What are some good Japanese novels or books about Japanese culture?
It’s not really a book on contemporary Japan, but rather an odd fantasy that speaks to something in the character of Japan’s culture. I read it a year or two ago and thought it was wonderful. In general, all of Haruki Murakami’s books have been weird, but enjoyable, and offer a good deal of insight into the culture of Japan from a slightly bent perspective. For something a little more factual, I recommend Japan Pop! Inside the World of Japanese Popular Culture. I read this last year as part of MIT’s OCW course in Japanese Popular Culture and I found it to be quite informative and kind of surprising. I learned a lot I didn’t expect. Just for the record, I’ve been trying to teach myself Japanese for the past few month simply because I find their culture, especially in the way of movies, to be so interesting. So I hope I’m giving you the best recommendations out there even if they may not seem typical. Here are links to those two books I mentioned both available from Amazon: Hardboiled Wo
