Japan

The poignant and fascinating story of a young man who is caught between the breakup of the traditions of a northern Japanese aristocratic family and the impact of Western ideas....

One of the classic works by the master of Japanese detective fiction A super-criminal - as deadly as she is beautiful - wagers all in an epic battle with a...

Translated by Donald Keene This powerful novel of a nation in social and moral crisis was first published by New Directions in 1956. Set in the early postwar years, it...

Translated by John Nathan Bird, the protagonist of A Personal Matter, is a frustrated young intellectual in a failing marriage whose utopian dream is shattered when his wife gives birth...

A Kafaesque marvel and a biting satire of bureaucracy, medicine and modern life In Tokyo, in the middle of the night, an uncalled-for ambulance arrives to spirit away a man's...

A hardboiled detective story that combines the narrative suspense of Chandler with the psychological suspense of Dostoevsky Mr Nemuro, a respected salesman, disappeared over half a year ago, but only...

The Old Capital is one of the three works for which Yasunari Kawabata won the 1968 Nobel Prize for Literature. Set in Kyoto — the old capital of Japan for...

Translated by Norma Moore Field Soseki Natsume is considered to be one of Japan's most beloved and respected authors.And Then is ranked as one of his most insightful and stirring...

A Modern Translation of Japan's Gardening Classic Learn the art of Japanese gardening with this classic, fascinating text. The Sakuteiki, or "Records of Garden Making," was written nearly one thousand...

Illustrated by Inko Ai Takita, adapted by Sean Michael Wilson Step into a story of life and love in Kyoto's 10th century royal court. The Tale of Genji tells the...

'One never tires of reading and re-reading his best works. Akutagawa was a born short-story writer' — Haruki MurakamiThe stories in this fantastical, unconventional collection are subtly wrought depictions of...

The tale of a cat with no name but great wisdom! Illustrated by Zack Davisson and Chiroru Kobato Japan's beloved literary masterpiece brought to life in manga form! Soseki Natsume's...

Kobo Abe's existential and entertaining masterpiece 'This is the record of a box man' The streets of Tokyo have been seeing a strange phenomenon recently — people who have decided...

A fiendish classic murder mystery, from one of Japan's greatest crime writers. In 1940s Japan, the wealthy head of the Inugami Clan dies, setting off a chain of bizarre, gruesome...

Spring Snow is the first book of Mishima’s masterpiece tetralogy, The Sea of Fertility. The novel is set in Tokyo in 1912, in the closed circles of the imperial court...

Translated by Simon GroveA new edition of this prizewinning classic mystery from one of Japan's best-loved crime writers.A building full of secrets. A key that will unleash them all...The K...

Loosely inspired by Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, the fiendish Gokumon Island is perhaps the most highly regarded of all the great Seishi Yokomizo's classic Japanese mysteries.Kosuke Kindaichi...

Translated by Marie Iida and Allison Markin Powell*THE JAPANESE CRIME CLASSIC — ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD*Tokyo, 1995. Five men meet at the racetrack every Sunday to bet on horses. They...

Translated by Ho-Ling Wong A classic Japanese murder mystery inspired by the golden age of British crimewriting. The members of a university mystery club decide to visit an island which...

Introducing Little Clothbound Classics — irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. Territory of Light is the...

Ryunosuke Akutagawa rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most influential modern Japanese writers. He is known as 'the father of the Japanese short story' and 'Rashōmon is...

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM STUDIO GHIBLI The beloved multi-million copy bestselling Japanese classic about finding one's place in the world 'In How Do You Live?, Copper, our hero,...

Translated by Bryan Karetnyk Nestled deep in the mist-shrouded mountains, The Village of Eight Graves takes its name from a bloody legend: in the sixteenth century eight samurai, who had...

Kitchen juxtaposes two tales about mothers, transsexuality, bereavement, kitchens, love and tragedy in contemporary Japan. It is a startlingly original first work by Japan's brightest young literary star and is...

Translated by Bryan Karetnyk An ingenious and highly atmospheric classic whodunit from Japan's master of crime. Amid the rubble of post-war Tokyo, inside the grand Tsubaki house, a once-noble family...

