Novels set in Japan Test and Flashcards (2025)

87 cards

• The House of the Sleeping Beauties

  House of the Sleeping Beauties is a 1961 novella by the Japanese author Yasunari Kawabata.

• You Only Live Twice (novel)

  You Only Live Twice is the eleventh novel (and twelfth book) in Ian Fleming's James Bond series of stories.

• Forbidden Colors

  Forbidden Colors (禁色 Kinjiki) is a 1951 novel (禁色 Part 2 秘楽 (Higyō) "Secret Pleasure" was published in 1953) by the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, translated into English in 1968.

• Tea from an Empty Cup

  Tea from an Empty Cup is a 1998 cyberpunk novel by Pat Cadigan.

• I Am a Cat

  I Am a Cat (Japanese: 吾輩は猫である Hepburn: Wagahai wa Neko de Aru) is a satirical novel written in 1905–1906 by Natsume Sōseki, about Japanese society during the Meiji Period (1868–1912); particularly, the uneasy mix of Western culture and Japanese traditions, and the aping of Western customs.

• The Ninja (novel)

  The Ninja novel was written in 1980 by Eric Van Lustbader and is a tale of revenge, love and murder.

• My Brother, My Sister, and I

  My Brother, My Sister, and I is an autobiographical novel written by Yoko Kawashima Watkins, a Japanese-American writer.

• My Year of Meats

  My Year of Meats (titled My Year of Meat in the UK) is a novel by Ruth L.

• Around the World in Eighty Days

  Around the World in Eighty Days (French: Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is a classic adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, published in 1873.

• Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

  Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (French: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers: Tour du monde sous-marin, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World) is a classic science fiction novel by French writer Jules Verne published in 1870.

• Beauty and Sadness (novel)

  Beauty and Sadness (Japanese: 美しさと哀しみと Utsukushisa to kanashimi to) is a 1964 novel by Japanese author Yasunari Kawabata.

• Die Toten

  Die Toten ("the dead") is a 2016 novel by the Swiss writer Christian Kracht.

• The Dagger of Kamui

  The Dagger of Kamui (カムイの剣 Kamui no Ken) is a Japanese novel series by Tetsu Yano released by Kadokawa Shoten from 1984 to 1985.

• 24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai

  24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai is a science fiction novella by American writer Roger Zelazny.

• Across the Nightingale Floor

  Across the Nightingale Floor is the first of Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otori trilogy, first published in 2002.

• So Far from the Bamboo Grove

  So Far from the Bamboo Grove is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Yoko Kawashima Watkins, a Japanese American writer.

• Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

  Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage (Japanese: 色彩を持たない多崎つくると、彼の巡礼の年 Hepburn: Shikisai o motanai Tazaki Tsukuru to, kare no junrei no toshi) is the thirteenth novel by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami.

• The Tokyo Zodiac Murders

  The Tokyo Zodiac Murders is the debut mystery novel of Soji Shimada, the musician and writer on astrology who is best known as an author of over 100 mystery novels.

• Debt of Honor

  Debt of Honor (1994) is a thriller novel by Tom Clancy.

• Brave Story

  Brave Story (Japanese: ブレイブ・ストーリー Hepburn: Bureibu Stōrī) is a Japanese fantasy novel written by Miyuki Miyabe.

• A True Novel

  A True Novel is a novel published in Japan in 2002 by Minae Mizumura.

• Dance Dance Dance (novel)

  Dance Dance Dance (ダンス・ダンス・ダンス Dansu Dansu Dansu) is the sixth novel by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami.

• Musashi (novel)

  Musashi (宮本武蔵 Miyamoto Musashi) is a Japanese novel written by Eiji Yoshikawa.

• Extras (novel)

  Extras is a young adult science fiction novel written by Scott Westerfeld.

• Go (Kaneshiro novel)

  GO is a novel written by Kazuki Kaneshiro and published in 2000 by Kodansha.

• Obasan

  Obasan is a novel by the Japanese-Canadian author Joy Kogawa.

• Of Nightingales That Weep

  Of Nightingales That Weep is a historical novel for children by Katherine Paterson, published by Crowell in 1974.

• Wonderful Fool

  Wonderful Fool (おバカさん Obaka-san) is a novel by the Japanese author Shusaku Endō, originally serialized in the newspaper Asahi Shinbun in 1959.

• Snow Country

  Snow Country (雪国 Yukiguni) is a novel by the Japanese author Yasunari Kawabata.

• How to Be an American Housewife

  How To Be An American Housewife is a 2010 novel by Margaret Dilloway.

• Boogiepop and Others

  Boogiepop and Others (ブギーポップは笑わない Bugīpoppu wa Warawanai) is a light novel and manga authored by Kouhei Kadono and illustrated by Kouji Ogata, and a live-action movie directed by Ryu Kaneda.

• Fear and Trembling (novel)

  Fear and Trembling (original title: Stupeur et tremblements, which means "Amazement and trembling") is a novel by Amélie Nothomb, first published in 1999, and translated into English by Adriana Hunter.

