How Do You Live?

By Yoshino Genzaburo

Translated by Bruno Navasky

(1937, translated 2021)

Algonquin Young Readers

(Young Adult Novel)

Yoshino Genzaburo’s How Do You Live is a philosophical coming-of-age novel written in 1937. The protagonist is a fifteen-year-old boy who goes by the nickname Koperu, after the astronomer Copernicus. Against expectations, the young man is handsome, popular, well-adjusted, and an athlete. He lost his father, a businessman, quite young. His uncle is a frequent visitor and plays an important role in providing guidance for the introspective young man. The novel, which was initially intended as a book on ethics, consists of Koperu’s day-to-day experiences and his conversations with his friends, mother, and uncle. Koperu keeps a diary and includes not only the advice his uncle shares with him but also the letters that his uncle writes to him on topics that require a deeper understanding. Koperu and his uncle belong to a privileged class, yet many of their discussions are about the structure of society and the debt owed to all citizens, no matter how rich or poor. They also discuss filial piety, as well as more pressing and pragmatic issues, especially advice on how Koperu might deal with the young man who bullies him. The novel advocated an open and progressive society, so it is not surprising that it ran afoul of the conservative and militaristic forces that flourished in the buildup to the Great War in the Pacific. The novel found its greatest cheerleader in Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli, who loved the novel as a young man and considers it one of his greatest influences. Miyazaki is currently producing an animated movie inspired by the novel; it will be released in Japan in July of 2023. 

“In the world at large, people who are able to free themselves from this self-centered way of thinking are truly uncommon. Above all, when one stands to gain or lose, it is exceptionally difficult to step outside of oneself and make correct judgments, and thus one could say that people who are able to think Copernicus-style even about these things are exceptionally great people. Most people slip into a self-interested way of thinking, become unable to understand the facts of the matter, and end up seeing only that which betters their own circumstances.”