Best Essays of 2025

No matter how unstable the world may be, no matter how far from peaceful it may be, we all have unforgettable days, unforgettable people, irreplaceable relationships, and beautiful moments.

This book is filled with a continuous stream of such "nows" captured in words.

—Mitsuyo Kakuta, Editorial Committee Member

Edited by the Japan Writers' Association

Editorial Committee: Mitsuyo Kakuta, Mariko Hayashi, Shu Fujisawa, Toshiyuki Horie, Yasushi Machida, Shion Miura

◆Featured Authors/Works◆

Yumiko Aoyama/Father and Shogi Jiro Asada/Automatic Doors and Revolving Doors Tadanobu Asano/The Box Man Hiroyuki Itsuki/An Era Without Charm Arano Inoue/Singing of Anger Ayumi Uesaka/Even Though the World is Cracked, I Want You to Always Be Shiny Yoko Uema/To Young Mothers in Furisode Kimonos Fumitake Ezaki/Sound The Influence of Enjoyment on Exercise Yoshikazu Ebisu / Fuku ERIKO / Traveling Through the Everyday Life of the World Shintaro Okawa / It's Only the "Third Move"... The "Surprising Reason" Why a Traditional Shogi Player Used Five Minutes of His Time Yoko Ogawa / An Old Man and a Passerby Sadao Kosada / The Charming "Immaturity" Emiko Koyamauchi / Two Ways of "Writing" Mitsuyo Tsunoda / Novels Belong to the Reader Rumiko Kasai / The Back of a Book Ario Kawauchi / An Isolated Island on the Screen Akiko Kawasaki / Joining the Meow Meow Cult Kawazoe Too Much Love Minato Kawamura / Compassion for "Small Things" Sachiko Kishimoto / Curse ♡ Kujira Niwa / Little Birds Don't Despair Harumichi Saito / Mourning in Sign Language Tahi Saihate / The Map Drawn by Chain Stores Fumi Saimon / Wounded by Digital Technology Kazumi Saeki / A Night in Ashina Junko Sakai / The Difficulty of "My Own Sumo" Mikio Sasaki / Something Begins Beyond Death Riku Sasaki / Concrete Kotaro Sawaki / The Boy Standed Up Shigaichi Gyao / The 0th Shigaichi Gyao Kazunari Shibata / Abe no Seimei Sakiko Suzuki / Memories of the Flowerbed Suzumi Suzuki / Mourning Professor Kazuya Fukuda Toshiki Suzuki / From Ku-chan to All of Humanity Nao Suzuki / The Nameless Hill Chi Soshitsu / War Nobuko Takagi / Words Masahiro Takashima / Intimacy Coordinator Arata Tendo / In Memory of Katsura Funakoshi Miu Tomita / My "Boogie Woogie" Mayuko Nishiyama / "She's My Daughter" Hiroshi Enoue / He Was Like a "Walking Bomb" Naoko Nobutomo / A Life Conversation with My Father Hiroshi Hasegawa / Forms of Mourning Mimi Hachikai / Putting the Many Aspects of Life into Words with Deep Feelings Mariko Hayashi / It All Starts Here Kazuma Hayami / Whose Voice Is That? Munenori Harada / The Meaning of Reading Yoko Hiramatsu / "Become Delicious, Become Delicious" Yuko Hirayoshi / Fragments of Everyday Life Kojiro Hirose / The Death and Aspirations of a Senior Colleague Ushio Fukazawa / To Moe Sagisawa Naoko Fukui / The Landlord's Meme Naoyo Fukuda / Palindromes, Erasers, Doors to Another World Fujisawa Zhou / Precognition Tadahisa Fujimura / The Father Who Made Me Laugh at the End Tomoko Hoshino / Cigarettes Yoriko Hoshi / The Lady of the Mansion Hiroshi Homura / Ru, Ru, Ruby? Arugula? Toshiyuki Horie / Spring Parasol Machida Yasushi / Compassion as seen in "The Way of Pro Wrestling" K. Sanzo Matsunaga / A door that won't budge no matter how hard you push or pull Shion Miura / The impact of oblivion Saki Minoda / A cat named Marble Miyako Muta / There's no choice but to do something about it Yuki Murai / "New Historical Materials on Hideyoshi" on Yahoo! Auctions Haruki Murakami / Losing Seiji Ozawa Kiyoko Murata / The heartless bookstore Moegara / My grandmother's excessive praise that made me a fish expert Juichi Yamagiwa / Stories of animals created by naming Mari Yamazaki / Italian mother (mamma) Tadanori Yokoo / Mourning Kishin Shinoyama Atsuhiro Yoshida / Pulling out the line Miwa Yoshimine / Mourning Mitsu Tanaka Komichi Ryutei / The strategy to increase the number of female rakugo performers Efu Wakagi / "I" and "me" -- Japan, a Country Full of First-Person Perspectives Seiichi Washida / Reflections on the Season of Farewells Ayumi Takahashi: Cover Illustration

■Publisher's Comment Precious days, encounters and partings, discoveries and humor, love...

This year, we've gathered plenty of "rewards in writing" to be savored slowly.

These 78 carefully selected essays, published in newspapers and magazines in 2024, are a treasure trove of moving and evocative prose.

Please enjoy this book, which can be enjoyed from anywhere.