This year¡¯s Japanese literature in English translation was yet again ruled by a clowder of cozy cat fiction and the occasional crime story.
But 2025 wasn¡¯t without some surprises. Two ghostly figures ¡ª novelist Osamu Dazai, who died by suicide in 1948 at age 38, and anonymous, mask-wearing horror writer and YouTuber Uketsu ¡ª captivated bookworms online and off.
¶Ù²¹³ú²¹¾±¡¯²õ work aging out of copyright has encouraged a slew of retranslations and first-ever translations into English: three books this year alone, with a new translation of ¡°No Longer Human,¡± rendered by David Boyd, coming in May. This new wave of ¶Ù²¹³ú²¹¾±¡¯²õ appeal ¡ª 77 years after his death ¡ª has reached beyond literature circles and into social media, propelled initially by the anime ¡°Bungo Stray Dogs,¡± in which Dazai is one of the protagonists. A viral, cheeky and almost meaningless ¡°Dazai, ahh¡± soundbite from the anime swept through TikTok, followed by videos of people reading quotes from his books, many relating to his melancholy musings.
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