Japanese Novels and Stories in Good English

Discover the best Japanese novels and stories translated into good English. Explore a curated list of captivating books, from classic to contemporary Japanese literature.

books english japanese novels stories
The Makioka Sisters Cover
Book

The Makioka Sisters

by Junichiro Tanizaki

Four daughters of an old merchant family unknowingly face the end of a gentler way of life in Osaka, Japan in 1938.
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Beauty and Sadness Cover
Book

Beauty and Sadness

by Yasunari Kawabata

NOBEL PRIZE WINNER • The successful writer Oki has reached middle age and is filled with regrets. He returns to Kyoto to find Otoko, a …
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Attempted cover for Book ID: 080213968X
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Attempted cover for Book ID: 0918172020
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Snow Country Cover
Book

Snow Country

by Yasunari Kawabata

This masterpiece from the Nobel Prize-winning author and acclaimed writer of Thousand Cranes is a powerful tale of wasted love set amid the desolate beauty …
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Thousand Cranes Cover
Book

Thousand Cranes

by Yasunari Kawabata

A luminous story of desire, regret, and the almost sensual nostalgia that binds the living to the dead—from the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner and author …
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The Sound of the Mountain Cover
Book

The Sound of the Mountain

by Yasunari Kawabata

From the Nobel Prize-winning writer and acclaimed author of Snow Country comes a beautiful rendering of the predicament of old age—about an elderly Tokyo businessman …
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A Personal Matter Cover
Book

A Personal Matter

by Kenzaburō Ōe

First pub. 1964. Author's most dramatic work, won him the prestigious Shincho Literary Prize. In the novel the narrator tells how he responds to the …
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Attempted cover for Book ID: 0802134637
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Attempted cover for Book ID: 0802151841
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Attempted cover for Book ID: 4770019653
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Geisha in Rivalry Cover
Book

Geisha in Rivalry

by Kafu Nagai

Geisha in Rivalry, first published as Udekurabe in 1918, has a secure place among Kafu Nagai's masterpieces. Set against the backdrop of Tokyo's Shimbashi geisha …
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Attempted cover for Book ID: 0231117906
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The Samurai Banner of Furin Kazan Cover
Book

The Samurai Banner of Furin Kazan

by Yasushi Inoue

The first English translation of a Japanese literary classic br>Originally published in Japanese in 1959, this classic Japanese novel by writer Yasushi Inoue takes place …
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Attempted cover for Book ID: 0870114727
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Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories Cover
Book

Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories

by Ryunosuke Akutagawa

A stunning deluxe edition of one of Penguin Classics' most popular translations Ryünosuke Akutagawa is one of Japan's foremost stylists—a modernist master whose short stories …
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The Setting Sun Cover
Book

The Setting Sun

by 太宰治

Novel of present day Japan. Reaction of an upper-class family to the war and the resultant cultural impact.
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Attempted cover for Book ID: 0804833427
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Attempted cover for Book ID: 0870119885
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Attempted cover for Book ID: 4770019483
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The Woman in the Dunes Cover
Book

The Woman in the Dunes

by Kobo Abe

The Woman in the Dunes, by celebrated writer and thinker Kobo Abe, combines the essence of myth, suspense and the existential novel. After missing the …
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Attempted cover for Book ID: 0375726535
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The Ruined Map Cover
Book

The Ruined Map

by Kobo Abe

Of all the great Japanese novelists, Kobe Abe was indubitably the most versatile. With The Ruined Map, he crafted a mesmerizing literary crime novel that …
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Attempted cover for Book ID: 1933330414
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Attempted cover for Book ID: 1891640461
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Attempted cover for Book ID: 4770027370
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The Sailor who fell from grace with the sea Cover
Book

The Sailor who fell from grace with the sea

 

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The sound of waves Cover
Book

The sound of waves

 

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Attempted cover for Book ID: 0811201171
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