Asian Themes
There is some interesting writing out there that's either set in Japan, or has a strong connection to things Japanese. Here are a few authors that fit the bill -- please let us know others as you come across them.
Isaac Adamson, Thomas Boggs, Alan Brown, Kara Dalkey, Barry Eisler, Dale Furutani, David Galef, Arthur S. Golden, Cynthia Gralla, David Guterson, John Haylock, Lafcadio Hearn, Lian Hearn, Timothy Hemion, Highbridge, William Dale Jennings, Kij Johnson, Suzanne Kamata, Gavin Kramer, Don Lee, Sujata Massey, Seicho Matsumoto, Takashi Matsuoka, Kyoko Mori, Laura Joh Rowland, Susan Fromberg Schaeffer, Richard Setlowe, Carl Shuker, Jeff Talarigo, Peter Tasker, James Webb, Ann Woodward
ISAAC ADAMSON
Dreaming Pachinko Paperback
368 pages
Hard-boiled reporter Billy Chaka is back in the neon metropolis interviewing a has-been pop singer turned pachinko fanatic for Youth in Asia magazine. Looks like an easy assignment until he witnesses a beautiful young woman suffer a seizure in the Lucky Benten pachinko hall.
Hokkaido Popsicle Paperback
336 pages
Adamson's action-packed, rapid-fire follow-up to Tokyo Suckerpunch finds its hero, star reporter Billy Chaka ("the deadline poet of the bubblegum set"), wrapped up in another murder mystery set in noirish, pop culture-crazy Japan.
Kinki Lullabye Paperback
358 pages
Two parts noir and one part playful irreverence, this sly whodunit unfolds with the twisted charm of a fever dream against the background of Bunraku theater. By the author of Dreaming Pachinko.
Tokyo Suckerpunch: A Billy Chaka Adventure Paperback
336 pages
Billy Chaka, ace reporter for Cleveland's hottest-selling Asian teen magazine, is in Tokyo to cover the 19-and-Under Handicapped Martial Arts Championship and meet up with his friend Sato Migusion, the international renowned director of such cult film classics as Sex Up the Hotrod, Baby! But Sato never shows. Instead, the girl of Billy's dreams stumbles into a dive bar with tatooed Yakuza mobsters.
THOMAS BOGGS
Green Roses Paperback
196 pages
An American high school boy living on a U.S. military base in Japan, and Satoru Watanabe, a Japanese boy of the same age, living just outside the perimeter fence, form a friendship that develops into something more passionate.
Tokyo Vanilla Paperback
368 pages
Atmospheric novel of sexual repression and the price it demands. Introduced by his straight fellow-student to “host clubs”, he is torn between his unrequited passion for his schoolfriend and the comfortable life of a kept boy he is offered by a rich professor.
ALAN BROWN
Audrey Hepburn's Neck: A Novel Paperback
Comic tale of sexual desire and bad manners set in contemporary Tokyo. Twenty-three-year-old cartoonist Toshi is obsessed with slim American women, and his best friend, an American named Paul, is obsessed with Japanese men.
KARA DALKEY
Genpei Hardcover
448 pages
Historical fantasy that takes up where the Tale of the Heike left off.
BARRY EISLER
Rain Fall Paperback
John Rain, a Japanese American konketsu, is a paid assassin in this fast-paced thriller set in Tokyo.
DALE FURUTANI
Death at the Crossroads: A Samurai Mystery Hardcover
256 pages
A rogue samurai warrior named Matsuyama Kaze ("Pine Mountain Wind" ) roams through rural Japan in 1603.
Death in Little Tokyo Paperback
Protagonist stages a mock mystery for the L.A. Mystery Club and he's determined to do it right, but then takes a real case on a whim.
Jade Palace Vendetta: A Samurai Mystery Hardcover
256 pages
The second installment in the mystery series (Death at the Crossroads) set in the heart of feudal Japan. The noble ronin Matsuyama Kaze continues the search to find his lord's missing child and finds himself trapped in a web of deceit and violence, where a veneer of propriety hides a great evil.
Kill the Shogun: A Samurai Mystery Hardcover
240 pages
Conclusion of the Samurai Mystery trilogy.
The Toyotomi Blades: A Ken Tanaka Mystery Hardcover
Japanese-American in Japan on his first visit, gets wrapped up in a mystery involving his rare 17th century samurai sword.
DAVID GALEF
Turning Japanese Paperback
240 pages
Novel about a slightly odd (but then, aren't we all?) young American seeking work in Japan.
