Healing fiction, café tales: How Japanese literature became a trend among young readers

This nugget was shared by the Japanese author, who was in Bengaluru recently as part of his India tour. He attended literary festivals and signed books at city bookstores. At the Bengaluru event, the young audience, mostly composed of Gen Z readers, hung on to his every word, as if he were a philosopher.

Yagisawa, who had an English translator by his side, shared insights on the magical power of books to heal and to aid self-discovery. Books also saved him, he confessed, though he did not reveal how or why. A recluse, he admitted that he hardly interacted with anyone back home in Japan except his partner and his cat, and was “overwhelmed” by the response he has been receiving in India. “I’m surprised my novels are so well-received in India. It hasn’t sunk in yet,” he said.

A warm hug

At the Bengaluru interaction, organised by Champaca Bookstore, Yagisawa spoke about his love for cats and the settings of his novels in Japanese community places like bookshops and cafes. The backdrop of his latest novel, Days at the Torunka Café (HarperCollins India), is a streetside café, where the protagonists don’t just visit to sip coffee. There’s angst over anguished childhoods, a broken heart, and hard regrets, which needs to be unravelled.

Yagisawa’s inspiration stems from Japan’s famous café culture, which he says carries a unique, special charm. He loves hanging out in these cafes for hours just observing people and overhearing conversations for inspiration to write his books, he shared. His first novel, Days at the Morisaki Bookshop (2010), too, dwells on how books transform heart-broken Takato. A tale told with nostalgia for the old world, and finding oneself in the humdrum of life. One reviewer described this book as a ‘warm hug’.

If the audience expected him to open up about whether he, too, had suffered a heartbreak like Takato, he did not oblige them. Instead, Yagisawa wrapped up the interaction saying his books, written in a simple style (easy to translate into English), focus on matters of the human heart, and are sprinkled with scenes of Japanese culture, which he termed the “spices and seasonings”.

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What stands out in Yagisawa’s books is the deft touch and the lightness with which he deals with his characters, who are in the throes of intense emotions, anguish and are at a turning point in their lives. His characters spend time strolling around sun-warmed streets, whip out sketch books to draw a scenic spot, or spend time watching the coffee swirl in their cup. A Russian girl at the Bengaluru interaction said she loved Yagisawa’s books because it has no loud drama and noise. “His books are calming. Life-turning events are unfolding in the characters’ lives yet they move gently into the light. This is very unlike my culture,” she said, wryly.

His cozy, feel-good books are a breezy read. They take you on a bittersweet journey and gently drop you off in the end, brimming with hope, positivity and love. It’s a never-give-up hope kind of attitude. A character championing love in Days at the Torunka Café says, “Human beings don’t stop loving no matter how many times they get hurt.”

Books that heal

Arunima Mazumdar, whose love for Japanese fiction led her to start Dokusha Book Club for lovers of Japanese fiction in 2022, describes Satoshi’s works as slice-of-life literature. “Yes, they are short, with simple plots, and easily relatable. Simple translations that convey the spirit behind the stories and resonate with first-time readers of Japanese literature. It’s all part of the fascination among young people for Japanese culture today,” she reasons, pointing out that there’s more to Japanese fiction.

Indians, however, are warming up to the idea of ‘healing’ fiction, a new evolving genre that Yagisawa’s books fall under, she admits. This particular Japanese literary genre has become the rage in the West and in India. Known as Iyashikei, which means healing, these lighthearted, wholesome novels are designed to calm the heart and mind and make readers reflect on what is important in their lives.

In India, among young people obsessed with matcha, manga, anime and K-Pop, Japanese literature has become the next big trend. Bookshops are witnessing a surge in interest for Japanese literature, ranging from self-help, mystery thrillers to dystopian and healing fiction. Readers are moving past Haruki Murakami (Norwegian Wood, Kafka on the Shore), crime writer Keigo Higashino (The Devotion of Suspect X) and classic novelists like Yukio Mishima, known for his psychologically complex books like Confessions of a Mask; and Banana Yoshimoto (Kitchen).

Craze for Japanese literature

This craze for Japanese literature springs from young people’s interest in Japanese culture, says Pranave Nanda, who works at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Nanda, who is in his late 20s, believes the fad for matcha, origami ceremonies, and sushi, which now stretches to Japanese literature now, has been fuelled by social media. “The translations are also easily accessible now. The stories are visually aesthetic and themes like work stress, burnouts and heartbreaks are relatable to young people,” he reckons.

