Country Delights

Country Delights
Why does Japanese people are so into anime and manga?

I would be thrilled if there’s any Japanese people out there who read my question and delight me with your country’s literature culture. And I would also like someone who can recommend me some good novels written in Japanese. I want original stories from Japanese authors, not translation from English books. Thank you in advance.

I don’t think all Japanese people have an obsession with manga/anime.
Out of the 5 penpals I have From Japan, only one really enjoys manga/anime.
The others may have seen a series here and ther, or read a manga, but they aren’t huge fans.

As for books, well there are some amazing authors that have come out of Japan.

Haruki Murakami is my favorite Japanese author.His books are so well written. I love all his works though Sputnik sweetheart and Norwegian Wood are are my favorites of his books.
A list:
Pinball, 1973
Hear the Wind Sing
The Hard-boiled Wonderland and End of the World
A Wild Sheep Chase
Norwegian Wood
Dance, Dance, Dance
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle
South of the Border, West of the Sun
Sputnik Sweetheart
Kafka on the Shore
After Dark
After The Quake (a collection of short stories)

Junichiro Tanizaki is another great Japanese author.
My favorite book of his is Makioka Sisters.
A list:
Ashikari and the Story of Shunkin
Makioka Sisters
Some Prefer Nettles
The Key
Diary of a Mad Old Man
Naomi
A Cat, a Man and Two Women (more of a short novel, great book)
Quicksand

Kazuo Ishiguro
My favorite book by him is Never Let Me Go
A list:
A Pale View of Hills
An Artist of the Floating World
The Remains of the Day
The Unconsoled
When We Were Orphans
Never Let Me Go

Ryu Murakami
My favorite book of his is Almost Transparent Blue
A List:
Almost Transparent Blue
69
Coin Locker Babies
In the Miso Soup
Piercing
Audition

Natsuo Kirino’s books are hard to explain. They’re so haunting. SHe’s an amazing author. My favorite book by her is Out
A list:
Out
Grotesque
What Remains
Real World (haven’t read this one yet, it comes out int he US in september)

Banana Yoshimoto. I really like her style. My favorite book is N.P.
A list:
N.P.
Amrita
Asleep
Goodbye, Tsugumi
Kitchen (short stories)
Lizard (short stories)
Hardboiled and Hard Luck (short stories)

Kobo Abe. ANother great author. My favorite of his books is Woman in the Dunes.
A list:
The Road Sign At the End of the Street
Inter Ice Age 4
Friends
The Woman in the Dunes
The Face of Another
The Cliff of Time
The Ruined Map
The Box Man
Secret Rendezvous
The Ark Sakura
Kangaroo Notebook

Koushun Takami. Only wrote one book but it’s an amazing read. It reminds me of Lord of the flies.
Battle Royale
(It was turned into a movie,a nd a manga. Hopefully it’ll be made into an anime one day)

So there is a list.
There are many other Japanese authors.
I’m not as big of a fan of these others as I am the ones mentioned above but here are some names in case you are interested.
Mari Akasaka
Kia Asamiya
Hitomi Kanehara
Hideyuki Kikuchi
Seichō Matsumoto
Takashi Matsuoka
Yukio Mishima
Tetsuo Miura
Miyuki Miyabe
Shizuko Natsuki
Yoko Ogawa
Edogawa Rampo
Mitsugu Saotome
Koji Suzuki
Taichi Yamada
Akimitsu Takagi
Yasutaka Tsutsui
Jun’Ichi Watanabe
Seishi Yokomizo
Eiji Yoshikawa

Of course there are more authors whose works have not be translated into english, but I think you have a pretty good list here of books to read.

EDIT:
Crystal WInd, anime first appeared in the early 20th century. 1916 or 1917 if I remember correctly.
It’s not something that was stolen from Americans after WWII. Most countries have their own version of animation.