Abstract

Fifteen years of self-imposed isolation, steadfastly endured until his literary debut.
Neither clinging to others nor following the crowd, he refused to lose sight of himself.
A contrarian philosophy of happiness for the modern age, from the fiercely independent Akutagawa Prize-winning author.

“Have you become so exhausted that you've stopped thinking for yourself?
If so, you are as good as dead.
You have become a slave to society.
There is only one solution: stop overthinking and escape your current situation.” (Author)

He owns neither a PC nor a smartphone and remains entirely disconnected from the internet.
Day after day, he sits before sheets of manuscript paper, writing with nothing but a pencil in hand.
Too analog? That's perfectly fine.
It is within inefficiency that we find a genuine sense of being alive.

Author’s Information

Born in Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1972, he made his literary debut in 2005 after winning the Shincho Prize for New Writers for Cold Water Sheep (Tsumetai Mizu no Hitsuji). In 2008, he received the Kawabata Yasunari Prize for Literature for Chrysalis (Sanagi) and the Mishima Yukio Prize for The Broken Chain (Kireta Kusari). In 2012, he was awarded the Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize for Cannibalism (Tomogui). In 2019, he received the Izumi Kyoka Prize for Literature for Chick Sun (Hiyoko Taiyo).