Why is Japanese Literature So Popular?

A short essay about the current obsession with Japanese novels.

A few months ago, I wrote a short post about the growing popularity of Japanese literature in translation. It was slightly political and I did not want to make this Substack into a forum for my political views, so I promised not to raise the topic again. To be honest, I’ve thought about this topic a lot since then and I really wanted to write a longer essay, but I stuck by my promise. Then, yesterday I read an interesting article:

Although not shown here, the article is subtitled “Why Japanese fiction is booming in the West.”

The article basically did what I wanted to do by asking why Japanese literature is now so popular, but I felt it was lacking. In fact, I thought it more or less failed to answer the question at all. It merely noted that Japanese novels (as well as short stories and novellas) are becoming more popular, giving a couple of examples and asking a few token questions to people in the industry. The only real argument made was that there are some good translators now and also that there is an audience, which means there is more scope for acquiring titles to translate.

The fact that this article did not really explain why J-lit is so popular (except that it contains cats and is sometimes written by women?!) made me dig out my notes and write a more substantial essay. Below, I’ve listed and expanded upon 7 reasons why I think people are drawn to Japanese novels right now.

Reason #1: Reframing the World Without Political Division

First of all, I think we should address the fact that there are both push and pull factors and that these are somewhat linked. By that, I mean there are problems in Western society and English-language literature and people want to escape these, and that Japanese literature offers a good alternative.

In terms of push factors, I think it’s hard to argue with the idea that the West is in something of a difficult situation right now. Whether you are from North America or Europe, there seems to be a sense of disaffection if not outright existential dread. We all feel that our societies are collapsing and that current trends are taking us in the wrong direction, but our political affiliations mean that we cannot agree on why or how.

This is reflected in art and commercial entertainment. Whether it attempts to address the problem or offer some form of escapism, I think in many cases it just exacerbates it. For one thing, there is a massive division in the West between the two dominant groups: liberals and conservatives. Somehow, each side manages to view the other as inherently evil. They each have simplistic worldviews that do not translate well into real art. When they offer up their artistic visions, it tends to fall into this foolish dichotomy of woke and anti-woke vision, which both come across as little more than embarrassing propaganda filled with irritating tropes and buzzwords. Plus, because people now view their political identity almost as a religion, there is an unwillingness to consider anything from the other side, which as I’ve said is usually viewed as evil.

From the perspective of an artist, this is troubling. If you are very liberal, you will probably write novels or make films that espouse liberal values and target a liberal audience, which is fine, but of course you will be attacked by conservatives. The opposite is naturally true. This limits you in various ways. Agents, publishers, and the general public all look for signs that a book is written by someone possessing the right values. That book ought to signal those values as well. What if you accidentally enjoyed a story by someone whose political views are different from yours? Remember: different is evil now. This pushes artists to make dull, predictable art. In fact, I would contend that such work barely meets the criteria of “art.” It is content at best and propaganda at worst.

Take, for example, the unholy slop that is R.F. Kuang’s novel, Babel. She wanted to write an anti-colonial novel, which is certainly a topic worthy of discussion and a position that is reasonable to take, but alas she has fallen into the modern progressive trap of writing a novel that is a weak, dull political tract. She is incapable of nuance and does not see characters as people but rather as archetypes in a crude philosophy drawn from lazy scholarship. Every white person in her book is a knuckle-dragging racist and every person of colour is a troubled genius. Every conversation very obviously aims to illuminate the evils of colonialism, at least viewed through a limited historical perspective. It is insipid, uninspired, and a perfect example of bad art. However, it fits with far-left dogma and so it is revered as a brave work of genius. In spite of hilariously bad mistakes, it is widely considered a “meticulously researched” book of historical fiction. (For the record, I would probably hate an anti-woke novel as much. I don’t mean to pick on any one side. I just happened to be given this book.)

In the West, this is now normal. Gone are the days when you could read intelligent work that made brutal criticisms in insightful ways. George Orwell would not be published today because in his anti-fascist work he was too careful, too intelligent, too honest. He did not assert that everyone he disliked was fascist or decry fascism in every sentence. His anti-colonial writings were similarly works of art rather than pathetic political screeds. He made you think. He told a good story. In the midst of all that, you got the core message. Nowadays, almost the only writing possessing such qualities comes to us through translation.

In Japanese literature, authors almost never take such a painfully stupid approach to writing. Japanese feminists, for example, do not feel that they need to excoriate men in every other sentence, constantly browbeating us for our failings. They merely write good novels that happen to contain certain values in keeping with feminism. These novels can be enjoyed by men or anyone who does not think of himself as a feminist. That hypothetical male reader will enjoy a well-written novel and hopefully learn a thing or two about women’s experiences. Perhaps he will see in this novel some of the bad behaviours commonly displayed by men or some of the hardships faced by women. This may help him to modify his behaviour and change his views. A Western feminist novelist, on the other hand, would more likely rage against all men, alienating all but the most masochistic of that particular demographic.

