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
8769 An Introduction To Zen Buddhism D. T. Suzuki 1934 Japanese English
8792 Audition Ryū Murakami 1997 Japanese Japanese
8831 Hiroshima Notes Kenzaburō Ōe 1965 Japanese Japanese
8847 Philosophy of the Tourist Hiroki Azuma 2017 Japanese Unknown
8856 What You Are Looking For Is In The Library Michiko Aoyama 2020 Japanese Japanese
8918 Manchuria Under Japanese Dominion Shinichi Yamamuro 2006 Japanese Japanese
8937 Seibutsu To Museibutsu No Aida Shinichi Fukuoka 2007 Japanese Japanese
8989 Less Andrew Sean Greer 2017 American English
9159 Haiku Stephen Addiss 2009 Unknown English
9335 Sōkyū No Subaru Jirō Asada 2009 Japanese Japanese
9335 Confronting Income Inequality In Japan Toshimasa Tachibanaki 2009 Japanese Japanese
9335 Showa 1926-1939 Shigeru Mizuki 2009 Japanese Japanese
9364 A Dark Night's Passing Naoya Shiga 1937 Japanese Japanese
9525 In Line Behind A Billion People Damien Ma, William Adams 2013 Unknown English
9595 The Naked Eye Yoko Tawada 2004 Multiple German
9857 Nationalism Rabindranath Tagore 1917 Indian English
9896 Tokyo Prison Mari Akasaka 2012 Japanese Japanese
9897 My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness Kabi Nagata 2016 Japanese Japanese
9990 Minshu To Aikoku Eiji Oguma 2014 Japanese Japanese
10048 The Tale Of The Heike Unknown 1371 Japanese Japanese
10087 The Ends Of The World Peter Brannen 2017 American English
10109 Tokyo Year Zero David Peace 2007 British English
10114 Flashlight Susan Choi 2025 American English
10299 Judgment At Tokyo Gary J. Bass 2023 Unknown English
10302 Requiem Shizuko Gō 1986 Japanese Japanese
10486 Farthest Field Raghu Karnad 2015 Indian English
10567 Palaver Bryan Washington 2025 Unknown English
10575 The Half Known Life Pico Iyer 2023 British English
10617 Wrong About Japan Peter Carey 2005 Australian English
10723 The Teahouse Fire Ellis Avery 2006 American English
10807 The Summer House Masashi Matsuie 2012 Japanese English
10829 Child Of Fortune Yuko Tsushima 1978 Japanese Japanese
10867 Tokyo Fiancée Amélie Nothomb 2007 Belgian French
10873 The Floating World Cynthia Kadohata 1989 American English
11056 Coin Locker Babies Ryū Murakami 1980 Japanese Japanese
11078 Heaven Mieko Kawakami 2023 Japanese Japanese
11109 The Economic Emergence Of Women Barbara Bergmann 2005 American English
11137 The Rising Sun John Toland 1970 American English
11137 Embracing Defeat John W. Dower 1999 American English
11137 Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan Herbert P. Bix 2000 American English
11164 Scattered All Over The Earth Yoko Tawada 2018 Japanese Japanese
11164 The Creators Daniel J. Boorstin 1992 American English
11182 Central Banking Masaaki Shirakawa 2021 Japanese English
11215 Memorial Bryan Washington 2020 American English
11222 Remnants of Days Past Kyoji Watanabe 2020 Japanese Unknown
11269 Seiobo There Below László Krasznahorkai 2008 Hungarian Hungarian
11342 Best Loved Folktales Of The World Joanna Cole 1982 Unknown English
11363 Complete Works Jorge Luis Borges Argentinian Spanish
11409 The Gardens Of Japan Teiji Itoh 1984 Japanese English
11436 A History Of Bombing Sven Lindqvist 1999 Swedish Swedish
11476 Someone To Watch Over You Kumi Kimura 2021 Unknown English
11481 Why Comics? Hillary L. Chute 2017 American English
11502 Hibakusha Gaynor Sekimori 1986 Hibakusha Unknown
11531 Poems of Matsuo Bashō Matsuo Bashō 1601 Japanese Japanese
11562 Essays In Idleness Yoshida Kenko 1330 Japanese Japanese
11569 Ghostwritten David Mitchell 1999 British English
11630 Death By Video Game Simon Parkin 2015 British English
11642 On Animals Susan Orlean 2021 American English
11661 Dawn To The West Donald Keene 1984 American English
11845 Ghosts Of The Tsunami Richard Lloyd Parry 2017 British English
