Born in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1954.

His family moved to England in 1960.

BA at University of Kent, 1978

MA at University of East Anglia in 1980

Awards:

• Whitbread Prize, 1986
• Booker Prize, 1989

Major books:

• A Pale View of Hills, 1982
• An Artist of the Floating World, 1986
• The Remains of the Day, 1989
• The Unconsoled, 2001
• When We Were Orphans, 2001
• Never Let Me Go, 2005