Sonoko Machida
Native name
町田そのこ
Born (1980-03-09) March 9, 1980
Miyako District, Fukuoka, Japan
OccupationWriter
Alma materKitakyushu Municipal Barber and Beauty School
GenreFiction
Notable works
  • Cameroon no Aoi Sakana
  • 52 Hertz no Kujiratachi
Notable awards

Sonoko Machida (町田 そのこ, Machida Sonoko, born March 9, 1980) is a Japanese writer. Her story Cameroon no Aoi Sakana received the R-18 Literary Award in 2016. Her novel 52 Hertz no Kujiratachi won the 2021 Japan Booksellers' Award Grand Prize and sold over 400,000 copies in Japan.

Early life and education

Machida was born on March 9, 1980, in Miyako District, Fukuoka.[1][2] She wanted to be a writer from an early age, but instead trained in hairdressing at the Kitakyushu Municipal Barber and Beauty School, then worked at a barbershop and a sweets shop after graduation.[2]

She married and began raising children, but after the death of a writer she admired, she decided to try writing a novel at the age of 28.[3] At first she tried writing a cell phone novel.[4] According to Machida, she rediscovered her independent personality through writing, and she divorced her husband to raise her children alone.[3] After her cell phone novel efforts were unsuccessful, a friend convinced her to try writing literary short stories, and she began to submit stories to literary prize competitions that accepted online submissions.[4]

Career

Machida submitted her work for the 2016 R-18 Literary Award, which is an annual juried prize for a story about a woman written by a woman.[5] Jurors Shion Miura and Mizuki Tsujimura both selected Machida's Cameroon no Aoi Sakura (lit. The Blue Fish of Cameroon) as the grand prize winner.[6] The story was included in her first book, a collection of short stories that was published by Shinchosha in 2017 under the title Yozora ni Oyogu Chokorēto Guramī (lit. Chocolate Grammies Swimming in the Night Sky).[7] For the next few years, she wrote approximately one novel per year, including Gyoran, Utsukushigaoka no Fukō no Ie, and Konbini Kyōdai.[8]

In 2021 her novel 52 Hertz no Kujiratachi (lit. 52 Hertz Whales), a story about two troubled and isolated people who become friends that can communicate with each other despite their difficulties, won the Japan Booksellers' Award Grand Prize.[9] The title of the story refers to a whale in the Pacific Ocean that calls at a frequency that other whales cannot detect.[10] Writing for Da Vinci, reviewer Yuki Mita observed that the core lesson of the book was positive despite the difficult situations faced by the characters, and that the book provided encouragement for people to keep trying to communicate until they find someone they can talk to.[11] In Real Sound, reviewer Ichishi Iida noted that the book had become a bestseller, and suggested that the story showed how Japanese society needed something like religion or another similar social force to generate and sustain relationships between people when other bonds fail.[12] The book sold over 400,000 copies.[13]

Machida followed 52 Hertz Whales with her 2021 novel Hoshi o Sukuu (lit. Scoop Out the Stars), which she wrote to explore the concept of "parent gacha", the idea that one's fate is determined by one's family circumstances.[13] As reviewer Yayoi Saginomiya wrote in a review for the Asahi Shimbun, the story, about a woman who escapes domestic violence and reunites with her long-estranged mother, communicated a strong message about "taking responsibility for your own life".[14] Machida's 2022 novel Sora Gohan continued the theme of mothers and daughters, following the story of a child named Sora whose relationships with other parental figures complicate her relationship with her birth mother.[15] For reviewer Asayo Takii, writing in the Sankei Shimbun, Sora Gohan is "a story of a mother and daughter growing together".[16]

Selected works

  • Yozora ni Oyogu Chokorēto Guramī, Shinchosha, 2017, ISBN 9784103510819
  • Gyoran, Shinchosha, 2018, ISBN 9784103510826
  • Utsukushigaoka no Fukō no Ie, Tokyo Sogensha, 2019, ISBN 9784488028046
  • 52 Herutsu no Kujiratachi, Chuokoron-Shinsha, 2020, ISBN 9784120052989
  • Konbini Kyōdai, Shinchosha, 2020, ISBN 9784101801964
  • Hoshi o Sukuu, Chuokoron-Shinsha, 2021, ISBN 9784120054730
  • Sora Gohan, Shogakukan, 2022, ISBN 9784093866453

