Japanese Literature discussion

I'm opening this thread so we can start posting about releases by Japanese authors in 2020.

Tilted Axis has announced that, in February, it is publishing 2 books in translation by Japanese women authors.

Matsuda Aoko, Where The Wild Ladies Are (transl. from Japanese by Polly Barton) (not on GoodReads yet).

Itô Hiromi, Killing Kanoko and Wild Grass on the Riverbank (transl. from Japanese by Jeffrey Angles)

For anyone who wants to pre-order... Note, shipping is free in the UK.

https://www.tiltedaxispress.com/store...

It's crazy expensive regardless of format, but A Kamigata Anthology: Literature from Japan’s Metropolitan Centers, 1600–1750 by Sumie Jones looks fascinating and has a Feb 29, 2020 release date. 504 pages.

From the Amazon blurb:

This is the first of a three-volume anthology of Edo- and Meiji-era urban literature that includes An Edo Anthology: Literature from Japan’s Mega-City, 1750–1850 and A Tokyo Anthology: Literature from Japan’s Modern Metropolis, 1850–1920. The present work focuses on the years in which bourgeois culture first emerged in Japan, telling the story of the rising commoner arts of Kamigata, or the “Upper Regions” of Kyoto and Osaka, which harkened back to Japan’s middle ages even as they rebelled against and competed with that earlier era. Both cities prided themselves on being models and trendsetters in all cultural matters, whether arts, crafts, books, or food. The volume also shows how elements of popular arts that germinated during this period ripened into the full-blown consumer culture of the late-Edo period.

The tendency to imagine Japan’s modernity as a creation of Western influence since the mid-nineteenth century is still strong, particularly outside Japan studies. A Kamigata Anthology challenges such assumptions by illustrating the flourishing phenomenon of Japan’s movement into its own modernity through a selection of the best examples from the period, including popular genres such as haikai poetry, handmade picture scrolls, travel guidebooks, kabuki and joruri plays, prose narratives of contemporary life, and jokes told by professional entertainers. Well illustrated with prints from popular books of the time and hand scrolls and standing screens containing poems and commentaries, the entertaining and vibrant translations put a spotlight on texts currently unavailable in English.

My usual peruse through Pushkin Press catalogues found...

Spark by Naoki Matayoshi in March 2020... This is her debut novel and, according to Pushkin Press, has a hit show on Netflix UK.

And...

The Inugami Curse by Seishi Yokomizo... Which seems to be called The Inugami Clan in previous releases... But that's Feb 2020

Jeshika wrote: "My usual peruse through Pushkin Press catalogues found...

Spark Spark by Naoki Matayoshi in March 2020... This is her debut novel and, according to Pushkin Press, has a hit show on..."

You temptress, you.

I was curious about Spark and found this interview with Matayoshi. I'm intrigued that he was repeatedly approached and asked to write a book. I wonder why? He seems like an interesting guy, whether or not he can write.

https://www.tokyoweekender.com/2016/0...

Carol wrote: "Jeshika wrote: "My usual peruse through Pushkin Press catalogues found...

Spark Spark by Naoki Matayoshi in March 2020... This is her debut novel and, according to Pushkin Press, h..."

Haha, her English debut, I guess. I think she's got a few books out in Japan now but this was her first.

Jeshika wrote: "My usual peruse through Pushkin Press catalogues found...

Spark by Naoki Matayoshi in March 2020... This is her debut novel and, according to Pushkin Press, has a hit show on Netfl..."

Well, that’s two more books going on my to buy list. :D

I think you mystery readers will like The Inugami Curse. I read it several years ago under the title The Inugami Clan.

I wonder if there's some older Japanese legend about someone named Inugami. I read the book after seeing two movies with similar names; both the movies were significantly different than the book, so much so that I wonder if all three are based on something earlier.

New Directions is releasing the English-language translation of Hiroko Oyamada's 穴 (The Hole), winner of the Akutagawa Prize, in 2020.

https://www.ndbooks.com/author/hiroko...

I saw a 2001 film called Inugami. I don't remember anything now but the description says Inugami is the wolf-spirit.

