Jump to content

From Noumenapedia
Revision as of 12:56, 20 September 2026 by Deleatur yhe (talk | contribs) (Created page)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

Mieko Kawakami

Not to be confused with Maiko Kawakami.

Mieko Kawakami
川上未映子
Author Mieko Kawakami seated
Mieko Kawakami in 2026, speaking at the Edinburgh International Book Festival
Born (1976-08-29) August 29, 1976 (age 50)
Osaka, Japan
OccupationsWriter, poet
Notable work
SpouseKazushige Abe
Children1
Awards
WebsiteOfficial website

Mieko Kawakami (川上未映子, Kawakami Mieko; born August 29, 1976) is a Japanese writer and poet. She is best known for her 2019 novel Breasts and Eggs,[a] an expanded and reworked version of her 2008 novella Chichi to Ran (乳と卵; Template:Literally). Following the international success of Breasts and Eggs multiple of her earlier novels and most of her works since have been translated into English, among many other languages, and distributed internationally. Among them are Heaven (2009) and All the Lovers in the Night (2011), as well as Sisters in Yellow (2023), her first novel released since Breasts and Eggs. Her work is known for her "philosophical explorations of gender, class and ethics in modern society" and slice of life style.[1] Kawakami's books often revolve around women and children.[2]

Kawakami's work has won several literary awards, including the 2007 Akutagawa Prize for Chichi to Ran, the 2009 Murasaki Shikibu Prize for Heaven and the 2013 Tanizaki Prize for her short story collection Ai no yume to ka (愛の夢とか), among many more.

Early life and music career

Kawakami was born in Osaka on August 29, 1976, to a working-class family.[3][4] She was raised by her single mother with the family struggling with poverty.[1] At 14 years old she started work in a factory.[2]

In her early twenties Kawakami worked as a hostess and bookstore clerk while pursuing a singing career and taking correspondence courses in philosophy at Nihon University.[4][5] She released three J-pop albums but quit her musical career in 2006 to focus on writing.[6] Kawakami reportedly quit her music career after finding out how little artistic control she would have about her work.[2]

Writing career

Kawakami made her literary debut in 2006.[7]: 39  She published her first novella, My Ego Ratio, My Teeth, And The World, in 2007, earning her a Tsubouchi Shoyo Prize for Young Emerging Writers.[8] Before winning the Akutagawa Prize in 2008 for her second novella, Chichi to Ran, Kawakami was known in Japan primarily as the blogger behind "Critique of Pure Sadness" which she started to promote her singing career.[5] The blog covered a broad range of topics including feminism, Kant and daily observations by the author.[4][6] At its peak, her blog received over 200,000 hits per day. Chichi to Ran was originally published on that blog. The novella, revolving around a mother and daughter with communication issues and featuring frank discussions of sex and personal relationships, has been called "unpleasant and intolerable" by then-governor of Tokyo Shintaro Ishihara.[9] The book was officially published in 2008 and went on to sell more than 250.000 copies.[2]

Kawakami's fourth novel, Heaven, was published by Kodansha in 2009 and won the Murasaki Shikibu Prize the following year. The book follows the story of an unnamed middle schooler who is brutally bullied by his classmates. According to the author Heaven draws inspiration from Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra and tries to address the "ultimate question of good and evil".[4]

From 2015 to 2017, Kawakami conducted a series of interviews with Haruki Murakami, in which she notably asked him about women and sexualization in his novels.[10] The edited volume of these interviews, titled Mimizuku wa Tasogare ni Tobitatsu (みみずくは黄昏に飛びたつ; Haruki Murakami: A Long, Long Interview) was published in 2017. In 2019 the two authors hosted a joint reading. Kawakami has described Murakami's place in Japanese literature as special, saying he is the only Japanese author that isn't read from an orientalist perspective by Western audiences.[7]: 42  In 2016 Kawakami was featured in Granta Japan and Waseda Bungaku's collaborative "Best of Young Japanese Novelists" volume.[7]

In 2019, Kawakami published Natsu Monogatari (Summer Stories), a considerably expanded and completely rewritten version of her novella Chichi to Ran. It received the 73rd Mainichi Publication Culture Award.[11]

