The Accidental Japanese Fiction Buff

So, I first came across Japanese fiction entirely by accident in Paris, 1994.

It was December, and I was studying in Paris. I was fairly fluent by that point in French, but part of me wanted to just relax and read something in English for a change. I went to the only English bookstore I knew of at the time on the Rive Droite. I don't remember the name of it now, but I recall that it was part of a chain.

I browsed around and found lots of books I'd like to read. However, I was also a poor exchange student, so my actual prospects were on the bargain table. And the cheapest book on the bargain table was "A Cat, a Man and Two Women" by Junichiro Tanizaki.

I got much more than I bargained for. I got a new love. I have explored the world through Tanizaki, Haruki Murakami and  Ryu Murakami. I have barely scratched the surface, but every book I read makes me hungry for more.

I find that Japanese fiction leaves me full like the good full after sushi. Satisfied, sated, but not bloated and weighed down like you might be after a four-course meal of Dickens. There is an elegance, a restrain, a suggestive economy of words that is common to all of them. It's like reading a Musashi painting. Beautiful but spare, yet enough that you are stirred with feeling.

I love reading about the Pre-WWII era in Tanizaki. I have also enjoyed the Murakami pere and fils writing about modern Japan. I love reading from their perspective how they see the West and how they see themselves.

So far, my reading list suggestions would include:

A Cat, a Man and Two Women by Junichiro Tanizaki
The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki
Diary of a Mad Old Man by Junichiro Tanizaki
The Key by Junichiro Tanizaki
Some Prefer Nettles by Junichiro Tanizaki
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami
In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami
Piercing by Ryu Murakami


If you can't whip out the credit card and buy a ticket to Japan, you can at least get a stamp in your literary passport. And like sushi, it may sound odd, but odds are, if you try it, you'll like it.