a beginner’s guide to: banana yoshimoto

episode 1 of my contemporary japanese fiction series

for anyone interested in contemporary japanese fiction, haruki murakami may be the name that first comes to mind.

likewise, my own journey with the genre began with murakami’s “norwegian wood” which i read back in sophomore year of high school, and was instantly looking for more of his work at my local library; the novel spoke to me.

looking back on it now, having recently re-read it and having also connected some dots in my brain, NW is probably not going to be that book for everyone. murakami as an author can be very accessible in some of his work, but also very niche, weird or off-putting in others. there are some people who like me just get what he’s going for, and vibe with his stories, and then there are some like my mom who read NW right after me and was not a fan.

banana yoshimoto

nowadays, i am aware of a lot more contemporary japanese authors, and one pivotal to the development of my own writing voice is banana yoshimoto. i happen to agree with the way she lives her life: i love that her name isn’t capitalized on the covers of (some, not all) of her books, which makes it seem more stylistically similar to how it’s written in japanese (apparently, for 13 years she signed her name in hiragana - よしもと ばなな¹). there are no capital letters in japanese².

side note, if you don’t know anything about the japanese language, there are two alphabets and three writing systems. hiragana is a simplified alphabet, used for japanese words that do not have kanji, and in children’s books. katakana is an alphabet used for foreign words and names (like “computer”) and for “sound-effect words” (onomatopoeia). in both hiragana and katakana each symbol represents a sound or syllable (example: よ - yo, し - shi, も - mo, と - to, ば - ba, な - na). kanji on the other hand are chinese characters which represent specific words (example: 空 (sora) (may be pronounced differently in chinese)) - sky).³

she chose the name “banana” to sound androgynous. she writes for half an hour a day at her computer, and feels guilty, because she writes for fun.⁴

in a previous substack piece i described japanese prose in general as:

surreal in the way it captures mundanity; there’s something spiritual yet so rooted in reality in it. Japanese fiction has a way of being nostalgic, even in the present tense, and to take life for all its joys and all its traumas at face value. something about that raw honesty, that’s somehow dreamy and mysterious at the same time is just so comforting to someone like me

and specifically banana yoshimoto’s work as:

written from the first-person points of view of young women, dealing with a loss or a trauma of another kind. it is often the loss of a parent, parental figure or a family member. then, by twists of fate they meet other people who might have experienced trauma as well. family - blood and chosen - is a huge theme all of these books. in the end, the heroines will have found their healing or be on their way to finding it…

without further ado, let’s get into her books, ranked in order.

kitchen (and moonlight shadow)

yoshimoto’s most well known work, her literary debut⁵ and my second favorite of her books. i don’t want to talk too much about it, as to not spoil any part of it. i think this a book that can be very enjoyable going in with zero knowledge and zero expectations. it is just a touching story i could re-read over and over. by the way, most of yoshimoto’s books are very quick reads, under 200 pages, and thus have high re-readability.

goodbye tsugumi

my favorite yoshimoto book, hands down and also one that (if i remember correctly) doesn’t have any controversial topics (as opposed to some of her books i’ll have later on the list), it is a coming of age story. the setting is not tokyo, which can be a welcome difference as a lot of japanese stories popular abroad and especially in the english speaking world tend to be based in tokyo (nothing wrong with that either, i love those). the main relationship in the book is familial, and as someone who is not much of a romance enjoyer, i appreciate that in most of her work. while they don’t completely lack romance, there’s no cheesy, stereotypical romance tropes, and love is just as equal part of the plot (life) as everything else. none of her stories focus on or emphasize the romance.

dead-end memories

a beautiful short story collection, and one of the longest yoshimoto books. every story focuses on a woman overcoming something in her life. this was the first yoshimoto book i’ve ever read and while it didn’t immediately make me crave more, i did remember her name from that point on. i do think it’s better to get a general feel for yoshimoto’s work first, and then dive into these stories.

lizard

a quirky short story collection that feels a bit more experimental. i think everyone will find at least 1-2 stories from this collection that they’ll enjoy. if you find the young woman points of view in the other yoshimoto books a bit repetitive, but still appreciate yoshimoto’s craftsmanship with the pen (or keyboard i guess) i think giving this collection a chance could be worth it.

the lake

a story i appreciated because i’m a banana yoshimoto lover, but not one i would recommend to anyone and everyone. if you love her as much as me, i think there’s a high chance you’ll enjoy this book. otherwise, it is not a life changing or necessary experience by any means.

n.p.

the strangest yoshimoto book i’ve read, and frankly my least favorite one. it wasn’t bad by any means, but some of the relationships in the book made me a bit uncomfortable (due to their incestuous nature). i have no regrets about finishing the book, and if it was really bad i would have stopped. still, this is not a book i’d recommend anyone start getting to know yoshimoto or japanese prose in general with.

still on my list

i am determined to get through every yoshimoto work that’s been translated into english, so asleep, amrita, hardboiled & hard luck, argentine hag, the premonition and moshi-moshi are still on my list. i will likely update this guide in the future, with consideration of all of these works. i’m also very upset by the fact that yoshimoto’s four essay collections themed around the occult, love, death and life have never been translated into english⁶. i’m hopeful that someone will get on it soon (if anyone from the publishing business ever reads this, please. i’ll buy those essay collections so quick).

to you, reader

are you a japanese prose reader? have you read any of yoshimoto’s work? if not, who have you read? if yes, what was it and what did you think?

thank you for taking the time to read this guide. and i’ll talk to you all again very soon!

xoxo,

- sab.

1. from her Wikipedia page

2. the grammar police just clutched their pearls, see this note of mine

3. feel free to correct me in the comments, this is how i remember it from taking japanese for 1 year in college

4. also from Wikipedia, citation missing for that quote

5. published in jp in 1988, when she was 24, the age i am now. info again from wikipedia

6. see wikipedia