• Nerawareta Gakuen

  Nerawareta Gakuen (ねらわれた学園) is a 1973 science fiction novel by Taku Mayumura.

• Welcome, Honourable Visitors

  Welcome, Honourable Visitors (French: Bienvenue honorables visiteurs) is a 1958 novel by the French writer Jean Raspail.

• The Decay of the Angel

  The Decay of the Angel (天人五衰 Tennin Gosui) is a novel by Yukio Mishima and is the fourth and last in his Sea of Fertility tetralogy.

• After Darkness (novel)

  After Darkness (2014) is a novel by Australian author Christine Piper.

• Gai-Jin

  Gai-Jin (Japanese, "Foreigner") is a 1993 novel by James Clavell, chronologically the third book in his Asian Saga, although it was the last to be published.

• The Doctor's Wife (Ariyoshi novel)

  The Doctor's Wife, known in Japanese as Hanaoka Seishū's Wife (華岡青洲の妻 Hanaoka Seishū no tsuma), is a noted novel by Sawako Ariyoshi written in 1966.

• The Old Capital

  The Old Capital (translated English title of the Japanese Koto 古都, which refers to the city Kyoto 京都) is a novel by Yasunari Kawabata originally published in 1962.

• No Longer Human

  No Longer Human (人間失格 Ningen Shikkaku) is a Japanese novel by Osamu Dazai.

• Spiral (Suzuki novel)

  Spiral (らせん Rasen) is a 1995 Japanese novel, a part of author Koji Suzuki's Ring Cycle series.

• The Diamond Chariot

  The Diamond Chariot (Russian: Алмазная Колесница, the Russian term for the "Diamond Vehicle" (kongōjō) school of Tantric Buddhism) is a historical mystery novel by internationally acclaimed Russian detective story writer Boris Akunin, published originally in 2003.

• A Wild Sheep Chase

  A Wild Sheep Chase (羊をめぐる冒険 Hitsuji o meguru bōken) (literally An Adventure Surrounding Sheep) is the third novel by Japanese author Haruki Murakami.

• 69 (novel)

  69 (シクスティナイン Shikusutinain) is a roman à clef novel by Ryu Murakami.

• Kokoro

  Kokoro (こゝろ, or in post-war orthography こころ) is a novel by the Japanese author Natsume Sōseki.

• On Parole (novel)

  On Parole (Kari-Shakuhō, 1988) is a novel by Japanese author Akira Yoshimura.

• Socrates in Love

  Socrates in Love (恋するソクラテス Koi Suru Sokuratesu) is a 2001 Japanese 206-page melodrama novel, written by Kyoichi Katayama and published by Shogakukan, which revolves around narrator Sakutaro Matsumoto's recollections of a school classmate whom he once loved.

• Koizora

  Koizora: Setsunai Koi Monogatari (恋空―切ナイ恋物語 Koizora: Setsunai Koi Monogatari, lit. "Sky of Love: A Sad Love Story"), or Koizora (恋空) for short, is a 2005 best-selling Japanese coming of age and romance novel written by Mika.

• The Waiting Years

  The Waiting Years (originally published under the title Onnazaka) is a novel by Fumiko Enchi, set within the milieu of an upper class Japanese family in the last years of the 19th century.

• Confessions of a Mask

  Confessions of a Mask (仮面の告白 Kamen no Kokuhaku) is Japanese author Yukio Mishima's second novel.

• The Temple of the Golden Pavilion

  The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (金閣寺 Kinkaku-ji) is a novel by the Japanese author Yukio Mishima.

• The Cat Who Went to Heaven

  The Cat Who Went to Heaven is a 1930 novel by Elizabeth Coatsworth that won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1931.

• Pictures from the Water Trade

  Pictures from the Water Trade: An Englishman in Japan (1985) — published in the US as Pictures from the Water Trade: Adventures of a Westerner in Japan — is a novel by John David Morley, a cultural investigation of Japan in the 1970s.

• Young Samurai: The Way of the Sword

  Young Samurai: The Way of the Sword is a children's historical novel by Chris Bradford, published in 2009.

• Coin Locker Babies

  Coin Locker Babies (コインロッカー・ベイビーズ Koinrokkā Beibīzu), 1980, is a novel by Ryu Murakami about coin-operated-locker babies, translated into English by Stephen Snyder.

• Silk (novel)

  Silk (Italian: Seta) is a 1996 novel by the Italian writer Alessandro Baricco.

• Kitchen (novel)

  Kitchen （キッチン）is a novel written by Japanese author Banana Yoshimoto (吉本ばなな）in 1988 and translated into English in 1993 by Megan Backus. Although one may notice a certain Western influence in Yoshimoto's style, Kitchen is still critically recognized as an example of contemporary Japanese literature; The Independent, The Times and The New Yorker have all reviewed the novel favorably. Most editions also include a novella entitled Moonlight Shadow, which is also a tragedy dealing with loss and love.

