Mandala road
Two generations of the Nonezawa family–Asafumi and his wife Shizuka, and Asafumi’s grandfather Rentaro and his Malayan lover Saya–are connected across the years by the mysterious Mandala Road, which simultaneously casts Asafumi and Rentaro from their respective ages into a haunting post-apocalyptic world. As becomes apparent, Asafumi, Rentaro, Saya, and …
Spinning tropics : a novel
When Yun becomes one of Hiro’s students, they are instantly drawn to each other. Hiro is a young Japanese woman who has recently moved to Vietnam to be a language teacher, and Yun is a shy, young Vietnamese woman studying Japanese, determined to make a better life for herself. For …
Still life and other stories
This is a collection of delicate tales which reveal the flow of life in the modern Japanese family, the accidental pleasures and the unexplained misfortune.
Strangers
When jaded 48-year-old scriptwriter Harada visits Tokyo’s old entertainment district where he grew up, he encounters a likeable working man who is the spitting image of his dead father. Lonely, nostalgic, and willing to believe the unbelievable, Harada follows the mysterious man, embarking on a bittersweet journey into the womb …
Taken captive : a Japanese POW’s story
On January 25, 1945, Private Ooka Shohei of the Japanese Imperial Army was captured by American forces in the Philippines. Near death from starvation and acute malaria, he was nursed back to health by his captors and shipped off to a POW camp. Taken Captive is his powerful and poignant …
The shadow of a blue cat : a novel
Businessman Yuki Yajima is fifty-one years old. He and his wife, Asako, are the parents of two daughters: Ryo, seventeen, and Yuka, an infant of only two months. Asking himself why he’s allowed himself to become a father again at his age, Yuki begins to remember his uncle, who died …
The tale of Matsura : Fujiwara Teika’s experiment in fiction
Complete translation of a Japanese courtly tale from the 12th century, with extensive annotation, introduction, critical essay, and appendixes.
Undercurrents : episodes from a life on the edge
Assembles 40 episodes that represent the times the author felt most alive, involving his two passions: sailing and scuba diving.
Woman on the other shore
This compelling novel, widely acclaimed for its perceptive portrayal of the everyday lives and struggles of Japanese women, struck a deep chord with readers throughout Japan. In 2005 it won the prestigious Naoki Prize, awarded semiannually for the best work of popular fiction by an established writer. Sayoko, a thirty-five-year-old …
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