I always like to read about a destination before I visit and Japan is perfect for this. It has a unique and fascinating culture and learning more about it before you visit will increase your enjoyment of the country.
There are some of the best books about Japan including memoirs, historical novels, books on Japanese culture, and novels by Japanese authors.
Contents
Non-Fiction Books About Japan
1) A Geek in Japan: Discovering the Land of Manga, Anime, Zen, and the Tea Ceremony by Hector Garcia
Some of it is a little dated—you won’t see many manga magazines anymore as everyone is reading on their phones—but it’s an interesting read and could help avoid cultural misunderstandings.
2) Lost Japan by Alex Kerr
3) Untangling My Chopsticks: A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto by Victoria Abbott Riccardi
It’s an enjoyable read and you’ll learn lots about Japanese food and culture. As a vegetarian, I appreciated the final section on shojin ryori, the Zen Buddhist vegetarian cuisine where tea kaiseki originated.
4) Rice Noodle Fish: Deep Travels Through Japan's Food Culture by Matt Goulding
5) Hitching Rides with Buddha by Will Ferguson
This memoir is humorous and sometimes melancholy. The cherry blossoms are just an excuse to get to know the Japanese, but I enjoyed the scenes of raucous hanami parties. I also learnt a lot about Japan as he explores topics such as sumo, temples, and kodo drummers and describes the places he visits along the way.
Note this book was originally published in Canada as Hokkaido Highway Blues.
6) Yokohama Yankee: My Family's Five Generations as Outsiders in Japan by Leslie Helm
7) Geisha, A Life by Mineko Iwasaki
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden is one of the most famous novels about Japan. Golden used interviews with Iwasaki, one of the best geishas of her generation, to inform his work but she was unhappy with the result that portrays geisha as prostitutes, which she denies.
Geisha, A Life is her response to the novel—a real memoir of a geisha about the ups and downs of life as a famous high-class dancer and entertainer in Gion, Kyoto. It’s not as dramatic as the novel and the writing is a little dry, but I was fascinated with this hidden world. Note that in the UK the book is called Geisha of Gion.
8) Geisha: The Secret History of a Vanishing World by Lesley Downer
The book is well-written and researched and mixes history with personal stories from the geisha and maiko (apprentice geishas) she meets across the country.
It’s also a good introduction to Japanese history as the geisha world is affected by events such as the opening of Japan to the rest of the world and World War II.
While it’s rather dated as it was written in 2000, it’s still a fascinating insight into this unique world.
9) Tokyo on Foot: Travels in the City's Most Colorful Neighborhoods by Florent Chavouet
Novels Set in Japan
10) Shōgun by James Clavell
It’s 1000 pages long and it took me a while to get into, but when I did I couldn’t stop reading. Although it’s fiction, it’s based on real characters and is a fascinating insight into samurai life.
11) A Tale for The Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
It’s intelligent but readable, has engaging characters, and shows a darker side of the often idealised Japan.
12) The Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama
We learn of the family’s horrific struggles during the war and I realised how rarely I’ve read about the war from the other side’s perspective. It’s a novel about family, love, loss, tradition, and the resilience of the human spirit.
13) Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
14) The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery
An enjoyable long novel about a young American girl who ends up alone in Japan at the end of the 19th century. She’s taken in by the owners of a tea ceremony school as they transition into the Meiji era when the country is modernising and they struggle to find a place for the traditions of tea.
15) Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Like many people, I read this in the late 90s and became fascinated by the world of the geisha in Gion, Kyoto in the 1930s and 40s.
I recently reread it while spending a month in one of Kyoto’s geisha neighbourhoods and seeing them walk down our street most days. While much has changed since the time this novel was set, it’s incredible that this secret world still exists.
There’s some controversy over the accuracy of the book, but it’s an easy read and good introduction to the world.
16) A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding by Jackie Copleton
A moving novel about a survivor of the Nagasaki atomic bombing who moves to the US. Decades later a badly scarred man turns up claiming to be her grandson who she thought had died.
The story looks back at the history of her and her family before the bombing and the family secrets that begin to come out.
Novels by Japanese Authors
17) Anything by Haruki Murakami
Murakami is the most well-known Japanese author internationally and I highly recommend reading at least one of his books. You won’t necessarily learn much about Japan from them, but all his books are brilliant and many have a large dose of magical realism.
You can’t really go wrong. The Wind Up Bird Chronicle is a surreal classic, Norwegian Wood is more realistic fiction (and possibly more accessible), and I also enjoyed Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. As a runner and writer, I’m also a big fan of his memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.
18) Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata
A classic Japanese book, Snow Country is a stark and lyrical tale of a love affair between a geisha at an isolated hot spring resort and a wealthy dilettante who is incapable of loving her. There’s not much action; it’s more about capturing moments like in a haiku poem.
19) The Sounds of Waves by Yukio Mishima
20) Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima
Spring Snow is another coming of age love story by Mishima, just as beautifully written but more complex. It portrays the relationship between the son of a nouveau-riche family and the daughter of an impoverished but aristocratic family at the beginning of the 20th century when society was becoming more westernised. I couldn't get into the following book in this Sea of Fertility tetralogy, though.
If you are looking for more travel reads, see my picks for the best coffee table travel books (they make brilliant gifts!), travel memoirs, books about Hawaii, Iceland books to read before you visit, and books about South Africa.
If you enjoyed this post, pin it!
This post was originally published in November 2017 and updated with new books in December 2019.
Enter your email to sign up for our monthly newsletter with exclusive travel tips and updates.
You might consider the work of contemporary Japanese mystery writer Natsuo Kirino. “Out,” which details the lives of four women and what transpires when one commits a murder, is probably her best known novel. “Grotesque” is a disturbing look at the paths two sisters take as they move forward in life. Other novelists that deserve a look include Tanizaki, for “The Makioka Sisters” and “Naomi.” and Dazai, for the “The Setting Sun” and “No Longer Human.”
I would like to add my non-fiction work to this list. It is called “No Pianos, Pets or Foreigners! My Life in Japan in the 80’s”. It’s available on Amazon.
must read
Mirror for Americans, Japan by Helen Mears
The book the Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa remains one of the most insightful books to me on Japan. It illuminates from a first person point of view some of the original exciting steps originating the Meiji Reformation. He’s on Japan’s equivalent $100 bill. More info from https://jpninfo.com/4625 : Yukichi Fukuzawa was an influential writer, educator and journalist. He established the Keio University and the Jiji-Shinpou (“The Times”) newspaper.
It is said that with Fukuwaza’s ideologies came the beginning of modern Japan and the end of plutocracy. He believed that every person should be given equal opportunities to education, regardless of wealth.
Having travelled to Europe and the United States, Fukuzawa believed Japan was behind its Western counterparts, thus, he advocated the incorporation of Western ideas into Japan, particularly in education.
Fukuzawa published best-selling books. His writings include a Japanese-English dictionary, within which he introduced two new katakana characters to represent “V” sounds.