Junichi Watanabe

Jun'ichi Watanabe (渡辺 淳一, Watanabe Jun'ichi, 24 October 1933 – 30 April 2014) was a Japanese writer.

For the Japanese footballer, see Junichi Watanabe (footballer).
Junichi Watanabe
Born
渡辺淳一

24 October 1933
Kamisunagawa, Hokkaido, Japan
Died30 April 2014(2014-04-30) (aged 80)[1]
Tokyo, Japan
Alma materSapporo Medical University
Occupation(s)Medical doctor, writer
Notable workA Lost Paradise
SpouseToshiko Horiuchi[2]

Biography

Jun'ichi Watanabe was born in Kamisunagawa, Hokkaido, Japan.[1] His starting point as a literate was the death of a classmate who was his first love in high school.[3] He published his first works while still studying at Sapporo Medical University, where he graduated in 1958.[1] He specialised in orthopedic surgery, while at the same time writing medical, historical, and biographical novels.[1] Following the scandal about the first heart transplant operation performed in Japan in 1968, which became known as the "Wada incident", Watanabe left his medical profession and concentrated on writing.[1]

Watanabe wrote more than 50 novels in total, and won awards including the 1970 Naoki Prize for Hikari to kage (lit. "Light and shadow"), and the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize in 1979 for Toki rakujitsu ("The Setting Sun in the Distance) and Nagasaki roshia yujokan ("The Russian brothel of Nagasaki").[1][4][5] He gained wide attention with a series of sexually explicit novels, including the 1997 bestseller A Lost Paradise, which was made into a film and a TV miniseries.[1]

He died on 30 April 2014 of prostate cancer in Tokyo.[1][6]

Works in English translation
  • 1969: Invitation to Suicide (Jisatsu no susume). In: Autumn Wind and Other Stories
  • 1970: Beyond the Blossoming Fields (Hanauzumi)
  • 1997: A Lost Paradise (Shitsurakuen)

References
  1. "渡辺淳一". Kotobank (in Japanese). Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  2. "渡辺淳一さん死去 「失楽園」「鈍感力」流行語生み出す". Sponichi (in Japanese). 6 May 2014. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  3. "渡辺淳一". NHK (in Japanese). Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  4. West, Mark D. (2006). Secrets, sex, and spectacle: the rules of scandal in Japan and the United States. University of Chicago Press. p. 272. ISBN 0-226-89408-8. Retrieved 26 May 2009.
  5. "Jun'ichi Watanabe". Japanese Literature Publishing Project. Japanese Literature Publishing and Promotion Center. Archived from the original on 10 January 2008. Retrieved 26 May 2009.
  6. "OBITUARY: Junichi Watanabe, novelist who focused on love affairs". Asahi Shimbun. Archived from the original on 6 May 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
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