ARTHUR S. GOLDEN
Memoirs of a Geisha Hardcover
434 pages (also available in paperback and audio tape)
The life of a geisha, from an orphaned fishing-village girl in 1929 to the auction of her mizuage (virginity), to her reminiscent old age as the distinguished mistress of a powerful patron.
CYNTHIA GRALLA
The Floating World Hardcover
208 pages
An American college student who travels to Japan to study butoh becomes entangled in Tokyo's sexual underworld.
DAVID GUTERSON
Snow Falling on Cedars Hardcover
352 pages (also available in paperback, audio tape and CD)
Fighting the distrust and prejudice of his neighbors on a remote island in Puget Sound, a Japanese-American man who spent time in an internment camp during World War II, finds himself on trial for murder. The histories of the accused and the victim, both fishermen and residents of the small town of San Piedro, unfold as newspaperman Ishmael Chambers embarks on a quest for the truth. Recommended.
JOHN HAYLOCK
One Hot Summer in Kyoto
While on vacation in Kyoto (away from his wife) the protagonist (who teaches in Tokyo), finds something unexpected: another woman to desire. "A steamy farce about obsessive lust in an underbelly of duplicity, discontent, and fear."
LAFCADIO HEARN
Gleanings In Buddha-fields Paperback
304 pages
This collection of stories takes the reader on a journey into the soul of Hearn’s adopted land.
In Ghostly Japan by Lafcadio Hearn Paperback
204 pages
More scholarly than scary, Lafcadio Hearn was a turn-of-the-century interpreter of things Japanese for Western readers. Ghost stories are intersperced with essays on Japanese traditions.
LIAN HEARN
Across the Nightingale Floor Hardcover
304 pages (Also available in paperback)
First book in the "Tales of the Otori" series, set in a fantasy, feudal Japan. A young man discovers he is a member of a mysterious group of assassins with supernatural abilities.
Brilliance of the Moon Paperback
368 pages
Hearn's third installment in the Tales of the Otori series brings a mystical and violent conclusion to the saga of Takeo Otori as he fulfills his destiny.
Grass for His Pillow Paperback
344 pages (Also available as a CD)
Hearn's second novel in the Tales of the Otori continues to enrich and expand his mystical imaginings of feudal Japan. This second book is a more poignant tale than the first, painfully examining the lines between honor, duty, and love.
TIMOTHY HEMION
Inspector Morimoto and the Diamond Pendants by Timothy Hemion Paperback
174 pages
Inspector Morimoto needs all of his deductive reasoning to solve a case centering around a piece of jewelry.
Inspector Morimoto and the Famous Potter Paperback
218 pages
Inspector Morimoto and his assistant, Officer Suzuki, investigate a series of murders based around the ancient and secretive tradition of Bizen pottery.
Inspector Morimoto and the Two Umbrellas: A Detective Story Set in Japan by Timothy Hemion Paperback 2004
164 pages
Inspector Morimoto's first outing hinges on a missing umbrella.
HIGHBRIDGE
In the Empire of Dreams Hardcover
288 pages
In this fictional account, ten self-contained chapters detail interlocking vignettes of three Western women living, teaching and growing older in Tokyo.
WILLIAM DALE JENNINGS
The Ronin: A Novel Based on a Zen Myth Paperback
159 pages
KIJ JOHNSON
The Fox Woman Paperback
384 pages
Re-working of a Japanese fairy tale about a young female fox who falls in love with Japanese nobleman.
SUZANNE KAMATA
The Broken Bridge: Fiction from Expatriates in Literary Japan
GAVIN KRAMER
Shopping Paperback
224 pages
First time English novelist, Gavin Kramer, takes the reader through the neon-lit streets and love hotels of contemporary Tokyo on an erotic culture clash between an awkward Englishman, Alistair Meadowlark, and a narcissistic Japanese teenager, Sachiko. The novel won the 1998 David Higham and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial prizes.
DON LEE
Country of Origin: A Novel Hardcover 352 pages
An American girl disappears on the dark side of Tokyo, a world of hostess clubs and corruption, racism, and conformity. The young U.S. Embassy official assigned to her case, Tom Hurley, is in over his head.
SUJATA MASSEY
The Floating Girl Hardcover
320 pages
Massey heroine Rei Shimura returns as an art/antique writer assigned to cover the secretive world of manga.
The Flower Master Hardcover
304 pages
Antiques-buyer sleuth Rei Shimura enrolls in Tokyo's Kayama School of ikebana, but trouble starts when a pair of sissors are found embedded in the teacher's neck.
