First loves

[Beka]

I first read Kavabata Iasunari's "Thousand Cranes". Second Kobo Abe's "Woman in the Dunes" and than Takuboku's poetry. I love only japanese poetry :)

[Ivana]

Hareton wrote: "I first read Kavabata Iasunari's "Thousand Cranes". Second Kobo Abe's "Woman in the Dunes" and than Takuboku's poetry. I love only japanese poetry :)"

I agree with you about Kawabata.....''Thousand Cranes" is beautiful, but my first love was ''Beauty and Sadness'' ....

[Beka]

Ivana wrote: "Hareton wrote: "I first read Kavabata Iasunari's "Thousand Cranes". Second Kobo Abe's "Woman in the Dunes" and than Takuboku's poetry. I love only japanese poetry ..."

I hav'nt that book :( I hav reading olso "Snow Country" and love cors :)

[Ivana]

Hareton wrote: "Ivana wrote: "Hareton wrote: "I first read Kavabata Iasunari's "Thousand Cranes". Second Kobo Abe's "Woman in the Dunes" and than Takuboku's poetry. I love only ja..."


Unfortunately , I am still looking for the ''Snow Country''.... Hope to find it soon.....

[Ray]

Parrish wrote: "Master of Go, is a fantastic book by Kawabata, based on a real chess tournament, this book delves deep into the thoughts & aspirations of the 2 main protagonists."

sounds a bit dry - is it "all in the mind" of the protagonists

[4cats]

Shugofa wrote: "Mine was : Amrita by Banana Yoshimoto. I probably took that book out 5 times in a year or so in the school library. Need to get my own copy. It would be a kinda slow read for some, but at the time ..."

have just finished what a book

[Brian R.]

Master of Go is not based all in the mind of the participants. Kawabata covered the tournament for on of Japan's national newspapers and based the book on his articles. It is a classic of sportswriting from a time when Go was covered as a major spectator sport in Japan, much as baseball here. It is, as the title indicates, based on a Go match, not a chess tournament.

[Leonard]

I started with Oe's Silent Cry, a dark but excellent book. Another excellent book is "Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids" echoing Golding's Lord of the Flies.

Then, I read Kawbata and enjoyed Thousand Cranes but not Snow Country. Reading his books is like enjoying a Chinese brush-painting.

Mishima's The Sea of Fertility is excellent, though it becomes very dark by the fourth book, The Decay of the Angel.

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle and Kafka on the Shore show Murakami to be such a great story teller, two of the most enjoyable books I had read.

Abe's Woman in the Dunes reminded me of Camus' The Plague, quite an existential feel, battling an unknown force with no hope of victory.

[M]

Although I suppose to first Japanese lit book I read that I loved was Yoshimoto Banana's I didn't really gain an appreciation for Japanese lit till I started reading Murakami (I started with his short stories and have yet to read a novel of his).

Although I'm much in love with japanese lit at the turning point of modernization like Soseki and Tanizaki. Of course I do also love classical Japanse literature after being introduced to the world of Kabuki, Noh and Bunraku.

[Scott]

I think the first Japanese novel I read was NP by Banana Yoshimoto. It sounded like an interesting mystery, and it was.

[Aloha]

I can't recall what made me interested in Japanese literature. It was Japanese art and cinema that made me interested in Japanese aesthetics. I love the Ukiyo-e prints, made Shibori dyed cloths, and watched Japanese movies. One of my favorite directors is Akiro Kurosawa.

[Scott]

Anime and Japanese film were my gateway drug.

[Hieronymus]

My first was Banana Yoshimotos "Kitchen" :))))

[Sammi]

I used to watch Japanese cartoons when I was younger, but I fell into Japanese fiction acidentilly. A friend used to stay at my house a lot (when I was in my teens) and left a few books over time. Dan Brown and such that I didn't read and just gave to Charity shops ( we had fallen out ) but I was sorting through my books and came across one she must have left.
That book was Out by Natsuo Kirino. I read the blurb and decided to read it there and then.

It amazed me and it still one of my all time favorite books now.

I've read all of Natsuo's translated books so far, and am willing for more.

I also have read just the one Murukami book After Dark. I loved that one too - the eerieness is beautiful and intruiging. I've yet to read more! And I can't wait.

I just wish I didn't have so many books I've already bought to read so I could just get started. Although I do have another Murukami book somewhere in my book pile XD.

[Hieronymus]

Well it's Murakami not Murukami =__=

[Sammi]

Yes, yes. Well...sorry about the spelling mistake >.<
What I said is still valid nonetheless. Spelling doesn't have to be perfect.

[Kamakana]

Spring Snow by Mishima Yukio, was my first Japanese work, and as it is the first of four in his tetralogy Sea of Fertility, there is no problem knowing what to read next- Runaway Horses, then Temple of Dawn, then Decay of the Angel... the four follow the transmigration of the soul of a single character as followed by an original friend of his first incarnation. it remains a favourite fiction. i have read it 3 times.

[Evička]

I was interested in Japan in general so at first I've been reading lot's of ancient stories, japanese fairytales etc. But first contemporary book which I've read was Kafka on the shore by Haruki Murakami.

