Seiichi Morimura (森村 誠一, Morimura Seiichi, born January 2, 1933) is a Japanese novelist and author, born in Kumagaya. He is best known for the controversial The Devil's Gluttony (悪魔の飽食) (1981), which revealed the atrocities committed by Unit 731 of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945).[1][2]
The Devil's Gluttony was serialized in the Akahata (Japanese Communist Party's newspaper) in 1980,[1] and subsequently published by Kobunsha (光文社), in two volumes in 1981 and 1982.[3] In the ensuing controversy, half of a photograph was discovered to be a fabrication, and Kobunsha subsequently withdrew the book. A second edition was then published by Kadokawa Shoten in 1983 with the controversial photograph removed.[4]
He won the Edogawa Rampo Prize in 1969 for Death in the High-Rise.[5]
His short story "Devil of a Boy" appears translated into English in Ellery Queen's Japanese Golden Dozen: The Detective Story World in Japan anthology, which was edited by Ellery Queen.
References
- ^ a b "The Devil's Feast..." Boston Globe. April 20, 1982. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
- ^ "Japanese public reliving war". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. March 15, 1982. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
- ^ Croddy, Eric (1997). Chemical and biological warfare: an annotated bibliography. Scarecrow Press. p. 18. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
- ^ Nozaki, Yoshiko (2000). Textbook controversy and the production of public truth: Japanese education, nationalism, and Saburo Ienaga's court challenges. University of Wisconsin--Madison. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
- ^ Gid Powers, Richard; Hidetoshi Katō; Bruce Stronach (1989). Handbook of Japanese popular culture. Greenwood Press. p. 283. Retrieved December 7, 2010.