The Salaryman's Wife Paperback
During a sightseeing trip, Rei Shimura, a young Japanese-American English teacher living in Tokyo, stumbles upon the body of the wife of a powerful businessman and turns sleuth to solve the crime.
Zen Attitude Mass Market Paperback
312 pages
Sequel to "The Salaryman's Wife" brings back Tokyo-based treasure hunter Rei Shimura in this tale of secrets, lies, and murder.
TAKASHI MATSUOKA
Autumn Bridge Paperback
432 pages
Epic tale in which the ability to see the future is transferred from generation to generation in a Japanese clan.
Cloud of Sparrows Paperback
592 pages
In 1861, and Lord Genji of Akaoka, last in line of the Okamichi clan, welcomes missionaries Emily, Matthew, and Zephaniah to Japan. Genji and the missionaries find themselves in the middle of several plots to overthrow the Okamichi leader, and they journey across treacherous terrain to seek refuge at the faraway Cloud of Sparrows palace.
SEICHO MATSUMOTO
Inspector Imanishi Investigates Paperback
Inspector Imanishi Eitaro, a Japanese detective fond of gardening and haiku, follows a killer's trail across the social strata of Japan.
Points and Lines Paperback
The Voice and Other Stories Paperback
KYOKO MORI
The Dream of Water: A Memoir Paperback
The author of Shizuko's Daughter recalls her journey from America back to her birthplace in Kobe, Japan, and her struggle to come to terms with memories of her mother's suicide and the family she left behind.
Polite Lies: On Being a Woman Caught Between Cultures Paperback
272 pages
Twelve essays that explore the codes of silence, deference, and expression that govern Japanese women's lives.
LAURA JOHN ROWLAND
The Assassin's Touch Hardcover
336 pages
The critics say this 10th novel reenergizes the historical series.
Black Lotus Paperback
368 pages
Sano Ichiro returns to investigate a murder at the Black Lotus temple, in which the only witness--a young girl who swears she doesn't remember what happened--is also the only suspect.
Bundori: A Novel of Japan Mass Market Paperback
336 pages. While investigating a series of murders, Sano Ichiro is caught between the Shogun and the powerful Chamberlain Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu.
The Concubine's Tattoo Paperback
376 pages.
Mystery set in seventeenth-century Edo. Sano Ichiro, the shogun's Investigator of Events, investigates the death of a concubine in Edo Castle.
The Dragon King's Palace Hardcover
340 pages
The Perfumed Sleeve: A Novel Hardcover
336 pages
Rowland's ninth historical set in 17th-century Japan. Sano Ichiro, the shogun's special criminal investigator, must once again navigate treacherous political waters to solve a puzzling murder.
The Samurai's Wife Paperback
352 pages
Sano Ichiro returns.
Shinju Mass Market Paperback
384 pages.
Investigator Sano investigates a mysterious ritual double love suicide.
SUSAN FROMBERG SCHAEFFER
The Snow Fox: A Novel Hardcover
448 pages
A tale of thwarted love and unsolved mysteries in medieval Japan.
RICHARD SETLOWE
The Sexual Occupation of Japan Hardcover
309 pages
Hollywood dealmaker tries to merge an American entertainment giant with a Japanese electronics company.
CARL SHUKER
The Method Actors: A Novel Paperback
492 pages
When a New Zealand college dropout goes missing in Tokyo, his sister flies in to investigate.
JEFF TALARIGO
The Pearl Diver: A Novel Hardcover
256 pages
Set in 1940s postwar Japan, this novel tells the story of a 19-year-old pearl diver, the youngest of a crew working the Seto Inland Sea, who discovers she is sick with leprosy, she is banished to Nagashima, an island leprosarium, where she is told to change her name and forget her past.
PETER TASKER
Buddha Kiss Hardcover
448 pages
Samurai Boogie Paperback
394 pages
Hardboiled detective novel set in urban Japan in the 1990s.
Silent Thunder Hardcover
287 pages
(also available in paperback)
JAMES WEBB
The Emperor's General Paperback
480 pages
Epic fiction about General Douglas MacArthur's "ruthless ambition in the tumultuous final days of World War II, of the Japanese Imperial government's ingenious conspiracy to maintain power, and of a young captain faced with the conflicting demands of duty, honor, and love."
ANN WOODWARD
The Exile Way; A Mystery of Ancient Japan Mass Market Paperback 212 pages.
The Princess's quarters are invaded and a young girl is inexplicably murdered. Physician Lady Aoi is the only witness who can prevent the conviction of a noble Minister.
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