Jirō Asada is the pen name of Kōjirō Iwato, a Japanese writer. Inspired by Yukio Mishima, who tried to stage a coup d'état among Japan Self-Defense Forces then committed suicide after the coup was failed, Asada enlisted in the SDF after finishing his studies. He changed jobs many times while endeavoring to find writing opportunities, submitting his works to literary competitions. In 1991, his novel Torarete tamaruka! started his literary career. After writing several picaresque novels, his novel Metro ni notte was awarded the Eiji Yoshikawa Prize for New Writers and made into a 2006 film; a short story collectionThe Stationmaster and other stories was also awarded the Naoki Prize. He writes not only standard fiction and picaresque novels, but also writes historical and Chinese historical novels such as The Firmament of the Pleiades. He is seen as an author who has continued the traditional style of Japanese popular fiction.
His novels often depict Yakuza and it has been said that in this respect, they are autobiographical - Asada has admitted that he was once connected to a gang, specifically someone who ran businesses to raise funds for organised crime. Asada was connected to a "Nezumi kou". However, Asada has denied ever having been actual member of a gangster organization. There was a period when he was living on money earned from gambling, and thus he has written many essays related to horse racing. In 1991, Asada became well known for his novel Torarete tamaruka!. This novel was his first work that passed through a preliminary selection of a literary prize for new writers so his pen name was taken after this novel's protagonist. Because of the picaresque nature of his early works, Asada has often been described as a picaresque writer. However, after winning the Eiji Yoshikawa Prize for New Writers for Metro ni notte in 1995, his style and range of writing changed and expanded dramatically. His historical novelThe Firmament of the Pleiades, which described vividly the last stages of the Qing dynasty China was nominated for the Naoki prize of 1996.
Literary style
Asada claims that his ancestor was a samurai who belonged to the former Tokugawa shogunate. He wrote Mibu Gishi Den based on the stories of the Shinsen Gumi and Ohara meshi mase. He describes himself as Shōsetsu no taishū shokudō meaning that he is a "cheap public restaurant", delivering any topic that the public wants. He also says that writing is the best hobby for him, consequently he has written more than 70 works in his 14 years of novelist activity, and is still eager to publish new novels. Regarding his modern novels, Asada is nicknamed "Heisei no nakase ya" meaning that he is good at moving readers to tears. Asada acknowledges that he is a heavy smoker, and asserted the rights of the smoker in an essay "Yūki rin-rin ruri no iro". Further, every kind of gambling is his hobby, in addition to the horse racing as mentioned above, so there are essays related to gambling such as "Oh my Gah!" and "Casino!".
