Kobayashi Hideo Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 10 (2011) award
Hidemitsu Takahashi
たかはし ひでみね
Takahashi Hidemitsu
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- 1961-11-13 （Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan）
- Died
- 2024-11-13 （Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan） age 62
- Nationality
- Japan
- Languages
- Japanese
- Residence History
- Yokohama (childhood) → Tokyo (after entering university)
Career
- Occupations
- non-fiction writer, writer, journalist, former boxer, boxing trainer, researcher
- Active Years
- 1992-2024
- Influenced By
- Haruki Murakami
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo University of Foreign Studies | Faculty of Foreign Studies | Department of Mongolian | — | 1980-1984 | Japan |
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
Faculty of Foreign Studies
/ Department of Mongolian
Period:
1980-1984
Year of Graduation:
1984
Country:
Japan
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 10th Kobayashi Hideo Award | Who Were My Ancestors? | — | Shinchosha | winner |
| 2013 | 23rd Mizuno Sports Writer Award (Excellence Prize) | "Even If Weak, You Can Win" — The Theory of Kaisei High School Baseball Club | — | Mizuno Sports Promotion Foundation | winner (Excellence Prize) |
10th Kobayashi Hideo Award
2011
Work:
Who Were My Ancestors?
Organization:
Shinchosha
Result:
winner
23rd Mizuno Sports Writer Award (Excellence Prize)
2013
Work:
"Even If Weak, You Can Win" — The Theory of Kaisei High School Baseball Club
Organization:
Mizuno Sports Promotion Foundation
Result:
winner (Excellence Prize)
Awards & Nominations
Works
Major Works
TOKYO Foreigners' Trial
1992 non-fictionA non-fiction examination of trials involving foreigners, questioning the justice system and society.
justiceimmigrant issuessocial issues
The Country of Trauma
2005 non-fictionReporting and reflections on postwar Japan and collective memory.
postwar historytraumamemory
No, I Can't Swim
2005 non-fictionA light non-fiction work blending personal experience and essays.
personal historyeveryday lifehumor
Adaptations
- [film] No, I Can't Swim (film) (2022)
Who Were My Ancestors?
2011 non-fictionA reportage exploring family history and lineage to examine Japanese society and memory.
family historymemorylineage
"Even If Weak, You Can Win" — The Theory of Kaisei High School Baseball Club
2012 sports non-fictionA long-form account of Kaisei High School's baseball club, depicting team building and coaching philosophy.
sportseducationteamwork
Adaptations
- [TV drama] Even If Weak, You Can Win: The Dreams of Awashi-sensei and the Hapless High School Players (2014)
Bibliography
- TOKYO Foreigners' Trial
- 30 Seconds to the Gong
- Visiting False Japanese: The Returned South American Nikkei
- The Wonderful Radio Exercise
- Mechanisms of Democracy
- The Country of Trauma
- Sentimental Diet
- No, I Can't Swim
- What's Your Hobby?
- The Sumo Man
- Who Were My Ancestors?
- Conclusion, Next Week
- "Even If Weak, You Can Win" — The Theory of Kaisei High School Baseball Club
- Men Are Annoying!
- Japanese Who Don't Want to Lose Out
- Dictionary of Unclear Japanese
- Life Is Made of Manners
- Where Japanese Men Are Left Over
- Retirement Primer: Must You Be Lively?
- This Is the Power Spot
- The Worried Person
- A Lifetime's Match: Masters of Life
- Moral Classroom: Must You Be a Good Person?
- My Father Was Nietzsche: 436 Days with a Father with Dementia
- The Guardians of Words
Adaptations
- Even If Weak, You Can Win: The Dreams of Awashi-sensei and the Hapless High School Players (TV drama)
- No, I Can't Swim (film)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- fact-based, objective non-fictionreadable essayistic proseon-the-ground reportage style
- Recurring Motifs
- family and lineagepostwar traumaeveryday detailsports and coachinglanguage and words
Health
-
stomach cancer2024 - 2024-11-13Died on 2024-11-13 after illness
Legacy
Left a wide body of non-fiction examining contemporary Japanese social issues and personal histories; works on sports and family were adapted for screen. Praised for journalistic reporting and accessible prose.
In Popular Culture
- 'Even If Weak, You Can Win' adapted into a TV drama (2014)
- 'No, I Can't Swim' adapted into a film (2022)
Quotes
-
Mr. Hidemitsu Takahashi is a somewhat unusual person; every time I meet him he always says, 'Oh dear, I'm in trouble, I'm beside myself.' He is tall, well-built, generally tanned (perhaps from reporting), and even sports a black beard — in the old-fashioned sense, a real stalwart.
Source: Haruki Murakami, Zatsubunshu (Collected Essays) (2011)
Trivia
- His family name is properly written with the high kanji variant 髙橋 but is often represented as 高橋 in common usage.
- Former boxer and has worked as a boxing trainer.
- Served as a researcher for Haruki Murakami's 'Underground'.