Factbook

A Dynamic Compendium of Interesting Japanese Literary and Publishing Facts

If you would like to contribute to this compendium please submit your ideas here.
All will be considered for publication by our expert panel.

Category Index:

Factbook Keyword Search:
Search for:

Creative Writing

Banana Yoshimoto chose the pen name banana as it was gender neutral

[UPDATED: 8-20-2021]

Banana Yoshimoto, one of the most internationally recognised contemporary female Japanese writers established her career in 1988 with her debut novel Kitchen, which was nominated for various prizes, instantly putting her on Japan’s literary map. She wrote the novel while working as a waitress in a golf club.

She chose her pen name while at college before graduation choosing banana to replace her given name Mahoko as she liked banana flowers, which flourish deep within the stems of banana plants, and because she thought the name was memorable, “cute”, and “purposefully androgynous.”

She comes from a very creative family. Her father Takaaki Yoshimoto (1924-2012) was a well-known poet and literary critic, her mother Kazuko (1927-2012) a haiku poet and her sister, Yoiko Haruno, is a well-known cartoonist.

Banana Yoshimoto chose the pen name banana as it was gender neutral Posted January 3rd, 2018 by Richard Nathan

More Facts:

New international standards for measuring time, weights and measures encouraged some to call for Japan to adopt a Westernised writing system abandoning traditional alphabets[UPDATED: 7-7-2023]
- TOPICS:
- Dictionary
- History
- On Japan
- translation
In 1841 Shakespeare’s name appeared in print in Japan in Japanese for the first time[UPDATED: 6-14-2023]
- TOPICS:
- On Japan
- Shakespeare
- translation
Japan experts, Japanologists, commentators, as well as visitors to Japan, have been deriding each other’s ‘Knowledge’ of the nation for over a century[UPDATED: 5-10-2023]
- TOPICS:
- History
- On Japan
- Tourism
By 1905 Japanese people were already buying the ‘Encyclopedia Britannica’ on subscription and their prompt payment was used to highlight the trustworthiness of the nation[UPDATED: 4-3-2023]
- TOPICS:
- History
- On Japan
- Retail
By the early 1900s so many books had been published ‘Explaining Japan’ that one author felt compelled to write a book summarising them[UPDATED: 3-22-2023]
- TOPICS:
- History
- On Japan
In the 1870s Japanese bookshops already sold Western books targeting Japan’s growing student population[UPDATED: 3-1-2023]
- TOPICS:
- Bookshops
- History
- On Japan
- Poetry
- Religion

Factbook

Banana Yoshimoto chose the pen name banana as it was gender neutral

New international standards for measuring time, weights and measures encouraged some to call for Japan to adopt a Westernised writing system abandoning traditional alphabets[UPDATED: 7-7-2023]

In 1841 Shakespeare’s name appeared in print in Japan in Japanese for the first time[UPDATED: 6-14-2023]

Japan experts, Japanologists, commentators, as well as visitors to Japan, have been deriding each other’s ‘Knowledge’ of the nation for over a century[UPDATED: 5-10-2023]

By 1905 Japanese people were already buying the ‘Encyclopedia Britannica’ on subscription and their prompt payment was used to highlight the trustworthiness of the nation[UPDATED: 4-3-2023]

By the early 1900s so many books had been published ‘Explaining Japan’ that one author felt compelled to write a book summarising them[UPDATED: 3-22-2023]

In the 1870s Japanese bookshops already sold Western books targeting Japan’s growing student population[UPDATED: 3-1-2023]

Newsletters