Shortlisted for the 2025 International Booker Prize
Introduction
Hiromi Kawakami is one of Japan’s most admired contemporary authors. Her writing blends the surreal with the everyday, exploring themes of loneliness, memory, intimacy, and quiet transformation. In 2025, she was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize for her speculative novel Under the Eye of the Big Bird, translated by Asa Yoneda.
If you’re curious about her work, this guide introduces ten of her books available in English translation — including award-winning titles and reader favorites.
🐦 Under the Eye of the Big Bird
Translated by Asa Yoneda
Shortlisted for the 2025 International Booker Prize
A haunting and fragmented speculative novel that follows the remnants of humanity after an unspecified collapse. Lyrical, atmospheric, and quietly strange, it reveals Kawakami’s ability to reimagine the world while keeping human intimacy at the center.
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🔗 **Buy this book:**
📚 [Bookshop.org]
🇺🇸 [Amazon US] 🇬🇧 [Amazon UK] 🇯🇵 [Amazon Japan]
📗 [Japanese Original on Amazon Japan]
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🪑 The Nakano Thrift Shop
Translated by Allison Markin Powell
Oddball employees, a dusty second-hand shop, and a series of gentle, awkward relationships. Quirky and endearing, this is one of Kawakami’s most beloved works abroad.
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🔗 **Buy this book:**
📚 [Bookshop.org]
🇺🇸 [Amazon US] 🇬🇧 [Amazon UK] 🇯🇵 [Amazon Japan]
📗 [Japanese Original on Amazon Japan]
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👝 Strange Weather in Tokyo (The Briefcase)
Translated by Allison Markin Powell
A melancholic romance between a quiet office worker and her former high school teacher. Quietly devastating in its subtlety, and a favorite introduction for many international readers.
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🔗 **Buy this book:**
📚 [Bookshop.org]
🇺🇸 [Amazon US] 🇬🇧 [Amazon UK] 🇯🇵 [Amazon Japan]
📗 [Japanese Original on Amazon Japan]
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🪟 Parade
Translated by Allison Markin Powell
A gentle, dreamlike side story to The Briefcase, Parade offers a glimpse into Tsukiko’s childhood, capturing Kawakami’s signature blend of nostalgia and quiet strangeness.
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📚 [Bookshop.org]
🇺🇸 [Amazon US] 🇬🇧 [Amazon UK] 🇯🇵 [Amazon Japan]
📗 [Japanese Original on Amazon Japan]
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🏘️ People from My Neighborhood
Translated by Ted Goossen
Set in an imaginary town, this collection of 26 stories is strange, unsettling, and slightly unhinged. By the time you finish reading, its addictive charm will leave you wanting to start all over again.
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🔗 **Buy this book:**
📚 [Bookshop.org]
🇺🇸 [Amazon US] 🇬🇧 [Amazon UK] 🇯🇵 [Amazon Japan]
📗 [Japanese Original on Amazon Japan]
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👻 Manazuru
Translated by Michael Emmerich
A woman searches for the meaning behind her husband’s disappearance. Atmospheric and emotionally complex, the novel explores memory, grief, and identity with lyrical minimalism.
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🔗 **Buy this book:**
📚 [Bookshop.org]
🇺🇸 [Amazon US] 🇬🇧 [Amazon UK] 🇯🇵 [Amazon Japan]
📗 [Japanese Original on Amazon Japan]
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🐉 Dragon Palace
Translated by Ted Goossen
A lesser-known gem, mixing mythological motifs with Kawakami’s signature dreamlike prose.
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🔗 **Buy this book:**
📚 [Bookshop.org]
🇺🇸 [Amazon US] 🇬🇧 [Amazon UK] 🇯🇵 [Amazon Japan]
📗 [Japanese Original on Amazon Japan]
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🐾 The Ten Loves of Mr. Nishino
Translated by Allison Markin Powell
A series of women recall their relationships with the enigmatic Nishino. Romantic, mysterious, and slightly satirical.
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🔗 **Buy this book:**
📚 [Bookshop.org]
🇺🇸 [Amazon US] 🇬🇧 [Amazon UK] 🇯🇵 [Amazon Japan]
📗 [Japanese Original on Amazon Japan]
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🛏️ Record of a Night Too Brief
Translated by Lucy North
A surreal and poetic story that blurs the line between truth and fiction, drawing readers into a quietly unsettling world.
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🔗 **Buy this book:**
📚 [Bookshop.org]
🇺🇸 [Amazon US] 🇬🇧 [Amazon UK] 🇯🇵 [Amazon Japan]
📗 [Japanese Original on Amazon Japan]
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🌱 The Third Love
Translated by Ted Goossen
A richly layered story that weaves together past and present, dream and reality, to explore the essence of love and the quiet dignity of simply being alive—told through a time-bending romance filled with literary and historical echoes.
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🔗 **Buy this book:**
📚 [Bookshop.org]
🇺🇸 [Amazon US] 🇬🇧 [Amazon UK] 🇯🇵 [Amazon Japan]
📗 [Japanese Original on Amazon Japan]
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🌸 Why Read Hiromi Kawakami?
Hiromi Kawakami writes with the stillness of a paused breath — her stories unfold gently, but leave deep impressions. Her work sits somewhere between Haruki Murakami’s magical realism and Banana Yoshimoto’s emotional sensitivity, yet remains distinctly her own.
Whether you’re new to Japanese fiction or a longtime fan, this is your chance to step into one of literature’s most quietly brilliant minds.
📚 Where to Start?
If you’re looking for an entry point:
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Try Strange Weather in Tokyo for something tender and elegant.
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People from My Neighborhood if you enjoy surreal short fiction.
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Or dive into Under the Eye of the Big Bird — especially now that it’s Booker-shortlisted.
🙌 Final Thoughts
Thanks to brilliant translators such as Allison Markin Powell, Ted Goossen, Asa Yoneda, Michael Emmerich, and Lucy North, Hiromi Kawakami’s works are reaching a wider audience than ever before. Her stories remind us that even the smallest interactions can be deeply meaningful — and that the strange and beautiful are often intertwined.
Explore, feel, and get lost in the world of Hiromi Kawakami.
✨ Related Links
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