Japan Sinks: A Novel about Earthquakes [Paperback]

Sakyo Komatsu (Author), Michael Gallaher (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1995

A techno-thriller about a killer earthquake and an unseen force in the Japan Trench that threatens to pull the economic superpower under - literally.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Japanese (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Born in Osaka, Japan, in 1931 and graduated from Kyoto University with a degree in Italian Literature in 1954. He began writing in college and turned to science fiction in 1959, winning the Twenty-Seventh Annual Japan Mystery Writer's Association Award with the publication of Japan Sinks in 1973 and the Sixth Annual Science Fiction Grand Prix for his Tokyo Vanished in 1985. As a scriptwriter, director, and producer, he brought the movie version of his novel Bye-Bye Jupiter to the screen in 1984. Komatsu has participated in the production of a number of large public events, including the Japan World Exposition in Osaka (1970) as an assistant producer of the theme pavilion, the Tsukuba Science Exposition(1985), the Silk Road Exposition in Nara (1988), and the International Garden and Greenery Exposition in Osaka (1990). His work on this last event as general producer earned him the Osaka Cultural Award. Currently, he holds a number of posts, among them that of Director of the Japan Society for Future Research.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha International (JPN) (September 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 4770020392
• ISBN-13: 978-4770020390
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,121,367 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Understanding Japan by destroying it., January 31, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Japan sinks (Hardcover)

It's a classic convention of literature - and perhaps life - that people reach their clearest insight only when death is at hand. By creating a model of Japan's death, Komatsu deftly exposes the how the Japanese see themselves, how they believe the world sees them, and who they are. As a foreigner in Japan for nine years who has read copiously on this country, this novel is among the most penetrating I've read. For those who aren't interested in dissecting the Japanese, they'll still be thrilled by this compelling tale of an entire nation's doom.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A true SF disaster classic...., July 26, 2007

By 

Marc Mckenzie (Hillsborough, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Japan Sinks: A Novel about Earthquakes (Paperback)

I first spotted this book in the late 1990s. I recently got it because of my interest in the release of the recent film version from 2006 called "Nihon Chinbotsu".

Is this book worth it? Yes. It is not only a fantastic work of Japanese science-fiction--which is very rarely translated and brought to the US--but as a disaster novel, it manages to capture the confusion and outright terror brought about by the sinking of Japan. This event, brought about by a major shift of the tectonic plates, causes a series of devastating earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, including the eruption of Mt. Fuji. The book is a fast read, with the last few pages being the equivalent of a punch in the gut as the Japanese struggle to deal with the inevitable outcome. Other issues are brought up, such as, what will the Japanese be without their home country? How will the world react to such an unprecedented disaster? And how does one go about evacuating over 110 million people?

Ironically, I finished the book right before a major quake struck Japan recently. To say that I got one hell of a chill down my spine is an understatement. Strangely enough, this 1995 translation has an introduction written by Sakyo Komatsu that spoke about the tragic Kobe earthquake which had occurred earlier that year.

In the end, I highly recommend this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sadly pertinent (11/3/11), March 11, 2011

By 

Glenn Bowman (Canterbury, U.K.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Japan Sinks: A Novel about Earthquakes (Paperback)

I read this book a couple of months back with pleasure and excitement. It's extremely well written and translated, and its scenarios of disaster are only excelled by what we watched yesterday on the television as the tsunami generated by a real version of this book's events took place. Wikipedia wrote that the novel "represented the growing discontent in the minds of many Japanese people during the 1970s, as their cultural, economic, and political identity and stability had become under attack from international pressures" -- now, perhaps, we can see that the author was instead engaging with predicting the impact of a literal geological event.