[Ivana]

Hareton wrote: "I first read Kavabata Iasunari's "Thousand Cranes". Second Kobo Abe's "Woman in the Dunes" and than Takuboku's poetry. I love only japanese poetry :)"

Kawabata is wonderful, you should read Beauty and Sadness........

[Ivana]

Tsuki wrote: "After Dark is really good. =3 its not very long either."

loved it.........

[Beka]

Ivana wrote: "Hareton wrote: "I first read Kavabata Iasunari's "Thousand Cranes". Second Kobo Abe's "Woman in the Dunes" and than Takuboku's poetry. I love only japanese poetry :)"

Kawabata is wonderful, you s..."

Yes, thanks... if translated to georgian language.

[Leonard]

I just finished his The Sound of the Mountain and I like it. But Thousand Cranes is better.

[Carly]

The Ring by Koji Suzuki, and I have the right to destroy myself, I forgot the name of the author though.

[Ivana]

Leonard wrote: "I just finished his The Sound of the Mountain and I like it. But Thousand Cranes is better."

Thousand Cranes is amazing......But Beauty and sadness still my fav.

[Paul]

Ivana wrote: "Leonard wrote: "I just finished his The Sound of the Mountain and I like it. But Thousand Cranes is better."

Thousand Cranes is amazing......But Beauty and sadness still my fav."

Beauty and Sadness is probably my favorite Kawabata novel too. What about The Old Capital? Did you read that?

[Ivana]

Unfortunately not. Just a few of his books have been translated into Croatian language ,although I also read them in English. Hope to find it one day....Have you read it?

[Akylina]

My first Japanese author was Shusaku Endo with Silence. I admit it didn't capture me as I hoped it would have, but since I was already fascinated with Japanese culture I was willing to give more authors a try.

What really got me into Japanese literature was probably Murakami's Norwegian Wood and Kirino's Out. I love the melancholy and loneliness that emanates from most of Japanese literature I've read, and Norwegian Wood is a perfect example of that. Also, I'm a mystery/crime fan in general, and I was fascinated with how Japanese mysteries (Out being the first I read) are more concerned with the psychological aspect of a crime and its consequences rather than with who comitted it.

[S.]

Akylina wrote: "I love the melancholy and loneliness that emanates from most of Japanese literature I've read...

yes exactly. the national aesthetic is self-evidently higher than that which comes out of more exuberant and optimistic cultures. in addition to the already mentioned Snow Country, I suppose Kawabata's The Lake was strong; Mishima Yukio led to Haruki Murakami; and these days Ryu Murakami's horror works and the newer Masahiko Shimada are quite good.

with regard to movies, 'Maboroshi' and some of Beat Takeshi's work are quite good.

[Ivana]

Akylina wrote: "My first Japanese author was Shusaku Endo with Silence. I admit it didn't capture me as I hoped it would have, but since I was already fascinated with Japanese culture I was willing to give more au..."
I also like Murakami. But I have just started to read him recently... Really like After Dark. Captivating book

[Paul]

Michael wrote: "Akylina wrote: "I love the melancholy and loneliness that emanates from most of Japanese literature I've read...

yes exactly. the national aesthetic is self-evidently higher than that which comes ..."

Tanizaki's Some Prefer Nettles is a good example of that melancholy and loneliness. I like that style too but it's not generally shared by the majority of readers.

[S.]

Paul wrote: "Tanizaki's Some Prefer Nettles is a good example..."

I've been trying to track down that book for years, which is a complex matter when you teach English in Japan, ironically enough. (easier to find in some lending library back in the US). Naomi is a classic; Sasameyuki timeless, and much of his other works seem amazing in that they're from the 1920s or whatever.

[Paul]

Movies? I haven't been keeping up with recent Japanese movies but used to be a keen follower. if anyone has suggestions...

[S.]

幻の光 / Maboroshi has the discussed 'melancholy' air.

リリイ・シュシュのすべて / All About Lily Chou-Chou, a look at the dystopian lives of lower-working class Japanese youth in Tochigi.

式日 / Ritual Day, a mentally ill girl with possibly split personalities.

... i had a fourth recommendation, something Tanizakiesque about an angsty teenage boy who wants to worship rather than go out with his girl love interest, but I can't seem to find the title

[Paul]

I have Lily Chou-Chou on DVD I've seen Maboroshi but can't remember much about it. I watch a lots of movies, so doesn't mean it wasn't good.

SHIKI-JITSU (Ritual Day). Now we're talking - I have a copy of that too. Highly recommended but might be hard for people to find.

[S.]

Maboroshi was great! a working class woman's husband apparently kills himself by walking along a train track in Tokyo, and she finds herself financially compelled to remarry with a widower in the far north of japan. lots of seascapes, mountains, cropfields, and just the completely "non-tourist's eye-view" of Japan. definitely give it another try if you were distracted first time around or whatever.

still can't find the fourth recommendation. I thought it was put out by Viz but wikipedia search is proving fruitless

[Michelle]

The Lonely planet guide for Japan suggested travellers read some Japanese literature before travel. It listed some suggestions and I followed up on them. And that's what got me started on Japanese Literature.