Factbook

A Dynamic Compendium of Interesting Japanese Literary and Publishing Facts

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Creative Writing

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

[UPDATED: 2-22-2018]

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 and thought the name was memorable, “cute”, and “purposefully androgynous.”

She comes from a very creative family. Her father Taaki Yoshimoto (1924-2012) was a well-known poet and literary critic and her sister is a well-known cartoonist.

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

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Factbook

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

Japan’s first ‘I-novels’ were written and published in 1906 and 1907[UPDATED: 6-3-2021]

By the early 1900s so many books had been published ‘Explaining Japan’ that one author felt compelled to write a book summarising them[UPDATED: 6-2-2021]

The Nobel Prize committee cited Rudyard Kipling’s writing on the manners and customs of the Japanese when they awarded him his Nobel prize in 1907[UPDATED: 6-2-2021]

Manga magazines and books generate more than half of all publishing revenues in Japan[UPDATED: 6-2-2021]

The term ‘Atomic Bomb Literature’ came into wide use in the 1960s[UPDATED: 5-5-2021]

Japan’s first ‘detective story’ was published in 1889[UPDATED: 5-4-2021]

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