Banana Yoshimoto (よしもと ばなな or 吉本 ばなな) is the pen name of Mahoko Yoshimoto (吉本 真秀子), a Japanese contemporary writer. She writes her name in hiragana. (See also 吉本芭娜娜 (Chinese).) Along with having a famous father, poet Takaaki Yoshimoto, Banana's sister, Haruno Yoiko, is a well-known cartoonist in Japan. Growing up in a liberal family, she learned the value of independence from a young age. She graduated from Nihon University's Art College, majoring in Literature. During that time, she took the pseudonym "Banana" after her love of banana flowers, a name she recognizes as both "cute" and "purposefully androgynous." Despite her success, Yoshimoto remains a down-to-earth and obscure figure. Whenever she appears in public she eschews make-up and dresses simply. She keeps her personal life guarded, and reveals little about her certified Rolfing practitioner, Hiroyoshi Tahata and son (born in 2003). Instead, she talks about her writing. Each day she takes half an hour to write at her computer, and she says, "I tend to feel guilty because I write these stories almost for fun."
Series
Books
Arcobaleno
2002
Read Real Japanese Fiction
Short Stories by Contemporary Writers
2008
Il giardino segreto
2003
Un viaggio chiamato vita
2006
Him Her That
2013
La piccola ombra
2000
![ひとかげ [Hitokage] book cover](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1381072360i/3391298.jpg)
ひとかげ [Hitokage]
2006
Another World
2010
L'Abito di piume
2003
Viaggiatori nella notte
2013
Chie-chan e io
2007
不再獨自悲傷的夜晚
2013
Moonlight Shadow
2012
Amrita
1994
Il dolore, le ombre, la magia
2004
Lebensgeister
2011
من الأدب الياباني
مطبخ ـ خيالات ضوء القمر
2001
High & Dry. Primo amore
2004
Andromeda Heights
2002
Su un letto di fiori
2013
Moshi Moshi
2010
吹上奇譚 第四話 ミモザ
2022
Il coperchio del mare
2004
A proposito di lei
2008
Kitchen
1988
The Lake
2005
La natura giapponese è un'altra cosa
2014
Delfini
2006
Primer amor
High & Dry
2025
Asleep
1989
鳥たち
2014
Dead-End Memories
Stories
2003
Honeymoon
1997
La casa dei fantasmi
2014
FRUITS BASKET―対談集
1990
N.P
1990
Strana storia sulla sponda del fiume
2015
Newlywed
2005
Mittens and Pity
Stories
2021
Che significa diventare adulti?
2015
Un sogno gentile
2015
Un’esperienza
2015
Lizard
1993
My Body Knows Everything
2000
Le sorelle Donguri
2010
Read Real Japanese
All You Need to Enjoy Eight Contemporary Writers
1994
Sangue e acqua
2015
Hardboiled & Hard Luck
1999
L'ultima amante di Hachiko
1994
Goodbye Tsugumi
1989
Sly
1996
Ciotole di riso
2019
The Premonition
1988
The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories
2018
Ciotole di riso
2025
Ricordi di un vicolo cieco
2008
Oltre la finestra
2015
La luce che c'è dentro le persone
2011
Lo spirito bambino
2022
Le strane storie di Fukiage
2017
데이지의 인생
2000
Argentine Hag
2002