Translated by Kerim YasarAn off-kilter, darkly ironic novella from a Japanese literary star - part of Pushkin's second Japanese Novella seriesIsolated in his Tokyo apartment, seventeen-year-old Haruo spends all his...

Translated by Kendall Heitzmann Tense, subtly disturbing literary horror from a prize-winning Japanese writer — part of Pushkin's second Japanese Novella series Under strange circumstances, a young girl loses her...

The novel Mishima considered to be his masterpiece — a tale of family, nuclear war, love and UFOs. The Osugi family have come to a realization. Each of them hails...

Ten tales of loss and longing, from one one Japan's greatest writersBringing together Yukio Mishima's finest stories, this selection shows his extraordinary ability to depict a wide variety of human...

Translated by Marie Iida and Allison Markin Powell *THE JAPANESE CRIME CLASSIC — ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD* One of Japan's great modern writers, this second half of Lady Joker brings...

"Her life was a bridge from the nineteenth century to the twentieth, from the time-hallowed beauty and rigidity of a samurai household to the disorienting, forward-looking freedoms of the West."...

Translated by Alan Turney In The Three-Cornered World, an artist leaves city life to wander in the mountains on a quest to stimulate his artistic endeavors. When he finds himself...

Translated by Deborah BoehmA classic Japanese murder mystery set in post-war Tokyo and steeped in the illicit subculture of Yakuza tattoos.Kinue Nomura survived World War II only to be murdered...

Akutagawa was one of the towering figures of modern Japanese literature, and is considered the father of the Japanese short story. This paradigmatic selection, which includes the stories that inspired...

Translated by Louise Heal Kawai  'The Japanese Agatha Christie' Sarah Cox, on BBC2's Between the Covers'The master of ingenious plotting' Guardian'Dazzling' New York TimesFROM THE FATHER OF JAPANESE CRIMEIn the winter of 1937,...

Japanese fairy tales - enchanting, enigmatic stories of animals, human beings and the great natural world.Dark and innocent, sublime and whimsical, Miyazawa's stories have the ageless feel of the best...

A cult cyberpunk masterpiece, and Ryu Murakami's most famous novel. Two babies are left in a Tokyo station coin locker and survive against the odds, but their lives are forever...

Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith.Tired of the bustling city, a man takes...

A captivating and unexpected collection of two female Japanese poets from the 9th and 10th centuriesHere is a collection of sexy, brief, fleeting poems about love, lust and longing. They...

This modern classic invites the reader to discover a unique tradition that has come to symbolize the wisdom, beauty, and the elegant simplicity of Asian culture. The author celebrates the...

A perfectly plotted, cosy detective story from Seicho Matsumoto, Japan's master of mystery In a rocky cove in the bay of Hakata, the bodies of a young and beautiful couple...

A classic Japanese murder mystery from the author of The Decagon House Murders Every year, a small group of acquaintances pay a visit to the remote, castle-like Mill House, home...

A new selection and translation of short stories by a hugely prominent classic Japanese writer, filled with eroticism and fantasy The sage Confucius visits a cultured duke, whose pursuit of...

A surreal work of science fiction from one of Japan's most brilliant novelists In anticipation of a coming nuclear apocalypse, Mole has converted a huge underground quarry into an 'ark'....

Translated by Umeji Sasaki A modern classic in Japan, Botchan is as widely read today as when it was first published, occupying a place in the canon similar to The...

Translated by Andrew Clare New in Penguin Japanese Classics — a gripping novel about a love affair gone wrong Koji, a young student, has fallen hopelessly in love with the...

Translated by Geraldine Harcourt New in Penguin Japanese Classics — an innovative feminist novel about motherhood and girlhood Koko won't do what is expected of her. Defying her family's wishes,...

Translated by Meredith Weatherby Long regarded as one of the most important novels to appear in post-war Japan, Confessions of a Mask is an allegory of a lonely boy’s yearning...

Translated by Makiko ItohAdapted by Chika Ito 'I've led a life full of shame. Human beings are a complete mystery to me.' This manga version of novelist Osamu Dazai's masterpiece...

Adapted by Coco Kashiwaya A classic of Japanese literature, brought to life in manga for the first time! This is the first manga edition in English of The Setting Sun,...