Jirō Asada


Kōjirō Iwato, known by his pen name Jirō Asada, is a Japanese writer.
In 1991, his novel Torarete tamaruka! started his literary career. After writing several picaresque novels, his novel Metro ni notte was awarded the Eiji Yoshikawa Prize for New Writers and made into a 2006 film; a short story collection The Stationmaster and other stories was also awarded the Naoki Prize. He writes also historical and Chinese historical novels such as The Firmament of the Pleiades. He writes in the traditional style of Japanese popular fiction.

Career

Asada was born in Tokyo on 13 December 1951. Asada claims that an ancestor of his was a samurai under the Tokugawa shogunate. He graduated from Suginami High School, which is attached to Chuo University. Inspired by Yukio Mishima, who committed suicide after a failed coup d'état among Japan Self-Defense Forces, Asada enlisted in the SDF after finishing his studies. He changed jobs many times while endeavoring to find writing opportunities, submitting his works to literary competitions.
His novels often depict yakuza and it has been said that in this respect, they are autobiographical. Asada has stated that he was once connected to a gang, specifically someone who ran businesses to raise funds for organised crime. Asada was connected to a "Nezumi kou". However, Asada has denied ever having been an actual member of a gangster organization. There was a period when he lived on money earned from gambling, and thus he has written many essays related to horse racing.
In 1991, Asada became known for his novel Torarete tamaruka!. This novel was his first work that passed through a preliminary selection of a literary prize for new writers, so he took his pen name after this novel's protagonist.
Because of the picaresque nature of his early works, Asada has often been described as a picaresque writer. However, after winning the Eiji Yoshikawa Prize for New Writers for Metro ni notte in 1995, his style and range of writing changed and expanded dramatically. His historical novel The Firmament of the Pleiades, which vividly described the last stages of the Qing dynasty, was nominated for the Naoki prize of 1996.

Literary style

He wrote Mibu Gishi Den based on the stories of the Shinsen Gumi, and Ohara meshi mase. He describes himself as Shōsetsu no taishū shokudō meaning that he is a "cheap public restaurant", delivering any topic that the public wants. He also says that writing is the best hobby for him; consequently he has written more than 70 works in his 14 years of novelist activity, and is still eager to publish new novels. Regarding his modern novels, Asada is nicknamed "Heisei no nakase ya", meaning that he is good at moving readers to tears.
Asada acknowledges that he is a heavy smoker, and asserted the rights of the smoker in an essay "Yūki rin-rin ruri no iro". Further, every kind of gambling is his hobby, in addition to the horse racing as mentioned above, so there are essays related to gambling such as "Oh my Gah!" and "Casino!".

Works in English translation

Awards

Film adaptations

;Japanese films
;South Korean film

Manga