Recommend some older Japanese fiction.

May 31, 2009 8:09 PM

Looking for Japanese novels both written in, and taking place in 1950's and 1960's Japan.

I'm looking for good Japanese fiction that covers life in post-occupation Japan, ideally both written in that time as well as set in it. The actual subjects and stories aren't as important to me as the setting.

My Japanese reading isn't great, so a parallel text would be most appreciated, or a text where I can buy both Japanese and English translations and read them side by side. But if there's something amazing out there I'll struggle through a Japanese-only version.

posted by Ookseer to media & arts (18 comments total)

Well, Norwegian Wood is a hugely popular (both in Japan and internationally) novel set in Japan in the 60s. Student protests play a large role.
posted by mr_roboto at 8:29 PM on May 31

Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea deals with the era quite nicely, touches on Japan's identity crisis. And anything by Mishima is good, if you can stand the crazy.
posted by FuManchu at 8:37 PM on May 31

Well, I don't know where to acquire the original Japanese versions, but I have read several translations that seem to fit the bill. The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea by Yukio Mishima is set in post-war Japan and was published in 1963. His other works may also be of interest, as would a history of his own fascinating life and strange death. The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe is another fine novel, published in 1962.

On preview, seconding FuManchu.
posted by kurtroehl at 8:48 PM on May 31

Yasunari Kawabata wrote in the postwar period, but his books generally aren't set in the postwar period. He is definitely a writer of the occupation, however; his books are suffused with a gentle melancholy, a feeling of tragedy in lost tradition. I recommend particularly Snow Country and The Master of Go. You might also like Black Rain by Ibuse Masuji. I don't think he's a major author, but it's a novel concerned primarily with the period and with the direct result of American action in Japan (atomic bomb survivors). It's most famous, perhaps, for inspiring a (superior?) movie of the same name.
posted by sonic meat machine at 9:03 PM on May 31

The Sea and Poison by Shusaku Endo is an incredible book.
posted by Sidhedevil at 9:43 PM on May 31

Try Nobel Prize winner Kenzaburo Oe, especially his early 60s novellas J and Seventeen, two sharp looks at lost and drifting youth in post-occupation Japan. And don't miss his 1964 classic A Personal Matter, a brutally honest look at a young father's relationship with his seriously deformed newborn child in a modern Japan that offers no spiritual comfort (it's semi-autobiographical as well).
posted by mediareport at 9:51 PM on May 31 [1 favorite has favorites]

The Ruined Map by Kobo Abe. Existential goodness.
posted by ijustwantyourhalf at 9:51 PM on May 31

Link to A Personal Matter.
posted by mediareport at 9:52 PM on May 31

If graphic novels count, Yoshihiro Tatsumi's work is set mostly in the postwar era.
posted by pravit at 10:03 PM on May 31

An Artist of the Floating World, by Kazuo Ishiguro. It was originally written in English, though, but it's a great book. Read his other works too, specially Never let me go.

Seconding Yoshihiro Tatsumi. His latest book, A Drifting Life, is a memoir of his career as a mangaka. His short stories are great too, but they tend to be a bit repetitive. Here's a preview of one of his short stories, and one of A Drifting Life.
posted by clearlydemon at 10:39 PM on May 31 [1 favorite has favorites]

Oe's early stuff, fo' sho'. One of my favorite writers. Take a look at Shoot the Kids, Nip the buds (I may be transposing that).

Doubling Mishima's The Sailor who Fail from Grace with the Sea. Frankly, his life alone is worth reading, if you can find a biography. You won't be dissapointed.
posted by OrangeDrink at 1:06 AM on June 1

Ishihara Shintaro, "Season of the sun" (太陽の季節). 1955, critical and commercial success, shocked PTAs nationwide. Part of the fun of reading it now is picking up on the attitudes towards other cultural presences in Japan that would later come out in his political activities.
posted by No-sword at 2:45 AM on June 1

Thirding "Drifting Life" I just finished it, and it was amazing.
posted by Ponderance at 5:47 AM on June 1

Shout out to Fumiko Enchi and her book _Masks_. Anthologies to consider include, _The Show Anthology_ and also a collection of female Showa authors.

The women of the Showa are a tragic lot with their time spanning pre- and post-war Japan with its radical social change and currents of history.
posted by jadepearl at 6:18 AM on June 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

Kenzaburo Oye's Nip The Buds, Shoot The Kids.
posted by mippy at 7:13 AM on June 1

The Push Man and Other Stories.
posted by ignignokt at 7:48 AM on June 1

Note The Push Man (and the other two now available by Yoshihiro Tastumi) are graphic novels.

For some reason Mishima recommendations often omit his Sound of Waves but it meets the OP's requirements and I think it's sweet.
posted by Rash at 5:06 PM on June 1

Now I have several months (or more) of very enticing reading to look forward to!

Thanks everyone for your contributions!
posted by Ookseer at 3:12 AM on June 6