佐佐木让

Joh Sasaki (佐々木 譲, Sasaki Jō; born March 16, 1950) is a Japanese writer and journalist, chiefly known for his historical fiction and mystery novels.

Biography

Joh Sasaki was born in Yubari, Hokkaido, Japan. He spent his early youth in Nakashibetsu City and later moved to Sapporo where he attended Tsukisamu High School. He released his first novel, Tekkihei, tonda (鉄騎兵、跳んだ), in 1979. Sasaki quickly established himself as a writer after winning the All Yomimono New Writers Prize for Tekkihei, tonda, which was also later adapted for the big screen. Today Sasaki is very widely known, and has written numerous works in genres including historical fiction, young adult fiction and police crime fiction, as well as TV crime drama adaptations.

In 2009, Sasaki won Japan's number one literary award, the Naoki Prize, for his work ja:廃墟に乞う Haikyo ni kou, and also holds many other literary awards. These days Sasaki is actively developing his stories for the stage in addition to directing a children's e-picture book project called Joh's Picture Book Project.

Literary style

Joh Sasaki is well known in Japan as a social entertainment writer. In his novel ja:真夜中の遠い彼方 Mayonaka no tooi kanata (later re-titled to ja:新宿のありふれた夜 Shinjuku no arifureta yoru), he depicts the underground lifestyles of the Japanese mafia, boat people, and illegal alien workers. In ja:夜にその名を呼べば Yoru ni sono na o yobeba, Sasaki portrays a chilling Cold War scene in a mystery set in Otaru, Hokkaido and Berlin, Germany. His police mystery thriller, ja:歌う警官 Utau keikan (later re-titled to ja:笑う警官 Warau keikan) was adapted for the big screen and provides an early setting for his later internationally acclaimed roman-fleuve novel ja:警官の血 Keikan no chi which was eventually adapted for television. Sasaki's ja:ベルリン飛行指令 Berlin hikō shimei (English title: Zero Over Berlin) garnered critical acclaim for telling a World War II story from the Japanese perspective; it focuses on a fly-by-night mission involving a Type Zero Fighter (Mitsubishi A6M Zero) secretly making its way from Japan all the way to Berlin at the request of the Luftwaffe. Zero Over Berlin is presently Sasaki's only novel translated into English.

Works in English translation

Zero Over Berlin (original title: Berlin Hikō Shirei): Vertical, 2004 (Translated by Hiroko Yoda with Matt Alt).

Awards

1979 ja:鉄騎兵、跳んだ Tekkihei, tonda: debut novel winning the All Yomimono New Writers Prize.

1989 ja:エトロフ発緊急電 Etorofu hatsu kinkyūden: novel winning the Mystery Writers of Japan Award, Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize and Japan Adventure Fiction Association Prize.

1994 ja:ストックホルムの密使 Stockholm no misshi: novel winning the Japan Adventure Fiction Association Prize.

2002 ja:武揚伝 Buyōden: novel winning the Nitta Jirō Prize for Literature.

2008 ja:警官の血 Keikan no chi (The Policeman's Lineage): novel winning the first place in the "Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! 2008" and the Japan Adventure Fiction Association Prize.

2009 ja:廃墟に乞う Haikyo ni kou (Prayer in the Ruins): novel winning the nationally acclaimed literary award Naoki Prize.