Recommended Reading for Japan: Books to Read Before Your Trip

Reading about Japan is one of the best ways to get excited for your trip, and we’ve put together a comprehensive Japan reading list for serious book lovers and light readers alike.

Japan guidebooks can be a great resource for research and travel planning, but it’s also incredibly fun — and often enlightening — to read fiction and non-fiction books from and about Japan.

So we’ve compiled a wide-spanning recommended reading list for Japan, including books on Japanese food, culture, history, a variety of fiction and literature, and more!

If we missed a great book you think we should include, please let us know – happy reading!

Culinary Books on Japan

If it’s your first trip to Japan, our guess is that Japanese food will be even more delicious and varied than you can imagine. Below are our favorite books on Japanese food and drink, to simultaneously whet your appetite and give you great insight into Japan’s incredible culinary culture.

• Rice, Noodle, Fish, by Matt Goulding
• Sushi, by Kazuo Nagayama
• Izakaya: The Japanese Pub Cookbook, by Mark Robinson (see our full article on the izakaya experience in Japan!)
• Food Sake Tokyo, by Yukari Sakamoto
• Drinking Japan: A Guide to Japan’s Best Drinks and Drinking Establishments, by Chris Bunting
• Washoku: Recipes from the Japanese Home Kitchen, by Elizabeth Andoh
• Tokyo Cult Recipes, by Maori Murota
• Kansha: Celebrating Japan’s Vegan and Vegetarian Traditions, by Elizabeth Andoh (learn more about traveling through Japan with special dietary requirements)

Photo by PhoTones_TAKUMA CC BY

Books on Japanese Culture

Japan’s unique and diverse culture, from the traditional to the modern, is one of the things we love most about Japan. The books below — which span topics ranging from gardens to Zen, and fashion to anime — provide an immersive introduction to a breadth of fascinating topics related to Japanese culture.

• Old Kyoto: The Updated guide to Traditional Shops, Restaurants, and Inns, by Diane Durston
• A Geek in Japan, by Hector Garcia
• Japanese Gardens: Tranquility, Simplicity, Harmony, by Geeta K. Mehta and Kimie Tada
• Japanese Tattoos, by Brian Ashcraft
• Geisha, 25th Anniversary Edition, by Liza Dalby
• Houses and Gardens of Kyoto, by Thomas Daniell
• Zen and Japanese Culture, by D.T. Suzuki
• Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan, by Jake Adelstein
• The Japanese Mind: Understanding Contemporary Japanese Culture, by Roger J. Davies and Osamu Ikeno
• Kyoto Gardens: Masterworks of the Japanese Gardener’s Art, by Judith Clancy
• Kyoto: Seven Paths to The Heart of The City, by Diane Durston
• Kimono Design: An Introduction to Textiles and Patterns, by Keiko Nitanai
• Tokyo Fashion City: A Detailed Guide to Tokyo’s Trendiest Fashion Districts, by Philomena Keet
• Living in Japan, by Alex Kerr and Kathy Arlyn Sokol
• Japanese Zen Gardens, by Yoko Kawaguchi

Books about Japanese History

A basic understanding of Japanese history is essential to making sense of contemporary Japan, and the books below provide insight into some of the country’s most crucial historical periods.

• Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, by Herbert P. Bix
• The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan, by Ivan Morris
• The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi, by William Scott Wilson
• Japan at War: An Oral History, by Haruko Taya Cook and Theodore F. Cook
• Shockwave: Countdown to Hiroshima, by Stephen Walker
• Hiroshima, by John Hersey
• Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, by John W. Dower
• Yoshimasa and the Silver Pavilion: The Creation of the Soul of Japan, by Donald Keene

Travelogues, Guides, and Memoirs

These varied and colorful firsthand accounts are an invaluable way to vicariously experience Japan through the keen eyes of an eclectic collection of observers.

• Chronicles of My Life: An American in the Heart of Japan, by Donald Keene
• Minka: My Farmhouse in Japan, by John Roderick
• The Inland Sea, by Donald Richie
• The Japan Journals: 1947-2004, by Donald Richie
• Lost Japan: Last Glimpse of Beautiful Japan, by Alex Kerr
• The Roads to Sata: A 2000-Mile Walk Through Japan, by Alan Booth
• Confessions of a Yakuza, by Junichi Saga
• Yakuza Moon: Memoirs of a Gangster’s Daughter, by Shoko Tendo
• Dave Barry Does Japan, by Dave Barry
• The Lady and the Monk: Four Seasons in Kyoto, by Pico Iyer

Japanese Literature & Fiction

Japan is blessed with an incredible wealth of classic and modern literature. The sampling below will help get you started, and we recommend diving more deeply into the works of several of the authors below.

• Essays in Idleness: The Tsurezuregusa of Kenko, Translated by Donald Keene (while not for everyone, this is the book that first helped inspire my love for Japan, as I mention on our About page)
• The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, Translated by Ivan Morris
• The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, & Issa, Translated by Robert Hass
• The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu
• The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami
• Norwegian Wood, by Haruki Murakami
• Four Major Plays of Chikamatsu, by Chikamatsu Monzaemon
• The Sound of Waves, by Yukio Mishima
• The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, by Yukio Mishima
• Kitchen, by Banana Yoshimoto
• The Makioka Sisters, by Junichiro Tanizaki
• I Am a Cat, by Soseki Natsume
• Shogun, by James Clavell
• Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids, by Kenzaburo Oe
• Snow Country, by Yasunari Kawabata
• Anthology of Japanese Literature: From the Earliest Era to the Mid-Nineteenth Century, by Donald Keene
• The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches, by Matsuo Basho and Nobuyuki Yuasa

So whether you relish the feel and smell of paper in your hands, or prefer the convenience and portability of a Kindle or your mobile device, we hope our recommended Japan reading list helps you prepare for your adventures!

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