If you’ve been in a book store in Japan (or watched any Japanese Book-Tuber) lately, you have probably noticed this little Goat popping somewhere in the background at least a couple of times, so…
What on earth is a Mook to begin with?
A mook is a popular Japanese publishing format for literary magazines, hence the name: Magazine + Book.
Think of it as: thicker and more durable than a magazine, more flexible and experimental than a book, and designed to be read slowly and revisited from time to time. A mook can include:
original short stories
essays and criticism
interviews and roundtables
book previews, guides, and special features
All in one volume. Not limited to one genre. Not rushed.
If a normal magazine is “read once and recycle,” a mook is “put on your shelf and come back later.”
So what about that Goat? And why is it literally in every book store?
GOAT is a newly published Japanese literary mook that brings together:
established literary authors
prize-winning as well as emerging writers
creators from outside the “pure literature” bubble
fiction, essays, conversation pieces, and experimental formats
It’s not an academic journal and it’s not a trendy lifestyle magazine either. GOAT sits in between, and that’s the point.
How GOAT is different from “classic” literary magazines
Most fiction in GOAT is original and written specifically for the issue
Stories are usually standalone short works, not fragments
Big-name authors and first-time contributors appear side by side
It mixes literature + conversation + criticism + diary-like writing
You’re allowed to browse, skip, jump, and circle back
Which issue should I pick? Where can I get a copy?
Whichever theme or names on the cover catches your eyes the most. You don’t need to go in chronological order or feel the need to get all 3. Start wherever you like
Each issue is available for about 500円 both digitally and in physical copies. All websites linked below should have a free sample you can read before buying
＜小説＞ → Fiction (usually complete, written for this issue)
＜エッセイ＞ → Essay (personal, critical, or literary reflection)
＜インタビュー＞ → Interview
＜対談＞ → Two-person conversation
〈鼎談〉 → Three-person roundtable
＜特別対談＞ → Long / prestige conversation
＜私のGOAT本＞ → Book recommendation column
＜そのときの日記＞ → Diary-style column
＜出せなかった手紙＞ → Confessional column (Letter-style)
［試し読み］ → Preview / excerpt of an upcoming book
＜ルポルタージュ＞ → Nonfiction reportage
＜芸術新潮コラボ企画＞ collaboration project with the art/culture magazine 芸術新潮
Once again, I know this looks very intense, but no pressure, feel free to join to read just one or two short stories, or to lurk around to see what’s popping up. I’ll try to make a tracker to keep tabs on what each of us has to say about any specific article/section/submission
Wow, what a nice OP @sadgremlin! You’re really doing your best to reel me in.
Makochou is correct, that second post needs to be made into a wiki. Unfortunately, I believe sadgremlin would need to be a regular to do that for their own post, so tagging @brandon in case you’re around to wiki-fy that for us.
If brandon’s not able to turn that into a wiki for you sadgremlin, I (or some other regular) can make a new post and turn that into a wiki, and you can link to it in the OP/second post.
Also @sadgremlin, I want to add this to our index of book clubs; should this be listed as a Mook club or a GOAT club?
I’m so sorry, it’s my first time doing a bookclub and so I’m still unsure how to do certain things correctly. I had in mind something like the volume reading tracking they did over on WaniKani for Harata, but instead of a volume, we could keep track of who has read what, so that it would be handy to find opinions on a specific part you just read or plan to read and expand on that discussion, if that makes sense. Here is some of the content, to give a general idea of what to expect
I also tried to add it myself to the list but evidently I must have messed up there too
I think it can be listed just as GOAT club, since there wouldn’t be any other mook/magazine club (so far) to justify making a new category. Thank you so much for the kind words and all the help @eefara , much appreciated!
No worries! There’s not necessarily a standard model you need to adhere to or anything; I think what you’ve got set up is great! The post being made a wiki is more of an administration thing that unfortunately requires at least a regular-level user. No worries, we’ll get it figured out.
I did mean that, but I think I was using the wrong format. I’ll see if I can figure it out while I finish the rest of the introduction material.
Oh! regarding the physical copy, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find if you live in Japan, this one just came out and I keep seeing it in various book stores on YouTube. I saw there are a bunch of freebies inside too! Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get it delivered to Europe by Amazon, so I went with the Kindle version (both digital and physical go for the same price of about 500円 anyway, so no biggie)
I’m more and more excited about this. I’ve been wanting a source of short stories for a while, I read articles on the note blog platform now and then, but something curated in a chill club would be awesome and this looks like just it.
I don’t have regular status either apparently, but I’m sure all that wiki post stuff will get sorted. Consider me in
I’ll probably repurpose this post as my GOAT home later!
mitrac’s GOAT Winter 2026 home post
Read
First impressions of issue
I’m pleased with how Bookwalker rendered it digitally. So far I’ve only had books that are either totally rendered as text or as image. This magazine is a mix, so some columns and the more creative layouts with embedded images are images, but longer sections of prose are text, which makes lookups a lot easier!
I’m most interested in the fiction, and so I’ll start by sampling a bit of the shortest fiction alongside some of the (potentially) easier main categories (ie interviews, daily life essays, book recs).
For 小説
consider title and author (what else did they write? are they new? get a vibe of what to expect here…)
read the start and decide if it’s tangible enough in the first few sentences, and interesting enough after the first page or 2, else abandon
For the other interviews, conversations, essays
who are they? do a search to orient
read the opening and see if it’s a topic I want to invest time in now
if yes continue, if not, I’ll post a little blurb so others have a leg up.
Now that the table of contents is up, everyone who wish to participate can just add their name as a column and mark which issue they are reading or have read. Or at least I hope I did it right this time
I was thinking of using columns to put the name of people participating in the club, so they can track what they are reading, what they have read, and best of all link their thoughts about it there, so that it is convenient for other to find in the thread the replies writing about the story/articles they are interested in.
I got the winter 2026 and the summer 悪 edition, because I am interested in「ナチスの奥底に現代を見た。」(鼎談). Apparently in this one a German essayist (マライ・メントライン – Marei Mentlein) is involved who is very active in the Japanese literature spheres. I am already thrilled GOAT made me stumble over her because I find it very interesting to see someone with the same native language (and a bit of a similar upbringing probably) as me inside a Japanese mook/discussion.
Although her talking about the cultural differences between Japan and Germany reminds me of the cultural differences between Austria and Germany as well
I’ve started reading the 鼎談 and so far it is pretty readable and not too difficult. There are some specialized words but they are often understandable in context. But the context is very clear to me as I am very familiar with a lot of stuff they talk about.
If you are familiar with Hannah Arendt working through those sentences is way easier than if you are not. But it is still not too difficult, at least I expected to struggle more. But I haven’t worked through the whole text yet, it’s just a first impression.
It is still definitely not as “easy” as fiction for me (but with fiction, I am sticking to authors on the easier side (around L30), so keep that in mind).
But the whole mook is soooo much content I can’t believe you get so much high quality content for only 500円.
Will check whether I can get a physical copy of this.
mitrac’s GOAT Winter 2026 home post
I can’t believe you get so much high quality content for only 500円.