Tag - fiction

 
Menu
Search
 
July 05, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

FICTION

Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 26, 2023
Jim Rion casts a keen eye on the spirit of Yamaguchi
Author, translator and certified sake professional Jim Rion puts people at the heart of sake production in his nonfiction debut, 'Discovering Yamaguchi Sake.'
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS ABOUT JAPAN
Jan 12, 2019
'Friendship for Grown-Ups' evokes the ambiguity of everyday life
Keshiki is a chapbook series published by Strangers Press designed to showcase some of the most exciting writers working in Japan today. "Friendship for Grown-Ups" by Nao-Cola Yamazaki is the second book in the series. The recipient of five Akutagawa Prize nominations, Yamazaki's skill in evoking the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Mar 4, 2017
Sawako Ariyoshi's 'The River Ki' explores characters who swim against life's current
When we read Japanese history it's easy to forget that the revolutionary changes that washed through the country from the 19th century into the 20th all took place within a single human life span.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Feb 25, 2017
'A Dark Night's Passing': Naoya Shiga sounds the depths of rootlessness
It takes a brave writer to make their main character as unlikeable as Kensaku Tokito. It is even more startling because Naoya Shiga was consciously writing within the 'I' novel tradition, where the author deliberately draws on their life story for source material.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 15, 2014
Holiday gifts they'll cherish from cover to cover
As the holiday season rolls around, it's time to dash about in a mad panic in search of gifts that say "I've given this one some thought, honest." Or you can just let us do the thinking for you, with gift suggestions from our regular book reviewers — tailor-made for the Japanophile reader.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 8, 2014
Phantasm Japan
In simple terms, "Phantasm Japan" is a fantasy anthology on the theme of "light and dark, from and about Japan."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 1, 2014
Fuminori writes noir, but not as we know it
Fuminori Nakamura has won many of the major literary prizes in Japan and is quickly making the same kind of impact in the English-speaking world. His third novel to be translated into English, "Last Winter, We Parted," is out now. It's a tense, layered story centered around a young writer commissioned...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 1, 2014
Malice
"The incident took place on April 16, 1996, a Tuesday." This meditative, clever novel from the author of 2011's "The Devotion of Suspect X" begins with a journal entry by Osamu Nonoguchi, a children's author who happens upon the body of his friend and fellow writer, Kunihiko Hidaka, facedown in his office....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Oct 25, 2014
No Longer Human
Osamu Dazai's "No Longer Human" comprises a series of three fictionalized notebooks, with each increasingly darker than the last. The character writing these books, Yozo, is detached from the beginning and is afraid of human interactions, but he learns how to socialize with people by playing the clown...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 25, 2014
Perfidia
This sprawling period piece from the prolific author of such works as "L.A. Confidential" and "The Black Dalia" takes place in Los Angeles and environs between Dec. 5 and 29, 1941. Central to the plot are the enigmatic slayings of a Japanese family of four in the suburb of Highland Park on the eve of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 18, 2014
If you'd nuked a city, you'd feel guilty too
The author T.C. Boyle in the preface to his book "Stories II" published last year made a convincing argument that runs counter to the conventional wisdom to "write what you know." Boyle said: "A story is an exercise of imagination — or, as Flannery O'Connor has it, an act of discovery."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Oct 11, 2014
Black Rain
Masuji Ibuse's classic 1965 novel "Black Rain" takes readers into the everyday lives of a family poisoned by radiation sickness. The narrative structure carefully balances between the present time of the novel and journal entries from the bombings of Hiroshima to craft a carefully wrought masterpiece...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 4, 2014
Inner-city life, and the banal mystery that is other people
Beautifully banal. Perhaps not the most positive-sounding turn of phrase, but the one that best summarizes the appeal of Shuichi Yoshida's interwoven narrative of five young adults and their struggles living in an overcrowded Tokyo apartment.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 4, 2014
Confessions
The award-winning 1950 Akira Kurosawa film classic "Rashomon," based on two short stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, used different and contradictory accounts of a samurai's death to explore humanity's self-serving behavior. Kanae Minato's first novel, "Confessions," adopts a somewhat similar approach,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 4, 2014
