Someone asked: “I'm going to Japan. What should I read?”
Books to read before visiting Japan.
The best travel guide is a novel. These books won't tell you where to eat, but they'll change what you notice when you get there — the light, the silence, the trains, the rooms.
Contains affiliate links. How it works
In Praise of Shadows
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki
A short essay on darkness, lacquer and old toilets. Read it on the plane and you'll see every temple differently.
Kokoro
Natsume Sōseki · 1914
A student, a mysterious teacher and a long letter. The quiet heart of modern Japanese fiction.
Snow Country
Yasunari Kawabata · 2011
A hot-spring town, a geisha and a love affair told in fragments. Take it if you're heading north in winter.
- The Makioka SistersJun'ichirō TanizakiThe Makioka Sisters by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (no cover image)
The Makioka Sisters
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki
Four sisters in 1930s Osaka trying to arrange a marriage. A long, gentle, absorbing family saga.
Kitchen
Banana Yoshimoto · 2013
Grief, friendship and midnight cooking in Tokyo. Light as air and very moving.
- Tokyo Ueno StationYu MiriTokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri (no cover image)
Tokyo Ueno Station
Yu Miri
The Tokyo tourists walk past, seen through the eyes of a homeless man's ghost. Haunting and essential.
Silence
Shūsaku Endō · 1977
Two Portuguese priests in seventeenth-century Japan. A novel about faith that doesn't let anyone off easily.
Norwegian Wood
Haruki Murakami · 1987
Murakami's most straightforward novel: late-sixties Tokyo, first love and loss. The one to start with.
Not quite it?
Tell the bookseller what you've already read and what you're in the mood for. We'll narrow it down.