The Greatest Books of All Time Set in Japan

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
130 The Tale of Genji Murasaki Shikibu 1001 Japanese Classical japanese
379 The Second World War Winston Churchill 1948 British English
451 Hiroshima John Hersey 1946 American English
473 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami 1994 Japanese Japanese
719 Thousand Cranes Yasunari Kawabata 1952 Japanese Japanese
740 Silence Shūsaku Endō 1966 Japanese Japanese
815 Around the World in Eighty Days Jules Verne 1872 French French
840 Confessions of a Mask Yukio Mishima 1949 Japanese Japanese
858 The Woman in the Dunes Kobo Abé 1962 Japanese Japanese
865 The Pillow Book Sei Shōnagon 1002 Japanese Japanese
893 Neuromancer William Gibson 1984 American, Canadian English
918 The Plot Against America Philip Roth 2004 American English
1024 Some Prefer Nettles Junichiro Tanizaki 1929 Japanese Japanese
1031 The Temple of the Golden Pavilion Yukio Mishima 1956 Japanese Japanese
1161 Norwegian Wood Haruki Murakami 1987 Japanese Japanese
1201 Kafka On The Shore Haruki Murakami 2002 Japanese Japanese
1206 Pachinko Min Jin Lee 2017 American English
1236 Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories Ryunosuke Akutagawa 1915 Japanese Japanese
1360 The Makioka Sisters Junichiro Tanizaki 1948 Japanese Japanese
1375 The Sea of Fertility Yukio Mishima 1965 Japanese Japanese
1400 The Great Railway Bazaar Paul Theroux 1975 American English
1487 Kokoro Natsume Sōseki 1914 Japanese Japanese
1553 Beauty and Sadness Yasunari Kawabata 1964 Japanese Japanese
1584 A Severed Head Iris Murdoch 1961 British English
1645 Shogun James Clavell 1975 British English
1723 1Q84 Haruki Murakami 2009 Japanese Japanese
1732 Zen In The Art Of Archery Eugen Herrigel 1948 German German
1750 The Making of the Atomic Bomb Richard Rhodes 1986 American English
1986 The Sound of the Mountain Yasunari Kawabata 1954 Japanese Japanese
2006 The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter Unknown 900 Japanese Japanese
2026 Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden 1997 American English
2164 A Personal Matter Kenzaburō Ōe 1964 Japanese Japanese
2239 The Twilight Years Sawako Ariyoshi 1972 Japanese Japanese
2298 Out Natsuo Kirino 1997 Japanese Japanese
2353 The Box Man Kobo Abé 1973 Japanese Japanese
2600 Almost Transparent Blue Ryū Murakami 1976 Japanese Japanese
2714 The Narrow Road to the Deep North Matsuo Bashō 1684 Japanese Japanese
2768 The Dancing Girl of Izu and Other Stories Yasunari Kawabata 1926 Japanese Japanese
2818 The Great Fire Shirley Hazzard 2003 Australian English
2872 Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Richard P. Feynman 1985 American English
2929 The Waiting Years Fumiko Enchi 1957 Japanese Japanese
3068 An Artist of the Floating World Kazuo Ishiguro 1986 British English
3100 Diary Of A Mad Old Man Junichiro Tanizaki 1961 Japanese Japanese
3323 The Sound of Waves Yukio Mishima 1954 Japanese Japanese
3416 The Housekeeper And The Professor Yōko Ogawa 2003 Japanese Japanese
3444 Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids Kenzaburō Ōe 1958 Japanese Japanese
3627 Convenience Store Woman Sayaka Murata 2016 Japanese Japanese
3637 The Jazz Book Joachim-Ernst Berendt 1953 German German
3637 The Future Has Already Begun Robert Jungk 1952 Austrian German
3809 A Pale View of Hills Kazuo Ishiguro 1982 British English
3892 Oriental Tales Marguerite Yourcenar 1938 French French
4062 The Ice Wall Yasushi Inoue 1959 Japanese Japanese
4090 Silk Alessandro Baricco 1996 Italian Italian
4119 The Honjin Murders Seishi Yokomizo 1946 Japanese Japanese
4151 The Devotion Of Suspect X Keigo Higashino 2005 Japanese Japanese
4197 The Master Of Go Yasunari Kawabata 1951 Japanese Japanese
4310 The Polyglots William Gerhardie 1925 British English
4408 The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea Yukio Mishima 1963 Japanese Japanese
4450 Shibumi Trevanian 1979 American English
