A List of Japanese Fiction in English Translation, Authors A-K

Japanese Fiction in English Translation by Author

This list includes only novels written for adults for the simple reason that the corpus of Japanese literature is just too expansive. You won’t find plays, poems, manga, light novels, children’s books, or books clearly written for a young adult audience.

(View authors M-Z)

• Kazushige Abe (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • Featured in New Penguin Parallel Texts: Short Stories in Japanese
• Akira Abe
  • Featured in The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories
  • Featured in The Showa Anthology: Modern Japanese Short Stories
• Kobo Abe
  • The Ark Sakura
  • Beasts Head for Home
  • Beyond the Curve
  • The Box Man
  • The Face of Another
  • Inter Ice Age 4
  • Kangaroo Notebook
  • The Ruined Map
  • Secret Rendezvous
  • The Woman in the Dunes
• Hiroyuki Agawa
  • Burial in the Clouds
  • Citadel in Spring: A Novel of Youth Spent at War
  • Featured in the Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature
• Mari Akasaka
  • Vibrator
• Ryunosuke Akutagawa
  • The Essential Akutagawa
  • Kappa
  • Hell Screen
  • Mandarins
  • Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories
  • Three Strange Tales
  • Featured in Autumn Wind and Other Stories
  • Featured in The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories
• Akira Arai
  • A Caring Man
• Shinya Arai
  • Shoshaman: A Tale of Corporate Japan
• Hiro Arikawa
  • The Traveling Cat Chronicles
• Sawako Ariyoshi
  • The Doctor’s Wife
  • Kabuki Dancer: A Novel of the Woman Who Founded Kabuki
  • The River Ki
  • The Twilight Years
• Takashi Atoda
  • Napoleon Crazy and Other Stories
  • The Square Persimmon and Other Stories
• Naoka Awa
  • The Fox’s Window and Other Stories
  • Featured in My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales
• Yukito Ayatsuji
  • The Decagon House Murders
• Satoshi Azuchi
  • Supermarket
• Masako Bando
  • Mandala Road
• Minoru Betsuyaku
  • Featured in The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature
  • Featured in The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories
• Chesil
  • The Color of the Sky Is the Shape of My Heart (expected spring 2022)
• Tamaki Daido (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • Featured in Inside and Other Short Fiction: Japanese Women by Japanese Women
• Osamu Dazai
  • Blue Bamboo: Japanese Tales of Fantasy
  • Early Light (expected summer 2022)
  • A New Hamlet
  • No Longer Human
  • Otogizhoshi: The Fairy Tale Book of Dazai Osamu
  • Return to Tsugaru
  • Schoolgirl
  • Self-Portraits
  • The Setting Sun
  • A Shameful Life
  • Wish Fulfilled
• Rampo Edogawa
  • The Black Lizard and Beast in the Shadows
  • The Boy Detectives series
  • The Early Cases of Akechi Kogoro
  • The Edgar Allan Poe of Japan
  • The Edogawa Rampo Reader
  • Japanese Tales of Mystery & Imagination
  • The Strange Tale of Panorama Island
  • Featured in Kaiki: Uncanny Tales from Japan, vol. III
• Matayoshi Eiki (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • Featured in Southern Exposure: Modern Japanese Literature from Okinawa
• Kaori Ekuni
  • God’s Boat
  • Twinkle, Twinkle
• Fumiko Enchi
  • Masks
  • A Tale of False Fortunes
  • The Waiting Years (read more about The Waiting Years)
  • Featured in The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories
• Shusaku Endo
  • Deep River
  • The Final Martyrs
  • Five by Endo
  • Foreign Studies
  • The Girl I Left Behind
  • The Golden Country
  • A Life of Jesus
  • Sachiko
  • The Samurai
  • Scandal
  • The Sea and Poison
  • Silence
  • Song of Sadness
  • Stained Glass Elegies
  • When I Whistle
  • White Man, Yellow Man: Two Novellas
  • Wonderful Fool
  • Volcano
• Toe Enjoe (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • Self-Reference ENGINE
  • Featured in Granta 127: Japan
  • Featured in Monkey Business: New Writing from Japan
  • Featured in Speculative Japan II
• Chiya Fujino (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • Featured in Inside and Other Short Fiction: Japanese Women by Japanese Women
  • Featured in Tokyo Fragments: Short Stories of Tokyo by Five of Japan’s Leading Contemporary Writers
• Kaori Fujino (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • Featured in Hanzai Japan: Fantastical, Futuristic Stories of Crime from and about Japan
• Shuhei Fujisawa
  • The Bamboo Sword and Other Samurai Tales
• Yoshikichi Furui (Akutagawa Prize winner)
  • Child of Darkness: Yoko and Other Stories (Akutagawa Prize winner)
  • Ravine and Other Stories
  • White-Haired Melody
  • Featured in the Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature
• Hideo Furukawa
  • Belka, Why Don’t You Bark?
