Music Babble

It's just about as entry-level but Natsume Soseki? I really liked Kusamakura/The Three-Cornered World.

I read Yoko Ogawa's The Memory Police this year and thought it was great, my ex was a big fan of a lot of her other writing as well.

I've never read any Oe, which is the other main big name coming to mind. On my bookshelf, should get around to reading:

Shusaku Endo - Scandal
Yasushi Inoue - Notes of a Counterfeiter