Akira Yoshimura

Yoshimura was the president of the Japanese writers' union and a PEN member. He published over 20 novels, of which On Parole and Shipwrecks are internationally known and have been translated into several languages. In 1984 he received the Yomiuri Prize for his novel Hagoku (破獄, On Parole) based on the true story of Yoshie Shiratori.[1][2]

After the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Yoshimura's nonfiction chronicle of three previous tsunamis on the coast of Sanriku, Sanriku Kaigan Otsunami received an influx of orders, requiring a reprint of 150,000 copies. Yoshimura's wife and author in her own right, Setsuko Tsumura donated the royalties from the book to the village of Tanohata, which was heavily impacted by the tsunami. Tanohata was a favorite place of Yoshimura's to visit and inspired him to begin research on the historical tsunamis of the area.[3]

Yoshimura was married to the writer Setsuko Tsumura.

• 1966 Senkan Musashi (戦艦武蔵)

• English edition:. Battleship Musashi: The Making and Sinking of the Worlds Biggest Battleship. Kodansha USA, 1999

• 1967 Mizu no sōretsu (水の葬列)
• 1970 Umi no kabe sanriku kaigan ōtsunami (海の壁 三陸沿岸大津波)
• 1978 Tōi hi no sensō (遠い日の戦争)

• English edition: One Man’s Justice. Canongate 2004, ISBN 978-1-84195-479-0

• 1979 Pōtsumasu no hata (ポーツマスの旗 (on the negotiation of the Treaty of Portsmouth of 1905 between Japan and Russia - French translation published in 1990 with the title 'Les drapeaux de Portmouth', éditions Philippe Picquier)
• 1982 Hasen (破船)

• English edition: Shipwrecks (破船, Hasen). Harvest Books 1996, ISBN 0-15-600835-1

• 1983 Hagoku (破獄)

• English edition: On Parole Harvest Books 2000, ISBN 978-0-15-601147-1, loosely adapted into a movie as The Eel

• 1988 Karishakuhō (仮釈放)
• 1989 Yami ni hirameku (闇にひらめく)
• 1998 Namamugi jiken (生麦事件

• 1966 - Dazai Osamu Prize[4]
• 1973 - Kikuchi Kan Prize
• 1985 - 36th Yomiuri Prize[5]
• 1997 - Japan Art Academy member
• 2006 - Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd class

• Review of Shipwrecks at asianreviewofbooks.com