  • Horses, Horses, in the End Light Remains Pure: A Tale That Begins with Fukushima
  • Slow Boat
  • Tokyo Soundtrack
  • Featured in The Book of Tokyo: A City in Short Fiction
  • Requiem
• Takehiko Fukunaga
  • Flowers of Grass
• Keita Genji
  • Featured in The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories
• Juichiya Gisaburo
  • Featured in Autumn Wind and Other Stories
• Nakayama Gishu
  • Featured in Autumn Wind and Other Stories
• Shizuko Go (Akutagawa Prize winner)
  • Requiem (Akutagawa Prize winner)
• Meisei Goto
  • Shot by Both Sides
• Kanji Hanawa
  • Backlight
  • The Chronicles of Lord Asunaro
• Shiro Hamao
  • The Devil’s Discipline
• Junko Hasegawa
  • Featured in Inside and Other Short Fiction: Japanese Women by Japanese Women
• Fumiko Hayashi
  • Floating Clouds
  • I Saw a Pale Horse & Selections from Diary of a Vagabond
  • Mei Yumi’s Postwar Japanese Literature: Hayashi Fumiko’s Novels Late Chrysanthemum, Downtown, Floating Clouds
  • Featured in Autumn Wind and Other Stories
  • Featured in Modern Japanese Literature: From 1868 to the Present Day
• Kyoko Hayashi (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • From Trinity to Trinity
  • Ritual of Death (prize winner)
  • Featured in Annotated Japanese Literary Gems I
  • Featured in The Crazy Iris and Other Stories of the Atomic Aftermath
• Yo Hemmi
  • Gush (novellas)
• Levy Hideo
  • A Room Where the Star-Spangled Banner Cannot Be Heard
• Mineo Higashi (Akutagawa Prize winner)
  • Featured in Okinawa: Two Postwar Novellas
• Keigo Higashino
  • Detective Kaga series
  • Detective Galileo series
  • The Miracles of the Namiya General Store
  • The Name of the Game Is Kidnapping
  • Naoko
  • Under the Midnight Sun
• Ashihei Hino
  • Wheat and Soldiers
  • Featured in Modern Japanese Literature: From 1868 to the Present Day
• Keizo Hino (Akutagawa Prize winner)
  • Isle of Dreams
• Keiichiro Hirano
  • At the End of the Matinee
  • A Man (read more about A Man)
  • Transparent Labyrinth
  • Featured in The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature
• Tetsuya Honda
  • Detective Reiko Himekawa series
• Toshiyuki Horie (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • The Bear and the Paving Stone (Akutagawa Prize winner)
  • Featured in The Book of Tokyo: A City in Short Fiction
  • Featured in Digital Geishas and Talking Frogs: The Best 21st Century Short Stories from Japan
• Kazushi Hosaka (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • Plainsong
• Tomoyuki Hoshino
  • Lonely Hearts Killer
  • ME: A Novel (read more about ME)
  • We, the Children of Cats
  • Featured in Granta 127: Japan
  • Featured in The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories
• Shinichi Hoshi
  • The Capricious Robot (short stories)
  • The Spiteful Planet and Other Stories (short stories)
  • A Well-Kept Life (short stories)
  • The Whimsical Robot (short stories)
  • Voice Net
  • Featured in The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories
• Yoshie Hotta
  • Judgment
  • Featured in The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature
• Uchida Hyakken
  • Realm of the Dead
• Masuji Ibuse
  • Black Rain
  • Castaways
  • Lieutenant Lookeast and Other Stories
  • Salamander
  • Waves
• Takuji Ichikawa
  • Monkey Man (read my review of Monkey Man)
  • The Refugees’ Daughter
  • Voice
• Mako Idemitsu
  • White Elephant
• Saikuru Ihara
  • Comrade Loves of the Samurai
  • Five Women Who Loved Love: Amorous Tales from 17th-Century Japan
  • The Great Mirror of Male Love
