kanji koohii FORUM
Japanese sci-fi literature - Printable Version

+- kanji koohii FORUM (http://forum.koohii.com)
+-- Forum: Learning Japanese (http://forum.koohii.com/forum-4.html)
+--- Forum: General discussion (http://forum.koohii.com/forum-8.html)
+--- Thread: Japanese sci-fi literature (/thread-12404.html)

Japanese sci-fi literature - Rina - 2014-12-24

I'm a big fan of works such as "1984", or "brave new world", or "little brother", or "this perfect day", etc and I would like to try reading something by a japanese author.

Any suggestions?

メリークリスマス btw.

Japanese sci-fi literature - Bokusenou - 2014-12-24

Hmm, how much practice do you have reading novels? I'm reading 新世界より by 貴志祐介, and it's a really good dystopian (or should I say an at first utopian-seeming, but actually dystopian) novel. It's really hard to put down! The problem with recommending it is, it's very long, almost a thousand pages in the hardcover edition, and split up into 3 volumes in paperback. Also, it uses a lot of older, or uncommon kanji, with no furigana. I'd hesitate to recommend it unless you're at least around JLPT N1 level, and have read some Japanese novels before, so you might want to wait for an easier recommendation.

Japanese sci-fi literature - sunehiro - 2014-12-24

Maybe you know 星新一 already. He has wrote a lot of books, mainly short stories.

Japanese sci-fi literature - Rina - 2014-12-24

Bokusenou Wrote:Hmm, how much practice do you have reading novels? I'm reading 新世界より by 貴志祐介, and it's a really good dystopian (or should I say an at first utopian-seeming, but actually dystopian) novel. It's really hard to put down! The problem with recommending it is, it's very long, almost a thousand pages in the hardcover edition, and split up into 3 volumes in paperback. Also, it uses a lot of older, or uncommon kanji, with no furigana. I'd hesitate to recommend it unless you're at least around JLPT N1 level, and have read some Japanese novels before, so you might want to wait for an easier recommendation.
Yes, yes, I think had heard of this one before. wow, that's huge indeed! But a good of a challenge! regardless of the kanji used, how's the japanese? Is it easy to understand? I find myself struggling reading books with unkown subjects to me (regardless of the language), I just lose my focus and start thinking of other things but the book.
Think I'm gonna give it to myself this christmas.
Fortunately my japanese level in good enough for novels, although sometimes I feel I lose my patience because reading in the vertical form kind of tires me out.


Another one I know is a book called "harmony" by 伊藤計劃
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3234099.Project_Itoh

sunehiro Wrote:Maybe you know 星新一 already. He has wrote a lot of books, mainly short stories.
Did not know. Thanks! Gonna take a look at his works Smile

Japanese sci-fi literature - Bokusenou - 2014-12-25

Rina Wrote:Yes, yes, I think had heard of this one before. wow, that's huge indeed! But a good of a challenge! regardless of the kanji used, how's the japanese? Is it easy to understand? I find myself struggling reading books with unkown subjects to me (regardless of the language), I just lose my focus and start thinking of other things but the book.
Think I'm gonna give it to myself this christmas.
Fortunately my japanese level in good enough for novels, although sometimes I feel I lose my patience because reading in the vertical form kind of tires me out.


Another one I know is a book called "harmony" by 伊藤計劃
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3234099.Project_Itoh
Yay! Glad it seems like something you might like. Besides the uncommon kanji thing, the Japanese level isn't too easy or too hard. I'm learning some new words, but I can guess most of them by the kanji, so I don't need to look them up. The words with uncommon kanji are mostly words I would know right away if they used the more common way to write them, with the exception of animal names. Half of the animal names are made-up animals anyway, for the sake of world building, so I don't let them bother me much.
Since difficulty is kind of subjective, here's a pic of the first page: http://s15.postimg.org/p1z0uqs23/SSY_1.jpg The hardcover edition has a split-page style layout, to fit more text in.

Oh, and Harmony looks pretty interesting! Maybe I'll get that one next ^-^

Japanese sci-fi literature - Rina - 2014-12-25

Bokusenou Wrote:Yay! Glad it seems like something you might like. Besides the uncommon kanji thing, the Japanese level isn't too easy or too hard. I'm learning some new words, but I can guess most of them by the kanji, so I don't need to look them up. The words with uncommon kanji are mostly words I would know right away if they used the more common way to write them, with the exception of animal names. Half of the animal names are made-up animals anyway, for the sake of world building, so I don't let them bother me much.
Since difficulty is kind of subjective, here's a pic of the first page: http://s15.postimg.org/p1z0uqs23/SSY_1.jpg The hardcover edition has a split-page style layout, to fit more text in.

Oh, and Harmony looks pretty interesting! Maybe I'll get that one next ^-^
Thanks! I read that first page. Seems doable. I like challenges. My problem with japanese books is really mind wandering. I can read pretty easily, but my mind wanders a lot. I guess that reading in kanji/kana vs roman letters has indeed its different effects.

