The cat theme is echoed in the Museum itself, with the course through the exhibits marked by a small black cat, and tiles with cats on them leading the way to the front door. The park itself contains a small free exhibition where you can try writing your own haiku poem, and nekotsuka, or cat memorials dedicated to deceased pets. The Park is a 10 minute walk from Waseda station on the Tozai line, or a 15 minute walk from Ushigome-Yanagicho station on the Toei Oedo line. Soseki Park is the location of Soseki’s final house, where he lived from 1907 and wrote books such as Sanshiro, Korekara and Kokoro. The Museum is next to Soseki Park, along the Soseki Sanbo dori street in Waseda. The Natsume Soseki Museum opened in September 2017, on the 150 th anniversary of his birth.

Below are some of the key Soseki related spots, besides a guide to some of the neighbourhoods where you can still experience traces of Meiji-era Japan.

There are many places left in Tokyo connected to him, and even for those who are unfamiliar with his writing the neighbourhoods he frequented offer a unique and nostalgic way to experience Tokyo. Why are there so many Natsume Soseki spots in Tokyo? His famous books include I am a Cat, Kokoro, S orekara and Botchan. He was born in February 1867 in Tokyo, and spent much of his life in what is now the Shinjuku ward. Her other translations include Ravine and Other Stories, The Tale of Saigyo, and for Penguin Classics, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon and Kusamakura.Natsume Soseki (1867-1916) is one of the most famous writers of modern Japanese literature: from 1984 until 2004 his picture was even printed on the 1,000 yen note. She lived and taught in Japan for twenty years and now lives near Braidwood, New South Wales. Meredith McKinney holds a PhD in medieval Japanese literature from the University in Canberra, where she teaches in the Japan Centre. His work enjoyed wide popularity in his lifetime and secured him a permanent place in Japanese literature.

He wrote fourteen novels, including I Am A Cat and Kusamakura, as well as haiku, poems in the Chinese style, academic papers on literary theory, essays, autobiographical sketches, and fairy tales. Numerous nervous disorders forced him to give up teaching in 1908, and he became a full-time writer. He went to England on a Japanese government scholarship, and when he returned to Japan he lectured on English literature at Tokyo University and began his writing career with the novel Botchan. Born Natsume Kinnosuke in Tokyo, he graduated from Tokyo University in 1893 and then taught high school English. Natsume Soseki (1867-1916), one of Japan's most influential modern writers, is widely considered the foremost novelist of the Meiji era (1868-1914).

Kokoro natsume soseki english