Best Essays of 2023

Edited by the Japan Writers' Association Editorial Committee: Mitsuyo Kakuta, Mariko Hayashi, Shu Fujisawa, Toshiyuki Horie, Yasushi Machida, Shion Miura

Whether regretting what should have been done or looking forward with a resolution, words are necessary to convey these thoughts to others.

This book is filled with small, easily overlooked markers of words.

Please look closely and listen carefully.

You will be once again surprised by the power of the fresh "now" that is repeated throughout.

--Editor of this book, Toshiyuki Horie

Featured Authors/Works

Akagi Akito/The Craftsman's Dream Agawa Sawako/The Teachings of Matsuoka Kyoko Akita Masako/A Story of Blue and Black Asada Jiro/The Correct Way to Eat Fried Horse Mackerel Aramata Hiroshi/See the Trees, See the Birds Ishida Natsuho/Feeling Like Beyoncé Isono Maho/What Does It Mean to Be Your True Self? Inagaki Hidehiro/Rain is Truly Mysterious. Isn't it Mysterious?

Mami Imai / Delicious Stories Takehiro Ueda / Meta-Metaverse Junko Uchizawa / It's Just Strange No Matter How You Look At It Shungiku Uchida / Hidden Macho Takahiro Otsuji / Kodai Station Tetsu Ogawa / Our Second World War Hikaru Okuizumi / In Everyday Life Online Mitsuyo Kakuta / The Beginning of a Journey Yuki Kamata / Books and Moving Ai Kawazoe / Inoki's Words That Stay in My Heart Chohei Kambayashi / The Power of "Fiction" Sachiko Kishimoto / Chestnut Osamu Kitayama / That Wonderful Love Natsuo Kirino / Female Friends Kujira Niwa / A Hippogriff Made of Plaster Hiroki Kusu / The Soles of the Descendants' Feet Senji Kuroi / A Diary Full of Gaps - That's Fine Masayo Koike / Orphan Mariko Koike / Moonlight and Christmas Hiroshi Gohara / A Star Isn't Made in a Day Kazumugi Saeki / Even If You Cultivate The wind is cold in spring Junko Sakai / "Online Agnes" appears Toshiaki Sato / The passionate Mr. Dandy Yojiro Sato / Just being alive is happiness Kotaro Sawaki / That's all it takes Hitoshi Sawano / My brother's ice axe Sennosuke Shigeyama / There is a substitute Hiroshi Shino / "Propaganda leaflet" for the start of the rainy season Kazunari Shibata / Alien Masataka Sugimoto / The running shogi player Shinichi Suzuki / Mourning Fujiko Fujio A Kazunari Sudo / Elephant Yuichi Seirai / The story of "Shintaro Ishihara" Ikuko Sekita / Theater is "embarrassing" Tamaki Daido / Isn't that strange? Isn't that strange? Takada Iku/Tsukushi Takeda Satetsu/(Laughs) Will this laughter be conveyed? Tanaka Shinya/As a survivor Nakayama Yujiro/A problem that must not be wrong Nanao Tabito/A dog's life notebook Norishiro Yusuke/I want to teach you Hattori Fumio/Climbing as it is Hayashi Mariko/Welcome back to my alma mater! Hiraoka Naoko/Ghost Hiramatsu Yoko/Repeating Fujisawa Shu/A blank notebook Fujiwara Tomomi/Movie theaters were connected to society Fujiwara Marina/Continuing to stare at the ceiling Furukawa Masato/Watch out, you're going to fall!

Mikako Brady / A journey of a thousand miles begins on the ground Morihiro Hosokawa / Kyoto without Jakucho-san Hiromichi Hosoma / "Foreshadowing" and "Resolution" Hiroshi Homura / The Time of Life: Illusion and Gaze Toshiyuki Horie / It's Okay Even If It's a Lie Hideo Honda / Two Meanings in "Bond" Yasushi Machida / In Memory of Kenta Nishimura Suzuki Matsuo / In Memory of Akio Miyazawa Shion Miura / The Logic of Dad Jokes Aki Misaki / Flour-Based Food Diversity Tamaki Miyata / The More Incorrect the Old Map, the More Fun It Is Ayako Murata / The Microcosm of "Street Gardening" Kiyoko Murata / The Lights Went Out! Masao Morita / The Last Number Mariko Yamauchi / A Wonderful Armchair Trip Asako Yuzuki / A Fishing Pond at Night Baku Yumemakura / A Body Dedicated to Fantasy Risa Wataya / Vegetables Are Sweet aka: Cover Illustration