As for new words. I LOVE looking up for new words, and love them even more if they are interesting/worth learning. Going to try to look if I can find its ebook version, otherwise I'll buy the physical one.

Seems promising, but first will finish the one I'm reading, I guess I could say it's kind of sci-fi too, 星虫。Been reading its for months, despite being really easy to read...

Japanese sci-fi literature - umetani666 - 2014-12-25

i liked sayonara, gangsters. it's a VERY postmodern take on sci-fi, with talking refrigerators and rivers flowing through classrooms. apparently, it influenced murakami's writings a lot.

i've read it in english though, so don't know how difficult it is in japanese.

Japanese sci-fi literature - NickT - 2014-12-25

新世界より is available in ebook format (Kindle) – It is on my reading list, it is just the length that has intimidated me a bit thus far…

If you like Philip K Dick, a lot of his work is available in Japanese translation and ebook format. His アンドロイドは電気羊の夢を見るか? is on my reading list, which for the uninitiated is the short story that the movie Blade Runner was based on. The book contains other short stories, too.

筒井 康隆’s books are quite easy and quasi sci-fi. I’ve read 時をかける少女 and 七瀬ふたたび which are good and both have sci-fi elements although I would hesitate to call them “proper” sci-fi.

All you need is kill by 桜坂 洋 is good, but quite challenging I would say. It is a military / alien invasion story with a time travel twist.

The 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱 light novels are a bit sci-fi. Well the first one is anyone, I’ve never got around to reading the rest.

And finally, an honorable mention for Pluto, the manga by 浦沢 直樹. I’m not sure if that is what you are looking for, but I really liked it and it is a robot themed sci-fi story. It is 8 volumes long, so taken together it is about the length of a short novel I would say.

Japanese sci-fi literature - Aikynaro - 2014-12-25

I'm very much interested in Japanese sci-fi too and have been attempting a bit of a binge on it lately.

Anyway, here's what I've read:
空中都市008 - fairly slow and not exactly a page-turner, but interesting 1960s view of a utopian future. Easy to read.
何かが来た - post-apocalyptic. Starts very interesting but becomes less-so when what's going on is revealed. Still, fast paced and easy to read.
月の上のガラスの町 - another utopian(ish!) vision of the future focused around a moon colony. Given it's such a thin book of children's short stories it's really good science fiction.
夏葉と宇宙へ三週間 - the first half is rather poor sci-fi, but the last part has a very cool idea going. Very easy, but a bit childish.
(would not necessarily recommend the below but will mention them for completeness)
第五惑星アスカ - environmental apocalypse. Not good science fiction or a particularly good book, but given its subject matter and all it's very easy to read and has lots of furigana.
灼熱の星　水の星 Pakia and Hopper - planetary adventure, I guess. Not that great.
きまぐれロボット - Not a big fan of flash fiction at all - or fables, for that matter. But it's incredibly easy.

None of these are particularly dystopian like the ones you cited in the OP though.

Also, I haven't read the book of this, but look into a light novel series called Starship Operators. The anime has some really excellent hard(ish) science fiction space battles, if that's your thing.

And that's the best I can do, I'm afraid. Finding comfortably readable sci-fi is still a challenge. Can't say I share your love of looking up new words...

Japanese sci-fi literature - anotherjohn - 2014-12-25

Bokusenou Wrote:Since difficulty is kind of subjective, here's a pic of the first page: http://s15.postimg.org/p1z0uqs23/SSY_1.jpg
3257 cards in my kanji deck, and 燼 wasn't one of them. Sigh, 3258 Rolleyes

I tried watching the 新世界より anime but realised around ep 9 that I had no idea wtf was going on so had to drop it Sad

Japanese sci-fi literature - Rina - 2014-12-27

Aikynaro, thanks for all the recommendations!!

anotherjohn Wrote:
Bokusenou Wrote:Since difficulty is kind of subjective, here's a pic of the first page: http://s15.postimg.org/p1z0uqs23/SSY_1.jpg
3257 cards in my kanji deck, and 燼 wasn't one of them. Sigh, 3258 Rolleyes

I tried watching the 新世界より anime but realised around ep 9 that I had no idea wtf was going on so had to drop it Sad
seriously? That many cards? wow o.o
Just makes me more excited about reading it Big Grin (though I have some on my list to be finished/read first...)

Btw, went to a book・off just some minutes ago and bought the first part (only had the first one and last, will search and buy the rest other day)

[Image: image.jpg]

Japanese sci-fi literature - Aikynaro - 2014-12-29

Does anyone know if there's any Japanese forum or whatever where they discuss science fiction or speculative fiction generally? Finding things that look interesting to read can be a bit of a challenge.

I've been trawling through here to find some stuff to read (retro sci-fi, whoo), but it's a bit of a slow process looking things up and deciding whether it's worth pursuing. A Japanese discussion forum would presumably be a much easier place to go trawling for recommended books.

Japanese sci-fi literature - Rina - 2014-12-29

You can create an account and ask for advice on http://bookmeter.com/ (japanese social network for books)