• Silence (novel)

  Silence (沈黙 Chinmoku) is a 1966 novel of historical fiction by Japanese author Shūsaku Endō.

• An Artist of the Floating World

  An Artist of the Floating World (1986) is a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro.

• Another (novel)

  Another (アナザー Anazā) is a Japanese mystery horror novel by Yukito Ayatsuji, published on October 29, 2009 by Kadokawa Shoten.

• Naomi (novel)

  Naomi (痴人の愛 Chijin no Ai, lit. A Fool's Love) is a novel by Japanese author Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (1886–1965).

• The Phoenix Tree (novel)

  The Phoenix Tree is a 1984 novel from Australian author Jon Cleary set in Japan during the last days of World War II.

• The Samurai's Garden

  The Samurai's Garden is a 1996 novel by American author Gail Tsukiyama.

• The Sign of the Chrysanthemum

  The Sign of the Chrysanthemum is a 1973 work of literature that was the first published work by the American novelist Katherine Paterson.

• The Snow Empress

  The Snow Empress is a 2007 mystery novel written by Laura Joh Rowland, set in the Genroku (AD 1688–1704) of historical Japan It is the 12th book in the Sano Ichiro series.

• The Teahouse Fire

  The Teahouse Fire is a novel by Ellis Avery set in late nineteenth century Japan published by Riverhead in the US in 2006 and to be published by Random House in the UK as a paperback original.

• The Tokaido Road (novel)

  The Tokaido Road is a 1991 historical novel by Lucia St.

• Black Rain (novel)

  Black Rain (黒い雨 Kuroi Ame) is a novel by Japanese author Masuji Ibuse.

• The Tale of Genji

  The Tale of Genji (源氏物語 Genji monogatari) is a classic work of Japanese literature written by the noblewoman and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu in the early years of the 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period.

• Memoirs of a Geisha

  Memoirs of a Geisha is a historical novel by American author Arthur Golden, published in 1997.

• The Sound of Waves

  The Sound of Waves (潮騒 Shiosai) is a 1954 novel by the Japanese author Yukio Mishima.

• Runaway Horses

  Runaway Horses (奔馬 Honba) is a 1969 novel by Yukio Mishima, the second in his Sea of Fertility tetralogy.

• The Character of Rain

  The Character of Rain (French: Métaphysique des tubes) is a 2000 short novel by the Belgian author Amélie Nothomb originally written in French.

• Ichigensan

  Ichigensan - The Newcomer (いちげんさん Ichigensan) is Swiss author David Zoppetti's debut novel.

• Thousand Cranes

  Thousand Cranes (千羽鶴 Senbazuru) is a 1952 novel by Japanese author Yasunari Kawabata.

• The Tatami Galaxy

  The Tatami Galaxy (四畳半神話大系 Yojōhan Shinwa Taikei, literally "4½ Tatami Mythological Chronicles") is a Japanese comedy-drama campus novel written by Tomihiko Morimi (森見 登美彦 Morimi Tomihiko), originally published in December 2004 by Ohta Publishing (太田出版 Ōta Shuppan) in the tankōbon format and later reissued in March 2008 by Kadokawa Shoten as a bunkoban.

• The Sound of the Mountain

  The Sound of the Mountain (Yama no Oto) is a novel by Japanese writer Yasunari Kawabata, serialized between 1949 and 1954.

• Madame Chrysanthème (novel)

  Madame Chrysanthème is a novel by Pierre Loti, presented as the autobiographical journal of a naval officer who was temporarily married to a rashamen (geisha) while he was stationed in Nagasaki, Japan.

• The Lake (Yasunari Kawabata novel)

  The Lake is a short 1954 novel by the Japanese writer Yasunari Kawabata.

• Duel for the Samurai Sword

  The Duel for the Samurai Sword is book 5 of the Race Against Time series written by J.

• Ocean Waves (film)

  Ocean Waves, also known as I Can Hear the Sea (Japanese: 海がきこえる Hepburn: Umi ga Kikoeru), is a 1993 Japanese anime television film produced by Studio Ghibli.

• A Pale View of Hills

  A Pale View of Hills (1982) is the first novel by author Kazuo Ishiguro.

• Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids

  Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids (also known as "Pluck the Bud and Destroy the Offspring") is a 1958 novel by Japanese author Kenzaburō Ōe.

• Almost Transparent Blue

  Almost Transparent Blue (限りなく透明に近いブルー Kagirinaku tōmei ni chikai burū, Almost Infinitely Transparent Blue) is a 1976 novel, written by Japanese author Ryū Murakami, that features a portrait of narrator Ryū and his friends trapped in a cycle of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll during the 1970s.

• Math Girls

  Math Girls (数学ガール Sūgaku gāru) is the first in a series of math-themed young adult novels of the same name by Japanese author Hiroshi Yuki.

• In Search of a Distant Voice

  In Search of a Distant Voice is a novel by Japanese writer Taichi Yamada.

• Sayonara (novel)

  Sayonara (1954), is a novel published by American author James A.