Thus, Japanese novels offer a welcome alternative to the angry, reductive literature of the modern West. They allow us to explore important issues free of the limitations of political dogma. They also offer an escape from the exhaustion this dualism brings. You do not feel worried when buying a Japanese novel because no one will see you reading it on the train and think you have the wrong values. You won’t be suckered in by a good story and then later realise the author is “problematic” and now you have to pretend you didn’t like it. Japan stands outside of all that nonsense.

A collection of recent J-lit books. I’ve reviewed most of these on this Substack.

Reason #2: Moving Beyond Good and Evil

Identity politics and the Culture Wars seem to force upon us the rather dangerous idea that certain groups of people are intrinsically evil. If you are progressive, for example, then all white men are innately evil. Conservatives seem to think that way about immigrants and Muslims. But of course, this is not new. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, and in Western culture in general, there has been a long-standing tendency to view the world as divided into good and evil.

If you look back through Western art—and also commercial forms of entertainment—then you will naturally see this division. In fact, it probably seems so natural that you might hardly notice it. It is something so inherent to our culture that it just seems normal. I don’t want to say that we are entirely wrong. Perhaps good and evil do exist… but the way it is framed in art is artificial and misleading. Our stories are filled with virtuous heroes and nefarious villains. Look at, for example, every Disney movie. Yes, literature has usually been more subtle but still there is a tendency to frame the world in such a way: some people or groups of people are good and others are bad.

Now look at Japanese fiction. It is refreshingly free of this false dichotomy. Japanese villains are seldom outright villainous. They are presented as complex beings who are more like antagonists than old-fashioned bad guys. Yes, evil does emerge in some stories but it is rarely so simple. Likewise, protagonists are more believable and are more akin to individual humans than archetypes of good. In fact, I talked about villains but in Japanese novels, how many of these do you really see? A great many books simply lack that aspect and the less pleasant characters tend to be realistic versions of people who have both positive and negative traits. When you do have an antagonist, it is usually someone or something that is extremely damaged and not intrinsically evil. Isn’t this more in line with reality?

Now bring together the left-right division mentioned in Reason #1 and see how different Japanese literature might look if it were to develop both of these problems. Imagine the equivalent of a left-wing novelist, a Japanese R.F. Kuang, for example: “This is an ethnically Japanese man, so he is BAD! He will only do or say terrible things!” It is crude and childish, yet that is now the dominant thought in the West. How nice it is to read Japanese novels, where characters are individual people neither wholly good nor bad, but just human.

Reason #3: Lack of Conflict

As I have alluded to above, but also in many other ways, Western culture is presently immersed in conflict. That includes wars or at least news of wars, but also violence and the idea of violence, as well as arguments and political bickering. Conflict is so normal for us that we don’t always consciously notice it.

Conflict is of course central to English-language novels as well as movies and other forms of art. “What is the conflict?” is a typical question one might ask when critiquing a story. If there is no conflict, there is no story. That conflict needn’t always be a hero shooting his way out of trouble or slaying a dragon, but there is almost always conflict.

In Japanese novels, however, this is not necessarily the case. The conflict may be very subtle or it may arguably be absent. Characters in Japanese novels quite often exist and do not need to fight against the forces of evil. They more often search for meaning and in many cases that meaning requires an interior journey. The landscape might switch from external to internal, as we so often see in the work of Haruki Murakami. His books—and those other Japanese novelists—also take us out of the hyper-real world that can be oppressive or wearisome and into dreamscapes and other realms that fuse the real and unreal, often in a way that resembles a dream.

Japanese novels are often about situations or journeys rather than conflict between characters or groups. I feel this makes them less formulaic. From the Western perspective, this certainly sounds boring but in reality it is not the case, which many readers are now finding. In fact, the lack of conflict often means these stories can escape from the formulae that most Western stories fall into, making them less predictable and therefore more interesting. It also makes these stories quite relatable and it is a nice release to be drawn away from social media doomscrolling and the endless news headlines about war.

Reason #4: Japan is Foreign but not Alien

I’ve mentioned a few times now that people in English-speaking countries are generally pretty sick of the present situation and are looking for something that you might consider escapism. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest that Japanese novels are the answer many have found. They present stories and characters that are relatable whilst still being slightly “exotic.”