According to a young fan at the Bengaluru book event, “People are fed up with chasing goals, money and career and want to wind down and experience joy in the small things in life. They are turning away from western culture and what it embodies: the mad rush, the maniac drive to achieve etc.”

Healing fiction provides solace, nostalgia and romance, says Mazumdar. Michiko Aoyama’s What You’re Looking for is in the Library is another book that comforts, she explains. A nod to libraries, in this book of five short stories, people who are lost in life are guided by a librarian to pick a book that will change their lives. “The characters are identifiable since everybody gets lost sometime in their lives. It felt nice,” shares Mazumdar.

Surge in demand

Krishna Gowda, who runs Bengaluru’s iconic Bookworm store, has witnessed a surge in demand for Japanese literature over the past three years. “Indians connect to Japanese stories in a big way. It seems relatable to them. Classic crime fiction is hugely popular, as more English translations of Japanese authors are available today. This is largely due to London-based Pushkin Press and publishers like Penguin and Harper Collins,” he says. Last year, Harper Collins brought Japanese author Asako Yuzuki to India. Her novel, Butter (2024), which tells the tale of a journalist investigating a gourmet cook convicted of murdering lonely businessmen was a big success among book lovers.

Bengaluru-based Poonam Sharma, a management consultant in her thirties, is devoted to Japanese fiction. It began with her interest in Japanese crime thrillers after she stumbled on Keigo Higashino’s Salvation of a Saint in 2012, when its English translation hit the shelves.

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Then she went hunting for Japanese books and came across Kanae Minato’s Confessions (2014), about a school teacher on a revenge mission; Natsuo Kirino’s Out (1997), which is set in a bento factory. “The characters in Out belong to a gritty working class, who find themselves in an impossible situation. I could not stop reading that book,” shares Sharma, who scours bookstores for English translations of Japanese fiction.

Finding Indian readers

However, Sharma ventured beyond crime fiction and particularly enjoyed the works of two women Japanese novelists, she says, which transformed her view of Japanese fiction. One was Mieko Kawakami — her novel, Breast and Eggs (2019), explores sexual politics and pressure on women over their bodies – and Sayaka Murata, whose Convenience Store Woman (2019), about a lonely 35-year-old is a favourite among Japanese book lovers.

“These books are compelling. The protagonists are placed in unusual situations but the worlds they describe are gritty and realistic. Butter, too, gave insights into Japanese society, the misogyny and the body-shaming. Japan is a country of extreme contradictions. On one level, they talk about minimalism, peace and harmony in their religions, Shintoism and Buddhism. Yet, some of the extreme misogynist and crime stories come out of Japan. After reading Butter and Out, it feels that it can be hard to be a woman in Japan,” observes Sharma. According to her, Japanese fiction like, Before The Coffee Gets Cold (2015) by Toshikazu Kawaguchi ând Hiro Arikawa’s The Travelling Cat Chronicles (2017), lift one’s spirits.

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Mazumdar, who discovered Japanese literature around 2012, when she picked up Haruki Murakami’s Sputnik Sweetheart (2001) says there is so much more to Japanese literature than healing fiction. Japanese literature is layered and ranges from magic realism, science and dystopian fiction to crime thrillers, she asserts. She explains how Yoko Ogawa’s The Memory Police (194) begins in a bizarre way — objects like scissors, hats, ribbons, birds, roses disappear, and then things take a disturbing turn. “I found it provocative and surreal. Japanese literature themes are bizarre and scary,” says Mazumdar.

Other Japanese authors she loves reading are Yoko Tawada, famous for the fantasy novel The Bridegroom was a Dog (1998) — in ​her 2014 sci-fi novel, The Last Children of Tokyo, Japan has cut itself off from the world following an ecological catastrophe — Natsume Soseki, known for his satirical I Am a Cat (2001) and profound psychological novel Kokoro (2013), and Izumi Suzuki, pioneer of Japanese science fiction, who has written the book of short stories, Terminal Boredom (2021).

For Japanese literature lovers, healing fiction appears to be just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a rich variety to explore, and as Yagisawa remarked during his visit to India, “Some books have a way of finding you when you need them the most.” For Indian book lovers, Japanese fiction seems to be doing exactly that: finding them in a big way.