Yoko Ogawa Loves Finding Love at the Bookstore

What books are on your night stand?

Anne Frank’s “The Diary of a Young Girl” and Yasunari Kawabata’s “Palm-of-the-Hand Stories.”

Have you ever gotten in trouble for reading a book?

In middle school, a teacher scolded me for reading while I was supposed to be weeding in the schoolyard during after-school cleanup time.

How have your reading tastes changed over time?

Since childhood, reading has been more than just a hobby for me. You might say that I can’t find meaning in life without books. Since becoming a writer, I’ve had more occasion to read for work than for my own enjoyment, but I can’t say that has caused me any distress at all. Even if a book isn’t suited to my personal taste, there is always something to be gained by reading it, always some light that it will shed on my life from an unexpected angle.

Describe your ideal reading experience.

Finishing early with whatever I had planned, I wander through town and come across a bookstore. I go in, with no intention of buying anything. Suddenly, my gaze meets the spine of a certain book. We exchange glances. I buy the book, go home and become completely absorbed. I’m filled with joy at the thought that this book has chosen me.

What’s the last great book you read?

“Primeval and Other Times,” by Olga Tokarczuk (translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones); “A Whole Life,”  by Robert Seethaler (translated by Charlotte Collins); and “The Cremator,” by Ladislav Fuks (translated by Eva M. Kandler).

Who are the Japanese writers overdue for translation into English?

If I could name only one, it would probably be Kenji Miyazawa. There may already be translations, but I feel that his dynamic appeal in works that move freely between historical periods and languages, between human beings and animals, between the Earth and the universe, should be more widely known.

What books are you embarrassed not to have read yet?

So many: “The Sound and the Fury,” “The Brothers Karamazov,” “The Tale of Genji” …

Are there any classic novels that you only recently read for the first time?

“Kagero Nikki” (“The Kagero Diary”), by the Mother of Michitsuna, spans 20 years in the life of a woman of the Heian period (794-1185) whose real name is unknown. Reading it gave me a fresh appreciation for the rich history of diary literature in Japan.

What is it like having your books circulate in translation so many years after you wrote and published them?

It doesn’t affect me one way or the other. Human time and the time of fiction are quite distinct in my mind. My goal is to write novels that have a life beyond that of the author.

How is your life different now from when “Mina’s Matchbox” was published in 2006?

My life hasn’t changed at all. I have simply continued to write my novels.

What is your involvement in the film adaptation of “The Memory Police”?

So far, I haven’t been involved in any significant way. Since I know very little about the film world, it’s difficult for me to know how things will develop. But the novel is written. There’s nothing more I can do for the moment.

You’ve described yourself as indebted to the work of Paul Auster. Did you ever get to communicate that to him?

Unfortunately, I never had the chance to speak with him directly. But it was an enormous pleasure to read the blurb that he wrote for the English version of one of my novels. It made me truly glad that I had continued my work as a writer.

What’s the last book you read that made you cry?

When I feel like crying, I reread the scene in Erich Kästner’s “The Flying Classroom” where the young protagonist tries to keep up his spirits by telling himself, “Crying is strictly prohibited!”

The last book you read that made you furious?

Svetlana Alexievich’s “Chernobyl’s Prayer,” translated by Arch Tait and Anna Gunin, which will be released in 2025.

What’s the best book you’ve ever received as a gift?

Shortly after I published my first novel, my editor gave me a copy of Richard Brautigan’s “In Watermelon Sugar."

What’s the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently?

Female anglerfish can reach 60 centimeters or more, while some males can be less than four centimeters. The male becomes a parasite, attaching itself to the larger female and dissolving into her body, effectively becoming nothing more than a tool for producing sperm.

You’re organizing a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite?

Anne Frank, J.D. Salinger and Emily Dickinson. All three were either confined by circumstances or chose to confine themselves during their lives. I would hope that they could enjoy themselves freely at an imaginary party.