The Crimson Thread of Abandon: Stories
It's a wonder "The Crimson Thread of Abandon" was never translated into English before. Shuji Terayama (1935-83) was a provocative artist and outlaw author, and his 20 stories fall nothing short of this reputation. Each borrows and mocks the conventions of a classic fairy tale, but reeks of hopelessness...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 27, 2014
Read up on books about books about Japan
Revving up the metabolism of culture with the pulse of new artistic voices, a good literary journal doesn't usually have much to do with profit — it's all about circulation. Japanese literary journals enjoy a healthy transmission here, thanks to the financial backing of big publishing firms. How do...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 20, 2014
Studio Ghibli inspires endless adaptations
As one of the most important and acclaimed animation studios in not only Japan but the world, it's unsurprising that Studio Ghibli has also inspired a wealth of printed material. Helen McCarthy's "Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation" about the studio's most celebrated director and Miyazaki's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Sep 20, 2014
Nip the Bud, Shoot the Kids
Fiercely lyrical and tenderly dark, Kenzaburo Oe's "Nip the Bud, Shoot the Kids" marked the literary ascent of a Japanese writer whose star continues to shine internationally and at home. Written when he was just 23 years old, the 1958 novel can be read as existential coming-of-age, an indictment of...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 20, 2014
Oh, Tama!
Mieko Kanai, a prize-winning poet, eminent critic and author of experimental fiction that evokes comparisons to the works of Borges and Kafka, has also, in her "Mejiro" series, produced a series of novels notably lighter in tone. In these books, two of which have been translated into English, philosophical...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 13, 2014
A world of fear for Japan's shut-ins
Several years ago, a vogue of interest in shut-ins, or hikikomori, saw researchers from France touring Japan and meeting reclusive youths. Such was the prevalence of the disorder, said psychologist Nicolas Tajan, that "if you ask people in Japan about hikikomori, almost everyone will say, 'I know somebody...
A prophesied disaster (likely) won’t strike Japan this weekend
A viral manga prediction of a July 5 disaster has gripped Japan with anxiety and triggered an economic impact, but experts warn that while such dates are unreliable, the threat of a massive earthquake remains real. 
Magnitude 5.5 earthquake jars Tokara Islands amid flurry of seismic activity
A strong quake struck off the Tokara Islands on Thursday afternoon, with the island chain having recorded around 1,000 earthquakes since a burst of seismic activity first began on June 21.
Japan to require flight passengers to keep power banks within sight
The transport ministry has announced new regulations requiring flight passengers to keep power banks within sight to mitigate fire risks while on board planes.
Ghibli’s Isao Takahata exhibit shows how beloved anime is made
“The man who planted Japanese animation” exhibition includes a variety of sketches, drawings and animation cels from Isao Takahata films such as color design for characters by Michiyo Yasuda from "Grave of the Fireflies."
Residents of Tokara Islands begin evacuation as seismic swarm continues
Details about evacuations from Akuseki Island, located in the Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecture, is seen written on a whiteboard in the city of Kagoshima on Thursday.
Ghibli’s Isao Takahata exhibit shows how beloved anime is made
“The man who planted Japanese animation” exhibition includes a variety of sketches, drawings and animation cels from Isao Takahata films such as color design for characters by Michiyo Yasuda from "Grave of the Fireflies."
Flag football facing challenges and opportunities ahead
Japan’s women’s flag football team at the 2025 International Bowl in Los Angeles in June. The sport is enjoying continued growth in the country.
From Hokusai’s Great Wave, shinkansen to One Piece: a cultural treasure box for Lego Japan
Michael Ebbesen, general manager of Lego Japan, says Lego bricks based on Japanese culture have a rich global appeal and are sellable around the world.
With farmed fish, RelationFish swims against the tide in fine dining
Chef Hideaki Matsuo (middle) and the staff of Oseto Suisan Fisheries prepare to check on their sustainably farmed fish.
As Southeast Asia heats up, a Japanese cooling giant sees a major opportunity
An employee of Daikin Cambodia explains the use of different tools during an air conditioner installation training session in Phnom Penh. Daikin is one of Japan’s oldest air conditioning companies, but as Japan’s population falls, the firm is keying in on overseas growth.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy
Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER