Wanted: list of any sf+f stories set in Tokyo

Sat 29 May 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | 12 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

Mari Kotani and the rest of the women who are running this year’s Japanese science fiction convention are looking for any stories (science fiction or fantasy) set in Tokyo. Help? Ideas? Lists?

Comments

12 Responses to “Wanted: list of any sf+f stories set in Tokyo”

  1. ghg on May 30th, 2010 11:40 am

    Murikami’s “Super-Frog Saves Tokyo” for the win.

  2. SF Signal on May 31st, 2010 12:33 am

    SF Tidbits for 5/31/10…

    Interviews/ProfilesHour of the Wolf interviews Ellen Datlow (podcast).Outer Alliance Spotlight: Brandon Bell.Locus interviews Brian Evenson.Jason Henninger interviews Gail Carriger.John Scalzi’s The Big Idea: David J. Williams.NewsPolice: Missing Zeph…

  3. Rusty on May 31st, 2010 11:03 am

    William Gibson’s story “Johnny Mnemonic” (the fore-runner to Neuromancer) is set in Chiba City – just east of Tokyo.

    http://wintermute10.tripod.com/Gibson.htm

  4. Gordon Van Gelder on May 31st, 2010 11:12 am

    Chet Williamson’s “The Pebbles of Sai-No-Kowara” (F&SF, Feb. 2004) is set in Japan, but I can’t recall specifically where.

    Same goes for Poul Anderson’s “Shrine of Lost Children” (F&SF, Oct/Nov 1999).

    I suggest checking with Chris Barzak, Fred Durbin, Kij Johnson, and Richard Parks to see if any of them have published stories set specifically in Tokyo. I think Kij and Chris have, but I’m not recalling specifics right now.

    —Gordon V.G.

  5. Jetse on May 31st, 2010 12:42 pm

    “Pseudo-Tokyo” by Jennifer Linnaea, Interzone #214, podcast here.

  6. caleb on May 31st, 2010 12:58 pm

    well we librarians are pretty shitty at this, but subject indexing for sf/f + tokyo exists for:

    Bruce Sterling – Flowers of Edo (in Ascendencies)
    Pierce Askegren – Foxy Boxer Gal fights Giant Monster King! (in The Chick is in the Mail)

    also promising:

    Osamu Dozai, Blue Bamboo: Japanese Tales of Fantasy
    John L. Apostolou, Martin Harry Greenberg, The Best Japanese science fiction stories

    though comparing “blue bamboo” with “the chick is in the mail” suggests that even the fantastic has cultural biases

  7. Attila Németh on May 31st, 2010 1:00 pm

    “Agoraphobia AD 2000″ by Ian Watson.

  8. Fred on May 31st, 2010 3:16 pm

    It might be more horror than sf or fantasy, and it’s at least as much set in Aokigahara as Tokyo, but Heather Clitheroe’s “Come to Me” from Evolve (http://www.edgewebsite.com/books/evolve/ev-catalog.html) is a very nice recent example.

  9. Jessica Strider on June 1st, 2010 9:43 am

    If you’re looking for novels as well, here are a few by Japanese authors (names given Japanese style, last name first):
    The Ring – Suzuki Koji
    Crossfire – Miyabe Miyuki (it’s technically a mystery but the protagonist is a pyrokinetic)
    Slum Online – Sakurazaka Hiroshi
    Stories of Ibis – Yamamoto Hiroshi

  10. Gavin on June 1st, 2010 9:51 am

    Thanks for the awesome suggestions: keep them coming! I should note that these are Japanese SF+F fans who are running this year’s national convention so they know a fair bit about fiction from Japanese authors and while you never know it might be new to them if there are non-Japanese stories (or novels, I think) those would be of more interest.

  11. Heather Clitheroe on June 6th, 2010 2:51 pm

    Oo – thanks for the plug, Fred!

    Gavin, I can provide you with a copy of the story if you need it.

  12. Yoshio on June 14th, 2010 12:29 am

    Thanks a lot. We’re holding our national con in Tokyo in August, and it’ll be the tenth national SF con in Tokyo. So Hayakawa’s SF Magazine will publish a special tie-in Tokyo issue in July, which will feature “Pseudo-Tokyo” by Jennifer Linnaea as you recommended and “Realer Than You” by my friend Chris Barzak, as well as an original story by Fumio Takano and a travelog, specially edited by Mari Kotani. If you like Tokyo, do visit us, although the Tokon 10 membership is no longer available. http://tokon10.net/

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