Junichi Watanabe
- Name
- Junichi Watanabe
- Birth Name
- 渡辺淳一
- Born
- 24 October 1933
- Birthplace
- Kamisunagawa, Hokkaido, Japan
- Place of death
- Tokyo, Japan
- Died
- 30 April 2014
- Education
- Sapporo Medical University
- Occupation
- Medical doctor, writer
- Spouse
- Toshiko Horiuchi Jun'ichi Watanabe was a Japanese writer.
- Nationality
- Japan · Empire of Japan
- Honours
- Kikuchi Kan Prize · Medal with Purple Ribbon · Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for Literature
- Languages
- Japanese
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Junichi Watanabe (1933–2014) was a Japanese and Japanese novelist, physician and writer. Born in Kamisunagawa, the novelist died in Tokyo.
Junichi Watanabe studied at Hokkaido Sapporo Minami High School and Sapporo Medical University. The novelist worked for Sapporo Medical University.
Languages used include Japanese. Junichi Watanabe received Kikuchi Kan Prize, Medal with Purple Ribbon and Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for Literature.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 01 October 2026
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wikidata · Q3278086 · wikipedia · Junichi Watanabe
In this article
Biography
Biography
Junichi Watanabe studied at Sapporo Medical University and Hokkaido Sapporo Minami High School. The recorded working language is Japanese. Employment is recorded with Sapporo Medical University. Distinctions recorded are Kikuchi Kan Prize, Medal with Purple Ribbon and Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for Literature.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Junichi Watanabe • Birth Name — 渡辺淳一 • Born — 24 October 1933 • Birthplace — Kamisunagawa, Hokkaido, Japan • Place of death — Tokyo, Japan • Died — 30 April 2014 • Education — Sapporo Medical University • Occupation — Medical doctor, writer • Notable Works — A Lost Paradise • Spouse — Toshiko Horiuchi Jun'ichi Watanabe was a Japanese writer.
Biography
Biography
Jun'ichi Watanabe was born in Kamisunagawa, Hokkaido, Japan. His starting point as a literate was the death of a classmate who was his first love in high school. He published his first works while still studying at Sapporo Medical University, where he graduated in 1958. He specialised in orthopedic surgery, while at the same time writing medical, historical, and biographical novels. Following the scandal about the first heart transplant operation performed in Japan in 1968, which became known as the "Wada incident", Watanabe left his medical profession and concentrated on writing. Watanabe wrote more than 50 novels in total, and won awards including the 1970 Naoki Prize for Hikari to kage (lit. "Light and shadow"), and the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize in 1979 for Toki rakujitsu ("The Setting Sun in the Distance“) and Nagasaki roshia yujokan ("The Russian brothel of Nagasaki"). He gained wide attention with a series of sexually explicit novels, including the 1997 bestseller A Lost Paradise, which was made into a film and a TV miniseries. He died on 30 April 2014 of prostate cancer in Tokyo.
Works in English translation
Works in English translation
• 1969: Invitation to Suicide (Jisatsu no susume). In: Autumn Wind and Other Stories • 1970: Beyond the Blossoming Fields (Hanauzumi) • 1997: A Lost Paradise (Shitsurakuen) • 2009: Beyond the Blossoming Fields(Deborah Iwabuchi, Anna Isozaki)
Works in French translation
Works in French translation
• 2021:Château Rouge(Kenzo Suzuki, Dominique Sylvain)
Works in Spanish translation
Works in Spanish translation
• 2009: Ginko. La Primera Doctora (Seix Barral)
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1933
Junichi Watanabe was born on 24 October 1933.
2014
Junichi Watanabe died on 30 April 2014.
Places
Named by the record
Places
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Kamisunagawa.
Birth place
Tokyo.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Junichi Watanabe”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q3278086: Junichi Watanabe
General reference · Wikidata
Awards
• 1965 (Showa 40) - 12th Shincho Literary Award - "Death Makeup" • 1970 (Showa 45) - 63rd Naoki Prize - "Light and Shadow" • 1979 (Showa 54) - 14th Yoshikawa Eiji Literature Award - "Distant Setting Sun" and "Nagasaki Russian Courtesan Hall" • 1983 (Showa 58) - 48th Bungeishunju Reader's Award - "Voice of Silence: The Life of Mrs. Nogi Nokibe" • 2003 Order of the Sacred Treasure, Purple Ribbon • 2001 Knight's Cross of the Order of the Falcon (Iceland, October 16, 2001): Presented at the opening of the Embassy of Iceland in Japan.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.渡辺淳一. Kotobank.
- 2.渡辺淳一さん死去 「失楽園」「鈍感力」流行語生み出す. Sponichi. 6 May 2014.
- 3.渡辺淳一. NHK.
- 4.West, Mark D. Secrets, sex, and spectacle: the rules of scandal in Japan and the United States. University of Chicago Press. 272. 2006. 0-226-89408-8.
- 5.Japanese Literature Publishing and Promotion Center. Jun'ichi Watanabe. Japanese Literature Publishing Project.
- 6.OBITUARY: Junichi Watanabe, novelist who focused on love affairs. Asahi Shimbun.
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Junichi Watanabe received Kikuchi Kan Prize, Medal with Purple Ribbon and Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for Literature. Recorded as having studied at Sapporo Medical University and Hokkaido Sapporo Minami High School.
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