Fantasy set in Japan or a Japan-inspired World?

As the title says. To help me better describe the visuals of traditonal Japanese clothing, architecture, mythological creatures ect.. that often appear in my settings, I am looking for fantasy titles(emphasis on fantasy) that are set either directly in Japan or a heavily Japan-inspired non-earth world(to the point of directly porting traditional Japanese cultural elements such as clothing, building aesthetics, language ect..). It dosen't need to be adult fantasy, either. While adult fantasy set in Japan would be awesome, I am more then willing to look at YA and will even consider MG titles, as well.

I would prefer titles set in eras where things like Samurai where still actually in play, however, I am fine with any era, including urban fantasy set in modern day(or close to it) Japan and even science-fantasy set in future Japan. However, if its science fantasy or modern fantasy I'd like the mythological/supernatural/magical elements to be prominent enough where I'd still get some nice descriptions of Youkai dressed in more old fashion attire, or similar things that would help me write better flowing descriptions of such things myself.


I am NOT, however, looking for animes, mangas, light novels, comic books, graphic novels, movies, tv series, videogames, tabletop games/RPGs, trading card games or anything that is even remotely related to a franchise, fandom or series that started as one of the things I just listed. I want these suggestions to be strictly, 100% prose novels. Likewise, I am also not looking for any books that appropriate Japanese culture and/or language, or otherwise grossly misrepresent Japanese culture. Finally, while I'll take recommendations of titles out of Japan, I would HIGHLY prefer some titles that where released strictly for english-speaking markets, or where at least released in english speaking markets first. This is mainly because books released for a Japanese audience would be written in a way that assumes the reader would be familiar with the Japanese cultural elements, while I am specifically looking to get ideas of how to describe these things in a way that an unfamiliar person would not get turned off by.

Anyway, if anybody knows any good fantasy set in Japan or a Japan-inspired world, please share them here!

Mainly because I've already been doing a lot of the research you mentioned I should do. I am not looking for books to educate myself on Japanese culture. That is what hard research is for, and hard research on this stuff is something I really enjoy doing, have done in the past, and will continue to do in the future. The reason for the limitations is that I am looking for such books not for research purposes, but instructional ones. It's not the cultural information I need help with, what I am seeking aid with doing is learning how to deliver the cultural information I know and will continue to gain through extended research in a way western, novel-reading audiences will be open to. I, as of now, have a strong desire to have my readers KNOW that my characters are in traditional Japanese clothing, for example. I want them to know they are wearing a traditional Japanese obi, not a more western belt, when I describe them.

However, throwing around all kinds of Japanese terms without a proper glossary I fear could lose a lot of readers unfamiliar with said terms, so I am looking for examples of books that are targeted towards a western audience assumed unfamiliar with Japanese culture and language to see how they describe all these things without doing what I do and going into a massive, narrative choaking wall of descriptive text and/or throwing around a bunch of Japanese terms that may lose readers. Thats why has to be a novel.

Visual mediums don't need to describe their traditional Japanese clothing, arcthecture ect.. in words...they have pictures to do the heavy lifting. This is also the reason why the book has to be targeted to western audiences, if a book was published for a native Japanese audience, they would automatically know the cultural elements involved and thus the descriptions would be written assuming they already know about these things. I am specifically looking for how to do said descriptions for an audience that doesn't automatically know them. If the Japanese works that are translated into English however are translated in a way that has them aimed at an audience that is not familiar with the cultural elements then I am willing to look at them for this, which is why I have not ruled out Japanese works entirely.

So I am not looking for these books in the name of cultural research. cultural research is something done independent of this. I am looking for books that will help me better understand how to describe the cultural elements I research to an audience that lacks any understanding of them in a way that dosen't kill the flow of the narrative or lose said audience.

Hope that cleared up why I have the restrictions I do.


However, as far as reading for PLEASURE goes, I am open to EVERYTHING. Japanese, english, manga, anime, comic book. ANYTHING. The point of this thread isn't to find books to read for pleasure...it's to find books that will help me understand how to do something craft-wise I am having an issue grasping right now..