Hiro Arikawa facts for kids

Hiro Arikawa (有川 浩, Arikawa Hiro) is a talented Japanese light novelist from Kōchi, Japan. She is known for writing exciting stories.

About Hiro Arikawa

Hiro Arikawa was born on June 9, 1972, in Kochi City, Japan. She started her writing career in 2003. She won a special award for new writers called the Dengeki Novel Prize. Her winning book was Shio no Machi: Wish on My Precious. This book was published in 2004.

People liked Shio no Machi because it told a sweet love story. It also showed military life in an interesting way. Arikawa has said that movies like Gamera and The Great Escape inspired her writing.

Even though she writes light novels, her books are often published as hardbacks. This is usually done for more serious literary works. Her publisher, MediaWorks, gave her special treatment. Shio no Machi was also later released in a hardback version.

In 2006, her light novel Toshokan Sensō (The Library War) became very popular. It was even named a top entertainment book by Hon no Zasshi magazine. It also competed against regular novels for the Japan Booksellers' Award.

Stories About Forces

Hiro Arikawa has written many stories about different kinds of forces. She wrote about the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF). These are Japan's military forces. Her first three novels about the JSDF are called the Jieitai Sanbusaku (The SDF Trilogy).

She also created a fictional group called the Library Forces. These characters appear in her popular Toshokan Sensō (The Library War) series.

Books Made into Movies and TV Shows

Many of Hiro Arikawa's books have been turned into movies or TV shows.

• Raintree no Kuni was first a book within a book in Toshokan Nairan. It was later published as its own novel. This book became a film called World of Delight, released in 2015.
• Her novel Shokubutsu Zukan [ja] was made into a film. It was called Shokubutsu Zukan: Unmei no Koi, Hiroimashita (Evergreen Love). This movie came out in 2016.
• Two other novels, Freeter, Ie wo Kau and Hankyū Densha, were also adapted. They became a TV series in 2010 and a film in 2011.

The Travelling Cat Chronicles

One of her famous works is Tabineko Ripouto. This story was first published in parts in a magazine from 2011 to 2012. It was then put together into a novel in 2012. The main character is a cat named Nana. Nana enters the life of a cat lover named Satoru. Satoru is still sad about losing his first cat.

Tabineko Ripouto quickly became very popular. It received many awards and nominations. It was translated into English by Philip Gabriel in 2017. The English title is The Travelling Cat Chronicles. This beloved novel was also made into a film in 2018.

Influence on Others

In 2011, a famous video game designer named Hideo Kojima wrote an essay. He reviewed Arikawa's novel Hankyu Densha. He shared his own childhood memories of riding the Hankyu Railway. This essay was later published in Kojima's book, The Creative Gene, in 2021.

Hiro Arikawa's Books

Here are some of the book series and novels written by Hiro Arikawa:

• The SDF Trilogy series
  • Shio no Machi: Wish on My Precious
  • Sora no Naka
  • Umi no Soko
• The Library War series
  • Toshokan Sensō (The Library War)
  • Toshokan Nairan (The Library Infighting)
  • Toshokan Kiki (The Library Crisis)
  • Toshokan Kakumei (The Library Revolution)
• World of Delight
• Sweet Blue Age
• Hankyū Densha (published in French as Au prochain arrêt)
• Shokubutsu Zukan [ja]
• Freeter, Ie wo Kau
• Soratobu Kōhōshitsu
• Tabineko Ripouto (published in English as The Travelling Cat Chronicles)

See also

In Spanish: Hiro Arikawa para niños