CITY · JAPAN

Books set in Tokyo

35.676, 139.650

87 books · 50 authors · 1905–2026

87 books here

Most-set authors

Haruki Murakami (8) · Yukio Mishima (7) · Ryu Murakami (5) · Mieko Kawakami (4) · Keigo Higashino (4) · William Gibson (3)

Genres

literary fiction (35) · mystery & crime (7) · thriller & suspense (4) · romance (3) · fantasy (1)

Books set here

Set in Tokyo (71)

A Personal Matter

Kenzaburo Oe

Semi-autobiographical urban Japan; Bird faces his brain-damaged newborn in a Tokyo hospital

After the Banquet

Yukio Mishima

Tokyo political campaign restaurant

All She Was Worth

Miyuki Miyabe

bubble-era Tokyo backdrop

All the Lovers in the Night

Mieko Kawakami

Contemporary Tokyo where lonely freelance proofreader Fuyuko Irie lives in isolation until a chance encounter with a man

Almost Transparent Blue

Ryu Murakami

Yokota air base vicinity

Audition

Ryu Murakami

Contemporary Tokyo setting

Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Tokyo basement cafe time travel

Botchan

Natsume Sōseki

Botchan's hometown, opening chapters

Tokyo Detention House; journalist Rika visits convicted serial killer cook Manako Kajii

Child of Fortune

Yuko Tsushima

1970s Tokyo; divorced single mother Koko navigates urban Japan with her daughter

Tokyo and surroundings, Japan, where a Chinese-Australian woman and her mother take a reflective trip — art galleries, c

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

Haruki Murakami

present-day station designer life

Confessions of a Mask

Yukio Mishima

wartime Tokyo coming-of-age

Convenience Store Woman

Sayaka Murata

convenience store Keiko calls home

Debt of Honor

Tom Clancy

Japanese cabal base of operations

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Haruki Murakami

Tokyo near-future underworld

Heaven

Mieko Kawakami

Unnamed Japanese city (Tokyo setting implied) where two bullied middle-school students form a bond in early 1990s Japan

I Am a Cat

Natsume Sōseki

Meiji-era Tokyo neighborhood

Idol, Burning

Rin Usami

Contemporary Tokyo — obsessive fan culture and the pop idol industry dissected

Idoru

William Gibson

near-future Tokyo setting

Inspector Imanishi Investigates

Seicho Matsumoto

Murder found under a Tokyo train station; Imanishi's base and the avant-garde Nouveau Group's scene

Kitchen

Banana Yoshimoto

urban Tokyo apartment grief

Kokoro

Natsume Sōseki

Meiji Tokyo Sensei student bond

Lady Joker

Kaoru Takamura

Tokyo (Fuchu racecourse, corporate crime)

Life for Sale

Yukio Mishima

1960s Tokyo absurdist thriller

Malice

Keigo Higashino

murder investigation setting

Naomi

Junichiro Tanizaki

Taisho Tokyo Westernization

No Longer Human

Osamu Dazai

Yozo's dissolution Tokyo bars

Norwegian Wood

Haruki Murakami

late-1960s student Tokyo

Number9Dream

David Mitchell

Tokyo search for father

Palaver

Bryan Washington

the mother's arrival, present day

Piercing

Ryu Murakami

urban psychological thriller

Points and Lines

Seicho Matsumoto

detective investigation base

Tokyo Imperial University life

Sisters in Yellow

Mieko Kawakami

1990s Sangenjaya neighborhood — Hana's dive-bar world and Tokyo's underworld

Spark

Naoki Matayoshi

Tokyo manzai comedy circuit; Tokunaga and Kamiya's apprenticeship and ambitions

Spring Snow

Yukio Mishima

Taisho-era aristocratic Tokyo

Sputnik Sweetheart

Haruki Murakami

Kichijoji, narrator and Sumire

Strange Weather in Tokyo

Hiromi Kawakami

izakaya romance in the city

Sweet Bean Paste

Durian Sukegawa

Tokyo outskirts where Sentaro's dorayaki shop becomes the unlikely meeting point of three lonely lives

