This paper explores the genre and subgenres of science fiction in contemporary Japanese literature. I examine extra-short Japanese science fiction, which has a special name, shōto shōto (from English “short-short”), the prerequisites of the emergence of science fi ction in shōto shōto form in Japanese literature, its origination and formation. Basing primarily on the works of the three most popular Japanese writers of extra-short science fi ction - Hoshi Shinichi, Atōda Takashi and Akagawa Jirō, alongside the stories of Otsuichi and Ōhara Mariko, I analyze the artistic devices used in such stories, as well as the characteristic features of other science fi ction forms and subgenres in Japanese literature of the last five decades. Th e aim of this research is to investigate the following specific features of contemporary Japanese science fiction: namely, its typical characters, as well as the ways in which it reflects the problems of modern society.