2020–present: International breakthrough

In 2020, the English translation of Natsu Monogatari was published under the title Breasts and Eggs by Europa Editions.[12] Katie Kitamura reviewed it favorably for The New York Times, observing, "Mieko Kawakami writes with a bracing lack of sentimentality, particularly when describing the lives of women."[13] The novel would go on to achieve both critical and commercial success internationally.[14] Heaven was translated into English and published by Europa Editions in 2021.[15] It was shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize.[16] That year the English translation of All the Lovers in the Night, translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd, was published by Europa Editions and got to be a finalist for the 2023 National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction.[17][18]

Kawakami's eighth novel, Sisters in Yellow was originally serialized in the Yomiuri Shinbun, a Japanese newspaper,[1] and published as a book by Chuokoron-Shinsha in 2023. The format invited Kawakami to improvise and write the chapters with little planning. The only thing she set beforehand were the thirteen titles of the book's chapters.[19] An English translation by David Boyd was announced for a spring 2025 release by Picador.[20] The book was eventually published by Knopf in a translation by Hitomi Yoshio and Laurel Taylor in early 2026.[1]

Adaptations

Film

While, after its initial success, Chichi to Ran was said to be adapted for the screen,[9] no such production ever materialized. The first film adaptation of Kawakami's work would be the 2023 drama Ice Cream Fever directed by Tetsuya Chihara [ja] based on the 2013 novella Ms Ice Sandwich, the first half of the untranslated Akogare.[21] Chihara's background is in graphic design and he designed multiple book covers for Kawakami in the past. In adapting the seven-page short story into a feature film the two of them worked together, leading to Kawakami being credited as a co-writer on the movie. Ice Cream Fever was preceded by a spin-off short film centered on one of the main movie's characters called I SCREAM FEVER.[22] This was followed by an adaptation of All the Lovers in the Night by Yukiko Sode [ja] starring Yukino Kishii and Tadanobu Asano in 2026. The film was screened at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival.[23]

Theater

In December 2025, actor Izumi Aoyagi debuted Wisteria and the Three Women at Lumine 0 in Shinjuku. The one-woman show is based on the short story of the same name. The production marks the fourth collaboration of Kawakami with Takahiro Fujita's theater company Mum&Gypsy.[24]

Writing style and themes

Kawakami's prose fiction can be categorized as literary realism, while her poetic work has veered into surrealism and incorporated fantasy elements.[7]: 42  In a 2019 interview Kawakami compared prose fiction with poetry and in the light of the 2011 triple disaster highlighted short poems' ability to be memorized in their entirety for "people [who] lost everything".[7]: 40  She credits Ichiyo Higuchi as having made the biggest impact on her work, nothing her as "one of the first women to become a professional writer in Japan". In 2022 she said that Higuchi's Takekurabe changed her life.[25]

Feminism

Kawakami is an outspoken feminist, seeing it as "a way of life" rather than an ideology, informing both her writing and her interpersonal relationships.[7]: 42  On the other hand books like Sisters in Yellow also serve to criticize the short-comings of contemporary feminist movements.[1]

Osaka dialect

Born and raised in Osaka, the local dialect features heavily in Kawakami's work. For example, all dialogue in Breasts and Eggs is in Osaka dialect while the rest of the text is written in Standard Japanese.[7]: 43 

Personal life

Kawakami lives in Tokyo, Japan.[26] She is married to the author Kazushige Abe, with whom she has a son.[27]