This is something that was admittedly touched upon in the article I linked at the beginning of this post. I would say that Japan is a far-away and fascinating land for most Western people yet the lives of Japanese citizens are somewhat relatable. They are culturally different from us yet think quite similarly to us. This is not true of China, for example, where values are often the polar opposite of ours. Chinese novels can be a headache even for people like me who have lived in China for many years because of the endless repetition of “Big Aunt One” and “Sister Two” and so on. The way Japanese people think and relate to one another is different but it is very easy for Western people to begin understanding. Likewise, the Japanese environment tends to be familiar but different. The modern conveniences and systems make this world more relatable than countries.

Reason #5: Japanese Creativity

Japan, unlike most of the countries in that part of the world, has a tolerance for creativity that has led to the production of exciting art and ideas. If you’ve lived in Asia for any length of time, you’ll probably have noticed that creativity is not encouraged and sadly it’s often beaten (sometimes literally) out of children at a young age. This is changing a little bit but in Japan it’s long been accepted that some people are creative and the country has benefited hugely from its creative industries. Even in Asian nations where anti-Japanese sentiment predominates, people love anime and other Japanese cultural exports that those people are themselves incapable of producing due to the suppression of creative impulses. In fact, all around the world there is a love for Japanese films, cartoons, and novels, and we recognise the history of Japanese poetry and painting.

Given all that, it’s hardly surprising that Japan produces not just high-quality literature but creative works that push boundaries. This appeals more than the fiction that comes out of its neighbours, although admittedly South Korea is seeing major improvements.

I will also note here that creativity has been a major strength for the West for hundreds of years, yet it is quite possible that the extreme leaps in creativity seen in the 20^th century have brought us to a sort of dead end. As much as I love postmodern art, I think that was precisely what led to the bleakness of the 21^st century. We currently see little except narcissism and nostalgia now. We deconstructed everything and have nothing left to believe in. Perhaps another reason we enjoy Japanese creativity is that our own creative output has dried up. (This is a huge topic but not really in the scope of this essay. I recommend listening to this episode from the podcast Philosophize This!)

Reason #6: Translators

Japanese literature has better translators than most other languages, certainly outside of the major European ones. This was also mentioned in the above article. I think the success of writers like Haruki Murakami created opportunities for later generations of Japanese writers and translators. Additionally, Japan is a country that just appeals to many people, meaning that those people go there, learn the language, and end up with the ability to translate. When exciting new Japanese novels come out, there are thus more translators available and now more publishers and editors willing to look at their work, and all of this combined helps push more Japanese books onto the market.

(This point has been made by other articles, including the one mentioned above, so I won’t go into more detail here.)

Reason #7: Hope and Recovery

I spoke above about the sense of doom in the West right now. People generally seem to feel that the end of their civilisation is approaching, whether you are a right-wing person who thinks that it’s immigration that will bring this about or a left-wing person who sees the destruction coming from far-right politicians.

Japan was a proud and mighty nation that was virtually annihilated at the end of World War II, yet it recovered at an astonishing speed. It changed so thoroughly and healed so well that within a few decades it was an economic and cultural powerhouse, the envy of numerous other nations.

Of course, we don’t merely look at Japan and think, “They’re rich.” Rather, we look at the quality of life they have and this brings us to another catastrophe—the economic collapse of the 1990s. People in the US might well worry about their nation’s growing debt but looking at Japan we see a country that not only saw an economic disaster but which essentially stopped growing. From the Western perspective, a lack of growth is abject failure, but look at Japan! It is still an incredibly beautiful country with a functioning society in spite of this stagnation. If you travel around Asia and then go to Japan, it seems like another world. The country somehow works in spite of this lack of economic growth. People are not poor. The systems work far better than in the most developed of nations. There are qualities there you just don’t see anywhere else on the continent. It is, in many ways, the envy of the world.

In short, people might see in Japanese novels a ray of hope for the future of their own society. If rampant capitalism (or anything else) brings the English-speaking world down, maybe we won’t end up with some Max Max-like hellscape, but rather we might end up in a better place.

Conclusion

There are many reasons why Japanese novels are becoming so popular in the West and I’m not convinced by the arguments that Japan is simply “cool” right now or that people somehow just love books about cats and bookshops. Yes, there is an element of truth there. Japan is a pretty amazing country and cats are cool creatures as well, but in all these “why is Japanese literature so popular?” articles, I’ve honestly never seen a convincing argument. The above ideas are my own ones and I think they hold water. No doubt many of you will disagree, and that’s fine. Feel free to contribute your own ideas in the comment section.

I think we can look to new Japanese books and say that they are creative and generally well translated, which is a big factor, but I think it would be naïve to overlook the problems in the West these Japanese novels sort of address. They offer an escape without exactly being escapism. They offer a little hope and something different from the bleak political and cultural landscape of the early 21^st century in places like the UK and the US.