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Surrealism, cafes and lots of cats: why Japanese fiction is booming

From tales of alienation to comforting novels set in bookshops, Japanese authors have written nearly half of this year’s bestselling translated novels in the UK. What’s their secret?

“It’s really important to point out that she predates Murakami.” Yoshimoto came into English translation in the late 1980s and early 90s with books including Kitchen and Lizard, her work often featuring alienated young women trying to overcome personal tragedy. The novel, which follows Keiko, a 36-year-old woman who struggles to fit in but finds contentment in routine work at a small shop, was the first of three Murata titles published by Granta – the others are Earthlings and Life Ceremony – that have now sold more than half a million copies. “It has an entirely different name in Japanese, but the UK publisher changed the name to The Bookshop Woman in order to make it sound slightly similar to Convenience Store Woman.” (The book is, Kangqin acknowledges, “selling really well”.)

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