Whether a publisher is looking to sell its books in Japan or is interested in acquiring Japanese titles to sell back home, getting the lay of the land is a must. This brief overview explains the difference between junbungaku and entame shosetsu (and why both are important), why certain genres don’t necessarily translate abroad, and where opportunities lie for U.S. publishers.

Entertainment vs. literary publishing

Genre fiction in Japan is known as entame shosetsu, or “entertainment novels,” and is part of the larger entertainment publishing category that includes manga and light novels. Japanese genre fiction has been gaining ground overseas in recent years, from gritty thrillers to cozy healing fiction.

Junbungaku, or “pure literature,” is the Japanese term for literary fiction, an ecosystem organized around the monthly literary journals that submit to the prestigious Akutagawa Prize. These magazines commission short fiction from new authors, who, if successful, might progress to writing a serialized or full-length novel or having a story collection published. Some of the names best known to international readers grew out of this system—Kenzaburo Oe, Mieko Kawakami, Sayaka Murata, and many others.

Whereas manga authors, the big moneymakers for the largest publishers, sign multivolume contracts with strict schedules, novelists often work simultaneously with multiple publishers. If creative differences occur, a writer can offer a manuscript to another publisher without severing the connection with the first editor, a system that ensures harmonious relationships—highly prized in Japan. At the same time, Japanese publishers invest less in marketing their authors, since a competing publisher may reap the benefits. By custom, literary fiction authors are not obliged to participate in PR efforts, and such expectations may surprise Japanese writers published abroad.

West meets east

Japan’s three main literary agencies are the English Agency, Japan Uni Agency, and Tuttle-Mori Agency. Because an author’s titles may be spread across various publishers, who in turn may place them with competing co-agents, acquiring rights to multiple titles from the same author can be logistically tricky, as Japan Uni’s head of international rights, Michiko Urata, notes.

Though Japanese publishers will meet with foreign agents and rights managers directly, they prefer to conduct the actual deal through co-agents, who take care of the contract, sales reporting, and overseas payments. Most Japanese publishers lack sufficient in-house resources to handle those aspects of deal-making—translated titles account for less than 6% of books published in Japan, according to Shunichiro Nagashima, head of the translation department at the Bungeishunju publishing company.

While Japanese publishers may be interested in acquiring titles from abroad, the biggest international trends aren’t a sure thing in Japan. For instance, the romantasy genre has left most Japanese editors cold, says Akira Yamaguchi, editor-in-chief at Hayakawa Publishing. Japan has its own style of romance writing and draws on different mythology traditions.

That said, Japan Uni president Miko Yamanouchi sees opportunities and room for growth. She puts her faith in the new
generation of editors coming to her agency to look for international titles. They are mostly women—atypical in the traditionally male-dominated Japanese publishing world—and eager to make their mark. They’re championing female-centric fiction, books about controversial social and political issues, and feel-good titles about the psychology of happiness and self-actualization. Beyond translations of works in English, they’re looking to other languages, especially Italian and Spanish.

Translations offer editors an unexpected avenue for advancement within their companies; since most publishers have limited their translation programs, the rights to many major overseas authors are available. These up-and-coming editors and their broad interests, Yamanouchi says, offer hope for a revitalization in the world of Japanese publishing.

Kaja Murawska is a writer and foreign rights professional who divides her time between London and Tokyo.

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