Territory of Light

Yuko Tsushima

narrator apartment and daily life

The Bells of Old Tokyo

Anna Sherman

Sherman's years living in the city; search for the eight bells of old Edo

The Box Man

Kobo Abe

urban wandering setting

The Face of Another

Kobo Abe

scientist crafts mask in Tokyo lab

The Great Railway Bazaar

Paul Theroux

Eastern terminus: Tokyo Central before the Trans-Siberian return

The Guest Cat

Takashi Hiraide

quiet suburban alley where couple lives

The Hunchback

Saou Ichikawa

Care home near Tokyo; Shaka navigates disability, desire, and social barriers from her residential home

The Lake

Yasunari Kawabata

Momoi drifts and follows women through the city

The Last Children of Tokyo

Yoko Tawada

near-future dystopian Tokyo

The Little House

Kyoko Nakajima

1930s–1945 suburban Tokyo; maid Taki's memoir of the Hirai family's red-roofed European-style house

The Nakano Thrift Shop

Hiromi Kawakami

suburban antique shop setting

The Sea of Fertility

Yukio Mishima

Tokyo and Japan

The Tokyo Zodiac Murders

Soji Shimada

central mystery setting

The Wild Geese

Mori Ogai

Meiji-era 1880s Tokyo, unrequited love near Tokyo University

Tokyo Sympathy Tower

Rie Qudan

Near-future Tokyo — architect Sara Machina's Sympathy Tower rises in Shinjuku Gyoen

Tokyo Year Zero

David Peace

American-occupied Tokyo 1946 — bombed-out ruins where Detective Minami hunts a real-life serial killer who raped and str

Water Moon

Samantha Sotto Yambao

the hidden pawnshop

The Devotion of Suspect X

Keigo Higashino

primary murder investigation area

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop

Satoshi Yagisawa

bookshop district setting

In the Miso Soup

Ryu Murakami

red-light district tour guide

1Q84

Haruki Murakami

Portal used by Aomame to descend from the expressway

Spring Garden

Tomoka Shibasaki

Setagaya, a middle-class suburb of Tokyo, where Taro lives in a condemned apartment block surrounded by the memories of

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Haruki Murakami

Toru Okada's home ward

After Dark

Haruki Murakami

Iconic landmark above which the narrative hovers

Geisha in Rivalry

Nagai Kafu

Shimbashi geisha district

Tokyo suburban teen milieu

Tokyo Ueno Station

Yu Miri

homeless ghost haunts park

Also featuring Tokyo (16)

A Dark Night's Passing

Naoya Shiga

protagonist early life

All Tomorrow's Parties

William Gibson

parallel storyline location

Earthlings

Sayaka Murata

Natsukis everyday urban life

Five Decembers

James Kestrel

McGrady hides with a Japanese official and his daughter for the duration of the war

elite girls high school

Journey Under the Midnight Sun

Keigo Higashino

later years, economic-boom Japan

Kafka on the Shore

Haruki Murakami

Kafka's origin, Nakata's base

Later family chapters

Pattern Recognition

William Gibson

central Tokyo scenes

The Decay of the Angel

Yukio Mishima

Honda estate final scenes

The Fallen Man

Tony Hillerman

Japanese antagonist headquarters

The Frolic of the Beasts

Yukio Mishima

Flashback scenes of university life and scandal

The Setting Sun

Osamu Dazai

Tokyo — impoverished aristocratic family

Thousand Cranes

Yasunari Kawabata

where protagonist Kikuji works and lives between tea-ceremony visits to Kamakura

Notable locations in Tokyo

Setagaya2Shinjuku, Tokyo2Edogawa, Tokyo1Former Residence of Natsume Sōseki (Cat House Site)1Ginza, Tokyo1Hiromachi1Inokashira Park1Jimbocho1Jimbocho, Chiyoda, Tokyo1Kabukicho, Shinjuku, Tokyo1Kiyosu Bridge, Tokyo1Kyobashi, Tokyo1Sangenjaya1Sangenjaya Emergency Staircase1Sendagi, Tokyo1Setagaya Tokyo1Shibuya1Shibuya Scramble Crossing1Shimbashi1Shimokitazawa, Tokyo1Shin-Ohashi Bridge, Tokyo1Shinjuku Ni-chome1Shinjuku Station1Suginami1