Books by Hayao Miyazaki
Shuna's Journey
by Hayao Miyazaki & translated by Alex Dudok de Wit
Shuna’s Journey — published in 1983, before the launch of Studio Ghibli — is finally available in English. There are seeds of themes and characters which fans will recognise from more famous later works, and similarities with Nausicaä in particular. But Shuna’s Journey is unique, a stand-alone graphic novel based on a Tibetan folk tale called The Prince Who Turned into a Dog. Shuna travels through a breathtaking variety of landscapes and the watercolour art makes it a visual feast. Much of the scenery is inspired by Tibet but there are also ocean and primeval forest. The traditional folk tale is about the people’s gratitude towards barley, their staple crop; Miyazaki envelops it in a narrative about slavery and people consumed by greed and estranged from nature.
“Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a manga comic written in the eighties by Hayao Miyazaki, who would go on to become an acclaimed director. It would inspire his early feature-length film of the same name, which would go on to lay the groundwork not just for Studio Ghibli, not just for Japanese animation, but, I would argue, for animation in general, and for so much of what we’ve been able to see that medium accomplish over time.” Read more...
The Best Graphic Novels That Were Made into Movies
Walt Hickey, Journalist
“Miyazaki has a genius for showing, in a non-judgemental and matter-of-fact way, how the world is changing in the Anthropocene.” Read more...
The best books on Anthropocene Oceans
Jan Zalasiewicz, Geologist
Interviews where books by Hayao Miyazaki were recommended
The best books on Anthropocene Oceans, recommended by Jan Zalasiewicz
Geologist Jan Zalasiewicz tells us about the danger posed to oceans by the Anthropocene – and how we can work together to protect them
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1
Convenience Store Woman: A Novel
by Sayaka Murata -
2
The Memory Police
by Yōko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder -
3
All She Was Worth
by Alfred Birnbaum (translator) & Miyuki Miyabe -
4
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
by Haruki Murakami -
5
The City and Its Uncertain Walls: A Novel
by Haruki Murakami -
6
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
by Hayao Miyazaki
Books By Japanese Authors
Books By Japanese Authors
Japanese literature has always performed strongly on Five Books, so we’ve put together an overview of some of the books on our site by Japanese authors that have previously been recommended by our expert interviewees—from contemporary novels shortlisted for the International Booker Prize to classic works of literature, and everything in between.
The Best Graphic Novels That Were Made into Movies, recommended by Walt Hickey
Transforming a graphic novel into a movie might seem straightforward, but not everything that works on the page makes sense on the screen. Walt Hickey, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for illustrated reporting, recommends five outstanding comics that were turned into films—with varying degrees of fidelity, and varying degrees of success.
The best books on Manga and Anime, recommended by Susan J Napier
Many people have heard of manga and anime, but would be surprised to learn how deeply this niche is steeped in Japanese tradition and culture—or how often manga features strong, smart female leads, says Susan Napier, anime expert and Professor of the Japanese Program at Tufts University. Here, she picks five books that encapsulate manga and anime as both forms of art and cathartic re-workings of Japanese history.