Bibliography

Novels

Novels by Mieko Kawakami
Title Year Original ISBN Original publisher Notes Ref(s).
Watakushiritsu In Hā Matawa Sekai (わたくし率 イン 歯ー、または世界; Template:Literally) 2007 9784062142137 Kodansha [8]
Chichi to Ran (乳と卵; Template:Literally) 2008 9784163270104 Bungeishunjū Originally published in the December 2007 issue of Bungakukai. An excerpt translated by Louise Heal Kawai was published by Words Without Borders in 2012.[28] [29]
Heaven (ヘヴン, Hevn) 2009 9784062157728 Kodansha Published in English by Europa Editions in 2021 (ISBN 9781609456214), translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd.
All the Lovers in the Night (すべて真夜中の恋人たち, Subete mayonaka no koibito tachi) 2011 9784062779401 Kodansha Published in English by Europa Editions in 2022 (ISBN 9781609456993), translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd.
Akogare (あこがれ; Template:Literally) 2015 9784103256243 Shinchosha The first part of two, "Ms Ice Sandwich", was translated into English by Louise Heal Kawai and published by Pushkin Press in 2018 (ISBN 9781782273301).
Breasts and Eggs (夏物語; Natsu Monogatari, Template:Literally) 2019 9784163910543 Bungeishunju Published in English by Europa Editions in 2020 (ISBN 9781609455873), translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd.
Sisters in Yellow (黄色い家, Kiiroi Ie) 2023 9784120056284 Chuokoron-Shinsha Before publication it was serialized in The Yomiuri Shimbun. Published in English by Knopf in 2026 (ISBN 9781035024131), translated by Laurel Taylor and Hitomi Yoshio.[1] [19]

Short story collections

Short story collections by Mieko Kawakami
Title Year Original ISBN Original publisher Stories Notes Ref(s).
Sentan de, sasuwa sasareruwa soraeewa (先端で、さすわさされるわそらええわ; Template:Literally) 2008 9784791763894 Seikyūsha Poetry collection [30]
Mizugame (水瓶; Template:Literally) 2012 Poetry collection
Ai no yume to ka (愛の夢とか; Template:Literally) 2013 9784062177993 Kodansha The rights for the English translation have been acquired by Picador in 2023, set to be published in 2026.[20]
Ashes of Spring (春のこわいもの, Haru no kowai mono) 2022 9784103256267 Shinchosha Published in English as an audio book by Audible in 2025, translated by Hitomi Yoshio.

"No Flowers" published in English on Literary Hub in 2025, translated by David Boyd.[31]

Selected short works in English

  • "March Yarn" (short story), trans. Michael Emmerich, March was Made of Yarn: Reflections on the Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Meltdown, 2012.[32]
  • "About Her and the Memories That Belong to Her" (short story), trans. Hitomi Yoshio, Granta 132, 2015.[33]
  • "Where Have All the Sundays Gone?" (short story), trans. Hitomi Yoshio, Words Without Borders (On Memory: New Japanese Writing), 2015.[34]
  • "The Flower Garden" (short story), trans. Hitomi Yoshio, Freeman's: The Future of New Writing (ISBN 9781925603071), 2017.[35]
  • "How Much Heart" (flash fiction), trans. David Boyd, Granta Online, 2018.[36]
  • "The Flowers Look More Beautiful Now Than Ever" (essay), trans. Hitomi Yoshio, Granta Online, 2020.[37]
  • "Shame" (short story), trans. Louise Heal Kawai and Hitomi Yoshio, Granta Online, 2020.[38]
  • "Wisteria" (short story), trans. Hitomi Yoshio, Astra Magazine: Ecstasy, 2022.[39]
  • "The Door Between Us" (flash fiction), trans. Sam Bett, The New Yorker, 2024.[40]

Kawakami also wrote Japanese translations of Peter Rabbit.[41]

Awards and recognition

Year Prize Work Notes Ref(s).
2007 Tsubouchi Shoyo Prize for Young Emerging Writers Watakushi ritsuin hā, mata wa sekai Won [42]
2008 Akutagawa Prize Chichi to Ran Won [43]
2009 Chūya Nakahara Prize Sentan de, sasuwa sasareruwa sora eewa Won [19]
2010 Murasaki Shikibu Prize Heaven Won [44]
Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists Won [19]
2013 Tanizaki Prize Ai no Yume toka Won [45]
Takami Jun Prize Mizugame Won [19]
2016 Watanabe Junichiro Prize Akogare Won [46]
2018 Grand Prix of Literary Associations Ms Ice Sandwich (2018 English translation) Shortlisted [47]
2019 Mainichi Publishing Culture Award Breasts and Eggs Won [11]
2022 International Booker Prize Heaven (2021 English translation) Shortlisted [16]
2023 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction All the Lovers in the Night (2022 English translation) Finalist [17]
2024 Yomiuri Prize Sisters in Yellow Won [48]

Japanese author Haruki Murakami called her his favorite young novelist[49] and has described her writing as "ceaselessly growing and evolving".[50][2]

