Contemporary Japanese Novellas by Women
Lifelong Learning

Join one of the U's leading English professors to explore four influential, fascinating, and award-winning novellas from prominent Japanese writers: Banana Yoshimoto's Kitchen (1988), Kawakami Hiromi's Strange Weather in Tokyo (2001), Ogawa Yoko's The Housekeeper and the Professor (2003), and Murata Sayaka's Convenience Store Woman (2016). All are quirky, strange, and sweet by turn, and all offer insight into contemporary Japanese culture as well as superb examples of the arts of prose and storytelling. You'll read each work in translation so no background in Japanese language or culture is necessary, though a curious imagination and sense of humor will be helpful.