NOSAKA AKIYUKI

(1930–)

Nosaka Akiyuki is a novelist, singer, lyricist, and politician from Kamakura. Nosaka was adopted and grew up in Kobe, but lost his adoptive father in the fire raids of World War II and his younger sister to malnutrition. These experiences became the basis of his award-winning Hotaru no Haka (1967; tr. Grave of the Fireflies, 1978), which was awarded the Naoki Prize, along with his Amerika Hijiki (1967; tr. American Hijiki, 1978); the former was later made into an animated film. In 1950, Nosaka enrolled in Waseda University’s French Department, aspiring to become a chanson singer. While in college he worked as a songwriter and broadcast novelist. He also published the novel Erogotoshi-tachi (1963; tr. The Pornographers, 1968). Nosaka has been awarded the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize, the Kodansha Essay Prize, and the Izumi Kyoka Literary Prize, among others. In 1983, Nosaka was elected to the Diet and served for eight months. He suffered a stroke in 2003, from which he is still recovering.