2020 Release Dates

Jan 28 The Man Without Talent by Yoshiharu Tsuge (NYRB)

Jan 30 At Night, I Become a Monster by Yoru Sumino (Seven Seas)

Feb 6 [UK release] Escape Routes by Naomi Ishiguro (of interest - not translated)

Feb 13 Where The Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda (Tilted Axis)

February 13 Killing Kanoko / Wild Grass on the Riverbank by Itô Hiromi (Tilted Axis)

February 29 A Kamigata Anthology: Literature from Japan’s Metropolitan Centers, 1600–1750 by Sumie Jones (Univ of Hawaii press)

March 5 Spark by Naoki Matayoshi(Pushkin Press)

April 7 Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami (Europa Editions)

April 15 The Running Boy and Other Stories by Megumu Sagisawa (Cornell East Asia Series)

May 1 A Man by Keiichirō Hirano (Amazon Crossing)

June 1 Three Streets by Yōko Tawada (New Directions)

June 2 The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo [Pushkin Vertigo]

June (US hardback edition) Tokyo Ueno Station by Miri Yū

June 9 Echo on the Bay by Masatsugu Ono (Two Lines)

July 7 I Had That Same Dream Again: The Complete Manga Collection by Yoru Sumino (Seven Seas)

July 7 Kiki's Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono (translated by Emily Balistrieri. (Delacorte Press). (this is a new translation)

Aug 1 Sachiko by Shūsaku Endō (Columbia University Press)

Aug 4: Ellery Queen's Japanese Mystery Stories: From Japan's Greatest Detective & Crime Writers by Ellery Queen (Editor) (Tuttle Publishing) *First published in 1978

Aug 20 The Inugami Curse by Seishi Yokomizo (Pushkin Press)

October 6 The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada (New Directions)

November 10 Earthlings by Sayaka Murata (translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori) (Grove Press)

Late 2020 There's No Such Thing As an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura (translated by Polly Barton). (Bloomsbury).

*updated 24 April

Thanks for this!!

Ian wrote: "Thanks for this!!"

you're welcome. I get lost and forget them if I don't have a calendar, so was hoping I wasn't the only one distracted by shiny objects.

You could add them as "events" and then GR would remind you when they're being released :)

Thanks, Carol. Just checking my library listings and they have a couple on order, so that's not too bad. Shame about Inugami, but that's one of the ones on order, so I'll get it when it finally comes out, I guess.

April 28th 2020: At Night, I Become a Monster by Yoru Sumino (Seven Seas)

May 1st 2020: A Man by Keiichirō Hirano (Amazon Crossing)

May 26th 2020: I Had That Same Dream Again (Novel) by Yoru Sumino (Seven Seas)

August 4th 2020: Sachiko by Shūsaku Endō (Columbia University Press)

Thanks, Monika! *shaking my piggy bank to assess book-buying options*

I know the UK paperback edition (pub. March 2019) looks available in the US, but published in June 2020 is a US hardback edition of:
Tokyo Ueno Station by Miri Yū.

It is also currently available on Edelweiss+ for immediate download if you don't have it or can't wait!!

New Directions is releasing Three Streets by Yōko Tawada on June 30. . 64 pages and containing 3 ghost stories, each set in Berlin. No original release date in Japanese is identified, but the same translator, Margaret Mitsutani, as translated The Emissary is credited.

Cornell East Asia Series releases The Running Boy and Other Stories by Megumu Sagisawa on April 15.

Here's the Amazon blurb:

With this newly translated version of The Running Boy, the fiction of Megumu Sagisawa makes its long-overdue first appearance in English. Lovingly rendered with a critical introduction by the translator, this collection of three stories, written in 1989, sits on the thinnest part of Japan's economic bubble and provides and cautionary glimpse into the malaise of its impending collapse.

From the aging regulars of a shabby snack bar in "Galactic City" to the mental breakdowns of "A Slender Back," and the family secrets lurking within the title story between them, Sagisawa offers a trilogy of laser-focused character studies. Exploring dichotomies of past versus present, young versus old, life versus death, and countless shades of meaning beyond, she elicits vibrant commonalities of the human condition from some of its most ennui-laden examples. A curious form of affirmation awaits her readers, who may just come out of her monochromatic word paintings with more colorful realizations about themselves and the world at large. Such insight is rare in a writer so young, and this book is a fitting testament to her premature death, the legacy of which is sure to inspire a new generation of readers in the post-truth era.