Notes

  1. ↑ The novel's original title in Japanese is Natsu Monogatari (夏物語) translating literally to Summer Stories.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Ogasawara, Leanne (March 23, 2026). "Mieko Kawakami on Sisterhood, Survival, and Finding Hope in the Darkness". Literary Hub. Retrieved August 4, 2026.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 McNeill, David (August 18, 2020). "Mieko Kawakami: 'Women are no longer content to shut up'". The Guardian.
  3. ↑ 未映子, 川上 (August 9, 2019). "脅迫に屈しないとはどういうことか。作家・川上未映子さんが体験して考えた｢わたしの戦い方｣". BUSINESS INSIDER JAPAN (in 日本語). Retrieved December 28, 2023.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Emre, Merve (May 31, 2021). "A Japanese Novelist's Tale of Bullying and Nietzsche". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved December 30, 2023.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Kageyama, Yuri (March 25, 2008). "Writer blogs her way to top literary prize". Japan Times. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lee, Jian Xuan (November 22, 2015). "J-pop singer turned writer". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on June 18, 2018.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 Hitomi Yoshio (April 2020). "An Interview with Mieko Kawakami". Wasafiri. 35 (2). Routledge: 39–44. doi:10.1080/02690055.2020.1721115. ISSN 0269-0055.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "'Breasts and Eggs' by Mieko Kawakami". Los Angeles Review of Books. July 28, 2020. Retrieved March 15, 2026.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 McNeill, David (March 23, 2008). "Young commuter bloggers snatch Japan's literary laurels". The Independent. Archived from the original on May 14, 2022. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
  10. ↑ Kashiwazaki, Kan (June 16, 2017). "Haruki Murakami talks of how he goes with the flow". Asahi Shimbun. Archived from the original on June 16, 2017. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "毎日出版文化賞に川上未映子さんら". 産経新聞：産経ニュース (in 日本語). November 2, 2019. Retrieved March 15, 2026.
  12. ↑ "Breasts and Eggs - Mieko Kawakami". Europa Editions. Retrieved July 19, 2024.
  13. ↑ Kitamura, Katie (April 7, 2020). "A Japanese Literary Star Joins Her Peers on Western Bookshelves". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 28, 2023.
  14. ↑ Williams, Holly (October 5, 2020). "Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami review – strange and ruthlessly honest". The Guardian. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  15. ↑ "Heaven - Mieko Kawakami". Europa Editions. Retrieved July 19, 2024.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Heaven". The Booker Prizes. Retrieved July 19, 2024.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Labrise, Megan (January 31, 2023). "National Book Critics Circle Announces Finalists for Publishing Year 2022". National Book Critics Circle. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
  18. ↑ "All the Lovers in the Night - Mieko Kawakami". Europa Editions. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 Hasada, Yoko (July 21, 2023). "時音 Vol. 22: Author Mieko Kawakami Asks, "How Do You Want to Live?" in Sisters in Yellow". Tokion. Retrieved August 30, 2026.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Fraser, Katie (May 2, 2023). "Picador swoops for novel and short story collection from Kawakami". The Bookseller. Retrieved June 4, 2025.
  21. ↑ Mills, Phil (July 13, 2023). "Trailer: 'Ice Cream Fever'". Far East Films. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
  22. ↑ Chihara, Tetsuya (July 17, 2024). "Interview: Tetsuya Chihara on the stylish 'Ice Cream Fever'". FilmedInEther.com (Interview). Interviewed by Ng, Natalie. Retrieved August 30, 2026.
  23. ↑ Sabrier, Manon (May 17, 2026). "All the Lovers in the Night, as seen by Yukiko Sode". Cannes Film Festival. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
  24. ↑ Ting, Grace En-Yi (February 14, 2026). "'Wisteria': Mieko Kawakami's story of female longing adapted for stage". The Japan Times. Retrieved August 30, 2026.
  25. ↑ Kawakami, Mieko (May 25, 2022). "Discover the shortlist: Mieko Kawakami, 'I grew up in a house with no books'". TheBookerPrizes.com (Interview). Retrieved August 30, 2026.
