Author Guide · Japanese Literary Fiction
Books Written by
Banana Yoshimoto was born Mahoko Yoshimoto in Tokyo in 1964, the daughter of the poet and critic Takaaki Yoshimoto. She chose a pen name she has called “cute” and “purposefully androgynous”, and in November 1987, while still in her early twenties, won the Kaien Newcomer Writers Prize for Kitchen, a short novel about a young woman whose grandmother, her last relative, has died. The book came out in 1988, was filmed in Japan the following year and in Hong Kong in 1997, and reached English readers in 1993 in Megan Backus’s translation. Her work has since been published in more than thirty countries. This guide covers her 11 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 11 key books · 1988–2010 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Banana Yoshimoto has published around fifty books in Japanese, and more than a dozen in English. The best known are Kitchen (1988; in English 1993), Goodbye Tsugumi (1989; in English 2002), Amrita (1994), The Lake (2005) and Moshi Moshi (2010). Start with Kitchen. The years below are the Japanese first editions; the English dates and translators are in each description.
Where to Start with Banana Yoshimoto
If you want her defining book
→ Kitchen (1988) — grief, food and a makeshift family.
If you want a summer by the sea
→ Goodbye Tsugumi (1989) — a prize-winning novel about a difficult cousin.
If you want something short and dreamlike
→ Asleep (1989) — three women and their strange sleep.
If you want her more recent work
→ Moshi Moshi (2010) — a Tokyo neighbourhood novel, translated in 2016.
11 Banana Yoshimoto Books, in Order
Kitchen
Mikage Sakurai has lost her grandmother, her last surviving relative, and moves in with Yuichi Tanabe and his mother Eriko, who was once his father. When Eriko is murdered, it is Mikage who helps Yuichi through it. The book (Kitchin) won the Kaien Newcomer Writers Prize; most editions add the novella Moonlight Shadow, which won the Izumi Kyōka Prize. In English 1993, translated by Megan Backus. Filmed by Yoshimitsu Morita (1989) and in Hong Kong by Yim Ho (1997).
The Premonition
Kanashii yokan, one of her earliest books, published in Japan the same year as Kitchen. It waited 35 years for English: Counterpoint published it in 2023 in a translation by Asa Yoneda, with Faber in the UK.
Goodbye Tsugumi
TUGUMI: Maria looks back on her years in a small seaside town and on her cousin Tsugumi, sickly, sharp-tongued and hard to like, and the family they shared. It won the 2nd Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize and was filmed by Jun Ichikawa in 1990. In English 2002, translated by Michael Emmerich.
Asleep
Shirakawa yofune: three novellas about three young women and their unusual sleeping habits, each in a quiet, dreamlike register. In English 2000, translated by Michael Emmerich.
N.P.
N·P, a novel from 1990, published in English in 1994.
Lizard
Tokage, a collection of short stories from 1993, published in English in 1995.
Amrita
Sakumi, drifting after loss, moves through a series of strange events, including ghosts on Saipan. It won the 5th Murasaki Shikibu Prize in 1995. In English 1997, translated by Russell F. Wasden.
Hardboiled & Hard Luck
Hādoboirudo / Hādo rakku: two novellas published together. In English 2005 (Grove Press), translated by Michael Emmerich.
Dead-End Memories
Deddoendo no omoide, a collection of stories about love. In English 2022 (Counterpoint; Faber in the UK), translated by Asa Yoneda.
The Lake
Mizuumi, a novel from 2005. In English 2011 (Melville House), translated by Michael Emmerich; it was longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize that year.
Moshi Moshi
Moshimoshi Shimokitazawa, named after the Tokyo neighbourhood of Shimokitazawa where it is set. In English 2016 (Counterpoint), translated by Asa Yoneda.
In What Order to Read Banana Yoshimoto
None of her books continues another, so order does not matter for the plot. The English translations came out of sequence: The Premonition, from 1988, only appeared in English in 2023, while Kitchen, from the same year, has been in English since 1993.
Reading in Japanese order shows the shape of the career: the short books of 1988–1990 that made her famous, the longer Amrita in the mid-1990s, and the later novels and story collections translated by Michael Emmerich and Asa Yoneda.
A reading path
1. Kitchen (1988)
2. Goodbye Tsugumi (1989)
3. Asleep (1989)
4. The Lake (2005)
5. Moshi Moshi (2010)
Everything Else Banana Yoshimoto Published in English
Beyond the 11 key books: 3 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Other books in English
3
3 books · 2002–2024
- 2002Argentine Hagpublished in English in Japan by RockinOn, the same year as the Japanese edition
- 2013Him Her Thatwith the Thai artist Wisut Ponnimit
- 2024Mittens and Pitystories, Counterpoint (English edition year)
The years · 1964–2024
Quick facts about Banana Yoshimoto
- Known for
- Short, plain-spoken novels about young people living through loss, beginning with the 1988 bestseller that made her a sensation in Japan and abroad.
