The best known books set in each country: Japan

See here for methodology.

TitleAuthorGoodreads
raters
LibraryThing
owners
Memoirs of a GeishaArthur Golden2,012,06236,568
Norwegian WoodHaruki Murakami613,48216,355
Kafka on the ShoreHaruki Murakami476,02518,153
PachinkoMin Jin Lee483,2666,599
1Q84Haruki Murakami262,1029,036
ShōgunJames Clavell185,3398,065
Before the Coffee Gets Cold Toshikazu Kawaguchi432,8993,125

If I had continued the listing, seven of the next eight books are by Haruki Murakami.

The only one of these that I have read is Memoirs of a Geisha and I was pretty unsatisfied by it. The rest all seem legit enough – they are set in Japan or somewhere like it. Before the Coffee Gets Cold starts in Korea but at a quick glance spends most of the book on the other side of the straits.

Next: the Philippines, but since next Sunday is the last day of the month when I will do my usual book round-up, that will be in two weeks’ time.

India | China | USA | Indonesia | Pakistan | Nigeria | Brazil (revisited) | Bangladesh (revisited) | Russia | Mexico | Japan | Philippines (revisited) | Ethiopia (revisited) | Egypt | DR Congo | Vietnam | Iran | Türkiye | Germany | France | Thailand | UK | Tanzania | South Africa | Italy | Myanmar | Kenya | Colombia | South Korea | Sudan | Uganda | Spain | Algeria | Iraq | Argentina | Afghanistan