Factbook

A Dynamic Compendium of Interesting Japanese Literary and Publishing Facts

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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… Read more »
- TOPICS:
- pen names
- Women Writers
Banana Yoshimoto chose the pen name banana as it was gender neutral Posted January 3rd, 2018 by Richard Nathan
Cross-dressing and transgenderism were popular themes in late Edo Japanese literature[UPDATED: 8-9-2021]

Japan’s Edo period began in 1603 and ended in 1868. It was a peaceful and prosperous period during which Japan was ruled by the Tokugawa Shoguns; was isolated from the world; and adhered to strict rigid social hierarchies, which were very much the order of… Read more »
- TOPICS:
- History
- LGBT
Cross-dressing and transgenderism were popular themes in late Edo Japanese literature Posted August 9th, 2021 by Richard Nathan
In 1964, the year of the first Tokyo Olympics, three important Japanese novels were published, one of which helped lead to a Nobel Prize, and a very exciting new author was born[UPDATED: 8-9-2021]

In 1964, Yasunari Kawabata (1899-1972), Japan’s first winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (he won in 1968), published Beauty and Sadness and four years later went on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Beauty and Sadness is an elegiac and provocative novel that cleverly… Read more »
- TOPICS:
- Nobel
- Olympics
- Prizes
- Women Writers
In 1964, the year of the first Tokyo Olympics, three important Japanese novels were published, one of which helped lead to a Nobel Prize, and a very exciting new author was born Posted July 23rd, 2021 by Richard Nathan
The world’s bestselling comic book series by a single author is ‘One Piece’ a Japanese manga[UPDATED: 6-3-2021]

According to The Guinness Book of Records, Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece sold 320,866,000 units worldwide between its launch in 1997 and 2015 when it was first listed by Guinness as a record breaking series. One Piece, which is an on-going series that still tops the… Read more »
- TOPICS:
- Fuminori Nakamura
- manga
The world’s bestselling comic book series by a single author is ‘One Piece’ a Japanese manga Posted June 3rd, 2021 by Richard Nathan
Japan’s first ‘I-novels’ were written and published in 1906 and 1907[UPDATED: 6-3-2021]

The I-novel also known as watakushi shosetsu, is a type of confessional autobiographical Japanese novel generally written in the first person. The very first ones are said to have been Hakai, Broken Commandment by Toson Shimazaki (1872-1943) and Futon, The Quilt, by Katai Tayama (1872-1930), published in 1906 and… Read more »
- TOPICS:
- Cats
- History
Japan’s first ‘I-novels’ were written and published in 1906 and 1907 Posted May 29th, 2020 by Richard Nathan
Manga magazines and books generate more than half of all publishing revenues in Japan[UPDATED: 6-2-2021]

According to The All Japan Magazine and Book Publisher’s and Editor’s Association (AJPEA) manga magazines and books generate more than half of all publishing revenues, which are estimated at 1.4 trillion yen (US$14 billion), in Japan.
- TOPICS:
- Industry
- manga
- Market Data
Manga magazines and books generate more than half of all publishing revenues in Japan Posted June 2nd, 2021 by Richard Nathan
The term ‘Atomic Bomb Literature’ came into wide use in the 1960s[UPDATED: 5-5-2021]

The term Atomic Bomb Literature, Genbaku bungaku, only came into use in the 1960s despite international publishers including, for example, The New Yorker publishing special issues and books about the atomic bombs much earlier and Japanese survivors documenting and writing about their personal experiences. In August 1946, The… Read more »
- TOPICS:
- atomic bomb
- History
The term ‘Atomic Bomb Literature’ came into wide use in the 1960s Posted May 5th, 2021 by Richard Nathan
Japan’s first ‘detective story’ was published in 1889[UPDATED: 5-4-2021]

Ruiko Kuroiwa (1862-1913), who founded a newspaper and edited several others, is widely thought and cited as having written Japan’s first ‘detective story’, a classic whodunit style short story titled Muzan (In Cold Blood), nine years after the first modern Japanese short story, Dancing Girl,… Read more »
- TOPICS:
- Crime
- History
- Mystery
- Prizes
- Science Fiction
Japan’s first ‘detective story’ was published in 1889 Posted January 4th, 2018 by Richard Nathan

Factbook

Banana Yoshimoto chose the pen name banana as it was gender neutral[UPDATED: 8-20-2021]

Cross-dressing and transgenderism were popular themes in late Edo Japanese literature[UPDATED: 8-9-2021]

In 1964, the year of the first Tokyo Olympics, three important Japanese novels were published, one of which helped lead to a Nobel Prize, and a very exciting new author was born[UPDATED: 8-9-2021]

The world’s bestselling comic book series by a single author is ‘One Piece’ a Japanese manga[UPDATED: 6-3-2021]

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

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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