Japan and literature

When I'm not busy watching dramas, I love to read, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. In this thread, let's discuss and recommend books we've read by Japanese authors, or simply interesting books/articles written about, or set in, Japan! All genres are welcome!

I'll start by introducing two books that I've read recently. The first one is Tokyo Vice by Jake Adelstein, and it's an autobiography of the author's life as the first American to ever become a full-time journalist for a Japanese newspaper. 

 

I found this book genuinely interesting, because it offers a glimpse into parts of Japanese society that you seldom see as a foreigner. Apart from showing the extremely high tempo and draining journalist lifestyle, the book also discusses Japan's bizarre laws surrounding prostitution and red-light districts, as well as the organisation and function of the Yakuza (mob). A large portion of the book is about the "hostess trap" that foreign young women fall into and then never come back out of: what is promised is that they'll make astronomical amounts of money working as hostesses (basically professionally giving men company but not in a sexual way), but in reality, they become victims of human trafficking and cannot escape, due to the laws surrounding prostitution that do not protect the victims. Something else that I was shocked to learn from this book was that the police apparently notifies the Yakuza some time before "raiding" them in order to keep violence to a minimum. Now, all of this might have changed a bit since the book was originally published I think about 7 years ago, but it is nevertheless an interesting read. Don't be discouraged by the sheer size of the book (it's fairly brick sized, or at least the French version is). Plus, if you're an aspiring journalist, it has some great journalism advice as given to the author in his newbie days.

The second book is Kudoryafuka no Junban (クドリャフカの順番, The Laika Sequence) written by Honebu Yonezawa. 

You might know the first book in the series, Hyouka (popular anime). I really like this series as a whole, and while I thought that this book wasn't as good as the first two, I still enjoyed it. It's set in a Japanese high school and follows the activities of the Classics Club (as in literary classics), whose actual purpose is unknown and they seem to spend most of their time solving mysteries. During the school's annual culture festival, stuff is suddenly disappearing from many clubs with only a note is left behind in their place, signed Juumoji (Ten Letters). The rest of the story is about the Classics Club trying to solve this mystery at the same time as they try to sell their anthology, Hyouka, that they mistakenly printed 200 copies of. I will recommend this book and the rest of the series because it's a light, funny read (it's a light novel, after all), the language isn't too difficult, the characters and their relationships are well-developed and the mystery itself is intriguing. If someone else has read this book, I'd love to hear if you have any idea what's up with the odd chapter numeration. I thought it'd be explained towards the end as the actual sequence and what it means, but nope. Not even in the afterword :( 

I'd love to hear your recommendations on what to read, or not to read, next, and why!

I'm glad that my recommendations were helpful to you! Yes, I've been reading the Hyouka series in Japanese. Because they're light novels and aimed towards high school students, the language is pretty straight forward and I found it easy to follow along. Furigana is included only when a character name appears for the first time, or when a rare word is used. For example, the first few pages of the first book are loaded with buddhist terms and they all have furigana. I'd definitively recommend the series, especially if you liked the anime. Being already familiar with the plot is immensely helpful when coming across a paragraph that you didn't understand most of (which does happen).

Oh, Granta 127: Japan sounds like it'd be right up my alley! I'd especially love to read about the torii gates of Fushimi Inari since I visited the shrine myself only last week. In fact, I think I'll order a copy right away. Are you a subscriber of this magazine, or have you read any other issues? I also read The Guest Cat a while ago, albeit in Swedish. I must admit that I picked it up mostly due to its super cute cover, because the blurb wasn't particularly intriguing, but I was pleasantly surprised! I've never owned a pet but I liked the book anyway, mostly due to its wonderful imagery and descriptive writing. Just reading about the garden and the dragonfly pond made me feel calm. I thought the translation was excellent (not that I've read any other edition) but I see how there could be nuances that were lost in translation. 

Right now I'm reading a book by Ruth Ozeki called A Tale for the Time Being and I am LOVING IT. I'm about halfway through the book at the moment, and I can tell that this will be a new favourite. There are two parallel narratives, one in the past that tells the story to the second one in the present. The first narrator is a sixteen-year old Japanese girl called Nao who writes about her life in a diary. The second narrator, a Canadian woman of Japanese decent, Ruth, finds the diary, and analyses it. The main theme of the book is time. What is time? Is it absolute? Can you escape from time? Again, I'm reading the Swedish translation, but I think it's wonderfully written.