http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natsume_Soseki - This novel, centered around the friendship of a young student and an elder "Sensei", deals with the transition from Japan's Meiji society to the modern era. The young student develops a strange fascination with the misanthrope Sensei and through vague conversations, and ultimately a tell-all epistle, discovers the truth behind the Sensei's ennui and malaise. The book moves slowly, and the reluctance of the characters to just say what they are thinking is a bit tedious, but it is well written and unfolds as a depressing, yet compelling, illlustration of a society steeped in guilt and obligation. Published in 1914, Natsume's Kokoro is credited with establishing the form of the first-person novel.
(* - listed in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die)
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