About Michiko Ishimure Books
Michiko Ishimure (1927-2018) is regarded as one of Japan's most important modern writers. She published over 50 works ranging from novels, non-fiction, Noh drama and poetry to essays, memoirs and children's stories. She received numerous international and Japanese literary awards including the Ramon Magsaysay Award from the Philippines (1973) and the Asahi Prize for literature in Japan (2001). Her best-known work, Paradise in the Sea of Sorrow; Our Minamata Disease (1969), was reprinted over 30 times in Japan and has been translated into English and several other languages. This work, along with several other books focusing on the Minamata Disease incident, led to her being known as the "mother of the Japanese environmental movement" and the "Rachel Carson of Japan."