Hidemi Kon

Hidemi Kon (今 日出海, Kon Hidemi, 6 November 1903 – 30 July 1984) was a

Early life

Born in

After graduation, Kon obtained part-time jobs at a number of literary magazines, including Bungei Shuto and Bungakukai, providing essays, translations of André Gide, and literary criticism. He was hired as a lecturer by Meiji University in 1932. However, he quit in 1935 to devote his attentions to the direct the movie Dancing Girl of the Peninsula (Hanto no Maihime), starring Choi Seung-hee at the new Shinkō Kinema. He also wrote the screenplay for the movie. Kon visited Paris for half of 1937, and returned to his former position at Meiji University in 1939. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, he maintained a correspondence with Mu Shiying, a Chinese writer who hoped that cultural exchange would help bring peace to Asia.

In November 1941, Kon was drafted into the

In 1949, Kon published Sanchu Horo ("Wandering in the Mountains"), a story based on his wartime experiences in the Philippines, which marked the start of his literary career. He received the Naoki Prize for his short story, Tenno no Boshi ("The Emperor's Hat") in 1950.

Kon's other biographical works include Miki Kiyoshi ni Okeru Ningen no Kenkyu, a fictional biography of the philosopher

In June 1968, Prime Minister Eisaku Satō asked Kon to accept the newly created position of Director of the Agency for Cultural Affairs. He served in this position for four years. From October 1972, he was also chairman of the Japan Foundation, a post which he held for eight years. During this time, his achievements included organizing an exhibition of art works from the Louvre in France, including the Mona Lisa, in return for an exhibition of the treasures of Tōshōdai-ji in Paris.

Kon was awarded the Grand Cordon of the

• Japanese literature
• List of Japanese authors

References

• Baskett, Michael. The Attractive Empire: Transnational Film Culture in Imperial Japan. University of Hawaii Press (2008).
  ISBN 0824831632
• Brandon, James. Kabuki's Forgotten War: 1931-1945. University of Hawaii Press (2009).
  ISBN 0824832000
• Leiter, Samuel. Rising from the Flames: The Rebirth of Theater in Occupied Japan, 1945-1952. University of Hawaii Press (2009).
  ISBN 0739128183
• Shi, Shumei. The Lure of the Modern: Writing Modernism in Semicolonial China, 1917-1937. University of California Press (2001).
  ISBN 0520220641