Yasuo Uchida is a contemporary Japanese writer known for his mystery novels. His most famous work is Mitsuhiko Asami series, a series of novels portraying a freelance detective and writer that solves mysteries of local legends throughout Japan. Uchida wrote over 100 episodes in this series and sold more than 100 million copies.
Background
Yasuo Uchida was born In Tokyo into a reputable family. Uchida’s father was a respected doctor. The name Uchida is a common Japanese name and even some samurai families adopted that name. It means “inner rice paddy”, meaning a field within some kind of a fence.
Education
The World War II was in progress when Uchida was a boy, which is probably the reason why his family moved to Saitama, where he went to high school. He showed great creativity and affection for literature at the time. After successfully finishing high school, he decided to move back to Tokyo to get a higher education. He enrolled at the Toyo University, where he studied literature.
Although Uchida is famous for his literature works, his career started on television. His first job was with Nippon television, where he was a member of the production staff of an anime (TV cartoon) series called Ikkosha. He also worked as a copywriter and a TV advertising executive.
His first work came in 1980 when he self-published “The Echo of the Dead” (Shisha no kodama). Uchida also published the sequel, “Honinbo Murder”, by himself in 1981. He attracted the attention of wider public thanks to Asahi Shimbun, a respected national daily newspaper, which introduced his initial work in its reading section on March 8, 1981. This brought Uchida popularity, and his third novel was published in 1982 by the name “The Case of the Gotoba Legend Murder” (Gotoba densetsu satsujin jiken). Uchida managed to find a publisher and to book achieved significant commercial success. The success of his third book enabled Uchida to sell rights for his first two books, too, so “The Echo of the Dead” and “Honinbo Murder” were published in 1983 and 1984.
“The Case of the Gotoba Legend Murder” was the novel where he introduced Mitsuhiko Asami, a freelancer writer and a wannabe detective who travels around Japan and investigates local legends. Asami solves mysteries set in different time periods but his age never changes (he is 33 years old in all novels). The success of the first book featuring Asami was so big that a two-hour TV drama was made and aired in 1985.
Ever since then, Uchida made sure to publish at least three titles per year. Novels featuring Mitsuhiko Asami turned into a series, many of them were made into TV dramas, and in 1991 a movie was made based on the “Tianhe Legend Murder Case” story. Today, Asami series has over 100 publications and has sold over 100 million copies throughout Japan. The popularity of this fictional character is so big that his own fan club has been founded.
Although Uchida’s greatest work is without a doubt the creation of Mitsuhiko Asami, he also wrote other books, including the Ocabe Inspector series (6 novels) and Shinano of Colombo (5 novels), as well as other mystery works, and even one fantasy novel.
Uchida is currently living in Nagano, in Karuizawa, on a luxury liner.
Considering that Shintou is the most common religion in Japan, it is believed that Uchida is Shintou.
Politics
Uchida never engaged himself into politics, although in his novels he often portrays historical political figures.
Views
Uchida’s most known character is Mitsuhiko Asami, a detective and a freelance writer that investigates mysteries of local legends throughout Japan. The author made sure to include all 47 prefecture in over 100 episodes of the series, and each of his stories is based on extensive studying of actual legends from various parts of the country. Aside from the investigation, the novels are beautifully portraying places across Japan and attracts the readers to visit them.
As for Asami, he is a freelance writer who basically lives from the money he gets from his parents. He is casual and has a laid-back approach unlike the local police he constantly meets. His greatest characteristic is frisky humor and the ability to uncover stories behind legends. In some of the stories, Asami is accompanied a “writer named Yasuo Uchida”, a writer that not only resembles but is named after the author of the series.
In his free time, Uchida states that he enjoys a strategic board game called “Go” and is even a member of the National Go Federation.
Membership
Board game "Go" is one of Uchida's hobbies and he is a member of Japanese National Go Federation.
National Go Federation
,
Japan
Personality
Although he likes studying mysteries, Uchida is a rather peaceful person. He does seem to appreciate a bit of luxury considering he lives on a luxury liner,
Physical Characteristics:
Uchida cares about his physical appearance. He always poses for pictures in suits and with his hair in order.
Interests
Mysteries, board games
Philosophers & Thinkers
Yasuo Yuasa
Politicians
Emperor Gotoba
Writers
Seiichi Morimura
Artists
Hasegawa Tohaku
Athletes
Masahiro Tanaka
Connections
There is no reliable data about Uchida's family life.