References

  1. ↑ "第15回受賞作品 受賞の言葉" [15th R-18 prize-winning work and award speech]. Shinchosha (in Japanese). Archived from the original on November 14, 2022. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  2. 1 2 "門司港を舞台に新作　京都郡在住・町田そのこさんが故郷を離れぬ理由" [With a new work set in Moji Ward, Miyako resident Sonoko Machida's reason for staying in her hometown]. Nishinippon Shimbun (in Japanese). August 24, 2020. Archived from the original on November 14, 2022. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  3. 1 2 町田, そのこ (April 14, 2021). "本屋大賞受賞！町田そのこ" [Bookseller Grand Prize winner Sonoko Machida]. Fujin Kōron (Interview) (in Japanese). Interviewed by 内山靖子. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  4. 1 2 町田, そのこ (April 12, 2021). "町田そのこ、ベストセラー「52ヘルツのクジラたち」に込めた思い" [Sonoko Machida on the thought that went into her bestseller 52 Hertz Whales]. Yomiuri Shimbun (Interview) (in Japanese). Interviewed by 後藤裕子. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  5. ↑ "Ｒ－１８文学賞大賞に町田そのこさんの「カメルーンの青い魚」" [Sonoko Machida's Blue Fish of Cameroon wins the R-18 literary award]. Sankei Shimbun (in Japanese). June 1, 2016. Archived from the original on November 14, 2022. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  6. ↑ "祝、本屋大賞受賞！" [Congratulations, bookseller grand prize winner!]. Shinchosha (in Japanese). April 15, 2021. Archived from the original on November 14, 2022. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  7. ↑ 町田, そのこ (2017). 夜空に泳ぐチョコレートグラミー (in Japanese). Shinchosha. ISBN 9784103510819.
  8. ↑ "「52ヘルツのクジラたち」町田そのこさんインタビュー" [Interview with Sonoka Machida, author of 52 Hertz Whales]. Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese). January 10, 2021. Archived from the original on November 14, 2022. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
  9. ↑ "Do not let lonely people suffer in silence in these pandemic times". Asahi Shimbun. April 16, 2021. Archived from the original on November 14, 2022. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  10. ↑ "2021年本屋大賞の大本命!? ものすごく泣けると話題の『52ヘルツのクジラたち』はどんな作品？" [The big favorite for the 2021 booksellers' award? What sort of work is 52 Hertz Whales, with its incredibly moving subject matter?]. Da Vinci (in Japanese). February 17, 2021. Archived from the original on March 2, 2021. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  11. ↑ 三田, ゆき (April 14, 2021). "【本屋大賞受賞】実母から虐待を受け孤独をまとった少年…声なき声を聞き魂が寄り添うとき、新たな絆の物語が生まれる" [Bookseller Award Grand Prize: A boy abused by his mother, but a new story is born when the voiceless cry is heard and two spirits embrace]. Da Vinci (in Japanese). Archived from the original on March 6, 2021. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  12. ↑ 飯田, 一史 (May 14, 2021). "町田そのこ『52ヘルツのクジラたち』が描く日本社会　求められる「第6の絆」とは？" [52 Hertz Whales shows Japanese society. What is the 6th bond that we require?]. Real Sound (in Japanese). Archived from the original on November 14, 2022. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  13. 1 2 町田, そのこ (December 28, 2021). "町田そのこ氏「自分の人生は自分の責任」" [Sonoko Machida: I'm responsible for my own life]. The Nikkei (Interview) (in Japanese). Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  14. ↑ 鷺ノ宮, やよい (March 29, 2022). "「『星を掬う』――母娘の再会の物語を通して問いかける、「自分の人生を自分で生きる」意味" [Scoop Out the Stars: A story about a mother-daughter reunion raises a question, what does it mean to live your own life]. Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese). Archived from the original on November 14, 2022. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  15. ↑ 剣持, 亜弥 (August 2, 2022). "【注目の本】町田そのこ『宙ごはん』" [Noteworthy Book: Sonoko Machida's Sora Gohan]. The Nikkei (in Japanese). Archived from the original on November 14, 2022. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  16. ↑ 瀧井, 朝世 (July 31, 2022). "『宙（そら）ごはん』町田そのこ著　食が支えた母娘の成長物語" [Sora Gohan by Sonoko Machida, a story of a mother and daughter's growth, sustained by food]. Sankei Shimbun (in Japanese). Archived from the original on November 14, 2022. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
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