012 Japan Summer Reading Recommendations

Let's Talk Japan Podcast

In this episode, Nick speaks with members of the Washington, DC-based J Book Club about their summer reading recommendations.

If you would like to support the podcast, please consider purchasing some of the books discussed in this episode using the print and Kindle links below. By doing so, the podcast will receive a small commission to help offset production costs. The books are listed in the order in which they were discussed, regardless of whether they truly match the category under which they are listed.

Introduction to Japan (suggestions for: departing JETs, summer students, first-time visitors, etc.)

• Kafka On The Shore – Haruki Murakami – (Kindle Edition)
• The House Keeper And The Professor – Yoko Ogawa – (Kindle Edition)
• Popular Hits of The Showa Period – Ryu Murakami
• The Briefcase – Hiromi Kawakami – (Kindle Edition)
• Fear And Trembling – Amelie Nothomb –
• Learning to Bow – Bruce Feiler – (Kindle Edition)
• For Fukui’s Sake – Sam Baldwin- (Kindle Edition)
• Confucius Lives Next Door – T.R. Reid – (Kindle Edition)
• Getting Naked With The Father-in-Law – Shaune Sakamoto – (Kindle Edition)

New Books (published in the last year)

• The Lake (Kindle Edition) & Kitchen (Kitchen)- Banana Yoshimoto
• Manazuru (Kindle Edition) – Hiroko Kawasaki
• A Tale For The Time Being (Kindle Edition) – Ruth Ozeki
• Yokohama Yankee (Kindle Edition) – Leslie Helm
• Death Sentences (Kindle Edition) – Chiyaki Kawamata

Japanese Literature/Fiction

• Botchan (Kindle Edition), Kokoro (Kindle Edition), I Am A Cat (Kindle Edition) – Natsume Souseki
• Makioka Sisters (Kindle Edition) – Junichiro Tanizaki
• The Pillow Book (Kindle Edition) – Sei Shonagon
• Battle Royale – Koushun Takami
• The Buddha In The Attic (Kindle Edition), When The Emperor Was Devine (Kindle Edition) – Julie Otsuka
• Out, Real World (Kindle Edition) – Natuso Kireno

History / Biography

• Kamikaze –
• Black Rain (Kindle Edition) – Masuji Ibuse
• Wally Yonamine: The Man Who Changed Japanese Baseball (Kindle Edition) – Robert Fitts
• Shutting Out The Sun: How Japan Created Its Own Lost Generation (Kindle Edition) – Michael Zielenziger
• Train Man: Densha Otoko – Hitori Nakano
• Banzai Babe Ruth (Kindle Edition) – Robert Fitts
• Unbeaten Tracks in Japan (Kindle Edition) – Isabella Bird
• Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World (Kindle Edition) – Donald Keene

Arts / Culture

• Viewed Sideways: Writings on Culture and Style in Contemporary Japan (Kindle Edition) – Donald Richie
• Japan Journals: 1947-2004 (Kindle Edition) – Donald Richie
• Geisha (Kindle Edition), Kimono: Fashioning Culture – Liza Dalby
• Minka: My Farmhouse In Japan (Kindle Edition) – John Roderick

Miscellaneous

• Tokyo Vice: A Western Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan (Kindle Edition) – Jake Adelstein
• Yakuza (Kindle Edition) – David Kaplan and Alec Dubro
• Doing Time – Kazuichi Hanawa
• Rice As Self (Kindle Edition) – Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney