The bestselling writer, known as Japan’s enfant terrible, explored the dark underbelly of Japanese society in more than 40 works of subversive fiction including Audition, later made into a landmark indie horror movie. Read more
Tag: Japanese Authors
Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa
Ichikawa’s provocative debut chronicles a disabled woman’s sexual awakening. Shaka, a Japanese woman who lives with myotubular myopathy, a genetic disease whose symptoms include difficulty breathing and muscle weakness, is independently wealthy thanks to an inheritance from her parents. She spends her days taking online university courses and writing pornographic stories for money, which she sends to food banks and shelters for homeless young girls. Read more
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Japanese Poet Shuntaro Tanikawa, Master of Modern Free Verse, Dies at 92
Shuntaro Tanikawa, who pioneered modern Japanese poetry, poignant but conversational in its divergence from haiku and other traditions, has died. Read more
Where to Start With Haruki Murakami
Japan’s bestselling living novelist Haruki Murakami started writing aged 30 and became a literary sensation in 1987 when his fifth novel Norwegian Wood was published. His mixture of realistic and dreamlike narratives has earned him a dedicated fanbase, and his name is often floated as a contender for the Nobel prize in literature. Read more
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Kenzaburo Oe, Nobel Prize-Winning Japanese Writer, Dies Aged 88
Spanning fiction and essays, Oe’s work tackled a wide range of subjects from militarism and nuclear disarmament to innocence and trauma, and he became an outspoken champion for the voiceless in the face of what he regarded as his country’s failures. Regarded by some in Japan as distinctly western, Oe’s style was often likened to William Faulkner; in his own words, in his writing he would “start from my personal matters and then link it up with society, the state and the world” Read more
Osamu Dazai, With Help From TikTok, Keeps Finding New Fans
The enduring appeal of a midcentury Japanese novelist who wrote of alienation and suicide. Read more
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Murakami library unveiled at author’s alma mater in Tokyo
Haruki Murakami fans can marvel at a vast collection of the Japanese author’s novels, scrapbooks and vinyl at a cavernous new library unveiled Wednesday at his old university in Tokyo. Read more
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