is a Japanese countryside physician and writer whose work records countryside experiences of numerous individuals (typically, his patients).

Biography

Saga (also known as Ivo Škarica) has written various books. Two, consisting of the recollections of the ordinary lives of people in the early twentieth century in the town of

Tsuchiura is a city located in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population in 2024 of 142,181 people in 66,629 households, and a population density of 1,157 persons per squate kilometre. The proportion of the population aged over 65 ...

Ibaraki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,828,086 (1 July 2023) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, ...

, were translated into English as "Memories of Silk and Straw" and "Memories of Wind and Waves". He also wrote the 1989 ''

Confessions of a Yakuza is a 1989 book by Japanese doctor and author Junichi Saga. It recounts a series of stories from the life of his patient Eiji Ijichi, a former Yakuza boss, as told in the last months of his life. The book starts with the teenage Ijichi running ...

''. The 1989 book was called "colorful, unorthodox" by the ''

International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France, for international English-speaking readers. It published under the name ''International Herald Tribune'' starting in 1967, but its ...

'', "a witness to the past" by ''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'', and "vivid and accurate" by the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

''. ''Confessions of a Yakuza'' also briefly caused media coverage in 2003 when about a dozen passages were repurposed as lyrics by

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

for his album '' Love and Theft''.

Bibliography

*''Memories of Silk and Straw'', translated into English by Gerry O. Evans *''Memories of Wind and Waves'', translated into English by Juliet Carpenter *''Confessions of a Yakuza''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saga, Junichi Japanese writers 1941 births Living people