Browse a rack of translated Japanese literature these days and you¡¯re likely to spot a certain motif among the book covers: cats.

Often recognized as an atmospheric trope or plot device in the fiction of Haruki Murakami, cats feature prominently in a range of other translated Japanese books. A significant number of books published in the past decade have the word ¡°cat¡± in their very titles.

You could simply chalk it up to humanity¡¯s soft spot for fuzzy felines. But with more titles on the horizon, it¡¯s evident that this literary cat craze may also be indicative of something else: a yearning for comfort and consolation against the existential dread of the present.

´³²¹±è²¹²Ô¡¯²õ iyashikei (healing type) cultural commodities exist across a variety of media. They typically manifest as anime, manga or other narrative forms that offer a cozy atmosphere and feature quotidian dramas unfolding at a leisurely pace. Studio Ghibli¡¯s 1989 film ¡°Kiki¡¯s Delivery Service,¡± based on Eiko Kadono¡¯s novel of the same title, is a prime example. The tender character studies of director Hirokazu Kore-eda also epitomize iyashikei, particularly films like ¡°Our Little Sister¡± (2015), adapted from the ¡°Umimachi Diary¡± manga series by Akimi Yoshida.

In recent years, anglophone publishers have perked up to the potential of ¡°healing fiction,¡± driven by a healthy appetite for East Asian literature. Translated fiction has been gaining more readers due to a confluence of social media communities like Bookstagram and BookTok, bold moves by indie publishers and literary awards ¡ª not to mention advocacy on the part of translators themselves.

Healing fiction is prevalent in the latest wave of Korean literature in translation, with escapist narratives centered on magical bookstores, laundromats and other mundane spaces. Younger generations of readers have been so voracious that in this calendar year alone, Penguin Random House UK is releasing six English translations of Korean titles: soothing tomes of fiction and nonfiction that tackle social issues and delicate topics including mental health.

Japan also figures prominently in this literary landscape, and a fondness for felines in the iyashikei genre has proven commercially viable abroad. In 2014, ¡°The Guest Cat¡± by Takashi Hiraide, translated by Eric Selland, became a ¡°runaway success.¡± The years since have witnessed the publication of Genki Kawamura¡¯s ¡°If Cats Disappeared from the World,¡± also translated by Selland; Hiro Arikawa¡¯s ¡°The Traveling Cat Chronicles¡± and ¡°The Goodbye Cat,¡± both translated by Philip Gabriel; Sosuke Natsukawa¡¯s ¡°The Cat Who Saved Books,¡± translated by Louise Heal Kawai; and Makoto Shinkai and Naruki Nakagawa¡¯s ¡°She and Her Cat,¡± translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori.

The fur¡¯s still flying with the latest barrage of Japanese literature in translation. Two recent titles may appeal to readers looking for...