【Ryu Murakami】

He was born on February 19, 1952, in Sasebo City, Nagasaki Prefecture.
His real name is Ryunosuke Murakami、 the same name as the great novelist Ryunosuke Akutagawa.

He is a very famous writer in Japan, and in 1976 he won the 19th Gunzo New Literature Award for "Almost Transparent Blue'', and in the same year, he won the 75th Akutagawa Ryunosuke Award (commonly known as the "Akutagawa Prize''). The Akutagawa Prize, along with the Naoki Prize, is Japan's most prestigious literary award. From 2000 to 2018 he served on the Akutagawa Prize selection committee. "Almost Transparent Blue" is a super bestseller with a cumulative total of nearly 4 million copies published.

Just like José Luis Cortés is a very important musician in Cuba, Ryu Murakami is a very important writer in Japan who turned into literature the facts of youth and emotional conflicts of the 1970s, a generation after the defeat in World War II (1945).

His books have also been published in languages such as English, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, Turkish, and German. Many of his works are erotic, grotesque, and violent. However, there is eroticism, grotesque, violence, sex, drugs, murder, prostitution, SM clubs, etc. But deep inside these are kindness, sensitivity, sincerity as a person, and a strong message for society. (List of translated books overseas)

He was born in 1952 in Sasebo City, Nagasaki Prefecture, where the U.S. Naval Base is located, during the American occupation and Korean War after World War II. There he grew up seeing up close the reality of the defeated people (Japanese) and the victorious people (Americans).

He first visited Cuba in 1991. Then he started going to Cuba frequently, discovered Cuban music, met Jose Luis Cortés, and entered the phase of "Cuba and Cuban music.'' He spent about four years producing the movie "KYOKO" and then wrote the novel "KYOKO".

He posted the following about his work "KYOKO" on SNS.

As a novel, it is a "small piece'', but to put it bluntly, it is a work that changed my life. (2014)

When "KYOKO" ended, his stage moved from "Cuba" to "Japan". Since 2006, he has been the main host of the economic talk show "Cambrian Palace." (17 years in 2024).

Additionally, for 20 years from 1993 to 2013, we invited musicians from Cuba and held a concert event every year.

Movies, Formula 1, music, Cuba, soccer, economics - whatever he is interested in strongly, he pursues it like a child. All of these experiences have served as fuel for him, and he continues to create works with his unique worldview and continues to send messages to Japan.