The Greatest Books of All Time Set in Tokyo

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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
473 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami 1994 Japanese Japanese
840 Confessions of a Mask Yukio Mishima 1949 Japanese Japanese
1160 Norwegian Wood Haruki Murakami 1987 Japanese Japanese
1201 Kafka On The Shore Haruki Murakami 2002 Japanese Japanese
1487 Kokoro Natsume Sōseki 1914 Japanese Japanese
1553 Beauty and Sadness Yasunari Kawabata 1964 Japanese Japanese
1723 1Q84 Haruki Murakami 2009 Japanese Japanese
2164 A Personal Matter Kenzaburō Ōe 1964 Japanese Japanese
2298 Out Natsuo Kirino 1997 Japanese Japanese
2353 The Box Man Kobo Abé 1973 Japanese Japanese
3101 Diary Of A Mad Old Man Junichiro Tanizaki 1961 Japanese Japanese
3628 Convenience Store Woman Sayaka Murata 2016 Japanese Japanese
3638 The Jazz Book Joachim-Ernst Berendt 1953 German German
3638 The Future Has Already Begun Robert Jungk 1952 Austrian German
4151 The Devotion Of Suspect X Keigo Higashino 2005 Japanese Japanese
4897 The Emissary Yoko Tawada 2014 Japanese Japanese
4990 Territory Of Light Yuko Tsushima 1979 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
5701 Fear And Trembling Amélie Nothomb 1999 Belgian French
5939 Der Bedrohte Friede Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker 1982 German German
6190 The March Of Folly Barbara Wertheim Tuchman 1984 American English
6255 Six Four Hideo Yokoyama 2012 Japanese Japanese
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
6577 Crashed Adam Tooze 2018 British 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
6888 The Boxer Rebellion Diana Preston 1999 Unknown English
7122 Why We Love Helen Fisher 2004 American English
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
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
8538 Lady Joker Kaoru Takamura 1997 Japanese Japanese
8794 Audition Ryū Murakami 1997 Japanese Japanese
8857 What You Are Looking For Is In The Library Michiko Aoyama 2020 Japanese Japanese
9527 In Line Behind A Billion People Damien Ma, William Adams 2013 Unknown English
9898 Tokyo Prison Mari Akasaka 2012 Japanese Japanese
9899 My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness Kabi Nagata 2016 Japanese Japanese
9993 Minshu To Aikoku Eiji Oguma 2014 Japanese Japanese
10113 Tokyo Year Zero David Peace 2007 British English
10302 Judgment At Tokyo Gary J. Bass 2023 Unknown English
10619 Wrong About Japan Peter Carey 2005 Australian English
10871 Tokyo Fiancée Amélie Nothomb 2007 Belgian French
11060 Coin Locker Babies Ryū Murakami 1980 Japanese Japanese
11570 Ghostwritten David Mitchell 1999 British English
11632 Death By Video Game Simon Parkin 2015 British English
11644 On Animals Susan Orlean 2021 American English
11847 Ghosts Of The Tsunami Richard Lloyd Parry 2017 British English
11853 Chosen Peoples Anthony D. Smith 2003 British English
12045 Akira Katsuhiro Otomo 1982 Japanese Japanese
13362 I Am A Cat Natsume Sōseki 1905 Japanese Japanese
13362 The Sarashina Diary Sugawara no Takasue no Musume 1050 Japanese Classical japanese
13362 The Wild Geese Ōgai Mori 1911 Japanese Japanese
13362 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
13743 Dictionary Of Subjects And Symbols In Art James Hall 1974 British English
13941 A Tale For The Time Being Ruth Ozeki 2013 American English
14164 Am Weltenrand Sitzen Die Menschen Und Lachen Philipp Weiss 2018 Austrian German
14232 Pattern Recognition William Gibson 2003 American English
14232 Men Without Women Haruki Murakami 2014 Japanese Japanese
14650 Tadanori Yokoo Daido Moriyama 2006 Japanese Japanese
14985 South of the Border, West of the Sun Haruki Murakami 1992 Japanese Japanese
14985 Tokyo Ghoul Sui Ishida 2011 Japanese Japanese
14985 People Who Eat Darkness Richard Lloyd Parry 2010 British English
14985 The Travelling Cat Chronicles Hiro Arikawa 2024 Japanese Japanese
14985 Gai Jin James Clavell 1993 American English
14985 Strange Weather In Tokyo Hiromi Kawakami 2001 Japanese Japanese
14985 Before The Coffee Gets Cold Toshikazu Kawaguchi 2015 Japanese Japanese
14985 Mina's Matchbox Yōko Ogawa 2024 Japanese English
14985 Tokyo Ueno Station Miri, Yu 2014 Japanese Japanese
14985 Great Japanese Stories Jay Rubin Multiple English
14985 The Man Who Ate Everything Jeffrey Steingarten 1997 American English
15800 Runaway Horses Yukio Mishima 1969 Japanese Japanese
15860 Japanese Tales Of Mystery & Imagination Edogawa Ranpo 1956 Japanese Japanese
16507 Sun & Steel Yukio Mishima 1968 Japanese Japanese
15914 Taiko Eiji Yoshikawa 1941 Japanese Japanese
16750 Naomi Jun'ichirō Tanizaki 1924 Japanese Japanese
16707 The Image Daniel J. Boorstin 1962 American English
16725 Botchan Natsume Sōseki 1906 Japanese Japanese
16739 Sanshirō Natsume Sōseki 1908 Japanese Japanese
17162 End Of The World Blues Jon Courtenay Grimwood 2006 British English
17162 Hokusai Henry D. Smith 1988 Japanese English
17162 Totto Chan, The Little Girl At The Window Tetsuko Kuroyanagi 1981 Japanese Japanese
17162 The Courage To Be Disliked Ichirō Kishimi, Fumitake Koga 2013 Japanese Japanese
17162 In The Miso Soup Ryū Murakami 1997 Japanese Japanese
17162 Five Decembers James Kestrel 2021 American English
17162 Debt Of Honor Tom Clancy 1994 American English
17162 Hear The Wind Sing And Pinball 1973 村上春樹 1979 Japanese Japanese
17162 Akira, Vol. 6 Katsuhiro Otomo 1993 Japanese Japanese
17162 Akira, Vol. 5 Katsuhiro Otomo 1990 Japanese Japanese
17162 Akira, Vol. 4 Katsuhiro Otomo 1990 Japanese Japanese
17162 Akira, Vol. 3 Katsuhiro Otomo 1985 Japanese Japanese
17162 Akira, Vol. 2 Katsuhiro Otomo 1984 Japanese Japanese
17162 Akira, Vol. 1 Katsuhiro Otomo 1984 Japanese Japanese
17162 Engineers Of Victory Paul Kennedy 2013 British English
17162 Naoko Keigo Higashino 1998 Japanese Japanese
17162 Theodore Rex Edmund Morris 2001 American English
17162 Partners In Command Mark Perry 2007 Unknown English
17162 Art History Marilyn Stokstad 1995 American English
17162 The Third Reich Michael Burleigh 2000 British English
17162 Whole Earth Discipline Stewart Brand 2009 American English
17162 The 4 Hour Work Week Timothy Ferriss 2007 American English
17147 Tysiąc żurawi. śpiące Piękności Yasunari Kawabata 1952 Japanese Japanese
16930 Patriotism Yukio Mishima 1961 Japanese Japanese
17085 Life For Sale Yukio Mishima 1968 Japanese Japanese
17162 Tokyo Decadence Ryū Murakami Japanese Japanese
17162 From The Ruins Of Empire Pankaj Mishra 2012 Indian English