The Japanese novel boom: more than just a passing fad
Japanese literature is having a moment in the UK. Discover the new wave of Japanese authors taking over international markets.
Since last autumn, a novel with a striking yellow cover has been stacked high in bookstores across the UK. Butter, by Japanese author Asako Yuzuki, is a literary sensation—a food-obsessed crime novel inspired by a real-life death-row inmate who committed a series of murders in the 2000s in Japan. Named Waterstones’ Book of the Year for 2024, it has sold 280,000 copies in the UK, surpassing the 270,000 copies sold in Japan, according to Nikkei.
But the enormous success of Butter didn’t happen overnight. Instead, it is the result of a decade-long buildup that has propelled Japanese novels to the forefront of the British literary scene. “We have seen, across the industry, a huge increase in interest of contemporary Japanese, especially fiction that speaks to a younger audience and to a female audience,“ explains Steven Cooper, a publicity director at Pushkin Press in London, which has published translated Japanese novels for over 10 years.
Alison Fincher, who runs the Japanese literature podcast Read Japanese Literature, says Japan has been proactive in promoting the translation of its own literature. “It spent maybe two decades paying for translations and promoting what’s called ‘healing fiction’.” Healing fiction refers to a genre that is recognised for its cozy and calming atmosphere, often featuring elements like cats, libraries, and cafes.
The reason Japanese publishers have actively promoted translations is the imbalance between different language markets. According to Akane Ando, who is involved in the sale of publishing rights at Kodansha, one of Japan's largest publishers, it is more difficult to have a book translated into English than into other European languages. "It is very competitive because every country wants its books translated into English, as English editions can reach a global audience and lead to further translations,” she explained. “Japanese, as a minor language, has fewer translators, making the process even more challenging."
Japanese literature gaining attention in the UK extends beyond healing fiction. Readers are starting to show an interest in stories that include a more social perspective. "Butter has shifted the conversation slightly into a type of literature that is much more contemporary and that has something to say about society, that is a little bit more spiky," Cooper notes.
Japanese novels, for British readers, may not necessarily be a completely new story of people who live in a completely different social system and culture. “It is that interest in Japanese society and how it works and how people interact with each other that's really capturing people's imaginations at the moment. And I think there's a lot of overlap with British society and English people and the way that people interact with each other,” Cooper explains. ”But then, the style in which they're written is distinct and is different. So you're getting this kind of a story that's familiar but told in an unfamiliar way. I feel like it's sort of a sense of something new that retains the familiar that people are really responding to at the moment.”
While China remains Japan’s biggest market for literary exports, demand in Western countries has surged. Michiko Urata, who oversees the export of publishing rights to Western markets at Japan UNI Agency, says "Japanese novels were initially more popular in Asia, but their publication in Western markets—including the US, the UK, and Europe—has really taken off in the last 10 years."
For decades, the name Haruki Murakami was by far the most commonly mentioned when it came to Japanese literature in the West. However, in recent years, the situation has changed dramatically. “These days, the range of Japanese literary authors being talked about has expanded significantly, and the number of female authors in particular has increased markedly,” Urata says.
Among the female writers whose works have been translated in recent years, in addition to Yuzuki, there are Sayaka Murata (Convenience Store Woman), Mieko Kawakami (Heaven), and Shizuko Natsuki (Tragedy of W). Many of their works explore women’s struggles within social structures.
"The Japanese presentation of feminism is really compelling, outside of Japan.” Fincher notes, “I think there's a lot of shared feelings about the gender norms that are still very deeply entrenched in Western society. “
The rise in female writers' recognition is partly driven by efforts to introduce these themes to a wider audience. Fincher notes that over the past 15 years, feminists and translators have actively pushed for more translations of Japanese women writers. ”There were three translators, Ginny Tapley Takemori, Lucy North, Allison Markin Powell, who really started the movement to translate more women, noticing that there's more or less parity in Japan, maybe even a little bit more women than men winning awards and selling the best-selling books. And there were no women being translated from Japanese at the time. So in 2022, the number of women versus men being translated was equal. "
Is this Japanese literature boom just a passing trend?
The answer is NO, Cooper says. Unlike past waves of translated literature, which often focused on specific genres, "what we're seeing is a lot of different types of Japanese literature find bases in the UK.” Pushkin Press, for example, has successfully published mid-20th-century mystery novels by Seishi Yokomizo and plans to release a new title in August. Those works that once captivated Japanese readers decades ago are now helping to shape the new wave of Japanese literature in the UK.
“Because of the current interest, there's a huge wealth of literature to be translated still,” Cooper tells. “It does feel like all different publishers can be a part of that and that it will continue to be a big revenue driver for publishers because we know that readers are still responding really well to that."
Excellent piece.