I guess, I am expected to say something about this as I live in Tokyo. Of course I know Kenzaburo Oe, though I never read any of his books as I never saw an English translation in the shops here that year. But I was here when he got the Noble prize for his book about his brain damaged autistic son, and after that, for a few years, having an autistic child seemed to be regarded as kind of chic in Japan, or at least as ok. Suddenly, every child that was retarded, mentally handicapped or whatever was presented as "autistic" and then it was alright and socially acceptable.
Yukio Mishima, yes, I have read two of his books. I assume he is the last Japanese who commited harakiri, and over a political matter as well, when his self recruited army did not manage to overthrow the government to recreate militarism, or something like that. It seems like, he had this compulsive idea of being super-masculine, macho and old style Japanese samurai-spirited. He was also homosexual and that was maybe his problem, I assume. Don't really know.
Anyway, yeah, I read about 60% of "Forbidden colours" which all deals with the life of a closet-gay who has gotten married in an arranged marriage because his parents made him, for social appearances, and his poor wife is young and pretty and he neglects her and goes off at night to his gay orgies and gay bars. Returns in the mornings smelling of other men's cologne and she never suspects a thing as she does not know that he is gay.
It got too sordid and depressing after a while for me to go on reading.
The other book I read was "The sound of waves", maybe his first work, which was still young and innocent and romantic, dealing with a fishing village and a poor young couple falling in love. A man and a woman.

Naturally i have also read the other famous Japanese authors- Yasunari Kawabata, another Noble prize winner, and in my eyes, interesting, very Japanese-sensitive-intuitive but unfortunately has the perverted mind of a dirty old man. More than one of his books deals with a young bride falling in love with her old father in law or the other way round.
Or "the house of the sleeping beauties", argh! Drugged virgins in a coma being sold to old men patronising a bordello.
Practically the same them like in Tanizaki's "The key" only in this case it is a husband who gets his own wife to pass out in the bathtub every night after filling her up with rice wine so that he can lay her out on the futon and take nude pictures of her coz otherwise she will never take her clothes off for him.
Sick, sick...
And then there is Endo who writes about the first suffering converted Japanese Christians who were burned on the stake. Not my cup of tea either.
The only author that I really enjoyed was Soseki Natsume, and he studied in the UK and has the humour of a Brit. "I am a cat" is hilarious in it's ironic wit.
Then there are the "short stories by modern female Japanese writers", translated by a colleague of mine. Horrible stuff about a woman feeding her man raw oysters while watching him eat and starving herself. Or the old couple in an arranged marriage where the man gets angry coz the wife lost her false teeth on the way back or to a wedding ceremony where this looks bad.
Yeah, Japanese books are usually no fun.
The worst for me was "The Izu dancer" (also Kawabata? Or Inoue?), a tedious account of a walk in the mountains, comtemplating practically every blade of grass on the wayside, with an occasional glimpse of the Izu dancer from a far. Talk about boring and long-winded-Jeez! Maybe I am too young to get this?
"Norwegian wood" by Haruki Murakami? Psychologist friend of mine gives this to clients who are frigid, she tells me,. I never brought myself to reading enough of it to find out why, also too depressing. The beginning was good though.

I have a fondness for Japanese literature. So these would be my suggestions if you enjoyed “A Personal Matter” by Oe (although enjoyed is an odd word to use when it comes to his work. I would recommend “The Silent Cry”. I think that is his best work. I also really liked a small book by Oe titled “Nip the buds, shoot the kids”.

Not quite as “modern” as Oe, but definitely equally as “dark” is Mishima, “Temple of The Golden Pavilion ” often considered his masterpiece, is a heavy gem. I prefer “Spring Snow” - the first book in Mishima’s “The Sea of fertility” tetralogy. So if you like it, there is plenty more ahead, each becoming more and more stylistically modern. He handed in the manuscript for the last of the 4 on the day before his death. On one level one might consider the full “Sea of Fertility” the longest and most beautifully written suicide letter ever written. “Spring Snow” is a lovely piece all on its own. “Confessions of a Mask”- Mishima’s first book, is a great start (it was my intro to Japanese writing). It is autobiographical and sheds enough light on Mishima’s troubled introspective disposition to give you an insider’s understanding of his major themes. It also bridges the moment from pre war to post war Japanese literature… and very significant bridge crossing a very deep chasm.
I found “Forbidden Colors”, in the above entry to be one of his weakest novels, though interesting and telling in the overview of his full body of work, and compulsive obsession with aging and beauty. Save it for later…way later.

Kawabata (I think he was a bit of a mentor to Mishima) and Soseki are the graceful old pre-war II grand masters, and you do have to be in a gentle contemplative mood to get with the flow of their verse. Reading Kawabata is like sustaining an odd murky dream state. While I find Soseki’s works more contemplative. Perhaps try the popular “Kokoro”, by Soseki to ease into the mood.

Tanizaki, indeed also a master of the craft, is a wonderful, brilliant more playful writer. His huge “Makioka Sisters” being one of my all time favorite novels. Just about everything he has written is a pleasure read. Very sly and witty. He has one volume of short stories that comes to mind also. “Seven Japanese tales”, including a favorite short story, “A Portrait of Shunkin”. Tanizaki is with out a doubt worth seeking out to get rolling with Japanese literature.

Endo, as mentioned in the entry above- is riddled with the western Catholic dualistic good and evil thing. An odd positioning in the Japanese landscape. I call him the Graham Green of Japan, for reasons of tortured repetitive theme alone. In his late racy book “Scandal” you can witness this trauma all crumble in on him. His masterpiece, in my opinion, far far above all his other works is “Silence”. Deep and moody book!!

The more contemporary rage is of course Haruki Murakami.
“The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” is an unforgettable trip! My favorites of his are the beautiful “Norwegian Wood” (which would be a nice follow up after Oe’s personal matter), and the stimulating and bizarre “Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the Earth”.

Lately I am also finding some cool Japanese mysteries in English translation. One that comes to mind immediately is “Out” by Natsuo Kirino. Intense. And just about anything Japanese in the SoHo Crime series (A great collection of crime novels by international authors).

hey Bob- another author occurred to me that you may find interesting- His work has a murkiness to the settings that I recall finding in Oe's.
Try Kobo Abe. His classic is The Woman in the Dunes. Maybe hard to get into 9slow and gritty) , but definitely hard to get out of...(which will make sense after reading)
A classic Japanese film was made based on the book which is intense.