- 1964
- Born Mahoko Yoshimoto in Tokyo
- 1988
- Kitchen
- 1993
- Kitchen published in English
- 2005
- The Lake
- 2024
- Mittens and Pity in English
- Born
- 24 July 1964, Tokyo; real name Mahoko Yoshimoto
- Family
- Daughter of the poet and critic Takaaki Yoshimoto
- Education
- Nihon University, College of Art (literature)
- Debut
- Kitchen, Kaien Newcomer Writers Prize, 1987
- Japanese prizes
- Izumi Kyōka Prize (1988), Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize (1989), Murasaki Shikibu Prize (1995)
- Italian prizes
- Scanno (1993), Fendissime (1996), Maschera d’Argento (1999), Capri Award (2011)
- Translators
- Megan Backus, Michael Emmerich, Russell F. Wasden, Asa Yoneda
The red mark is 1988: Kitchen, the book that made her name.
How Banana Yoshimoto Writes: Grief in Plain Sight
Loss is where her books start. Kitchen opens after a grandmother’s death, and Moonlight Shadow, bound with it, after a boyfriend’s death in an accident; Amrita follows a woman adrift. She has named her main themes herself as “the exhaustion of young Japanese in contemporary Japan” and “the way in which terrible experiences shape a person’s life.”
Her books are short and her narrators are mostly young women telling the story in the first person, in everyday language. Ordinary places carry the weight: a kitchen, a seaside town, a Tokyo neighbourhood. Families are often improvised, like the household Mikage joins in Kitchen, with a mother who was once a father.
The supernatural sits quietly beside the everyday: ghosts on Saipan in Amrita, a strange “phenomenon” that eases grief in Moonlight Shadow, three women caught in unusual sleep in Asleep. Nothing is explained at length; the strange is simply part of how her characters get through.
Watch
Banana Yoshimoto Presents The Lake in Milan
Banana Yoshimoto presents her novel The Lake (Il lago) at the LaFeltrinelli Duomo bookshop in Milan on 30 June 2015 (Italian-language video). From the official Feltrinelli Editore channel.
Frequently asked questions about Banana Yoshimoto’s books
How many books has Banana Yoshimoto written?
Around fifty in Japanese, counting novels, story collections and essays. More than a dozen have been published in English; the 11 key books on this page run from Kitchen (1988) to Moshi Moshi (2010).
What are Banana Yoshimoto’s books in order?
By Japanese first edition: Kitchen (1988), The Premonition (1988), Goodbye Tsugumi (1989), Asleep (1989), N.P. (1990), Lizard (1993), Amrita (1994), Hardboiled & Hard Luck (1999), Dead-End Memories (2003), The Lake (2005) and Moshi Moshi (2010).
Where should I start with Banana Yoshimoto?
With Kitchen. It is short, it is the book that made her name, and most English editions include the novella Moonlight Shadow as well.
What is Banana Yoshimoto’s most famous book?
Kitchen (1988), about Mikage Sakurai, who moves in with Yuichi Tanabe and his mother Eriko after her grandmother dies. It was published in English in 1993 in Megan Backus’s translation.
Has Kitchen been made into a film?
Yes, twice: a Japanese film directed by Yoshimitsu Morita in 1989, and a Hong Kong version directed by Yim Ho in 1997. Goodbye Tsugumi was filmed as Tsugumi by Jun Ichikawa in 1990.
Who translates Banana Yoshimoto into English?
Megan Backus translated Kitchen; Michael Emmerich translated Asleep, Goodbye Tsugumi, Hardboiled & Hard Luck and The Lake; Russell F. Wasden translated Amrita; and Asa Yoneda translated Moshi Moshi, Dead-End Memories and The Premonition.
Is Banana Yoshimoto her real name?
No. She was born Mahoko Yoshimoto. She has described the pen name Banana as “cute” and “purposefully androgynous”; from 2002 to 2015 she wrote it in hiragana.
What prizes has Banana Yoshimoto won?
In Japan, the Kaien Newcomer Writers Prize (1987), the Izumi Kyōka Prize (1988), the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize (1989) and the Murasaki Shikibu Prize (1995), among others. In Italy, the Scanno (1993), Fendissime (1996) and Maschera d’Argento (1999) prizes and the Capri Award (2011).
Is Banana Yoshimoto still alive?
Yes. She was born on 24 July 1964 in Tokyo, where she lives. Her most recent book in English, the story collection Mittens and Pity, appeared in 2024.
Footnotes
- Banana Yoshimoto — Wikipedia
- Kitchen (novel) — Wikipedia
- Banana Yoshimoto — Counterpoint Press
- Translated novels by Banana Yoshimoto — Tokyo Weekender
- Banana Yoshimoto — Fantastic Fiction
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“The place I like best in this world is the kitchen.”
— Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen (1988), the first line, translated by Megan Backus
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