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July 24, 2026
 

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AKUTAGAWA PRIZE

Kasumi Asakura (left) and Chito Kosagawa won the 175th Naoki and Akutagawa Prizes, respectively, for their novels ¡°Kengwai¡± and ¡°Zonbi Kaishufu.¡±
CULTURE / Books
Jul 15, 2026
Chito Kosagawa and Kasumi Asakura win Japan¡¯s top literary prizes
Tech-dystopian fiction and a historical novel claimed Japan¡¯s highest literary honors on Wednesday.
From left: Naoki Prize winner Teru Shimazu and Akutagawa Prize winners Ushio Hatakeyama and Makoto Toriyama pose for a photo at a press conference in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Jan. 14.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 14, 2026
Time and history win big at most prestigious Japanese book awards
The Akutagawa Prize and the Naoki Prize in January 2026 were awarded to Makoto Toriyama, Ushio Hatakeyama and Teru Shimazu.
¡°Jackson Alone¡± follows four mixed-race, queer young men as they navigate the fallout after a revenge porn video surfaces at the titular character¡¯s place of work.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 7, 2026
Part seedy, part satire, all bite: ¡®Jackson Alone¡¯ tackles issues others rarely touch
The dark satire novella ¡°Jackson Alone¡± is the first book by Akutagawa Prize-winning author Jose Ando to be translated into English.
Japanese literature in translation abroad has only grown in popularity with every year, resulting in a wide variety of titles available in English, from cozy fiction to crime and horror.
CULTURE / Books / 2025 IN REVIEW
Dec 14, 2025
In 2025, Japanese literature took a turn for the weird
As expected, women writers raked in successes and cozy cat fiction kept its popularity, with two big surprises from male authors ¡ª Uketsu and Osamu Dazai.
¡°Sympathy Tower Tokyo¡± is centered around Sara Machina, a star architect designing a new experimental prison in central Tokyo.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 30, 2025
ChatGPT controversy is the least interesting part of ¡®Sympathy Tower Tokyo¡¯
In Rie Qudan¡¯s futuristic Tokyo, AI and architects take on the prison system.
A board announces that no works were awarded the Akutagawa and Naoki literary prizes on Wednesday evening in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 17, 2025
Akutagawa and Naoki award decision marks rare absence of literary prizewinners
Selection committee members were disappointed by the lack of a majority vote in the second round, insisting that the nominated works moved many readers and were worth reading.
After last year¡¯s controversy over using AI to write about 5% of her novel, Rie Qudan was asked by an advertising magazine to write a short story where she uses AI for 95% of it. The resulting short story, ¡°Kage no ame¡± (¡°Rain Shadow¡±), was published March 25. ?
CULTURE / Books
May 24, 2025
AI fiction is already here. Are humans ready?
Last year, Rie Qudan faced controversy after admitting that chatGPT wrote 5% of her novel. Now she¡¯s published a story she only wrote 5% herself, leaving 95% to AI.
Since 2017, Kotomi Li has won some of Japan¡¯s top literary awards and built a formidable career in the face of persistent online harassment. ¡°Authors are tenacious creatures to begin with,¡± she says.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
May 5, 2025
Kotomi Li: ¡®I refuse to choose death¡¯
The Taiwanese writer reflects on the importance of queer community, her ascent in Japan¡¯s literary world and her ongoing battles against online harassment.
¡°The Place of Shells¡± takes place mostly in Gottingen, Germany, where both the author and the book's narrator live, while also jumping both geographically and temporally to Sendai, Japan, through memories of the 3/11 disaster and its aftermath.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 10, 2025
Grief ebbs and flows between two tragedies in ¡®The Place of Shells¡¯
Mai Ishizawa¡¯s debut novel, which won one of the three Akutagawa Prizes awarded in 2021, is also her first to be released in English, translated by Polly Barton.
¡°May You Have Delicious Meals¡± focuses on a trio of young office workers at the same workplace who have mixed feelings for food and each other.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 8, 2025
¡®May You Have Delicious Meals¡¯: The ugly taste of office and gender politics
The English-language debut of Junko Takase¡¯s Akutagawa Prize-winning novel serves complex prose in translation by Morgan Giles.
Jose Ando purposefully wrote his Akutagawa Prize-winning novel ¡°Dtopia¡± to be accessible to an audience beyond Japan and to spark conversations about race, gender and the effects of modern entertainment.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 27, 2025
Jose Ando¡¯s rapid rise from first pages to the Akutagawa Prize
Just three years after dedicating himself to writing, the author won Japan¡¯s top literary award for his novel ¡°Dtopia,¡± which offers a fresh perspective on identity and diversity.
Akutagawa Prize winners (from left) Jose Ando, author of "Dtopia" and Yui Suzuki, author of "Goethe wa Subete o Itta," and Naoki Prize winner Shin Iyohara, author of "Ai o Tsugu Umi."
CULTURE / Books
Jan 15, 2025
Japan¡¯s most prestigious literary awards go to a trio of contemporary voices
Jose Ando and Yui Suzuki take home Akutagawa honors, while Shin Iyohara nabs the Naoki Prize.
