Where do you start reading an author like Kobo Abe? The post-war Japanese author and playwright has become known, most famously, as Japan’s answer to Franz Kafka. One difference between the two, however, is that Abe was able to finish his works. And of them, which ones are must-read novels? What we have here are …
Asian Literature
Translated from the Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori In 2018, the English translation of Convenience Store Woman, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori, was published by Granta. The book had such an intense and profound effect on me, as a reader, that it remains somewhere in my top 5 novels of all time. I wrote an …
The Attack on Titan anime series (also known as Shingeki no Kyojin) was a colossal hit on its initial release. This was the anime series that revitalised the genre in the West and even had people who knew nothing about anime hyped to talk about it. Attack on Titan did for anime what Game of …
Clarissa Goenawan is an Indonesian-born, Singaporean author who has so far penned two novels, both set in Tokyo and both reminiscent of supernatural romance and drama manga, as well as the novels of Haruki Murakami. The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida is a subtly fantastical story, driven by themes of love, loss, and grief. It …
Translated from the Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s original Before the Coffee Gets Cold, an adaptation of his own stage play, was one of the best-selling novels of 2019. A sweet, goofy, novel with heart to spare. We called it “unapologetically awkward and campy, but it is full of soul, presented through clever world …
The anime adaptation of Made in Abyss released in 2017, and featured thirteen episodes of some of the most visually stunning animation ever put out into the world. With an astonishing soundtrack and clever world-building, Made in Abyss stands tall as one of its decade’s best anime. With a world this mysterious and engrossing, it’s …
Translated from the Kannada by Tejaswini Niranjana I love big, sprawling, bustling cities. I love the way they constantly shift and change, never staying the same from one year to the next. I love the electric energy, the speed of life, and the background hum that never quietens down. One thing that makes cities so …
The anime adaptation of The Promised Neverland manga released its first season in 2019 to critical praise. The show finally offered answers to anime fans wondering why manga readers were so obsessed with the series. But, for fans won over by the anime, is The Promised Neverland manga worth reading? Yes. Here’s why. What is …
The publishing world, wherever in the world you are, is still dominated by men: male writers, editors, and publishers. This is despite the fact that the majority of readers around the world are women, and that so much of the best writing has always come from women authors. Today, the best Japanese novels are all …
Translated from the Japanese by Sam Bett & David Boyd Mieko Kawakami is already a superstar author in her native Japan. A philosophical and feminist powerhouse of beautiful prose, interwoven with discussions on death, birth, womanhood, growth, and change. She is now a rising star in the English language, too, thanks to translations of works …