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Prizes distributed
The Akutagawa and Naoki prizes have been awarded to writers named, respectively, NAKAMURA Fuminori (中村文則) and SHUKAWA Minato (朱川湊人). Nakamura's novel is called 『土の中の子供』 (Tsuchi no naka no kodomo, "Child in the ground"), and is about an abused child. Always with the unhappiness. Shukawa won the Naoki for a collection of short stories (interlocking or something, I presume) called 『花まんま』 (Hana manma, "Flower [something]" [I need more context to translate that]), about "children in Osaka in the late 1960s and the early 1970s."
If you click on the link at the bottom of the English story to read the Japanese equivalent (a feature which I am 1000% in favor of for all non-monolingual news sites), there's a little more information, including the fact that Hana manma includes some horror-y elements like obake and mysterious coffins.
In other news, I am currently in a manga/internet cafe. These places are surprisingly pleasant to be in at night. Well, usually. The double-wide booth next to me is currently occupied by a girl giggling and repeating variations on "cut it out, someone will hear" and a guy parrying with "it's OK, baby, no-one can hear us". (I don't have the heart to tell them.)
Justin:
Where the hell are you anyway? Still in 日本?? I assume thanks to the dirty-sounding manga cafe.
It's piss-hot here ... still. And this is a "good week." Enjoy cooler temps wherever you are, because I'm pretty sure 熊谷 is one of the hottest places on earth, forget about Kanto.
Justinwww.shock-e.com