One of my favorite parts of a trip is reading nonfiction and fiction about the place before I go. Here's what I've read or am planning to read about Japan. Any other suggestions?

Almost everything I find is written from an English speaker's perspective (understandably). I'd be interested in recommendations for other kinds of viewpoints, especially on modern-day Tokyo, but readable, fun books. (Meaning, I don't think I'm up for anything that's heavy going.)

Nonfiction:
* Learning to Bow, by Bruce Feiler. Memoir of a young American's experience teaching English to junior-high students in Sano (Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo) for a year in the late 80s. I enjoyed this a lot for insight into the Japanese school system.

* The Lady and the Monk, by Pico Iyer. Memoir of young English guy's experiences in Kyoto in the late 80s. Haven't read this yet, but the book jacket is covered with glowing reviews.

Fiction:

* Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden. WOW. Compulsively readable fake "memoir" of a woman's life in the Gion district of Tokyo in the 20s through 40s. Stayed up late with this one.

* The Salaryman's Wife, by Sujata Massey. First of a series of ongoing mystery novels centered around a young Japanese-American living in Tokyo. Haven't started it.

* Equal Distance, by Brad Leithauser. Tripped over this & haven't started it yet. Another fictional account of a young American encountering Tokyo, circa 1980.

Whoops -- Gion district of *Kyoto*, of course!

I've read 4/5 of these, and you're off to a great start!
Let me recommend Alan Booth, The Roads to Sata: A 2000-Mile Walk Through Japan. One of my favourite literary on-the-road books from any country, I first read it more than 15 years ago, as preparation for my first visit to Japan, and it vividly sticks in my mind still. Paging through my copy, I find this underlined sentence: "The classical Japanese house attains it sombre beauty by decaying in stages until it offers both the congenial textures of age and the sense of natural order that attends the first sign of ruin."

I liked a recent book by JB Schwartz entitled "The Commoner," a fictional look at the imperial family.




http://www.amazon.com/Commoner-Novel...832&sr=8-1

....and a really good one about the seamy side of Tokyo:

A Country of Origin by Don Lee

<b>ekscrunchy</b>:

Please, please learn how to use tinyurl.com. It's not difficult, and it will prevent me and possibly several others from cursing under their breath because we have to keep scrolling back and forth to read the other posts. Thank you.

And to reply to the OP, two books that I enjoyed, alas by Westerners, were &quot;Untangling My Chopsticks&quot; and &quot;Fear and Trembling&quot; (Eng translation).

Great suggestions, &amp; all are new to me. I also discovered from Amazon that there's a 2004 movie version of Fear and Trembling, &amp; it's available on Netflix!

Sorry, Rizzuto:





http://tinyurl.com/5kvecg

tahl, if you're also including movies, you might enjoy <i>Shall We Danse?</i>, a Japanese comedy/drama set in modern Tokyo.

Here are a few japanese recomendations (not western). Literature -for modern view of japanese life, anything by Haruki Murakami. Some of my favorites: Wild Sheep Chase; Wind Up Bird Chronicles; Kafka on Shore; his short stories; South of the Border East of the Sun - very, very japanese and just great modern literature. If you like &quot;Wild Sheep Chase&quot;, continue with &quot;Dance Dance Dance&quot;.

Japanese movies: &quot;Kamikaze Girls&quot;, &quot;Taste of Tea&quot;, &quot;Linda Linda Linda&quot; - all of these are quirky, neat movies. Completely different from &quot;Lost in Translation&quot;, but very nice. Enjoy!

Here are some of my suggestions.

Hitching Rides with Buddha: A Journey Across Japan by Will Ferguson. The author attempts to be the first person in recorded history to follow the cherry blossoms as they bloom across Japan. A humorous reverse trip as taken by Alan Booth in Road to Sata.

Dave Barry Does Japan. Dave Barry. Humorous look at Dave Barry as he travels Japan.

