📖 Literary Fiction · Japan
Best Literary Fiction Books from Japan
Literary fiction is fiction that prioritises style, language, and psychological depth over plot mechanics. Japan has produced some of the most internationally recognised works in literary fiction, with titles that have appeared on major prize lists and critical surveys worldwide. This page ranks the best literary fiction from Japan by editorial consensus.
#1
literary-fiction
Snow Country
Yasunari Kawabata· 1968
★Nobel Prize in Literature
Editorial Score71/100
#2
literary-fiction
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea
Yukio Mishima· 1963
★Nobel Prize in Literature
Editorial Score66/100
#3
literary-fiction
The Makioka Sisters
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki· 1943
★Nobel Prize in Literature
Editorial Score60/100
#4
literary-fiction
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
Yukio Mishima· 1956
Goodreads Choice Award
Editorial Score48/100
#5
literary-fiction
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Haruki Murakami· 1994
Goodreads Choice AwardKirkus Reviews
Editorial Score45/100
#6
literary-fiction
Moll Flanders
Daniel Defoe· 1722
Library Journal
Editorial Score45/100
#7
science-fiction
Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Haruki Murakami· 1985
Goodreads Choice Award
Editorial Score43/100
#8
literary-fiction
Kafka on the Shore
Haruki Murakami· 2002
Goodreads Choice Award
Editorial Score42/100
#9
literary-fiction
Kitchen
Banana Yoshimoto· 1988
Goodreads Choice Award
Editorial Score42/100
#10
literary-fiction
Sputnik Sweetheart
Haruki Murakami· 1999
Goodreads Choice Award
Editorial Score40/100
#11
literary-fiction
The history of the great plague in London in the year 1665
Daniel Defoe· 1722
Library Journal
Editorial Score40/100
#12
literary-fiction
Die Leiden des jungen Werthers
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe· 1779
Library Journal
Editorial Score40/100
#13
literary-fiction
O Alquimista
Paulo Coelho· 1988
Kirkus Reviews
Editorial Score40/100
#14
literary-fiction
A Knight of the Nineteenth Century
Edward Payson Roe· 1877
Library Journal
Editorial Score40/100
#15
literary-fiction
The fortunate mistress, or, Roxana
Daniel Defoe· 1724
Publishers Weekly
Editorial Score40/100
#16
literary-fiction
Egmont
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe· 1788
Publishers Weekly
Editorial Score40/100
#17
literary-fiction
Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe· 1800
Library Journal
Editorial Score40/100
#18
literary-fiction
Norwegian Wood
Haruki Murakami· 1987
Goodreads Choice Award
Editorial Score39/100
#19
literary-fiction
The Sound of Waves
Yukio Mishima· 1954
Goodreads Choice Award
Editorial Score38/100
#20
literary-fiction
Faust
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe· 1800
Library Journal
Editorial Score35/100
#21
literary-fiction
Sonnenfinsternis
Arthur Koestler· 1940
Kirkus Reviews
Editorial Score35/100
#22
literary-fiction
Barriers Burned Away
Edward Payson Roe· 1800
Kirkus Reviews
Editorial Score35/100
#23
literary-fiction
Captain Singleton
Daniel Defoe· 1720
Publishers Weekly
Editorial Score35/100
#24
literary-fiction
Die Wahlverwandtschaften. Ein Roman
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe· 1809
Kirkus Reviews
Editorial Score35/100
#25
literary-fiction
Memoirs of a cavalier, or, A military journal of the wars in Germany and the wars in England
Daniel Defoe· 1720
Publishers Weekly
Editorial Score35/100
#26
literary-fiction
Stones for Ibarra
Harriet Doerr· 1920
Library Journal
Editorial Score35/100
#27
literary-fiction
The Jesuit Martyrs of Japan
Giuseppe Boero· 1862
Library Journal
Editorial Score35/100
#28
literary-fiction
The shadow between his shoulder-blades
Joel Chandler Harris· 1909
Publishers Weekly
Editorial Score35/100
#29
literary-fiction
Arrival and Departure
Arthur Koestler· 1943
Library Journal
Editorial Score35/100
#30
literary-fiction
Wilhelm Meister
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe· 1843
Library Journal
Editorial Score35/100
#31
literary-fiction
The Italian novelists
Thomas Roscoe· 1825
Kirkus Reviews
Editorial Score35/100
#32
literary-fiction
The German novelists
Thomas Roscoe· 1800
Library Journal
Editorial Score35/100
#33
literary-fiction
South of the Border, West of the Sun
Haruki Murakami· 1992
Kirkus Reviews
Editorial Score34/100
#34
literary-fiction
Am Ufer des Rio Piedra saß ich und weinte
Paulo Coelho· 1975
Kirkus Reviews
Editorial Score30/100
#35
literary-fiction
The romance in America
Joel Porte· 1969
Kirkus Reviews
Editorial Score30/100
#36
literary-fiction
The Best American Short Stories 2019
Anthony Doerr· 2019
Library Journal
Editorial Score30/100
#37
literary-fiction
Love and good reasons
Fritz Oehlschlaeger· 2002
Library Journal
Editorial Score30/100
#38
literary-fiction
Out of Sync & Out of Work
Joel Burges· 2018
Library Journal
Editorial Score30/100
#39
literary-fiction
Between C & D
Joel Rose· 1988
Publishers Weekly
Editorial Score30/100
#40
literary-fiction
James Branch Cabell
Joe Lee Davis· 1962
Library Journal
Editorial Score30/100
#41
literary-fiction
Belles' letters
Joe Taylor· 1999
Library Journal
Editorial Score30/100
#42
literary-fiction
The Illiberal Imagination
Joe Shapiro· 2017
Kirkus Reviews
Editorial Score30/100
#43
literary-fiction
Religious humanism and the Victorian novel
Knoepflmacher, U. C.· 1965
Kirkus Reviews
Editorial Score30/100
#44
literary-fiction
The other side of paradise
Noel Barber· 1986
Publishers Weekly
Editorial Score30/100
#45
literary-fiction
The epistolary novel
Joe Bray· 2003
Kirkus Reviews
Editorial Score30/100
#46
literary-fiction
Key to the Door
Alan Sillitoe· 1961
Publishers Weekly
Editorial Score30/100
#47
literary-fiction
Anti-Jacobin Novels, Part I, Volume 3
W. M. Verhoeven· 2005
Library Journal
Editorial Score30/100
#48
literary-fiction
English Novel Explication
Christian J. W. Kloesel· 1987
Publishers Weekly
Editorial Score30/100
#49
literary-fiction
Die Frauenfrage in den Romanen englischer Schriftstellerinnen der Gegenwart
Ernst Foerster· 1907
Library Journal
Editorial Score30/100
#50
literary-fiction
Mixed Media in Contemporary American Literature
Joelle Mann· 2021
Publishers Weekly
Editorial Score25/100
