Japanese Literary Awards

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Eimi Yamada

やまだ えいみ

Yamada Eimi

Aliases: 山田 双葉
Pen Names: Eimi Yamada（Pen name used for literary works）

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1959-02-08 （Nakamaru-cho, Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan）
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Residence History
Nakamaru-cho, Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan → Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan → Kaga, Ishikawa, Japan → Iwata, Shizuoka, Japan → Kanuma, Tochigi, Japan → Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan → Kichijoji, Tokyo, Japan

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Manga artist, Essayist
Active Years
1985-
Memberships
Member of the Akutagawa Prize selection committee (from 2003)
Influenced By
Boris Vian, Françoise Sagan
Influenced
Hitomi Kanehara, Risa Wataya, Rusuboy
Nominations
Akutagawa Prize nominee (Bedtime Eyes), Akutagawa Prize nominee (Jesse's Spine), Akutagawa Prize nominee (Butterfly's Bound Feet)

Education

Meiji University, Faculty of Letters
Faculty of Letters / Japanese Literature
Degree: 中退
Period: 在学中に中退（～1981）
Country: Japan
Member of the university manga club; left university in 1981 and began publishing works

Awards

Bungei Prize
1985
Work: Bedtime Eyes
Organization: Bungeishunju
Result: 受賞
Naoki Prize
1987
Work: Soul Music Lovers Only
Organization: Japan Literature Promotion Society
Result: 受賞
Hirabayashi Taiko Literary Award
1989
Work: The Classroom of Wind Burial
Organization: Hirabayashi Taiko Award Committee
Result: 受賞
Women Writers' Literary Award
1991
Work: Trash
Organization: Women Writers' Award Organization
Result: 受賞
Izumi Kyoka Literary Prize
1996
Work: Animal Logic
Organization: Izumi Kyoka Prize Committee
Result: 受賞
Yomiuri Literary Prize
2001
Work: A2Z
Organization: Yomiuri Shimbun
Result: 受賞
Tanizaki Jun'ichiro Prize
2005
Work: Fumi Zekka (Flavor Exquisite)
Organization: Tanizaki Prize Committee
Result: 受賞
Noma Literary Prize
2012
Work: Gentleman
Organization: Noma Cultural Foundation
Result: 受賞
Kawabata Yasunari Literary Award
2016
Work: Seisen Teruteru Bozu
Organization: Kawabata Yasunari Award Committee
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Bedtime Eyes

1985 Romance

Debut work portraying the love life and relationships of a young woman, including encounters with foreigners; caused controversy on release.

LoveRelations with foreignersUrban life
Adaptations
  • [Film] Bedtime Eyes (1987)

Soul Music Lovers Only

1987 Youth/Love novel

A love novel set against youth culture and music; winner of the Naoki Prize.

YouthMusicLove
Adaptations
  • [Film] Soul Music Lovers Only (1988)

I Can't Study

1993 Youth novel

A novel about the everyday lives and issues surrounding high school students and children; continues a lineage of youth-focused fiction.

High school studentsEducationBullying
Adaptations
  • [Film] I Can't Study (1996)

Animal Logic

1996 Short story collection/fiction

A collection depicting various characters and relationships; winner of the Izumi Kyoka Literary Prize.

Human relationshipsSocial psychology

Flavor Exquisite (Fumi Zekka)

2005 Short story collection

A short story collection portraying manual laborers; awarded the Tanizaki Prize.

LaborEveryday lifeSocial strata
Adaptations
  • [Film] Sugar & Spice: Fumi Zekka (2006)
  • [Anime (short)] Yushoku (2013)

Gentleman

2011 Fiction

A work focusing on interpersonal relations and inner life in middle age and beyond; winner of the Noma Literary Prize.

Middle ageRelationshipsLoneliness

Bibliography

  • Bedtime Eyes
  • Fingertips' Play
  • Jesse's Spine
  • Butterfly's Bound Feet
  • Harem World
  • Soul Music Lovers Only
  • Tropical Armchair
  • Canvas Coffin
  • I Am a Poikilotherm
  • I Am Beat
  • Freak Show
  • Kneel and Lick My Feet
  • The Classroom of Wind Burial
  • Safety Box
  • Notes After School
  • Nekketsu Pon-chan series
  • Make Me Sick
  • The Child in Old Age
  • Rabbit Disease
  • Son of Colors
  • Trash
  • 24/7
  • Nonfiction of the Inner World
  • Chewing Gum
  • I Can't Study
  • Verbs of Pleasure
  • 120% COOOL
  • Animal Logic
  • Bedtime Eyes, Fingertips' Play, Jesse's Spine (Shincho Bunko)
  • 4U
  • MAGNET
  • Amy Seds
  • Amy Shows
  • A2Z
  • Princess
  • Vodka Knit
  • PAY DAY!!!
  • Fumi Zekka
  • Free Grace
  • First Literature: Eimi Yamada
  • Study
  • Tiny Stories
  • Gentleman
  • I Might Die Tomorrow, and You
  • 4 Unique Girls: 63 Rules to Be the Lead of Your Life
  • The Wise Man's Love
  • Selected Short Stories
  • Kichijoji Days: Yummy Foods & Gossip
  • Tsumibito
  • First Crush
  • There Is Blood and Tears
  • Kichijoji Dreamin': Walking & Timid Corona
  • My Kotodama Drift Diary
  • Genealogy of Hadauma

Adaptations

  • Bedtime Eyes (film, 1987)
  • Soul Music Lovers Only (film, 1988)
  • I Can't Study (film, 1996)
  • Sugar & Spice: Fumi Zekka (film, 2006)
  • Yushoku (anime short, 2013)
  • The Wise Man's Love (film, 2016)
  • A2Z (film, 2023)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Life-rooted realismWitty and meticulous proseAutobiographical elements
Recurring Motifs
LoveYouthChildren and high school studentsBullyingRelations with foreignersUrban life

Legacy

A prize-winning author (including the Naoki Prize) who has continued to influence younger Japanese writers. Her works, which portray society and everyday life from a lived perspective, are highly regarded and have become the subject of academic study.

Quotes

  • There was no correct answer among the choices.
    Source: Comment regarding university entrance exam question (essay/interview) (2001)

Trivia

  • Nickname: "Pon-chan".
  • Debuted as a manga artist while at university under her real name Futaba Yamada.
  • Married Craig Douglas in 1990 (divorced 2006); remarried Ryosuke Kanou in 2011.
  • A passage from 'I Can't Study' was used as a text in the National Center Test for University Admissions.