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Izumi Yamaguchi

やまぐち いずみ

Yamaguchi Izumi

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1955-07-28 （Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan）
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Residence History
Okinawa Prefecture, Japan

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Writer, Essayist
Active Years
1977-
Memberships
Japan PEN Club

Education

Tokyo University of the Arts
Faculty of Fine Arts
Country: Japan

Awards

Dazai Osamu Prize
1977
Organization: Dazai Osamu Prize Committee
Result: 優秀賞
Japan Fantasy Novel Award
1989
Organization: Japan Fantasy Novel Award Committee
Result: 優秀賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Children of the Blizzard Stars

1984 Novel

A collection of stories questioning existence through depictions of people and nature amid blizzards.

naturelonelinessjourney

The Country of Travellers

1984 Essays / Fiction

Fragments of travel and characters that reveal society and memory.

travelmemorysociety

Quintet for the End of the World

1987 Novel

A series of stories around apocalyptic themes, portraying ends of people and the world from multiple perspectives.

apocalypsehuman relationsethics

The Waterfall at the Source of the Universe

1989 Fantasy Novel

A fantasy novel exploring existence and the universe through a fantastical setting.

universefantasyexistence

The Tragedy Appreciation Troupe

1994 Novel

A provocative work sharply observing the shadows of society.

social critiquetragedyensemble

Hotel Auschwitz: Seven Stories on the World and Humanity Today

1998 Fiction / Essays

A collection that juxtaposes history and the present to question contemporary humanity.

historymemoryethics

Bach of the Atomic Field: 330 Days in Tokyo, the Exposed Land

2012 Non-fiction

A reportage and reflection recording days in Tokyo in light of exposure and nuclear accident effects.

radiation exposurenuclear powerdocumentation

Bibliography

  • Children of the Blizzard Stars
  • The Country of Travellers
  • Opera of Stardust
  • Quintet for the End of the World
  • The Waterfall at the Source of the Universe
  • Asia, Winter Tales
  • Hotel Stories: Twelve Hotels and One Traveler
  • The Tragedy Appreciation Troupe
  • 'The New Middle Ages' Has Come! How to Live in an Age of Stagnation
  • Fighting Television
  • Winter of the Aurora Symphony
  • Hotel Auschwitz: Seven Stories on the World and Humanity Today
  • Eternal Spring
  • The Holy Family
  • Kenji Miyazawa: Legend — Toward 'Hope' in the Gas Chamber
  • Alberto Giacometti's Chair
  • Bach of the Atomic Field: 330 Days in Tokyo, the Exposed Land
  • Evacuee Mom — Escaping Radiation to Okinawa
  • The Dialectic of Henoko — Post-Fukushima and the 'Okinawa Revolution'
  • The Empire of Gravity — Thirteen Stories on the World and Humanity Today
  • Letters from an Unsubmissive Country — Okinawa, Japan, East Asia Chronicle 2016–2019
  • Is There Still 'Hope' That Can Be Spoken of from the Land of Death?
  • Children of the Blizzard Stars: The Jade Sky Children

Style & Themes

Literary Style
lyrical prosesocial-critical perspectivefragmentary/essayistic approach
Recurring Motifs
journeynature and landscaperadiation and nuclear issuesOkinawahistory and memory

Legacy

Izumi Yamaguchi is known since the 1980s as a writer combining a distinctive fantastical sensibility with social critique; he is also recognized for nonfiction and essays addressing contemporary issues such as radiation exposure and Okinawa.

Museums

  • Ashikaga City Museum of Art Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan

Academic Societies

  • Japan PEN Club

Archives

  • National Diet Library (author file, etc.)
  • VIAF / ISNI / WorldCat databases

Trivia

  • Born in Nagano City.
  • Resident of Okinawa Prefecture.
  • Received an Excellence Award in the Dazai Osamu Prize in 1977.
  • Received an Excellence Award in the Japan Fantasy Novel Award in 1989.
  • Contributes a monthly column to the weekly magazine 'Shukan Kin'yobi'.