Sanzo K. Matsunaga¡¯s Akutagawa Prize-winning novel ¡°Bari Sanko¡± centers on two men involved in an office hiking club. One is into dangerous off-path trekking, the other is more of a by-the-book conformist.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 19, 2024
Akutagawa winner ¡®Bari Sanko¡¯ takes office politics to the mountains
Though the plot takes time to get going, Sanzo K. Matsunaga¡¯s novel takes a nuanced look at the implications of being an independent thinker in Japan¡¯s corporate culture.
From left: Kan Kikuchi, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Muto Chozo and Nagami Tokutaro
LIFE / Language
Jul 19, 2024
Dive into Akutagawa¡¯s world of creepy ¡®kappa¡¯ and prewar kanji
In order to read Japanese works written before the war, you¡¯ll need to watch out for the different roles hiragana play in addition to unfamiliar kanji.
Naoki Prize winner Michi Ichiho (left), and Akutagawa Prize winners Sanzo K. Matsunaga (center) and Aki Asahina pose with their award-winning books at a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 17, 2024
Three novelists named for Akutagawa and Naoki awards
Authors Sanzo K. Matsunaga and Aki Asahina won the Akutagawa Prize for literary writers, while the Naoki Prize for genre fiction went to Michi Ichiho.
Rie Qudan speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday after being awarded the Akutagawa Prize.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 19, 2024
Akutagawa Prize draws controversy after win for work that used ChatGPT
Rie Qudan won Japan¡¯s most important prize for early career writers for ¡°Tokyo-to Dojo-to,¡± a novel that ¡°exposes the prophecy of the AI generation.¡±
CULTURE / Books
Sep 2, 2023
Saou Ichikawa¡¯s ¡®Hunchback¡¯: A darkly funny portrait of disability
The winner of the second 2023 Akutagawa Prize is a sardonic commentary on the utility of bodies, both abled and disabled.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 17, 2023
Could the Akutagawa Prize get its first American winner?
Gregory Khezrnejat, whose short story ¡°Kaikonchi¡± is up for the literary award, sees writing in Japanese as a minor rebellion against English¡¯s assumed dominance in global culture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 3, 2022
Junko Takase¡¯s Akutagawa Prize-winning novel is a feminist¡¯s nightmare
¡°Oishii Gohan ga Taberaremasu Yoni¡± reads at first like a work place drama but ultimately makes a sinister argument about contemporary feminism.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 19, 2022
Li Kotomi¡¯s ¡®Solo Dance¡¯ flows across prose and borders
A beautiful translation by Arthur Reiji Morris of ¡®Solo Dance¡¯ will solidify Li Kotomi¡¯s place in the next generation of Japanese writers.
Japan scientists identify clusters of protein believed to trigger Alzheimer¡¯s disease
A team of researchers said they found a ¡°seed¡± that accelerates the amyloid beta accumulation process in the brain, naming it ¡°Peak 1 amyloid beta,¡± as seen in a mouse's brain.
Indian brothers make manga debut in Japan
Two Indian brothers made their manga debut in Japan with "Kung Fu Kung Fool" ¡ª an action-comedy series that follows the adventures of a notorious thief and a young boy.
Japan weighs regulating Pokemon cards amid trading mania
A Pokemon event is held in Jakarta on July 11
Low-income families in Japan cut food and air conditioning during summer break
Yumiko Watanabe, the chairperson of nonprofit Kidsdoor, explains the results of a survey in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on July 1.
Iran strikes on CIA facilities prompt questions about possible Russian role
Iranian drones are displayed in an undisclosed location in Iran, in this handout image obtained on Jan. 13, 2025.U.S. officials have acknowledged that Russia has ?provided targeting ?and other support for Iran in its drone strikes on U.S. targets in the Persian Gulf region.
The sci-fi sensibilities of electronic trio Black Boboi
Black Boboi was formed in 2018 when solo artists Julia Shortreed, Utena Kobayashi and Ermhoi came together under Kobayashi¡¯s newly founded label, Bindividual.
A perfect storm: Kaze Fujii fans flock to Fuji Rock
Okayama-born singer-songwriter Kaze Fujii has carved out a distinctive place in Japanese pop since his major-label debut in 2019.
Can Japanese comedy get laughs in English? Yoshimoto Kogyo lets the jokes rip
Wes-P has millions of followers and his viral clips made him recognizable out of Japan.
The 180-day locals: Life on Japan¡¯s digital nomad visa
Christopher Flinn works remotely from Tokyo earlier this month. Japan issued 646 digital nomad visas in 2025, but tourism officials are hoping to increase that figure in the coming years, with Japan's relatively cheap cost of living and the weak yen seen as potential draws for young professionals.
Japan reveals hint of new defense spending target in fiscal blueprint
The Self-Defense Forces' Type 16 mobile combat vehicle fires during a joint live-fire drill with U.S. Marines as part of the annual Resolute Dragon exercises in Yufu, Oita Prefecture, on June 28.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

For many people, utility poles and power lines have become such a familiar part of Japan¡¯s landscape that they often go unnoticed.
Why Japan¡¯s utility poles won¡¯t be disappearing anytime soon
By Alex K.T. Martin

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