Delhi’s Heartwarming Japanese Book Club – Lifestyle News

Arunima Mazumdar’s Dokusha Book Club: A Gateway to Japanese Literature in India

Arunima Mazumdar’s journey into the world of Japanese literature began unexpectedly in 2010 when a friend gifted her a copy of Haruki Murakami’s Sputnik Sweetheart. Little did she know that this simple gesture would ignite a passion that would lead her to start the Dokusha Book Club, a community dedicated to exploring the rich and diverse world of Japanese fiction in translation.

“The book chose me,” Mazumdar reflects on her introduction to Murakami’s work. “I had always been drawn to Japanese culture, and discovering their literature felt like a natural progression for me.” Over a decade later, she found herself craving a space to discuss and share her love for Japanese tales with like-minded individuals, thus giving birth to the Dokusha Book Club.

In December 2020, Mazumdar took to Instagram to create a platform where she could document her readings and invite others to join in. What started as a personal endeavor quickly blossomed into a thriving community of readers, with close to 3,500 followers on Instagram and 600 registered members from cities across India, including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad, as well as smaller towns like Dehradun, Jorhat, Guwahati, and Cuttack.

The club’s diverse membership includes readers of all ages, from young enthusiasts engaging on social media to seasoned academics specializing in Japanese literature at prestigious universities like Jadavpur University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and The English and Foreign Languages University.

The club’s reading list features a mix of literary and crime fiction, with a focus on introducing works by lesser-known authors and women writers. While fiction has been the primary genre so far, Mazumdar plans to incorporate non-fiction titles in the future, catering to the varied interests of the club’s members.

Despite starting as an online community, the Dokusha Book Club has successfully organized two physical meet-ups in Delhi, fostering engaging discussions on Japanese fiction and creating a space for members to connect beyond the digital realm. Mazumdar envisions expanding these offline gatherings to other cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata, while also exploring the possibility of launching a literary magazine to further enrich the reading experience for club members.

In a time when concerns about declining readership abound, initiatives like the Dokusha Book Club offer a beacon of hope for book lovers seeking meaningful connections through literature. Beyond Dokusha, silent reading clubs have also emerged in cities like Delhi and Bengaluru, providing individuals with a quiet space to immerse themselves in books and engage with fellow readers at their own pace.

For Mazumdar, the mission of the Dokusha Book Club goes beyond promoting Japanese literature—it also aims to advocate for more translations of Japanese works into Indian languages. By encouraging a broader accessibility to these literary treasures, she hopes to contribute to a more diverse and inclusive literary landscape in India.

As the Dokusha Book Club continues to grow and evolve, Mazumdar’s passion for Japanese literature serves as a guiding light, inspiring readers to explore new worlds through the pages of a book. In a country rich with storytelling traditions, the Dokusha Book Club stands as a testament to the enduring power of literature to connect hearts and minds across borders and cultures.