Yoichi Funado

Kenji Harada (原田建司, Harada Kenji; February 8, 1944 – April 22, 2015), known by his pen name Yoichi Funado (船戸与一, Funado Yoichi), was a Japanese writer of adventure fiction.¹

Funado was born as Kenji Harada on February 8, 1944. During his student days, he traveled to Alaska. He graduated from Waseda University.¹ Funado wrote approximately 30 stories for the manga series Golgo 13, three of which he later novelized in 2011.²

Funado made his debut as an adventure novel writer in 1979.¹ After writing some prize-winning adventure novels, in 2000 he won the Naoki Prize for his novel May in the Valley of the Rainbow.¹³ In February 2015, he published the last volume of his nine-volume novel series on the history of Manchukuo.

Funado died of thymic cancer on April 22, 2015, in Suginami, Tokyo.¹

• May in the Valley of the Rainbow (original title: Niji no Tani no Gogatsu), trans. Eve Nyren (Vertical, 2006)⁴

• Japan Adventure Fiction Association Prize
  • 1985 - Yamaneko no Natsu (Summer of the Wildcat)
  • 1988 - Takeki Hakobune
  • 1989 - Densetsu Naki Chi
  • 1992 - Suna no Kuronikuru (Sand Chronicle)
  • 1996 - Ezochi Bekken
  • 2004 - Yume wa Arechi o
• Other awards
  • 1985 - Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for New Writers: Yamaneko no Natsu (Summer of the Wildcat)
  • 1988 - The Best Japanese Crime Fiction of the Year (Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! 1988): Densetsu Naki Chi
  • 1989 - Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Best Novel: Densetsu Naki Chi
  • 1992 - Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize: Suna no Kuronikuru (Sand Chronicle)
  • 1993 - The Best Japanese Crime Fiction of the Year (Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! 1993): Suna no Kuronikuru (Sand Chronicle)
  • 2000 - Naoki Prize: May in the Valley of the Rainbow
  • 2014 - Japan Mystery Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement

• Higōhōin (1979)
• Chi to Yume (1982)
• Yamaneko no Natsu (lit. Summer of the Wildcat) (1984)
• Takeki Hakobune (1987)
• Densetsu Naki Chi (1988)
• Midori no Soko no Soko (1989)
• Suna no Kuronikuru (lit. Sand Chronicle) (1991)
• Ezochi Bekken (1995)
• Niji no Tani no Gogatsu (2000) (May in the Valley of the Rainbow. Vertical. 2006) ISBN 978-1-93223-428-2
• Yume wa Arechi o (2003)
• Kahan ni Shirube Naku (lit. No Sign on the Riverside) (2006)
• Manshukoku Engi (2007–2015) (nine volumes)