In a recent conversation about Japanese literature, translator Yuki Tejima, who runs the book-centric Instagram account @booknerdtokyo, told me, ¡°Women have always had a place in the literary world and they¡¯ve always been widely read, but now there¡¯s a new generation of writers with really strong voices.¡± That sentiment was reflected in 2022, with female Japanese writers receiving accolades at home and abroad for their work.
Although female writers winning the country¡¯s top literary awards isn¡¯t specific to this year, this summer saw a notable achievement: All five nominees shortlisted for the biannual Akutagawa Prize were women, the first time this has happened since the prestigious literary prize for up-and-coming authors launched in 1935. Junko Takase ended up taking the win for her novel ¡°Oishii Gohan ga Taberaremasu Yoni¡± (roughly translating to ¡°I wish to be able to eat delicious food¡±), which Japan Times culture critic Thu-Huong Ha described as a ¡°sinister commentary on feminism and social currency¡± deceptively baked into themes about food and office politics.
Meanwhile, Misumi Kubo¡¯s collection of five short stories ¡°Yoru ni Hoshi o Hanatsu¡± (which translates to ¡°Releasing stars into the night sky¡±) won the Naoki Prize for popular fiction, for which four women and one man were nominated.
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