  26. ↑ Hunt, Joshua (February 7, 2023). "'Breasts and Eggs' Made Her a Feminist Icon. She Has Other Ambitions". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 29, 2023. The comfortable life she has ended up with — married to another successful novelist, with whom she shares a 10-year-old son and a modest home in Tokyo — doesn't always fit as well as the designer dresses that disguise her working-class roots.
  27. ↑ Cook, Grace (April 22, 2022). "Rooms of their own". Financial Times. Retrieved December 29, 2023.
  28. ↑ Kawakami, Mieko (August 1, 2012). "From Breasts and Eggs". Words Without Borders. Translated by Heal Kawai, Louise. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
  29. ↑ "『乳と卵』川上未映子". books.bunshun.jp (in 日本語). Retrieved April 21, 2026.
  30. ↑ "国内外での評価、命の誕生と別れ… 川上未映子さんが向き合う「人生の季節」". METI Journal (in Japanese). April 28, 2025. Retrieved August 16, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  31. ↑ Kawakami, Mieko (2025). ""No Flowers"". Literary Hub. Translated by Boyd, David. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
  32. ↑ Kawakami, Mieko (2012). "March Yarn". In Luke, Elmer; Karashima, David James (eds.). March was Made of Yarn: Reflections on the Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Meltdown. Translated by Emmerich, Michael. Vintage Books. pp. 55–70. ISBN 9780307948861.
  33. ↑ Kawakami, Mieko (July 1, 2015). "About Her and the Memories That Belong to Her". Granta. Translated by Yoshio, Hitomi. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
  34. ↑ Kawakami, Mieko (March 1, 2015). "Where Have All the Sundays Gone?". Words Without Borders. Translated by Yoshio, Hitomi. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
  35. ↑ Kawakami, Mieko (October 10, 2017). "The Flower Garden". In Freeman, John (ed.). Freeman's: The Future of New Writing. Translated by Yoshio, Hitomi. Grove Press.
  36. ↑ Kawakami, Mieko (August 15, 2018). "How Much Heart". Granta. Translated by Boyd, David. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
  37. ↑ Kawakami, Mieko (June 5, 2020). "The Flowers Look More Beautiful Now Than Ever". Granta. Translated by Yoshio, Hitomi. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
  38. ↑ Kawakami, Mieko (November 9, 2020). "Shame". Granta. Translated by Heal Kawai & Yoshio, Louise & Hitomi. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
  39. ↑ Mieko Kawakami. "Wisteria". Astra Magazine. Translated by Hitomi Yoshio. Retrieved April 20, 2026.
  40. ↑ Kawakami, Mieko (August 15, 2024). "The Door Between Us". The New Yorker. Translated by Sam Bett. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
  41. ↑ Takeda, Hiromasa (April 30, 2022). "More than just a cute bunny: Profundity of 'Peter Rabbit' stories rediscovered in new Japanese translation". The Yomiuri Shimbun. Retrieved November 2, 2025.
  42. ↑ "第一回 早稲田大学坪内逍遙大賞選考委員会" (in japanese). Waseda University. September 25, 2007. Retrieved June 21, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  43. ↑ Newcomb, Amelia (December 15, 2008). "Mieko Kawakami: From blogger to global novelist". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
  44. ↑ "紫式部文学賞". 宇治市図書館 (in japanese). Retrieved June 21, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  45. ↑ "Tanizaki Jun'ichiro Prize". Books from Japan. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
  46. ↑ "第１回渡辺淳一文学賞に川上未映子さん". The Nikkei (in japanese). March 31, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2018.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  47. ↑ "GPLA 2018 Finals: Maybe the Year of English". Bamenda Online. March 29, 2019. Archived from the original on April 1, 2019. Retrieved July 6, 2026.
  48. ↑ "Mieko Kawakami". Penguin Random House. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
  49. ↑ Murakami, Haruki (October 4, 2017). "Haruki Murakami on His Favorite Young Novelist: Mieko Kawakami". Literary Hub. Translated by Gabriel, Philip. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
  50. ↑ Janney, Matthew (January 5, 2018). "Why Mieko Kawakami is the One Japanese Writer You Should Be Reading". The Culture Trip. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
Retrieved from "https://noumenapedia.net/index.php?title=Mieko_Kawakami&oldid=29552"