The Kingdom that Failed
By Murakami Haruki Murakami writes this flash-fiction story for The New Yorker focusing on a dramatic conversation that is overheard next to a pool. Review by Azmina Sohail
The End of August
By Yu Miri A multi-generational, multilingual epic by the National Book Award Winner and bestselling author and translator of Tokyo Ueno Station. Review by Laurence Green
Night Train to the Stars
By Miyazawa Kenji A collection of enchanting and enigmatic Japanese fairy tales by one of Japan's most beloved early twentieth-century writers. Review by Renae Lucas-Hall
My Families and Other Samurai: A Memoir
By Fukuda Haruko Told with the crisp, breezy matter-of-factness of a historian, the emotion nevertheless comes through strongest in the remarkable vividity in which Fukuda’s family story is conveyed in the text. Review by Laurence Green
Honeybees and Distant Thunder
By Onda Riku Honeybees and Distant Thunder is an intriguing story about an international piano competition and its wide variety of competitors. Review by George Mullins
Abroad in Japan
By Chris Board Abroad in Japan charts a decade of living in a foreign land and the chaos and culture clash that came with it. Review by Cameron Bassindale
Manga, Murder and Mystery - The Boy Detectives of Japan’s Lost Generation
By Okabe Mimi An academic tome to its core, Manga, Murder and Mystery is nevertheless a thrillingly accessible read that will delight fans of its subject matter, as well as those coming to it through a passing interest in Japan in general, or detective fiction as a wider oeuvre. Review by Laurence Green
The Country Where Turtles Cry: Climate and Poetry of Japan
By Nakanishi Susumu In The Country Where Turtles Cry: Climate and Poetry of Japan, Nakanishi focuses on different aspects and forms of Japanese traditional poetry, from waka (the original word for Japanese poem) to tanka (short poems) and haiku, sharing insights about its history and cultural influence in Japan and beyond. Review by Renae Lucas-Hall
Dragon Palace
By Kawakami Hiromi Dragon Palace is a collection of eight short stories, set in wildly different times and settings, by the celebrated author of Strange Weather in Tokyo. Review by Cameron Bassindale
Finger Bone
By Takahashi Hiroki Finger Bone is a war novel, but it is also a story of an individual man, and the lives of those that pass fleetingly around him in the worst of all possible circumstances. Review by Laurence Green