Customer Reviews

The Best Japanese Science Fiction Stories

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I came across this in the Waterstone's bookshop on Gower Street, WC1, and chose it ahead of a couple of recent Nebula Award anthologies - I felt that a bit of horizon-widening would not come amiss.

The introductions to the book were interesting in themselves, giving a background to the not-straightforward process of translating into English due to the complexities and nuances of the Japanese language.

The editors do inform the reader that the stories in the volume are quite different to most of the English-language SF, and those who are looking for hard SF are most definitely looking in the wrong direction. The stories collected, which were written between 196x and 199x, are very much at the 'speculative' end of SF, to the extent that some would argue that they do not constitute SF ('it's SF Jim, but not as we know it!). The stories are also on the short side of short SF, which does have implications. I personally would tend to shy away from a collection of such short stories, regardless of origin.

The stories themselves tend towards the contemporary, and reflective, and are about people, and the environment. They tend toward the contempletative, with the protagonist(s) in number of the stories being almost detached from what is happening (a la Ballard) - which is no mean trick when there is a massive confrontation between tyrannosauri and triceratops(es?) in the neighbourhood. A couple of stories would be more accurately described as horror stories, and several could be stories from the likes of Twilight Zone, Tales of the Unexpected and so forth.

All in all and interesting read, and worth the purchase if nothing else just to give an extended flavour of SF in a different culture.

Without a single bad story in it, but with some towering way above others, "The Best Japanese Science Fiction Stories" offers an eclectic selection of stories very different both from western science fiction and from Japanese works someone in the western world might be more familiar with, but that doesn't mean inferior. Indeed, it's a great collection by any standard, not hurt at all by the fact that some of the stories presented aren't really what's considered science fiction over here.

Some definately do fall in the science fiction realm, and one of those is the mind-blowing "Fnifmum" by Taku Mayumura, not only one of the greatest science fiction short stories I've ever read but one of the greatest short stories, period. Incredibly original, "Fnifmum", written in an extremely unique style, presents possibly the most utterly Alien lifeform ever imagined, yet one that the reader comes to know and relate to, demonstrating that there can be points of common connection between even the most diverse of beings; "Fnifmum", the being, is even stranger and more foreign than Lovecraft's Chthulu, and by a good distance at that. An absolute must-read for anyone who wants to see how far literature can stretch with enough imagination.

On the other end of the spectrum, but also excellent, is the Completely non-SF "The Savage Mouth" by Sakyo Komatsu, a relentless horror piece that is a welcome addition to the book to a horror fan such as myself but which may not be liked by science fiction fans who aren't also into horror. Also imaginative and disturbing (but in a different direction) is "The Legend Of The Paper Spaceship", which is extremely well done, but may have gone a little Too far in one respect (that's one of the Extremely rare times I'll say that about any piece of fiction; book, movie, or otherwise).

Shinichi Hoshi's "He-y, Come On Ou-t!", another tale on the cusp of different genres, is an extremely effective parable for the modern world that seems to be becoming more relevant with each year. It carries a surprise but hauntingly appropriate ending that I think will stay with most readers. Tensei Kono's "Triceratops" has an enchantingly dreamlike feel and runs along the borders of science fiction, fantasy/fables, the metaphysical and probably several unnamed genres; this collection certainly excels in hitting some unfamiliar notes.

I highly recommend this volume to both Science Fiction fans and non Science Fiction fans; whatever your tastes in reading, this is likely to be among the freshest and most innovative tomes in your library. How about a collection of, say, "The Best Japanese Fantasy" or "The Best Korean Science Fiction Short Stories" as a followup? (Incidentally, I recently discovered while browsing this site a collection called "Science Fiction From China". I haven't read it yet, but thought it might be of interest to anyone checking out this book)

I enjoyed reading this book not only because I am a lover of Science Fiction but also because it was interesting to see SF written from a different cultural perspective. Among these beautifully written and translated stories there is gruesome (The Savage Mouth), thought provoking (Take Your Choice and Standing Woman) and elegant prose (The Legend of the Paper Spaceship). All the stories are unique with concepts distinctive from Western writers but still valuable as entertaining Science Fiction. I recommend this to anyone who wants to read something slightly unusual. I look forward to reading more translations of Japanese SF in the future. Please publish another book.

This collection features short stories from some of the Japanese masters of science fiction, a genre that is rarely translated into English. However, few of these stories deal with space travel, aliens, or the world of the far future. Some of them deal with the near future, some with an alternative universe, one, which is very fitting for the Spam age, a pseudo-alternative universe. With a uniquely Japanese sensibility to society, these stories are not only entertaining, but allow the reader with a view into present day Japanese culture. Although many of the stories are brilliant, a few are plodding and obtuse. This collection also includes a brief bibliography of other Japanese science fiction books that have been translated into English.

Most of these are not worth reading more than once. However, "The Legend of the Paper Spaceship" is a haunting, beautiful story. To me, that redeems the book. The rest of them are amateurish at best, though "The Savage Mouth" has a certain shock value about it.

If you enjoy reading Bradbury's Sci-Fi or any of the other classics, you will find this anthology quite remarkable. Also, if you enjoy collecting unique and imaginative Sci-Fi stories and you're from any of the Western countries, as it is my case, you will find in these stories a fantastic snapshot view into the genre by a completely different culture. After reading some of the stories I found myself pondering about nature of human imagination for days and days. That's what Sci-Fi is finally about, isn't it?

Some original ideas by the Japanese authors in this book are very weird yet fantastic, I cannot stop wondering about other published works from authors from the Orient. There are not many other Asian anthologies on Sci-Fi available out there, so this is one of those little books worth your money and time.

The edition is paperback so don't expect a lot. Although, I must say the paper and design are very appealing, making the reading an enjoyable process.

This collection of Japanese scifi was touted by its translators as a splendid collaboration mixed with much eating, drinking and general fooling around. Unfortunately, these stories must have seemed fabulous "under the influence" but to a middle-aged American scifi fan of over 45 years, the tales are too simplistic and unoriginal. Mainstream Japanese fiction is much more interesting than these pale, inscrutable stories.