Nagayama Yasuo
Entry updated 10 August 2026. Tagged: Author, Critic.
(1962- ) Japanese dentist and historian, author of several dozen works on varied non-genre or Equipoisal subjects, including true crime, youth culture and modern parenting. Nagayama rose to prominence in the field of sf criticism in the early twenty-first century, as editor of several compilations of early Japanese genre work (including a collection of Jūza Unno's stories), histories of Futures Studies and Future War fiction from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His Nichi-Rō Sensō Mō Hitotsu no Monogatari ["Another Story of the Russo-Japanese War"] (2004) chronicled the deep impact on Japanese culture and ideology of the leaps in Technology and expectations brought about by the conflict with Russia in 1904-1905 (see Shunrō Oshikawa).
His most notable books include Nippon SF Seishin-shi: Bakumatsu, Meiji Kara Sengo Made ["A History of Japanese SF Spirit: From the Late Bakufu/Early Meiji Period Until the Post-War Era"] (2009), which won him a Seiun Award for best nonfiction, and Sengo SF Jiken Shi: Nihon-teki Sōzōryoku no 70-nen ["A History of Post-War SF Events: 70 Years of the Japanese Imagination"] (2012), an "occasionalist" cultural history of Japanese Fandom. The later SF Shōjo Manga Zenshi Shōwa Ōgonki Chūshin ni ["History of Girls' SF Manga with a Focus on the Shōwa Golden Age"] (2024) received another nonfiction Seiun Award. [JonC]
Yasuo Nagayama
born Hitachi, Ibaraki, Japan: 1962
works (selected)
nonfiction
- Nichi-Rō Sensō Mō Hitotsu no Monogatari ["Another Story of the Russo-Japanese War"] (Tokyo: Shinchō Shin-sha, 2004) [nonfiction: pb/]
- Nippon SF Seishin-shi: Bakumatsu, Meiji Kara Sengo Made ["A History of Japanese SF Spirit: From the Late Bakufu/Early Meiji Period Until the Post War Era"] (Tokyo: Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 2009) [nonfiction: pb/]
- Sengo SF Jiken Shi: Nihon-teki Sōzōryoku no 70-nen ["A History of Post-war SF Events: 70 Years of the Japanese Imagination"] (Tokyo: Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 2012) [nonfiction: pb/]
- Godzilla to Evangelion ["Godzilla and Evangelion"] (Tokyo: Chikuma Shinsho, 2016) [nonfiction: pb/]
- Post-Miyazaki Hayao Ron: Nihon Anime no Tensaitachi ["After Hayao Miyazaki: The Geniuses of Japanese Animation"] (Tokyo: Chikuma Shinsho, 2017) [nonfiction: pb/]
- Teikokuka suru Nihon ["Imperializing Japan"] (Tokyo: Chikuma Shinsho, 2018) [nonfiction: pb/]
- Modernism Mystery no Jidai Tantei Shōsetsu ga Shin Kankakudatta goro ["The Age of Modernist Mystery: When Detective Novels Were a New Sensibility"] (Tokyo: Kawade shobō Shinsha, 2019) [nonfiction: pb/]
- Hazukashinagara, Shiika ga Suki desu: Kingendai Shi o Ajiwai, Manabu ["I'm Embarrassed to Say I Like Poetry: Enjoying and Learning Modern and Contemporary Verse"] (Tokyo: Kōbunsha Shinsho, 2019) [nonfiction: hb/]
- Nihon Kaiki to Bunkajin Shōwa-sen Zenki no Risō to Higeki ["Return to Japan and Cultural Figures: Ideals and Tragedy in the Pre-War Shōwa Era"] (Tokyo: Shikuma Sensho, 2021) [nonfiction: hb/]
- Dokushin Ijin-den ["Biographies of Great Individuals"] (Tokyo: Shinchō Shinsho, 2022) [nonfiction: hb/]
- Moto Hagio ga Iru ["Moto Hagio Is Here"] (Tokyo: Kōbunsha Shinsho, 2022) [nonfiction: pb/]
- SF Shōjo Manga Zenshi Shōwa Ōgonki Chūshin ni ["History of Girls' SF Manga with a Focus on the Shōwa Golden Age"] (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō, 2024) [nonfiction: pb/]
- Manga no Charisma: Shirato Sanpei, Tsuge Yoshiharu, Azuma Hideo, Morohoshi Daijirō ["Manga's Charismatic Figures: Sanpei Shirato, Yoshiharu Tsuge, Hideo Azuma, and Daijirō Morohoshi"] (Tokyo: Kōbunsha Shinsho, 2024) [nonfiction: pb/]
- Ren'ai Shōjo Manga Zenshi Rabu-Kome to Wakamono Bunka no Hensen o Saguru ["A Complete History of Romantic Girls' Manga: Exploring the Evolution of Romantic Comedies and Youth Culture"] (Tokyo: Chikuma Sensho, 2026) [nonfiction: pb/]
works as editor
- Karera ga Yume Mita 2000-nen ["The Year 2000 They Dreamed of"] (Tokyo: Shinchōsha Shobō, 1999) with Andrew Watt [anth: binding unknown/]
- Natsukashii Mirai: Yomigaeru Meiji Taishō Shōwa no Mirai Shōsetsu ["Nostalgic Futures: Resurrecting Future Fictions of the Meiji, Taishō and Shōwa Eras"] (Tokyo: Chūō Kōron-sha, 2001) [anth: binding unknown/]
- Nichi-Bei Kakū Senki Shusei: Meiji, Taishō, Shōwa ["Fanciful Japanese/American War Fictions of the Meiji, Taishō and Shōwa Eras"] (Tokyo: Chūō Kōron-sha, 2003) [anth: binding unknown/]
- Jūza Unno. Unno Jūza Sensō Shōsetsu Kessakushū ["The Masterpiece Collection of Jūza Unno's War Fiction"] (Tokyo: Chūō Kōron-sha, 2004) [coll: edited with Jūza Unno: binding unknown/]
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