17th-century 17th-century-japan 1980s a-wild-sheep-chase absurd absurdism absurdist absurdity acceptance adaptation adventure alienation alternate-reality ambiguity animals apostasy atmospheric belief betrayal catholicism chase christian-fiction christian-literature christian-missionaries christian-persecution christianity christianity-in-japan colonialism coming-of-age conflict conscience consciousness conspiracy contemporary contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature conversion cross-cultural cult-classic cultural-assimilation cultural-clash cultural-clashes cultural-conflict cultural-identity cultural-imperialism culture-clash dark-comedy dark-humor destiny detective detective-fiction detective-story doubt dream-like dreamlike dreams dystopia dystopian east-asia east-meets-west eastern-philosophy eastern-spirituality endurance enigma enigmatic existential existentialism exploration faith faith-crisis faithfulness fantasy fate fiction folklore foreigner forgiveness friendship god guilt haruki-murakami hidden-christians historical historical-fiction human-nature identity identity-crisis individuality inner-conflict inner-struggle inner-turmoil internal-conflict introspection introspective isolation japan japanese-culture japanese-literature japans-hidden-christians jesuit jesuit-missionaries jesuit-priest jesuit-priests jesuits journey literary-fiction literature literature-in-translation loneliness love love-story loyalty magic-realism magical-realism martyrdom metaphysical metaphysics mind-bending mission missionaries missionary missionary-work modern modern-classic modern-fiction modern-literature moral-ambiguity moral-dilemma moral-dilemmas morality murakami mystery mythology nagasaki nostalgia novel obsession oppression parallel-universe parallel-worlds persecution personal-struggle philosophical philosophy pop-culture portuguese-missionaries postmodern postmodernism priests psychological quest quirky reality redemption religion religious-beliefs religious-conflict religious-conversion religious-exploration religious-faith religious-identity religious-intolerance religious-oppression religious-persecution religious-tolerance resilience romance sacrifice samurai self-discovery self-sacrifice sheep sheep-man shusaku-endo silence silence-of-god sin solitude spiritual-crisis spiritual-journey spiritual-struggle spirituality struggle suffering supernatural surreal surrealism survival suspense symbolic symbolism thriller tokyo transformation translation unconventional urban urban-fantasy western-influence