  • The Life of an Amorous Man
  • The Life of an Amorous Woman and Other Writings
  • This Scheming World
• Naoyuki Ii
  • Shadow of a Blue Cat
• Shotaro Ikenami
  • Master Assassin series
• Natsuki Ikezawa (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • Mariko/Mariquita
  • The Navidad Incident: The Downfall of Matias Guili
  • Still Lives (Akutagawa Prize winner)
• Jippensha Ikku
  • Shank’s Mare: Japan’s Great Comic Novel of Travel and Ribaldry
  • Featured in The Anthology of Japanese Literature: From the Earliest Era to the Mid-Nineteenth Century
• Tahuro Inagaki
  • One Thousand and One Second Stories
  • Featured in The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature
  • Featured in Kaiki: Uncanny Tales from Japan I
  • Featured in New Writing in Japan
  • Featured in Three-Dimensional Reading: Stories of Time and Space in Japanese Modernist Fiction
• Natsuko Imamura
  • The Woman in the Purple Skirt (read my review of The Woman in the Purple Skirt)
• Hisashi Inoue
  • The Face of Jizo
  • New Tales of Tono
  • Tales from a Mountain Cave: Stories from Japan’s Northeast
  • Tokyo Seven Roses (series)
• Yasushi Inoue (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • The Blue Wolf: A Novel of the Life of Chinggis Khan
  • Bullfight (Akutagawa Prize winner)
  • The Counterfeiter and Other Stories
  • The Hunting Gun
  • Confucius
  • Life of a Counterfeiter
  • Lou-Lan and Other Stories
  • Roof Tile of Tempyo
  • Shirombamba: A Childhood in Old Japan
  • The Samurai Banner of Furin Kazan
  • Tun-Huang
  • Wind and Waves
  • Featured in Annotated Japanese Literary Gems
  • Featured in The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature
  • Featured in The Izu Dancer and Other Stories
  • Featured in The Modern Japanese Prose Poem
  • Featured in Modern Japanese Short Stories
  • Featured in Modern Japanese Stories: An Anthology
  • Featured in The Showa Anthology
• Rokuro Inui
  • Automatic Eve
• Kotaro Isaka
  • Bullet Train
  • Three Assassins (expected spring 2022)
• Shintaro Ishihara (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • Season of Violence (prize winner)
  • Undercurrents: Episodes from a Life on the Edge
• Shinji Ishii
  • Kutze, Stepp’n on Wheat
• Jun Ishikawa (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • The Bodhisattva (Akutagawa Prize winner)
  • The Legend of Gold and Other Stories
• Tatsuko Ishikawa
  • Evil for Pleasure
  • Soldiers Alive
  • Featured in The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature
• Hiroshi Ishizaki
  • Chain Mail: Addicted to You
• Yuba Isukari
  • Yokohama Station SF
• Hiromi Ito
  • The Thorn Puller (expected summer 2022)
  • Wild Grass on the Riverbank
  • Featured in My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales
• Akiko Itoyama (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • In Pursuit of Lavender
• Hiroyuki Itsuki
  • The Kingdom of the Wind
• Kei Iwaki
  • Farewell, My Orange
• Kyoka Izumi
  • A Bird of a Different Feather: A Picture Book
  • Japanese Gothic Tales
  • The Saint of Mt. Koya
• Otohiko Kaga
  • Riding the East Wind
• Takeshi Kaiko (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • Darkness in Summer
  • Five Thousand Runaways (short story collection)
  • Into a Black Sun
  • Japan’s Threepenny Opera
  • Panic and the Runaway: Two Stories
  • The Emperor’s New Clothes (prize winner)
• Mitsuyo Kakuta
  • The Eighth Day
  • Woman on the Other Shore
  • Featured in The Book of Tokyo: A City in Short Fiction
• Mieko Kanai
  • Indian summer
  • Oh, Tama!
