Junpei Gomikawa facts for kids

Junpei Gomikawa (born March 15, 1916 – died March 8, 1995) was a famous Japanese writer. His real name was Kurita Shigeru. He is best known for his popular novel The Human Condition, which he wrote in 1958. This book was about World War II.

Gomikawa's novel was so popular that it was made into a movie series. Masaki Kobayashi directed a film trilogy called The Human Condition. The book also became a radio show. Another one of Gomikawa's novels, Men and War, was also made into a film trilogy by Satsuo Yamamoto between 1970 and 1973.

About Junpei Gomikawa

Junpei Gomikawa was born and grew up in Dalian. This city was in Manchukuo, which was a Japanese-controlled area in Manchuria at the time. He called himself a "second-generation Manchurian-Japanese."

In 1933, he started studying at the Tokyo College of Commerce. But he left that school and joined the Tokyo University of Foreign Languages in 1936. In 1940, Gomikawa was arrested because of a law about keeping peace. Even so, he finished his studies.

After graduating, he went back to Manchuria. He got a job at the Anshan Ironworks Company. He noticed that Japanese people living in Manchuria had better economic conditions than Koreans, Chinese, or even new graduates in Japan.

In 1942, Gomikawa was drafted into the army. He became a soldier in the Kwantung Army. This was a part of the Imperial Japanese Army. His unit was stationed near the border of the Soviet Union and Manchukuo. He was not an officer. He survived a Soviet tank attack where most of his unit died. After the war ended in August 1945, he returned to Japan in October 1947.

His Famous Book: The Human Condition

Before The Human Condition was published, Gomikawa had only written one short story and one play. This novel was based partly on his own life experiences. He started writing it in 1955. The first two parts came out in August 1956. The last part was published in February 1958. By then, millions of copies had been sold!

The books were published by San’ichi Shobō. This was a small publishing company that supported certain political ideas. San’ichi Shobō was very active in the late 1950s. They faced money problems until The Human Condition became a huge success.

The novel had six parts. It was made into a film by Masaki Kobayashi. Gomikawa and Kobayashi had similar experiences. Both had been in Manchukuo. Both served in the Kwantung Army. Both were taken prisoner at the end of the war. Gomikawa was held by the Soviets. Kobayashi was held by Americans.

Masaki Kobayashi's film company heard about the novel from an actress named Ineko Arima. She was the first in her group to read the book before it became very popular. She soon convinced others to read it too. The company quickly bought the rights to make the film. This happened just a week before a weekly magazine wrote a special article about "hidden bestsellers," which featured Gomikawa's novel.

The magazine noted that Gomikawa was an unknown author. His novel was not published in parts, not advertised, and not on radio or TV. But people across Japan, in both cities and rural areas, read it eagerly. It was often shared in reading groups.

Gomikawa once said that the main character of his novel, Kaji, had qualities that many real Japanese left-wing people lacked. These qualities included being decisive, strong, and brave. He also said that real smart people are not as weak as some might think. Kaji was not sent home from the war right away. This made his story connect strongly with many families. Tens of thousands of families were still waiting for their loved ones to return in the late 1950s.

In a book about Japan after the war, it is mentioned that Gomikawa received hundreds of letters from women. They asked if his writings showed what their husbands and sons had gone through.

Other Works

After The Human Condition, Gomikawa wrote and published another book called The Historical Experiment. This story was about a soldier on the Soviet-Manchuria border. It appeared in a monthly magazine called Chūōkōron.

In June 1963, Gomikawa traveled to East Africa. He went with another writer, Noma Kanjirō. They attended a South Africa Freedom Day event in Dar es Salaam.

Gomikawa continued to write about the war. He wrote a widely read book about the history of the Nomonhan Incident. This was after information about it was allowed to be shared.

Works

Novels

Essays

• The collapse of the 'myth': the ambitions and dissolution of the Kwantung Army (Shinwa’ no hōkai: Kantōgun no yabō to hatan), 1988