Jan 28: NYRB is releasing The Man Without Talent by Yoshiharu Tsuge. Translator and with an essay by Ryan Holmberg.

here's the blurb:

Yoshiharu Tsuge is one of the most celebrated and influential comics artists, but his work has been almost entirely unavailable to English-speaking audiences. The Man Without Talent, his first book to be translated into English, is an unforgiving self-portrait of frustration. Swearing off cartooning as a profession, Tsuge takes on a series of unconventional jobs—used-camera salesman, ferryman, stone collector—hoping to find success among the hucksters, speculators, and deadbeats he does business with.

Instead, he fails again and again, unable to provide for his family, earning only their contempt and his own. The result is a dryly funny look at the pitfalls of the creative life, and an off-kilter portrait of modern Japan. Accompanied by an essay from the translator Ryan Holmberg which discusses Tsuge’s importance in comics and Japanese literature, The Man Without Talent is one of the great works of comics literature.

https://www.nyrb.com/collections/fort...

October 2020: Earthlings by Sayaka Murata (Granta Books)

From Japan Times in the last few days, a look at some of the 2020 releases to look out for:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/...

Also, available for request on Edelweiss+, a June 2020 release:

Echo on the Bay by Masatsugu Ono

Thanks! I want to see more by Ono.

Alan wrote: "Also, available for request on Edelweiss+, a June 2020 release:

Echo on the Bay by Masatsugu Ono"

Shiny object. Oh my. :)

Kiki's Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono (translated by Emily Balistrieri). Published by Delacorte Press: July 7th 2020.

この世にたやすい仕事はない (There's No Such Thing As an Easy Job) by Kikuko Tsumura (translated by Polly Barton). Published by Bloomsbury in late 2020.

I've updated message 10 up to this point.

Not new titles, but Penguin have launched new editions of 5 classic Japanese books (cunningly called the Vintage Classic Japanese Series). Stunning new covers. I want them on my bookshelf. Now. :-)

(This seems also to be Penguin's answer to the discussion we were having elsewhere: which 5 books would you recommend to get started in J-lit).

Here's an article from Japan Times a couple of weeks ago:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/...

Alan wrote: "Not new titles, but Penguin have launched new editions of 5 classic Japanese books (cunningly called the Vintage Classic Japanese Series). Stunning new covers. I want them on my bookshelf. Now. :-)..."

If the Olympics gives them a reason to do this, I'll not challenge the logic. :) Pretty, pretty covers. They don't mention introductions or afterwards, but I have to think I can count on any Penguin reprint for good 'uns.

August 4th 2020: Ellery Queen's Japanese Mystery Stories: From Japan's Greatest Detective & Crime Writers by Ellery Queen (Editor) (Tuttle Publishing)

I saw this in the Waterstones newsletter and was pleasantly surprised that Kazuo Ishiguro his daughter is also turning to literature. Interesting to see if the talent is genetic: https://www.waterstones.com/book/esca...

Henk, I just finished it today. Will be posting a review tomorrow. Not at all Japanesey, but an intriguing collection of short stories. As ever, I find a hit and miss element. Some are very good, others less strong. Overall I really enjoyed it. Stylistically inventive, imagine a blend of Angela Carter's 'Bloody Chamber' (fairy tale elements) with contemporary issues about identity, isolation and mental health. Apparently there is a full novel from her in the works for next year, which might be interesting.

Monika wrote: "August 4th 2020: Ellery Queen's Japanese Mystery Stories: From Japan's Greatest Detective & Crime Writers by Ellery Queen (Editor) (Tuttle Publishing)"

I’d like to find the list of short stories, but in the meantime this could be perfect for me. Thanks!

Echo on the Bay is available to request at Edelweiss +.

The ever-lovely Pushkin Press has made available on Edelweiss+ for immediate download:

The Inugami Curse and The Honjin Murders, both by Seishi Yokomizo.

Alan wrote: "The ever-lovely Pushkin Press has made available on Edelweiss+ for immediate download:

The Inugami Curse and The Honjin Murders, both by [author:Seishi Yokomizo|277..."