4646 You Only Live Twice Ian Fleming 1964 British English
4646 The Face Of Another Kobo Abé 1964 Japanese Japanese
4802 The Confessions Of Lady Nijo Lady Nijo 1307 Japanese Japanese
4897 The Emissary Yoko Tawada 2014 Japanese Japanese
4990 Territory Of Light Yuko Tsushima 1979 Japanese Japanese
5002 Teach Us To Outgrow Our Madness Kenzaburō Ōe 1969 Japanese Japanese
5106 Zen Flesh, Zen Bones Paul Reps, Nyogen Senzaki 1957 Multiple English
5187 The World's Religions Huston Smith 1958 American English
5237 Deep River Shūsaku Endō 1993 Japanese Japanese
5269 What I Talk About When I Talk About Running Haruki Murakami 2007 Japanese Japanese
5383 All She Was Worth Miyuki Miyabe 1992 Japanese Japanese
5459 Forgotten Ally Rana Mitter 2013 British English
5595 World War Z Max Brooks 2006 American English
5615 The Mushroom At The End Of The World Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing 2015 American English
5701 Fear And Trembling Amélie Nothomb 1999 Belgian French
5939 The Turning Point Fritjof Capra 1982 American English
5939 Der Bedrohte Friede Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker 1982 German German
5969 Imperial China, 900–1800 F. W. Mote 1999 Chinese English
6152 The Thousand Autumns Of Jacob De Zoet David Mitchell 2010 British English
6189 Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman Haruki Murakami 2006 Japanese Japanese
6190 The March Of Folly Barbara Wertheim Tuchman 1984 American English
6241 The Decagon House Murders Yukito Ayatsuji 1987 Japanese Japanese
6255 Six Four Hideo Yokoyama 2012 Japanese Japanese
6277 The Narrow Road To The Deep North Richard Flanagan 2013 Australian English
6312 Dance, Dance, Dance Haruki Murakami 1988 Japanese Japanese
6337 The Worldly Philosophers Robert Heilbroner 1953 American English
6350 A Wild Sheep Chase Haruki Murakami 1982 Japanese Japanese
6382 A Voyage Round The World Georg Forster 1777 German German
6478 Second World War John Keegan 1989 British English
6545 Saigyō Kaden Kunio Tsuji 1982 Japanese Japanese
6577 Crashed Adam Tooze 2018 British English
6604 I Wonder As I Wander Langston Hughes 1956 American English
6737 The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup Susan Orlean 2001 American English
6757 Breasts And Eggs Mieko Kawakami 2008 Japanese Japanese
6766 Notes Of A Desolate Man Chu Tʽien-wen 1994 Taiwanese Chinese
6873 Povedal Mi Veštec Tiziano Terzani 2002 Italian Italian
6878 Lettres Aux Années De Nostalgie Kenzaburō Ōe 1987 Japanese Japanese
6888 The Boxer Rebellion Diana Preston 1999 Unknown English
6939 Shipwrecks Akira Yoshimura 1982 Japanese Japanese
7122 Why We Love Helen Fisher 2004 American English
7188 The Village Beyond The Mist Sachiko Kashiwaba, Miho Satake, Avery Fischer Udagawa 1975 Japanese Japanese
7216 The Frigate Pallada Ivan Goncharov 1858 Russian Russian
7596 Wealth And Power Orville Schell, John Delury 2013 Chinese English
7616 Crossfire Miyuki Miyabe 1998 Japanese Japanese
7616 Don't Get Too Comfortable David Rakoff 2005 Canadian English
7630 Marks No Yama Kaoru Takamura 1993 Japanese Japanese
7766 Underground Haruki Murakami 2006 Japanese Japanese
7788 Cold Enough For Snow Jessica Au 2022 Australian English
7996 Black Rain Masuji Ibuse 1965 Japanese Japanese
8202 Suikoden Series Kenzo Kitakata 2000 Japanese Japanese
8211 China Shakes The World James Kynge 2006 British English
8232 China Susan Shirk 2007 Unknown English
8331 Shōwa No Geki Kazuo Kasahara 2002 Japanese Unknown
8354 Cinderella’s Sisters Dorothy Ko 2006 Unknown English
8375 Jiryoku To Jūryoku No Hakken Yoshitaka Yamamoto 2003 Japanese Unknown
8417 War and Remembrance Herman Wouk 1978 American English
8497 Atarashii Chūsei Akihiko Tanaka 2003 Japanese Unknown
8497 Transcritique Kojin Karatani 2003 Japanese Japanese
8539 Lady Joker Kaoru Takamura 1997 Japanese Japanese
8639 Somersault Kenzaburō Ōe 1999 Japanese Japanese
8714 To A Distant Island James McConkey 1984 American English