David Mitchell..

...Is a literary figure who is "trending" these days because his novel Cloud Atlas is getting a second life in film form.

So why not follow Mitchell's suggestions on which Japanese author's to read?

Mitchell, a British novelist, has lived in Japan and made a living teaching English there. His caveat (how humility-filled it is!) is "My students taught me more about Japan than its authors, really."

Till the time I make contact with the real Japanese in real Japan, I'd go by Japanese novels recommended by Mitchell.

The Doctor's Wife is a historical novel on the status of women in Japan

Grass For My Pillow looks at Japan's bruised relationship with its post-World War II history

One Man's Justice is about the war

Runaway Horses is the second volume of the tetralogy Sea of Fertility

The Makioka Sisters is a Jane Austen-like guide to navigating the complex and demanding marriage market in Japan

Yet, upon being asked which authors, dead or alive, would he personally want to meet and have a party with, Mitchell surprisingly excludes naming any Japanese authors. He mentions Chekov, Issac Bashevis Singer, Dorothy Parker, Katherine Mansfield and Sylvia Townsend Warner.

For a self-confessed Japanophile, the list looks awfully Europhilic.