Kazushige Abe

The native form of this personal name is Abe Kazushige. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Kazushige Abe (阿部 和重, Abe Kazushige; born 23 September 1968) is a Japanese novelist and film critic. He was born in Higashine City, Yamagata Prefecture. His wife is Mieko Kawakami, who is also a novelist.

Abe graduated from the Japanese Institute of the Moving Image around 1988. After working as an assistant director, he changed his focus to writing, making his debut in 1994 with American Night, for which he won the Gunzo New Writers’ Award. He garnered attention in 1997 with *Individual Projection*. He has published numerous works that are highly conscious of narrative form, while weaving in contemporary topics such as terrorism, the Internet, and lolicon. In 2004, he won the Seiji Ito Literary Award and the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award for *Sinsemia*, and in 2005, he won the Akutagawa Prize for “Grand Finale.” Several of his works, including *Sinsemia*, share a common setting centered on “Kamimachi”; in interviews, he has spoken of his vision for the “Kamimachi Saga,” which concluded with *Orga(ni)sm*.

Works

[Titles in brackets indicate a work that has yet to be translated into English]

• 1994 Amerika no Yoru (アメリカの夜 American Night).
• 1995 ABC Sensou (ABC戦争 The ABC Wars)
• 1997 Indivijuaru Purojekushon (インディヴィジュアル・プロジェクション Individual Projection)
• 1997 Koushakufujin-tei no Gogo no Paatii (公爵婦人邸の午後のパーティー The Evening Party at the Princess's House).
• 1999 Mujou no Sekai (無情の世界 This Cruel World)
• 2001 Nipponia Nippon (ニッポニアニッポン Nipponia Nippon)
• 2003 Shinsemia (シンセミア Sinsemilla)
• 2005 Gurando Finare (グランド・フィナーレ Grand Finale)
• 2006 Purasutikku Souru (プラスティック・ソウル Plastic Soul)
• 2006 Misuteriasu Settingu (ミステリアス・セッティング Mysterious Setting)
• 2010 Pisutoruzu (ピストルズ Pistols)
• 2012 Kuesa to Jusanbanme no Hashira (クエーサーと13番目の柱)
• 2013 Shikaku (□ しかく) Little More
• 2013 Derakkusu Edishon (Deluxe Edition)
• 2014 Kyaputen Sandaboruto (キャプテンサンダーボルト Captain Thunderbolt). with Kotaro Isaka
• 2019 Oganizumu (オーガニズム Orga（ni）sm)
• Burakku Chenba Myujikku (ブラック・チェンバー・ミュージック Black Chamber Music). 2021
• 2022 Arutimetto Edishon [Ultimate Edition]

Awards

• 1994 – 37th Gunzo Prize for New Writers: Amerika no Yoru
• 1999 – 21st Noma Literary New Face Prize: Mujo no sekai
• 2004 – 15th Sei Ito Literature Prize: Shinsemia
• 2004 – 58th Mainichi Publishing Culture Award: Shinsemia
• 2005 – 132nd Akutagawa Prize: Gurando Finare
• 2010 – 46th Tanizaki Prize: Pisutoruzu

See also

• Japanese literature
• List of Japanese authors

External links

• Synopsis of Sinsemillas (Shinsemia) at JLPP (Japanese Literature Publishing Project) (in English)
• http://no-sword.jp/blog/2005/02/grand-finale-by-abe-kazushige.html (in English)