Kaiko Takeshi
Kaikō Takeshi (開高健) (1930-1989) was a prominent post-war Japanese writer, a recipient of the Akutagawa, Kawabata and Mainichi prizes.
He is considered a leftist activist, respected in many Indochina countries, in particular, for his vocal opposition to Japan's support of the United States' aggressive politics in Indochina. He was one of the founders of the Beheiren ("Betonamu ni heiwa o!" Shimin rengo), or the League for Peace in Vietnam. This activity was related to his experience as a war correspondent in Vietnam; he was briefly imprisoned by the Viet Cong.
Takeshi Kaiko enriched the Japanese language with the word "apache", to denote scavengers of recyclables, described in his novel, Japan's Threepenny Opera.
He is buried at the Shorei-in temple of the Engakuji Temple complex, Kamakura, Kanagawa.
Bibliography
- English translations
- Into a Black Sun, (English language edition: Kodansha America, 1981, hardcover: ISBN 087011428X, paperback (1983): ISBN 0870116096) — about the American involvement in Vietnam
- Five Thousand Runaways New York: Dodd, Mead, 1987, hardcover
- Darkness in Summer (with Cecilia Segawa Seigle), Peter Owen Publishers 1989 hardcover: ISBN 0720607256
- Giants and Toys, in: Made in Japan and Other Japanese Business Novels, transl.: Tamae K. Prindle, paperback, 1990 ISBN 0–87332–772–1
- A Certain Voice in: Mother of Dreams and Other Short Stories, ed. by Makoto Ueda
Categories: Writer stubs | Japanese writers