The Good Shufu

Memoir and love story. American women moves to Japan to live with her Japanese husband

1Q84. It's amazing, but long.

Giving you a fair warning - the books will blow your mind. I did this often before travel and the Japanese books were really out there. It's representative of this idea they have about your public vs private persona.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Convenience Store Woman! I loved that book.

+1

+1

I recently read Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa and really liked it. It’s a relatively short book, so not a huge investment in time. There is a description of the Tokyo book description that’s pretty interesting- it made me want to go!

A Tale for the Time Being

Ooooh I have the perfect suggestion:

https://www.amazon.com/What-You-Are-Looking-Library-ebook/dp/B0BT82YGGF

Fifty Words for Rain by Asha Lemmie.

Silence by Shusaku Endo.

Thank you for the recommendations, PPs! I am currently reading Hotel on the Corner of Bitter & Sweet by Jamie Ford and then will move on to some of your recs.

I have read a few Banana Yoshimoto books, the most recent was Moshi Moshi, which was excellent. I think Kitchen is a bit dated now (no disrespect to the pp who posted it as a suggestion). Anything else by her is also worth reading.

Any novel by Murakami.
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
Thousand Cranes by Kawabata

Kazuo Ishiguro lives in the UK but some of his novels are set in Japan and might be more accessible. I liked A Pale View of Hills and Artist of the Floating World.

The only nonfiction I've read is Stranger in the Shogun's City. I liked it.

Anonymous wrote:Convenience Store Woman! I loved that book.

+1

Convenience Store Woman! I loved that book.

I'm traveling to Japan in a couple of months and would like to read a few books related to Japan leading up to that time. I tend to like fiction, memoirs and biographies but I'm open to all genres and would love some recommendations!