Japan

A new and unabridged 3-book translation of Eiji Yoshikawa's bestselling novel about Miyamoto Musashi the most famous swordfighter in Japanese history! This is the first book of Musashi: The Novel, a...

Translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori  The heartbreaking story of two orphans fighting for survival at the end of World War Two, published in English for the first time. In the...

Discover Haruki Murakami's first two novels.Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973 are Haruki Murakami's two first novels - here they are together in one edition.Now I think it's time to tell my...

The haunting, enigmatic love story that turned Murakami into a literary superstar in Japan, and is his bestselling title throughout the worldAutumn 1969, and soon I would be 20.When he...

Haruki Murakami's third novel, A Wild Sheep Chase is the mystery hybrid which completes the odyssey begun in Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973.The man was leading an aimless life, time passing, one big...

Translated by Erik Lofgren 1,000 haiku by Sseki Natsume, collected into one volume for the first time! Sōseki Natsume is Japan's most popular writer, well known in the West for...

Records of Ancient Matters The classic story of Japan's origins—now in a fully revised and reader-friendly edition. The Kojiki is Japan's oldest surviving text, chronicling the mythical creation of the...

90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin BooksKikuji has been invited to a tea ceremony by a mistress of his dead father, only to find that the mistress' rival...

A biting psychological thriller from the bestselling author of Tokyo Express, now available in English for the first time Onizuka Kumako is a fierce woman- tall, beautiful, and not afraid to...

A rediscovered classic - a Japanese cosy crime novel in translation set at the foot of Mount Fuji, first published in 1982, and now reissued for a 21st century readership...

Translated by Rebecca Copeland A piercingly beautiful and candid novel of love, sex and independence in 1920s Japan by a trailblazing Japanese writer “Remarkable . . . [Chiyo] has a...

New to our Vintage Classics Murakami Collector's Library - a newly translated, unabridged edition of Murakami's most mind-bendingly brilliant novel. A special hardback edition of Murakami's surreal, mind-bending masterpiece, in...

Translated by Van C. Gessel A gripping adventure story from “a masterly historical writer” about a Japanese expedition to cross the Pacific Ocean in the 17th century (David Mitchell) "A...

WINNER OF THE JAPANESE DETECTIVE WRITERS CLUB PRIZE This prize-winning railway murder mystery from Japan is a crime classic perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and Seichō Matsumoto. Early one...

Considered one of Mishima's masterpieces, this novel is a fictionalised version of real events - the torching of a Kyoto temple by a disturbed Buddhist acolyte in 1950.Mizoguchi grows up...

The second book in Mishima's Sea of Fertility tetraology - this is a story of political violence, traditional samurai values and nihilism.Isao is a young, engaging patriot, and a fanatical...

The fourth and final book in Mishima's landmark tetralogy, The Sea of FertilityThe dramatic climax of The Sea of Fertility tetraology.It is the 1960s and Honda, now an aged and wealthy man, discovers...

The third novel in Mishima's masterful Sea of Fertility tetralogyMishima's literary powers are on full display in his penultimate novel, a meditation on reincarnation and Buddhist philosophy.Honda, a brilliant lawyer and man...

A story of a frustrated, confined woman who becomes lost in a psychological maze of her own creation - a labyrinth of jealousy, loneliness and longing.Etsuko is a trapped woman...

A new selection of lyrically haunting short stories from a Japanese literary iconA writer is seized by apocalyptic visions; a voyeuristic marquis commits a brutal act; and a trio of...

No one really understands how we suffer. One day, when we're adults, we may come to recall this suffering, this misery, as silly and laughable, but how are we to...

Classic Japanese Ghost Stories Enter the haunted world of Ancient Japan in this spine-tingling collection of ghostly tales told and retold across the centuries. From Goblin infested caves and haunted...

A powerful, poignant novel about three half sisters in post-war Japan, from the Nobel Prize-winning author of Snow CountryWith the Second World War only a few years in the past, and...

In the late fifteenth century, a young Dominican friar sets out on a journey from Paris to Florence in search of manuscripts of pre-Christian philosophy. Along the way, he encounters...

"A breathtakingly beautiful world…reminding us that we are part of the universe." —Kaori Nagai "A modern classic." —NPR Lonely and awkward, Giovanni struggles with his sick mother, absent father, and...

Translated by Edwin McClellan “Soseki is the representative modern Japanese novelist, a figure of truly national stature.” — Haruki Murukami One of the best-selling novels of all time in Japan:...

Translated by Van C. Gessel A group of Japanese tourists journey to the sacred River Ganges, each on a secret personal pilgrimage. Widower Isobe mourns for the devoted wife he...

Translated by Stephen Snyder FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE MEMORY POLICE'A conspicuously gifted writer...To read Ogawa is to enter a dreamlike state tinged with a nightmare, and her stories continue to...

An endlessly ingenious battle across Japan between dogged detective Akechi Kogoro and the many-faced thief Gold MaskA frenzied test of wits between ace detective Akechi Kogoro and the seemingly superhuman...

 'Flawless' – David Mitchell 'A masterpiece’ – Daily Telegraph Winner of the Tanizaki Prize  Published in 1967 in Japan to huge controversy, Silence is Shusaku Endo's most highly acclaimed novel and a classic...

Winner of the Yomiuri Prize and recipient of the 2022-23 William F. Sibley Memorial Subvention Award for Japanese Translation. Introducing Tatsuhiko Shibusawa—Japan’s Italo Calvino—in this fantastical tale of a Japanese...

“Delicate and powerful... a haunting, sensitive meditation on memory as well as a wonderful introduction to a master sorely underappreciated in the West. . . timeless, elegiac, and masterful” –...

A beautiful hardback edition of a great Japanese classic, beautiful, lyrical and deeply ominous. A band of savage thirteen-year-old boys reject the adult world as illusory, hypocritical, and sentimental, and...

Translated by Louise Heal Kawai A beautifully written mystery novel that takes on the taboo of Japanese prostitution catering to GIs during the American post-war occupation. Tokyo 1958, Teiko marries...

A timeless psychological study of a young man's deep alienation from society. Set in the early 20th century, Kokoro opens with a chance encounter on a beach near Tokyo that...

An extraordinary collection of Japanese ghost stories, many in English for the first time! This spine-chilling anthology of 77 spooky stories from the Japanese collection Tales from Shinshu is compiled...

Translated by Bryan Karetnyk A classic Japanese mystery —a pair of sleuths investigate a series of bloody murders in 19th century Tokyo Tokyo, 1869. It is the dawn of the...

This eloquent work on the Japanese sense of beauty explores the subtle interplay of shade and light in several important aspects of Japanese life — architecture, drama, food, femininity and...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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,...