Why are we obsessed with Japanese fiction?

Imagine you come across a small café in a back alley of Tokyo where you can travel back in time to talk things over with your ex-boyfriend, as long as you come back before your coffee gets cold. Or you stumble into an enchanted library, where the librarian gives you a book to cure your frustration with your sales job. Or, to ramp it up a bit, you serially murder misogynistic businessmen, tempting them to their deaths with your acclaimed beef stew. Or – and this is a common one – your worries about financial security are calmed by the appearance of a particularly comforting cat.

Lovers of contemporary Japanese fiction will already be familiar with these fantasies, and these days, that’s everyone from critics to BookTok teens. Last year, 43 per cent of the top translated fiction sales were Japanese, and the fiction shelves at any good bookshop will bear this out.