Chinese writer wins Akutagawa Prize
Chinese writer Yang Yi has become the first non-native speaker of Japanese to win the prestigious Akutagawa Prize:
The 44-year-old Yang’s award-winning work, titled “Tokiga nijimu asa,” literally meaning “a morning when time blurs,” is set during and after China’s democratization movement centering on the 1989 Tiananmen Incident. The book follows a Chinese man who lived through those times and later moved to Japan, still holding on to his ideals.
” As a foreigner I have written novels and I am thrilled to have been recognized in this way,” Yang said in Japanese at an award ceremony at a Tokyo restaurant.
According to the Yomiuri article about Yang’s victory, the only other foreigners to win the Akutagawa Prize have been Korean citizens born and raised in Japan.
