Person: Suzuki Kouji

Suzuki Kouji, born May 13, 1957 in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan and currently living in Tokyo, is a a bestselling writer and essayist, often called Japan's answer to Stephen King. After graduating from Keio University, he worked a number of jobs, including working at a cram school, where he told scary stories to entertain his students. While taking care of his two daughters while his wife worked, he started to write. In 1990, he won the Fantasy Novel Award with Rakuen (Paradise), which was adapted into an animated tv special by the title Michiteru Kuru Toki no Mukou ni a year later. In 1991, he published the novel Ring, which was made into a successful feature film and a manga series. In 1996, with Rasen (Spiral), the sequel to Ring, he won the Yoshikawa Eiji Young Writer Award. The Ring series included two more installments, Loop and Birthday. In 2002, Dreamworks SKG remade the Ring for American audiences. Ring was also the first of his novels to be translated into English. His most recent book, S was published in May 2012 concurrent with the release of the Sadako 3D live action film which was adapted from it.

Suzuki has also written extensively on fatherhood in Japan, criticising traditional absent salarymen fathers. He has written a number of books on the subject (Fusei no Tanjo, Kazoku no Kizuna, and Papa-ism) and has spoken in front of the Japanese Diet on the suject. Being fluent in English, he has translated Simon Brett's children's book, The Little Sod Diaries, into Japanese as well as writing his own children's book, Namida (Tears). In addition to writing and translating, he is an avid motorcyclist and expert sailor. He is currently on the selection committee for the Japan Fantasy Novel Award.