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Toya Tachihara

たちはら とうや

Tachihara Touya

Pen Names: Toya Tachihara（Pen name used until 2000）, Noriko Yamamoto（Legal name (used e.g. for academic work and some translations)）

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1969-02-08 （Osaka Prefecture, Japan）
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese, Chinese
Residence History
Born in Osaka Prefecture → Raised in Nara Prefecture → Resident of Sapporo

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Translator, University lecturer (Associate Professor)
Active Years
1991-
Affiliations
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan (SFWJ), Chinese SF Study Group, Henkaku Mystery Writers Club (member), Hokusei Gakuen University (faculty)
Memberships
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan, Chinese SF Study Group
Influenced By
Wang Jinkang

Education

Osaka Women's University
Faculty of Liberal Arts / Department of Japanese Literature
Country: Japan
Osaka City University Graduate School
Graduate School of Letters / Chinese Language and Literature
Degree: 修士（文学）
Year of Graduation: 1996
Country: Japan
Completed master's program in 1996

Awards

Cobalt Readers' Award
1991
Work: Yumeuri no Tamago
Organization: Cobalt Bunko editorial
Result: 受賞
Japan SF Award (Special Prize)
2021
Work: For translation and introduction of Chinese-language SF
Category: 特別賞
Organization: Japan SF Award Committee
Result: 受賞
SF Planet Award — Outstanding Contribution (2nd)
2024
Work: Contributions to introduction of Chinese SF
Category: 突出贡献奖
Organization: SF Planet Awards (organizers)
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Nagi no Taisai

1994 Fantasy

A fantasy novel mixing urban elements with folklore, where tradition and modernity intersect.

folkloreritualthe city

Whisper

2001 Horror

Representative piece from a collection of horror stories exploring the boundary between everyday life and the otherworldly.

ghost storiesuncanny everyday

The Silver Hand Shiva: Hakase and Kotori

2007 Fantasy

A children's novel mixing SF and fantasy elements, focusing on invention and friendship.

friendshipinventionadventure

Bibliography

  • Yumeuri no Tamago
  • Shadow Circle (series)
  • Darkside Hunter (series)
  • Chinatown Blues (series)
  • Nagi no Taisai
  • Whisper
  • The Silver Hand Shiva: Hakase and Kotori

Adaptations

  • Yami no Teishajo (manga adaptation in 'Honto ni Atta Kowai Hanashi' comics)

Translations by Author

  • The Three-Body Problem (Japanese edition — supervision / translation collaboration, 2019)
  • Translations of Chinese SF short stories by Wang Jinkang and others (various, 2008–)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
lyrical, detailed descriptionblend of horror/ghost-story elements with everyday realismuse of Chinese motifs and settings
Recurring Motifs
the uncannyboundaries between worldsritual and folkloreChinese cultural and regional settings

Legacy

Toya Tachihara is both a writer of light novels, horror and fantasy and a translator/mediator who helped introduce Chinese-language science fiction to Japanese readers. As a university academic and translator/editor, her contributions to promotion and scholarship of Chinese SF have been increasingly recognized domestically and abroad.

Academic Societies

  • Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan
  • Chinese SF Study Group

Archives

  • National Diet Library (catalog entries related to Toya Tachihara)

In Popular Culture

  • Some works adapted into comics and included in anthologies, familiar to fans of ghost stories and horror

Trivia

  • Used the pen name 'Toya Tachihara' (written as 立原 とうや) until 2000.
  • Legal name is Noriko Yamamoto; her father, Minoru Yamamoto, was a mathematician who served as a professor at Osaka University.
  • Recognized for translations and introductions of Chinese-language SF, receiving honors such as the Japan SF Award (Special Prize).