Tales from Japan
Tales from Japan
Our favourite new and bestselling fiction from Japanese authors
Discover the best of Japanese Fiction
Step into worlds where ancient traditions meet modern life, where quiet introspection and unexpected twists captivate the soul. Our curated collection of Japanese fiction brings you hauntingly beautiful tales, tender explorations of love and loss, and mesmerizing stories that blur the line between the everyday and the surreal.
From contemporary masterpieces to timeless classics, immerse yourself in the subtle elegance and deep emotional resonance that make Japanese literature unforgettable.
Contemporary Japanese Fiction
Under the Eye of the Big Bird - Hiromi Kawakami
In the distant future, humans are on the verge of extinction and have settled in small tribes across the planet under the observation and care of the Mothers. Some children are made in factories, from cells of rabbits and dolphins; some live by getting nutrients from water and light, like plants. The survival of the race depends on the interbreeding of these and other alien beings – but it is far from certain that connection, love, reproduction and evolution will persist among the inhabitants of this faltering new world. An astonishing vision of the end of our species as we know it and a meditation on the qualities that, for better or worse, make us human.
Japanese Mystery Fiction
Strange Houses - Uketsu
The addictive million-selling mystery taking Japan by storm, from the author of The Times Bestseller Strange Pictures.
A sinister hidden room.
A dead space between two walls.
A sealed cellar.
A child's face glimpsed at a window.
Every house hides secrets.
But some secrets are far darker than others.
More than a million readers have discovered the terrible truth behind these strange houses.
Now it's your turn.
Cosy Fiction from Japan
What You Are Looking for is in the Library - Michiko Aoyama
An inspirational tale of the love, comfort and growth you can find in the pages of a good book. _____ What are you looking for? So asks Tokyo's most enigmatic librarian, Sayuri Komachi. But she is no ordinary librarian. Sensing exactly what someone is searching for in life, she provides just the book recommendation to help them find it. Can she help them find what they are looking for?
Which book will you recommend?
Terminal Boredom: Stories - Izumi Suzuki
A countercultural icon and a pioneer of Japanese science fiction. Izumi Suzuki worked as a keypunch operator before finding fame as a model and actress, but it was her writing that secured her reputation
At turns nonchalantly hip and charmingly deranged, Suzuki's singular slant on speculative fiction would be echoed in countless later works, from Margaret Atwood and Harumi Murakami, to Black Mirror and Ex Machina. In these darkly playful and punky stories, the fantastical elements are always earthed by the universal pettiness of strife between the sexes, and the gritty reality of life on the lower rungs, whatever planet that ladder might be on.