11851 Chosen Peoples Anthony D. Smith 2003 British English
12034 Honouring High Places Junko Tabei 2017 Japanese English
12043 Akira Katsuhiro Otomo 1982 Japanese Japanese
12068 Archipelago Of The Sun Yoko Tawada 2022 Unknown English
12465 Kakigori Summer Emily Itami 2025 Unknown English
12514 The Road Through Miyama Leila Philip 1991 American English
12646 Daikon Samuel Hawley Unknown English
12833 Talking To High Monks In The Snow Lydia Minatoya 1992 American English
12895 Orphan Of Asia Zhuoliu Wu 1945 Taiwanese Chinese
13360 I Am A Cat Natsume Sōseki 1905 Japanese Japanese
13360 The Sarashina Diary Sugawara no Takasue no Musume 1050 Japanese Classical japanese
13360 The Wild Geese Ōgai Mori 1911 Japanese Japanese
13360 A Riot Of Goldfish Kanoko Okamoto 1937 Japanese Japanese
13360 The Doctor's Wife Sawako Ariyoshi 1966 Japanese Japanese
13360 The Gate Natsume Sōseki 1910 Japanese Japanese
13533 Gardner's Art Through The Ages Helen Gardner 1926 American English
13588 Spring Snow Yukio Mishima 1969 Japanese Japanese
13600 Le Chasseur Zéro Pascale Roze 1996 French French
13703 Collapse Jared Diamond 2005 American English
13743 Dictionary Of Subjects And Symbols In Art James Hall 1974 British English
13941 Unbroken Laura Hillenbrand 2010 American English
13941 A Tale For The Time Being Ruth Ozeki 2013 American English
14051 The Power To Compete Hiroshi Mikitani, Ryoichi Mikitani 2014 Japanese English
14070 Erste Erde Epos Raoul Schrott 2016 Austrian German
14105 The Character Of Rain Amélie Nothomb 2000 Belgian French
14138 Haiku Mary Dawson Hughes 1970 Unknown English
14164 Am Weltenrand Sitzen Die Menschen Und Lachen Philipp Weiss 2018 Austrian German
14232 The Life Changing Magic Of Tidying Up Marie Kondo 2011 Japanese Japanese
14232 Pattern Recognition William Gibson 2003 American English
14232 Men Without Women Haruki Murakami 2014 Japanese Japanese
14323 Upheaval Jared Diamond 2019 American English
14376 The Kagero Diary Sonja Arntzen 1997 Japanese Japanese
14498 Super Freakonomics Steven D. Levitt 2009 American English
14519 Prime Movers Of Globalization Vaclav Smil 2010 Canadian English
14629 The Gutenberg Galaxy Marshall McLuhan 1962 Canadian English
14649 Tadanori Yokoo Daido Moriyama 2006 Japanese Japanese
14750 Musashi Eiji Yoshikawa 1935 Japanese Japanese
14787 Patterns of Culture Ruth Benedict 1934 American English
14847 The True Believer Eric Hoffer 1951 American English
14860 Hiroshima Diary Michihiko Hachiya 1955 Japanese Japanese
14868 Palm Of The Hand Stories Yasunari Kawabata 1949 Japanese Japanese
14866 The Book Of Tea Kakuzō Okakura 1906 Japanese English
14962 The Origins of the Second World War A. J. P. Taylor 1961 British English
14984 War Without Mercy John W. Dower 1986 American English
14984 South of the Border, West of the Sun Haruki Murakami 1992 Japanese Japanese
14984 My Brother's Husband Gengoroh Tagame 2014 Japanese Japanese
14984 Tokyo Ghoul Sui Ishida 2011 Japanese Japanese
14984 The Beauty Of Everyday Things Soetsu Yanagi 2019 Japanese Japanese
14984 People Who Eat Darkness Richard Lloyd Parry 2010 British English
14984 Treasury Of The True Dharma Eye Kazuaki Tanahashi 2010 Japanese Japanese
14984 The Body Yasuo Yuasa 1987 Japanese Japanese
14984 Earthlings Sayaka Murata 2023 Japanese Japanese
14984 The Travelling Cat Chronicles Hiro Arikawa 2024 Japanese Japanese
14984 Gai Jin James Clavell 1993 American English
14984 Strange Weather In Tokyo Hiromi Kawakami 2001 Japanese Japanese
14984 Before The Coffee Gets Cold Toshikazu Kawaguchi 2015 Japanese Japanese
14984 Salt Mark Kurlansky 2002 American English
14984 Mina's Matchbox Yōko Ogawa 2024 Japanese English
14984 Tokyo Ueno Station Miri, Yu 2014 Japanese Japanese
14984 Great Japanese Stories Jay Rubin Multiple English