Dear readers. I owe you an apology. My updates in the English page lag too far behind. I will now try to catch up and write only a short summary of Japanese literature that has been published in Finnish language during 2024.
Here they are: Another collection of Osamu Dazai´s short stories, two feelgood books by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, a gentle magical novel by Sanaka Hiiragi, a new Haruki Murakami story and a murder mystery by Keigo Higashino. In addition to these there were three books of Oshiri tantei -series and of course manga that in the picture is represented by the series of Isabella Bird in Wonderland.
The title of Osamu Dazai´s collection is Erinomainen emäntä ja muita kertomuksia. This is the second collection translated and published by Pekka Masonen. He has again chosen ten short stories that cover the years 1933–1948 of Dazai´s life. Without being strictly autobiographical the stories add a lot to the picture of this controversial author.
The warm, entertaining and magical Coffee shop -series of Toshikazu Kawaguchi is a Tik Tok -phenomenon. The Finnish reading public got the first two books of the series during 2024, translated by Markus Juslin and published by Bazar. The titles are: Ennen kuin kahvi jäähtyy (Coffee ga samenai uchi ni, Before the Coffee Gets Cold) and Ennen kuin salaisuus paljastuu (Kono uso ga barenai uchi ni, Tales from the Café). There will be more…
Another novel translated by Markus Juslin is Unohdettujen muistojen valokuvaamo (Jinsei shashinkan no kiseki, The Lantern of Lost Memories) by Sanaka Hiiragi, published by Minerva. The author is a passionate fan of cameras and the art of photographing, which is reflected in her literary work. This time the magical place is a photographic studio instead of a coffee shop, but the same values of kindness and humaneness are present. The Finnish translation was published before the English one!
In the autumn of 2024 the wishes of many were fulfilled when Haruki Murakami´s latest novel Kaupunki ja sen epävakaa muuri (Machi to sono futashika na kabe, The City and its Uncertain Walls) was published in Finnish, again before the English version. The translation is by Antti Valkama and the publisher is Tammi. In this work Murakami, now in his seventies, returns to themes of his earlier years and creates again a powerful magical story in 585 pages with which he redeems the expectations of his fans.
The friends of murder mysteries were treated with yet another detective story by Keigo Higashino: Pahan asialla (Akui, Malice), translated by Raisa Porrasmaa and published by Punainen silakka. This book is for change a little bit an earlier Higashino, the original was published in Japan more than 20 years ago. It belongs to so-called detective Kaga -series and the reader is taken by surprise over and over again until the murder mystery is solved. On the way the reader also learns a lot about Japanese society and human relations.
Oshiri tantei (The Butt Detective) -series was added with three new translations by Mayu Saaritsa and the publisher Nemo. The titles are: Pienen poliisipäällikön iso pulma, Kadonneiden juna-aterioiden arvoitus and Vuosisadan mestarivaras. They all are as fun and as popular with young readers as ever.
UNIEN KELLUVALLA SILLALLA 