  • The Word Book (short stories)
• Hitomi Kanehara (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • Autofiction
  • Snakes and Earrings (Akutagawa Prize winner)
  • Featured in The Book of Tokyo: A City in Short Fiction
  • Featured in Digital Geishas and Talking Frogs: The Best 21st Century Short Stories from Japan
• Kazuki Kaneshiro
  • Go
• Okamoto Kanoko
  • The House Spirit and Other Stories
  • A Riot of Goldfish
  • Featured in Autumn Wind and Other Stories
• Juro Kara (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • Featured in the Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature
• Yumiko Karahashi
  • The Woman with the Flying Head and Other Stories
  • Featured in Autumn Wind and Other Stories
  • Featured The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature
  • Featured The Showa Anthology: Modern Japanese Short Stories
• Maki Kashimada (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • Touring the Land of the Dead (read my review of Touring the Land of the Dead)
• Yukiko Kato (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • In the Meadow
• Yuasa Katsuei
  • Kannai and Document of Flames: Two Japanese Colonial Novels
• Yasunari Kawabata
  • Beauty and Sadness
  • First Snow on Fuji (short stories)
  • The Dancing Girl and Other Stories
  • Dandelions
  • The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket
  • House of Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories
  • The Lake
  • The Master of Go
  • The Old Capital
  • Palm-of-the-Hand Stories
  • The Scarlet Gang of Asakusa
  • Snow Country
  • The Sound of the Mountain
  • The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter
  • Thousand Cranes
  • Featured in Autumn Wind and Other Stories
  • Featured in The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories
  • Featured in The Showa Anthology: Modern Japanese Short Stories
• Matsutaro Kawaguchi
  • Mistress Oriku: Stories from a Tokyo Teahouse
• Toshikazu Kawaguchi
  • Before the Coffee Gets Cold
• Hiromi Kawakami (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • Manazuru (read more about Manazuru)
  • The Nakano Thrift Shop
  • Parade
  • People from My Neighborhood (read my review of People from My Neighborhood)
  • Record of a Night Too Brief
  • Strange Weather in Tokyo (also published in translation as The Briefcase)
  • The Ten Loves of Nishino
• Mieko Kawakami (Akutagawa Prize winner)
  • All the Lovers in the Night (expected spring 2022)
  • Breasts and Eggs (Akutagawa Prize winner; read more about Breasts and Eggs)
  • Heaven (read my review of Heaven)
  • Ms Ice Sandwich
  • Featured in The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories
• Genki Kawamura
  • If Cats Disappeared from the World
• Ozaki Kazuo (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • Rosy Glasses and Other Stories (Akutagawa Prize winner)
  • Featured in The Columbia Anthology of Japanese Literature
  • Featured in Modern Japanese Short Stories
• Hideyuki Kikuchi
  • Black Guard (series)
  • Dark Wars: The Tale of Meiji Dracula
  • Demon City (series)
  • Tales of the Ghost Sword
  • A Wind Named Amnesia and Invader Summer
• Natuso Kirino
  • The Goddess Chronicle
  • Grotesque
  • Out
  • Real World
  • What Remains
  • Featured in Digital Geishas and Talking Frogs: The Best 21st Century Short Stories from Japan
• Morio Kita
  • The Adventures of Kupukupu the Sailor
  • Ghosts
  • The House of Nire
  • The Red Ghost and the White Ghost: Stories and Essays
  • Featured in Autumn Wind and Other Stories
  • Featured in The Best Japanese Science Fiction Stories
  • Featured in The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature
• Aiko Kitahara
  • The Budding Tree: Six Stories of Love in Edo
• Kenzo Kitakata
  • Ashes
  • The Cage
  • City of Refuge
  • Winter Sleep
• Takeshin Kitano
  • Asakusa Kid
  • Boy (short stories)
  • A Guru Is Born
• Kazuhiro Kiuchi
  • A Dog in Water
  • Shield of Straw
• Masanobou Kiyota
  • Featured in Islands of Protest: Japanese Literature from Okinawa
• Satoko Kizaki (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • The Phoenix Tree and Other Stories (includes prize-winning Phoenix Tree)