Tokyo: A Certain Style by Kyoichi Tsuzuki. Photographic essay about the apartment spaces where people live.

Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno by Patrick Macias and Izumi Evers. Explains the Tokyo teen fashion subculture since the 1970's.

Fruits by Shoichi Aoki. Photographic book about the teenage street fashions of Harajuku and Shibuya.

Fresh Fruit by Shoichi Aoki. Followup book to Fruits.

The Tokyo Look Book: Stylish To Spectacular, Goth To Gyaru, Sidewalk To Catwalk by Philmena Keet. Anthropological look and photo study of Tokyo street fashions.


The following books I would not call &quot;fun&quot; books, but are very good if you have the chance to read them:

Lost Japan by Alex Kerr. Book about the author's personal and passionate 30 years in Japan writing ultimately about the &quot;environmental and cultural destruction that is the other face of contemporary Japan.&quot; The first foreigner to win Japan's Shincho Gakugei Literature Prize in 1994.

Dogs and Demons: Tales from the Dark Side of Japan by Alex Kerr. Tough and controversial followup book to Lost Japan further writing about the economic and environmental problems and the slow destruction of it's culture.

In the Shade of Spring Leaves by Robert Lyons Danly. Biography of the tragic and short life of Meiji era authoress Higuchi Ichiyo, who is considered to be the first professional woman writer in Japan and is honored by being on the current 5000 Yen note. The book contains 9 of her translated short stories. The title of the books comes from a quote from her: &quot;If I could only live, In the shade of spring leaves, Instead of in a world, Of disillusion, And Despair.&quot;

San'ya Blues: Laboring Life in Contemporary Tokyo by Edward Fowler. This book is about the little known day-laborer ghetto area of San'ya and offers a contrast to the bright lights and big city Tokyo that everyone sees. The shunned men who live in these areas are the men who have literally constructed the modern Tokyo that you see today.


Movies:

Densha Otoko (Train Man). 2005 movie based a supposedly true story about a shy otaku who saves a young woman from a drunk on the train. With the advice and help of posters from the Japanese forum 2channel, he asks the young woman on a date. Difficulties ensue.

For movies, there's also Tampopo (one of my favorite movies ever) and another Itami comedy - A Taxing Woman. If you like A Taxing Woman, there's a sequel to it.

And another of my all-time favorites is a Miyazaki animation - My Neighbor Totoro. Very very Japanese in its depiction of the countryside and the family.

I'm reading a book called The Street of a Thousand Blossoms and it is beautifully written. It is about a family in Tokyo during WWII.

I hope to dig up a number of these even after I return.

Rizzuto: I watched the movie version of Fear and Trembling last night and enjoyed it, though I wanted to yell at the heroine sometimes &quot;no! don't do that! it will not turn out well!&quot; For those not familiar, this story (book &amp; movie) is sort of Lost in Translation but in the setting of a large Japanese corporation -- that is, a character study that's partly about individual personalities and partly about a Westerner's grapple with Japanese culture. The movie is in French &amp; Japanese, subtitled.

On the list of nonfiction books I've enjoyed, I forgot to mention Traveler's Tales: Japan, which is an installment of the book series that reprints essays and book excerpts, including some from books mentioned above.

I'm reading a book called &quot;Japanland&quot; which I can describe as being like &quot;Eat Pray Love&quot; Japan-edition. Very funny. Gives good insight into contemporary Japanese culture.

A very long time ago I read a book called &quot;Black Rain&quot; and it completely bowled me over. It was written in the 60s and is about the Bomb.

It's by Ibuse Masuji.

I thought SHOGUN was a terrific read. Highly recommended.

I second the suggestion of anything by Haruki Murakami. He is my favorite author right now... captivating, thought-provoking modern literature.

Another vote for anything by Murakami, especially &quot;The Wind-up Bird Chronicle&quot;. It has everything: culture, humor, magical realism, memorable characters...and it's a page turner.