Banana Yoshimoto
is the pen name of Japanese writer . From 2002 to 2015, she wrote her name in hiragana (). Biography Yoshimoto was born in Tokyo on July 24, 1964, and grew up in a progressive family. Her father was the poet and critic Takaaki Yoshimoto, and her sister, , is a well-known cartoonist in Japan. Yoshimoto graduated from Nihon University's College of Art with a major in literature. While there, she adopted the pseudonym "Banana", after her love of banana flowers, a name she recognizes as both "cute" and "purposefully androgynous." Yoshimoto keeps her personal life guarded and reveals little about her certified rolfing practitioner husband, Hiroyoshi Tahata, or son (born in 2003). Each day she takes half an hour to write at her computer, and she says, "I tend to feel guilty because I write these stories almost for fun." Between 2008 and 2010, she maintained an online journal for English-speaking fans. Writing career Yoshimoto began her writing career while working as a waitress a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most populous urban areas in the world. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes Tokyo and parts of six neighboring Prefectures of Japan, prefectures, is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, with 41 million residents . Lying at the head of Tokyo Bay, Tokyo is part of the Kantō region, on the central coast of Honshu, Japan's largest island. It is Japan's economic center and the seat of the Government of Japan, Japanese government and the Emperor of Japan. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government administers Tokyo's central Special wards of Tokyo, 23 special wards, which formerly made up Tokyo City; various commuter towns and suburbs in Western Tokyo, its western area; and two outlying island chains, the Tokyo Islands. Although most of the w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Moonlight Shadow (novella)
is a novella by Japanese author Banana Yoshimoto, partly inspired by Mike Oldfield's song with the same title. The novella is included in most editions of Yoshimoto's novel ''Kitchen''. Synopsis The novella tells the story of a young woman, Satsuki, coming to terms with the death of her boyfriend, Hitoshi, in a car accident and her friendship with her boyfriend's brother, Hiiragi, whose girlfriend, Yumiko, also died in the same accident. With Japanese cultural and surrealistic themes, it is an example of Yoshimoto's clean writing style that portrays the emotions of grief, loss, and hope. Many important symbols are brought up, including a bell. This bell is "what really sparked the relationship." Satsuki meets a mysterious woman who helps her overcome her boyfriend's death, and Satsuki continues wondering why the woman helped her after she overcomes Hitoshi's death. Awards and nominations * 16th Izumi Kyōka Prize for Literature Izumi Kyōka Prize for Literature (, ''Izumi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize
The is a Japanese literary award established in 1988 in memory of author Shūgorō Yamamoto. It was created and continues to be sponsored by the Shinchosha Publishing company, which published Yamamoto's ''Complete Works''. The prize is awarded annually to a new work of fiction considered to exemplify the art of storytelling, by a five-person panel consisting of fellow authors. Winners receive ¥1 million. Unlike the Mishima Yukio Prize, which was established at the same time and focuses on literary fiction, the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize is more broad, encompassing a wide range of genre fiction that includes historical and period fiction, mysteries, fantasy, erotica, and more. Candidate works and prize winners for both prizes are typically announced in May each year and covered in national print media. Notable winners have included Banana Yoshimoto, whose winning novel ''Goodbye Tsugumi'' was later published in English, erotic and romance novelist Misumi Kubo, and crime fiction and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Yumiko Ōshima
is a Japanese manga artist and is associated with the Year 24 group that heavily influenced the development of shōjo manga in the 1970s. Career She made her debut as a professional manga artist in 1968 with the short story "Paula no Namida" in the magazine '' Weekly Margaret''. She became known for publishing short stories for this and other major magazines targeted at girls like ''Shōjo Comic'', '' Bessatsu Shōjo Comic,'' ''Seventeen'' and '' Shōjo Friend''. One of her short stories appeared in ''Funny'', one of the earliest magazines for josei manga (then called "women's gekiga"). Her series ''Tanjō!'', published from 1970 until 1971, gained attention for its depiction of teenage pregnancy. From 1978 until 1987 she published her most famous series '' The Star of Cottonland'' in ''LaLa''. Style According to Mizuki Takahashi, Ōshima is considered the most influential artist of the Year 24 group because of her visual innovation in shōjo manga, especially in panel de ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Isaac Bashevis Singer
Isaac Bashevis Singer (; 1903 – July 24, 1991) was a Poland, Polish-born Jews, Jewish novelist, short-story writer, memoirist, essayist, and translator in the United States. Some of his works were adapted for the theater. He wrote and published first in Yiddish and later translated his own works into English with the help of editors and collaborators. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978 Nobel Prize in Literature, 1978. A leading figure in the Yiddish literature, Yiddish literary movement, he was awarded two U.S. National Book Awards, National Book Award for Young People's Literature, one in Children's Literature for his memoir ''A Day of Pleasure, A Day of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing Up in Warsaw'' (1970) and National Book Award for Fiction, one in Fiction for his collection ''A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories'' (1974). Life Isaac Bashevis Singer was born in 1903 to a Jewish family in Leoncin village near Warsaw, Pola ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Truman Capote
Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, and he is regarded as one of the founders of New Journalism, along with Gay Talese, Hunter S. Thompson, Norman Mailer, Joan Didion, and Tom Wolfe. His work and his life story have been adapted into and have been the subject of more than 20 films and television productions. Capote had a troubled childhood caused by his parents' divorce, a long absence from his mother, and multiple moves. He was planning to become a writer by the time he was eight years old, and he honed his writing ability throughout his childhood. He began his professional career writing short stories. The critical success of "Miriam (short story), Miriam" (1945) attracted the attention of Random House publisher Bennett Cerf and resulted in a contract to write the novel ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, science-fiction, fantasy, and mystery fiction, mystery. Though known primarily for his novels, he has written approximately Stephen King short fiction bibliography, 200 short stories, most of which have been published in collections.Jackson, Dan (February 18, 2016)"A Beginner's Guide to Stephen King Books". Thrillist. Retrieved February 5, 2019. His debut novel, debut, ''Carrie (novel), Carrie'' (1974), established him in horror. ''Different Seasons'' (1982), a collection of four novellas, was his first major departure from the genre. Among the films adapted from King's fiction are Carrie (1976 film), ''Carrie'' (1976), The Shining (film), ''The Shining'' (1980), The Dead Zone (film), ''The Dead Zone'' and Christine (1983 film), ''Christine'' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Existentialism
Existentialism is a family of philosophical views and inquiry that explore the human individual's struggle to lead an authentic life despite the apparent absurdity or incomprehensibility of existence. In examining meaning, purpose, and value, existentialist thought often includes concepts such as existential crises, angst, courage, and freedom. Existentialism is associated with several 19th- and 20th-century European philosophers who shared an emphasis on the human subject, despite often profound differences in thought. Among the 19th-century figures now associated with existentialism are philosophers Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche, as well as novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky, all of whom critiqued rationalism and concerned themselves with the problem of meaning. The word ''existentialism'', however, was not coined until the mid 20th century, during which it became most associated with contemporaneous philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre, Martin Heidegger, Simone de Beau ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lee Seung-gi
Lee Seung-gi (; born January 13, 1987) is a South Korean singer, actor, host, lyricist and entertainer. As one of the highest paid celebrities of South Korea and recipient of numerous awards and accolades, including a Golden Disc Awards, Golden Disc Award for music and Baeksang Arts Awards, Baeksang Arts Award for acting, Lee has been featured multiple times in Forbes Korea Power Celebrity 40, ''Forbes'' Korea Power Celebrity 40 list since 2010, and recently ranked sixth in 2022. His success as a singer, actor and host has earned him the title of "Triple Threat" entertainer and has established him as a top Korean Wave, Hallyu star. He has numerous hit songs as a singer such as "Because You're My Woman", "Will You Marry Me", "Return" and "The Ordinary Man". He has garnered further recognition as an actor and rose to popularity in parts of Asia with leading roles in popular dramas such as ''Brilliant Legacy'' (2009), ''My Girlfriend Is a Nine-Tailed Fox, My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Massimo Milano
Massimo Milano (born Torino, 1967) is an ethnomusicologist, critic and sound experimentalist. Member of "A.I.STU.GIA" (Italian Association for Japanese Studies, Venice) and of the International Jury of the Down Beat Annual Critics Poll (USA), he has been editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine ''Finis Terrae'', for which he interviewed Zimbabwe's musical icon in exile Thomas Mapfumo. In addition, he regularly contributes to several Italian and Spanish leading newspapers and magazines (Il Manifesto, Classic Rock, Jam, Rumore, Jazzit, Il Giornale della Musica, Carnet, Amadeus, Playboy, Cuadernos de Jazz). His activity also includes extensive studies, researches and essays on contemporary Brazilian music (Música popular brasileira), its social implications and its leading role in the collective imagination as a paradigm of the so-called "World" sound. He co-authored the "Encyclopedia of Rock", recently re-published by Arcana Editrice, and during the 90's he actively collaborated as ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ryuichi Sakamoto
was a Music of Japan, Japanese musician, composer, keyboardist, record producer, singer and actor. He pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the Synthesizer, synth-based band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his YMO bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto influenced and pioneered a number of electronic music genres. As a film score composer, Sakamoto won an Academy Awards, Academy Award (Oscar), British Academy Film Awards, BAFTA, Grammy Award, Grammy and two Golden Globe Awards. Sakamoto began his career as a session musician, producer, and arranger while he was at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in the mid 1970s. His first major success came in 1978 as co-founder of YMO. He pursued a solo career at the same time, releasing the Experimental music, experimental electronic Fusion (music), fusion album ''Thousand Knives'' in that year, and the album ''B-2 Unit'' in 1980. ''B-2 Unit'' includes the track "Riot i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |