Soras place

While Japan is ostensibly better known amongst pop culture enthusiasts for its anime, manga, and films, Japan also boasts a great tradition of novelists. Novelists who have managed to gain attention in the western media include Nobel prize winners Yasunari Kawabata, best known for his amazing tiny short stories and Kenzaburo Oe, known for his work based around his autistic son. Novelist Mushima also comes to mind. However, there are also some more popular authors making waves in both Japan and in the West, and when you’re done with your manga or anime for the day, you might want to consider checking them out. Haruki Murakami. Haruki Murakami (not to be confused with fellow novelist Ryu Murakami, who writes very different material) is probably Japan’s best known literary export. Murakami, once a jazz bar owner, decided to take up writing one day whilst being struck by inspiration watching a baseball match. Murakami’s most famous novel is probably Norwegian Wood, but other excellent books include The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kafka on the Shore, and the recent After Dark. Hitomi Kanehara has a very different style to magical realist Murakami. Kanehara’s work is characterized by sharp, terrifying characters and plots that are violent and surreal. She is uncompromising in her writing, and gets right into the psyche of her characters—to quite eerie effect. At only age 25, Kanehara is an award-winning author best known for her books Snakes and Earrings and Autofictions. Natsuo Kirino is generally thought of as a crime fiction writer, and is considered one of the leading Japanese crime fiction authors in a genre that has recently experienced a boom. She is a prolific writer, with many novels and short stories to her name, and has also won a variety of well-regarded awards. Works to check out include Out, Grotesque, Real World, and What Remains. There are some other great things to check out on this enigin design site, seriously don’t miss it!