirties live in a small rented cottage in a quiet part of Tokyo, and work at home as freelance writers. They no longer have very much to say to one another. One day a cat invites itself into their small kitchen…
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
Grieving the grandmother who raised her, Mikage is taken in by her friend Yoichi and his mother (who is really his cross-dressing father) Eriko. As the three of them form an improvised family that soon weathers its own tragic losses, Banana Yoshimoto spins a lovely, evocative tale with the kitchen and the comforts of home at its heart.
Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami
Tsukiko is in her late 30s and living alone when one night she happens to meet one of her former high school teachers, ‘Sensei’, in a bar. He is at least thirty years her senior, retired and, she presumes, a widower. After this initial encounter, the pair continue to meet occasionally to share food and drink sake, and as the seasons pass, Tsukiko and Sensei come to develop a hesitant intimacy which tilts awkwardly and poignantly into love.
Riding the Trains in Japan by Patrick Holland
Arriving late in Kyoto, Patrick Holland cannot find a room for the night. Homeless and disorientated, his only solution is to ride the trains. The train journey becomes a thread in book that journeys on rivers in Saigon, mountains in the Chinese Himalaya, lost cities of the Silk Road, mist-swathed cemeteries in Japan and the flat plains of Australia.
Granta 127: Japan edited by Yuka Igarashi
Hello Kitty, earthquakes, manga, samurai, robots and sushi. These are some of the things we think about when we think about Japan. In this anthology, editor Yuka Igarashi asks: What is Japan to those who really know it? Contributors include Hiromi Kawakami, Ruth Ozeki, David Mitchell, David Peace and more.
Anything by Haruki Murakami
Seriously. We mean anything.
AND HERE’S ONE YOU SHOULD MOST DEFINITELY NOT READ…
People Who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Parry
Richard Lloyd Parry revisits the disappearance and murder of a young Englishwoman in Tokyo.
Over ten years, he earned the trust of her family and friends, won unique access to the Japanese detectives and Japan’s convoluted legal system, and delved deep into the mind of the man accused of the crime, Joji Obara, described by the judge as ‘unprecedented and extremely evil’. The result is a book at once thrilling and revelatory.