  • The Sunken Temple
• Erika Kobayashi
  • Trinity, Trinity, Trinity (expected summer 2022)
• Takiji Kobayashi
  • The Crab Cannery and Other Novels of Struggle
  • Featured in The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature
  • Featured in Modern Japanese Literature: From 1868 to the Present
• Rohan Koda
  • Pagoda, Skull Samurai (stories)
• Mariko Koike
  • A Cappella
  • The Cat in the Coffin
  • The Graveyard Apartment
• Uno Koji
  • Love of Mountains: Two Stories
• Nobuo Kojima (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • Embracing Family
  • Long Belts and Thin Men: The Postwar Stories of Kojima Nobuo
  • Featured in the Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature
  • Featured in Contemporary Japanese Literature
• Sakyo Komatsu
  • Japan Sinks
  • Virus: The Day of Resurrection
• Fumiko Kometani (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • Passover (Akutagawa Prize winner)
  • Wasabi for Breakfast: Two Novels
• Taeko Kono (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • Toddler Hunting and Other Stories (includes prize-winning Crabs)
  • Featured in The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature
  • Featured in The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories
  • Featured in Rabbits, Crabs, Etc.: Stories by Japanese Women (includes prize-winning Crabs)
  • Featured in The Showa Anthology: Modern Japanese Short Stories
• Li Kotomi (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • Solo Dance (expected spring 2022)
• Misumi Kubo
  • So We Look to the Sky
• Doppo Kunikida
  • River Mist and and Other Stories
  • Featured in Modern Japanese Fiction: From 1868 to the Present Day
  • Featured in The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories
• Yumiko Kurahashi
  • The Woman with the Flying Head
• Natsuo Kuroda (Akutagawa Prize winning author)
  • Featured in Heaven’s Wind: A Dual Language Anthology of Contemporary Japanese Writing
• Senji Kuroi
  • A Day in the Life
  • Life in the Cul-de-Sac
• Denji Kuroshima
  • A Flock of Swirling Crows: And Other Proletarian Writings
• Choukitsu Kurumatani
  • The Paradise Bird Tattoo (or, attempted double-suicide)
• Natsuhiko Kyogoku
  • Loups-Garous
  • The Summer of Ubume
  • The Wicked and the Damned: A Hundred Tales of Karma (2 volumes)

Forward to authors M-Z

Anthologies of Japanese Literature

• Autumn Wind and Other Stories
• The Best Japanese Science Fiction Stories
• The Book of Tokyo: A City in Short Fiction
• The Columbia Anthology of Japanese Literature
• The Crazy Iris and Other Stories of the Atomic Aftermath
• Ellery Queen’s Japanese Mystery Stories
• Digital Geishas and Talking Frogs: The Best 21st Century Short Stories from Japan
• Granta 127: Japan
• Hanzai Japan: Fantastical, Futuristic Stories of Crime from and about Japan
• Heaven’s Wind: A Dual-Language Anthology of Contemporary Japanese Writing
• In Ghostly Japan: Spooky Stories with the Folklore, Superstitions and Traditions of Old Japan
• Inside and Other Short Fiction: Japanese Women by Japanese Women
• Kaiki: Uncanny Tales from Japan series
• Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things
• March Was Made of Yarn
• Modern Japanese Literature: From 1868 to the Present Day
• Monkey Brain Sushi: New Tastes in Japanese Fiction
• Monkey Business: New Writing from Japan
• Mother of Dreams and Other Stories: Portrayals of Women in Modern Japanese Fiction
• Murder in Japan: Japanese Stories of Crime and Detection
• New Japanese Voices: The Best Contemporary Fiction from Japan (2015)
• New Penguin Parallel Text: Short Stories in Japanese
• The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories
• Rabbits, Crabs, Etc.: Stories by Japanese Women
• Three-Dimensional Reading: Stories of Time and Space in Japanese Modernist Fiction
• The Showa Anthology: Modern Japanese Short Stories
• Speculative Japan series
• A Tokyo Anthology
• Tokyo Fragments: Short Stories of Tokyo by Five of Japan’s Leading Contemporary Writers (2005)

To the best of my knowledge, I’ve followed the Western convention of personal name first. All links are affiliate links to Bookshop.org.