A Penguin Classics Hardcover

This fantastically varied and exciting collection celebrates the art of the Japanese short story, from its origins in the nineteenth century to the remarkable practitioners writing today. Edited by acclaimed translator Jay Rubin, who has himself freshly translated some of the stories, and with an introduction by Haruki Murakami, this book is a revelation.

Stories by writers already well known to English-language readers are included--like Tanizaki, Akutagawa, Murakami, Mishima, Kawabata, and Yoshimoto--as well as many surprising new finds. From Yuko Tsushima's "Flames" to Yuten Sawanishi's "Filling Up with Sugar" to Shin'ichi Hoshi's "Shoulder-Top Secretary" to Banana Yoshimoto's "Bee Honey," The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories is filled with fear, charm, beauty, and comedy.

For more than seventy-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 2,000 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Haruki Murakami (introducer) is one of Japan's most admired and widely read novelists, whose work has been translated into more than fifty languages. His more than twenty books include The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kafka on the Shore, Norwegian Wood, and Killing Commendatore. Among his many international honors is the Jerusalem Prize, whose previous recipients include the Nobel Prize winners J. M. Coetzee and V. S. Naipaul. Born in Kyoto in 1949, Murakami now lives near Tokyo.