My lucky day!! thank you, Alan.

I’m enjoying Honjin Murders

To be released August 1 and available now to request at Edelweiss+:

Yasuo Sakata's "On a Collision Course: The Dawn of Japanese Migration in the 19th Century." (not yet on GoodReads).

Here's the E+ blurb:

In five meticulously researched essays, Yasuo Sakata examines Japanese migration to the United States from an international and deeply historical perspective. A prominent figure in the field of Japanese migration studies, Sakata argued the importance of using resources from both sides of the Pacific and taking a holistic view that incorporated US-Japanese diplomatic relationships, the mass media, the American view of Asian populations, and Japan's self-image as a modern, Westernized nation. In his first essay, Sakata provides an overview of resources and warns against their gaps and biases: many have been lost or intentionally destroyed in circumstances including the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fires and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, or reflect culturally based inaccuracies. In the other essays, Sakata examines Japanese migration through a multifaceted lens, incorporating an understanding of immigration, labor, and working conditions, diplomatic relationships, and the effects of war and mass media. He further emphasizes the distinctions between dekasegi period, when Japanese crossed the Pacific for work with the intention of returning home, the transition period, and the imin period, when they became permanent residents. He also discusses the self-image among Japanese as distinct from the Chinese, more Westernized and able to assimilate-a distinction lost on Americans, who tended to lump the Asian groups together, both in treatment and under the law. Japan's Meiji era brought the opening of Japanese ports to Western nations and Japan's eventual overseas expansion. This translated volume of Sakata's well-researched work brings a transnational perspective to this critical chapter of early Japanese American history.

OK, maybe not a 2020 release (it snuck out towards the end of 2019 but I never noticed) and reviewed in Japan Times yesterday, for fans of vampires with a Japanese twist:

Vampiric: Tales of Blood and Roses from Japan

And here's the JT review:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/...

Alan wrote: "OK, maybe not a 2020 release (it snuck out towards the end of 2019 but I never noticed) and reviewed in Japan Times yesterday, for fans of vampires with a Japanese twist:

[book:Vampiric: Tales of ..."

Heck, I’m stunned by the first sentence of the blurb, that Japan has always had its own vampire stories. Thanks for sharing this, Alan. I’d missed it, too, and it’s gotten virtually zero love on GR.

Carol, I think it needs some GR love for sure ☺️

It's actually reasonably priced on Kindle, at least here in UK, so I might just have to buy it!

Pushkin Press seem to be doing a re-issue of Mieko Kawakami's 'Ms Ice Sandwich' (by the look of it, the new cover takes into account the release of 'Breasts and Eggs').

For anyone on NetGalley this is available to request. I got mine accepted today (cue small happy dance ☺️).

Alan wrote: "Pushkin Press seem to be doing a re-issue of Mieko Kawakami's 'Ms Ice Sandwich' (by the look of it, the new cover takes into account the release of 'Breasts and Eggs').

For anyone on NetGalley thi..."

Really interesting. I think I got my copy maybe 20 months ago, although I haven’t read it. Bad me. No excuses given how short it is.

As mentioned by a couple of people on the above strand, out later in the year but available now for request on Edelweiss+:

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata, author of 'Convenience Store Woman'.

November 26th 2020: There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura (Bloomsbury Publishing)

Just finished Earthlings. I wish it was being released sooner because it is incredible in my opinion.

Ian wrote: "Just finished Earthlings. I wish it was being released sooner because it is incredible in my opinion."

AGREED!!

Just popped up on Edelweiss+ for request:

The Mad Kyoto Shoe Swapper and Other Short Stories from Japan by Rebecca Otowa, which has just been published. And here's a recent Japan Times article about it:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/...


Also on Edelweiss+, although not fiction it looks like a fun little book on Japanese pop culture:

Pure Invention: How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World by Matt Alt.


Stay safe, everyone!! :-)

Alan wrote: "Just popped up on Edelweiss+ for request:

The Mad Kyoto Shoe Swapper and Other Short Stories from Japan by Rebecca Otowa, which has just been published. And here's..."

Shiny objects. Thanks, Alan! You, too.

I enjoyed Otowa’s short stories. Only one I didn’t finish.

Her older book about living in a old Japanese house is great as well.