J-Horror: Japanese Narratives of the Supernatural

I would like to think I'm already fairly familiar with J-Horror. I've seen The Ring (which makes me an expert, right?) and have read the full body of works by Junji Ito (not at all for the faint of heart, but Uzumaki and Gyo are nice places to start if you haven't read either) among other authors and movies. I had read Kafka on the Rocks by Haruki Murakami back when I was pretty obsessed with anything that had anything to do with Franz Kafka (which, as it turns out, had nothing to do with him) but A Wild Sheep Chase was new to me. On a relative note, it reminded me quite a lot of Franz Kafka's work, in the sense that it dealt with a character who has no identity who becomes more and more estranged with the strange, initially awful world around him. But it just becomes so surreal that it breaches that realm entirely and just becomes... nigh-esoteric. Or, perhaps it wasn't at all. But if the story wasn't arbitrary, then I feel like I missed something important (probably because I'm not, nor have I ever been, Japanese).

All the same, this I felt was in interesting choice to have listed as the primary piece of reading for J-Horror week, since it didn't at all read as a traditional horror novel, withholding many elements visible in the previous readings. It feels maybe more like a fantasy novel, but I suppose it lurches between the two realms. Tacking on in that fashion, and as the title implies, it's something of a mystery novel too. On the other hand, it was rather dark and... rather morose in a number of ways, so I suppose it must qualify as horror. The writing style reminded me a lot of his Kafka on the Shore piece, so I'm glad I had that inadvertant introduction. It beckons me to read whatever else has been translated, as my Japanese is about as good as my Klingon. I've never watched Star Trek. As an aside, I really loved the humor in this and his other novel. Dry, cheap laughs. My favorite.

UPDATE: Sorry I missed class this day. I was genuinely too ill to stick around. I feel like I must have missed something wildly interesting and sincerely wish I could have made it.