Famous People in Japan



Oe Kenzaburo

Date of Birth 31 January 1935
Place of Birth Kita-gun, Ehime-ken

In 1994, a Japanese man won the greatest prize in the literary world, the Nobel prize for literature. His name is Oe Kenzaburo, 59 years old. He continues to write a lot of great works, even now.

He was recognized as writer as "Shisyanohokori (the pride of dead man)", and, in 1958, won the prize of Mr.Akutagawa as "Shiiku (breeding)" and was recognized as the new leading writer. He was also cutting a brilliant figure as an international writer and attended meetings of writers in Asia and Africa. He is a pacifist, and wrote books on it: "Hiroshima-note," "Okinawa-note,"Kakujidai-no-sozoryoku," "Genbakugo-no-ningen."

He has a son, Hikaru, who is a retarded, so he wrote about his life and bringing him up. Hikaru has a pure mind and warm heart, so he composes a lot of classical music. His works are all very tender, warm and artistic. Oe wrote some books, about his the most famous of which is "Kojinteki-na-Taiken(means personal experience)."

In September in 1994, Oe finally won the Novel literary prize. People all over the world recognized him as one of the greatest writers in the world.

References: Gendai Nihonjinmeiroku, 1994 p.610-11

Reported by: Kenji Sawa
Data verified by: Mikako Mizutani
Date of Report: November 1995

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