Have you noticed the increasing recommendations of Japanese literature and books on Instagram, too?
If you’re stuck on what to read in the last stretch of January, why not finish it with this literary trend that returns every new year: #JanuaryinJapan!
This trend has encouraged many readers to explore translated Japanese literature for years. Surrounding the national holiday of Japanese New Year, many works capture the themes of togetherness, forms of healing, and magic hidden in the mundane.
Curious? Let’s dive deeper, shall we?
How Did January in Japan Happen?
This trend has been going around for more than a few years now, in time with the celebration of Japanese New Year. The national holiday starts on January 1 and lasts three days or longer. Families celebrate with spreads of new year food symbolizing good health and prosperity, visits to shrines and temples in respect and prayer, and various cultural traditions and activities to reconnect with each other, bringing good luck and warmth into the new year.
The celebration brings themes of family, gratitude, hope, and healing into busy, fast-paced lives.
January in Japan sheds light on these literary translations. They invite reflection and introspection during the cold winter month, a warm hug to remind readers of the beauty of life, and a soft light in the dark. It makes people think, allowing them to find healing within their thoughts.
Every new year, readers hosted or joined the challenge on Instagram, Goodreads, blogs, etc. to share their journeys and recommend their favorite works that encapsulate these themes.
Some works can even be written in English, and not all are directly written and translated by Japanese authors, but they still capture Japanese culture, themes, mythology, settings, etc.
Healing Fiction
Many deem this literature to be a new genre altogether. In a New York Times article about Toshikazu Kawaguchi, author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Alexandra Alter spoke of the cozy books as a part of “healing fiction.” Featuring Japanese and Korean literature (for this article, we’re focusing on Japanese literature), their magical realism enriches mundane places with heartwarming stories. They provide comfort in the chaos of the real world. It is similar to reading a book for the “vibes” or the potential feelings it could bring.
Every work imbues its type of magic into motifs of empathy, understanding, and personal reflection. They hold real and difficult emotions with gentle hands and allow the entire life of the story to look upon them with care.
If you are looking for an easier month of reading with shorter but beautiful healing novels, this genre is the place for you.
That being said, January in Japan is a time to explore all Japanese literature and culturally inspired works! It spans multiple genre and can be enjoyed by anyone!
I’d like to share a few recommendations of “healing fiction” that are part of my #JanuaryinJapan reading challenge.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi provides comfort and healing with its central setting: the small basement café in a back alleyway. The café can bring visitors back to the past — while following a set of rules, of course. One rule requires travelers’ visits in the past to last only as long as the coffee is warm, so they have to make their time worthwhile.
The collection of stories follows regulars and new customers who travel to the past to talk with loved ones undergoing their own circumstances.
They emphasize the importance of listening to different perspectives and holding empathy for everyone’s stories and emotions. It can be both heartbreaking and mending, offering a ray of insight into what can feel hopeless.
Plus, I love the atmosphere and small details about the characters and the café that make the readers feel like they are a part of it — almost as if they frequented the café themselves for a while, too.
What You Are Looking For Is in the Library
What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama revolves around a librarian, Sayuri Komachi, who knows exactly what book each visitor needs by reading their souls. With her inference, she recommends books to visitors that help them find what they were looking for in their lives, whether they know it or not.
The book travels into stories where five people walk into the library with different circumstances, stories, anxieties, and experiences. The mindset shifts from each character to highlight how people can come from all walks of life and still gain insight from books and others around them.
This story reveres the knowledge of books, which was one of the reasons why I was drawn to it in the first place.
If you are as an avid reader and lover of books as much as I am, you should read this one!
Water Moon
Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao follows a woman who wakes up as the newly appointed owner of a pawn shop that sells life choices and regrets. She discovers that it has been left in a devastated state. To make matters even more puzzling, a customer comes in and offers to help her find her missing father and the regrets that disappeared.
While Water Moon is not a Japanese translation and is written in English, Sotto wrote a gorgeous novel based on Japanese culture, myths, and settings that work together to emphasize themes of healing within her fiction.
Reviewers have also remarked that this book reminds them of Studio Ghibli movies: a fantastical world with beautiful, imagistic settings and vivid symbols that represent the important themes of the book, including freedom of choice and regrets.
The world is simply stunning, and its main characters, Hana and Keishen, show the power of the author’s imagination.
With these elements and more, the book takes us on a journey across a colorful world while exploring deeper elements of our choices, our regrets, and our lifestyles.
As January nears its end, why not try out some of these books or any Japanese translations waiting to be read? And don’t worry if you feel like there’s not enough time — winter’s not over yet, and it’s still the perfect time to peruse Japanese literature for January in Japan.
What have you read this January? And if you’ve participated in the #JanuaryinJapan trend, what are your favorites?
