Pages

Thursday, June 4, 2009

filling in my Japanese gaps with 100 authors

check out the keyboard...do you see the Japanese characters?

(Last names come first in Japanese)

1.北方 謙三 Kitakata Kenzo

2.宮本輝 Miyamoto Teru

3.田辺聖子 Tanabe Seiko

4.松本清張 Matsumoto Seicho

5.山本一力 Yamamoto Ichiriki

6.宮沢賢治 Miyazawa Kenji

7.小川洋子 Ogawa Yoko

8.よしもとばなな Yoshimoto Banana

9.三島由紀夫 Mishima Yukio

10.赤川次郎 Akagawa Jiro

11.灰谷健次郎 Haitani Kenjiro

12.太宰治 Dazai Osamu

13.夏目漱石 Natsume Soseki

14.芥川龍之介Akutagawa Ryunosuke

15.遠藤周作 Endo Shusaku

16.上野千鶴子Ueno Chizuko

17.毛利嘉孝 Mouri Yoshitaka

18.谷川俊太郎 Tanikawa Shuntaro

19.中原中也 Nakahara Chuya

20.塩野七生Shiono Nanami

21. 村上春樹 Murakami Haruki

22.川端康成 Kawabata Yasunari

23.井上靖 Inoue Yasushi

24.村上龍 Murakami Ryu

25.森鴎外Mori Ogai

26.近松門左衛門Chikamatsu Monzaemon

27.大江健三郎 Oe Kenzaburo

28.中上健次 Nakagami Kenji

29.安部公房 Abe Koubo

30.有吉佐和子Ariyoshi Sawako

31.森茉莉 Mori Mari

32.中里恒子 Nagazato Tsuneko

32.宇野千代 Uno Chiyo

33.与謝野晶子 Yosano Akiko

34.樋口一葉 Higuchi Ichiyo

35.志賀直哉 Shiga Naoya

36.佐伯泰英Saeki Yasuhide

37.江戸川乱歩 Edogawa Ranpo

38.大沢在昌 Osawa Arimasa

39.落合信彦 Ochiai Nobuhiko

40.恩田陸 Onda Riku

41.桐野夏生 Kirino Natsuo

42.島崎藤村Shimazaki Toson

43.島田一男 Shimada Kazuo

44. 住井すゑ Sumii Sue

45.辻仁成 Tsuji Hitonari

46.筒井康隆 Tsutsui Yasutaka

47.鳥羽亮 Toba Ryo

48.永井荷風 Nagai Kafu

49.中島らも Nakajima Ramo

50.藤沢周平 Fujisawa Shuhei

51.五木寛之 Itsuki Hiroyuki

52.星新一 Hoshi Shinichi

53.宮部みゆきMiyabe Miyuki

54.向田邦子 Mukaida Kuniko

55.群ようこ Mure Yoko

56.山田詠美 Yamada Amy

57.山本兼一Yamamoto Kenichi

58.山本周五郎 Yamamoto Shugoro

59.夢枕獏 Yumemakura Bakku

60.柳美里 Yu Miri (Korean?)

61.夢野久作 Yumeno Kyusaku

62.吉川英治 Yoshikawa Eiji

63.渡辺淳一 Watanabe Junichi

64.渡辺温 Watanabe On

65.谷崎潤一郎 Tanizaki Junichiro

66. 梨木香歩 Nashiki Kaho

67.清水久典 Shimizu Hisanori

68.湯本香樹実 Yumoto Kazumi

69.白洲正子Shirasu Masako

70.児島のぼるKojima Noboru

I would easily go over 100 when it comes to Japanese books since there is so much I haven't read yet....

Even with my favorite authors like Natsume Soseki, Endo Shusaku and Dazai Osamu there are many I haven't yet read... or worse... I read them when I was still studying Japanese and couldn't really understand the beauty behind all the kanji!

I asked around at the office and got a few suggestions from "real Japanese people".
I also have a few books that friends have given to me over the years and ...forgive me....I  still haven't read.

So, there are lots of classics as well as authors you may know, as well as authors that are really famous in Japan but haven't been translated yet AND authors that are finally getting translated into English.

If you have any suggestions, please let me know!



7 comments:

Emily Cross said...

Brilliant! i love foreign books! I'll definitely be using this to suppliment my own reading!! Granted, i'll be using translation :)

I_am_Tulsa said...

Emily, lovely to hear from you! I'm glad that you can use this list too!
I hope you can find the translations, quite a few are out there!

Polly said...

Gosh, I would never be able to add to this list although I am pleased to say I know some of these names and Banana Yoshimoto and Natsume Soseki are one of my favourites.

What's your favourite japanese book?

I_am_Tulsa said...

Hi Polly!
Thank you soooo much for looking at my list too! But...

I really can't answer your question....I know it should be simple...but I just...can't.... I need to read more... I could go out on a limb and say I am a Cat by Soseki...but I might choose another one of his books once I read them all...

Nashiki Kaho's book titled "Nishi no Majo ga Shinda" which would be I suppose: "The Witch of the West is Dead", was very nice too.

It is a story about a girl whose grandmother is British (she married a Japanese man and gave birth to a daughter in Japan). The grandmother is slightly mysterious, living alone in a rather rural town. She has a garden and natural way of living., making jams etc.

The granddaughter is sent to the granny's house when she can't adjust to school life and the grandmother's subtle ways of disciplining her granddaughter help for the girl to grow.

It's a rather short story but it inspired me to pick up the pen again...

Other Lisa said...

Wow, I am sooo bad at reading characters (in Chinese) I'm totally impressed and blown away that you've read all of these authors in their original language.

I_am_Tulsa said...

Other Lisa, thank you for stopping by! Oh dear, I haven't read ALL the authors on my list...but I did include a lot of my favorites! I must admit that it takes me longer to read in Japanese than in English.

I couldn't imagine reading in Chinese since they are all, well, Chinese... Japanese is soooo much easier, trust me on this!

I am more blown away that you can get around in China and understand what your neighbors are saying! Believe me, I'm the one who is impressed!

Other Lisa said...

Only if they're speaking fairly standard Mandarin! And I still have a long way to go...hopefully my next stint will get me up to snuff.