Kou Machida was born on January 15, 1962 in Osaka, Japan. He is an actor, known for Robinson no niwa (1987), H Story (2001) and Endless Waltz (1995).
Machida formed a punk rock band called Inu (meaning a dog in Japanese) in 1978. (His stage name was Machida Machizo) They released their first album Meshi Kuuna! ("Don't eat food!") in 1981. The band split shortly after the album release. He went on to form a number of bands and released several albums. His albums earned reasonable critical acclaims but the commercial success was limited. His first literary work published was Kuge in 1992 that included a selection of his poems. His first novel was Gussun Daikoku in 1996 that earned him the Bunkamura Deux Magots Literary Award. His unique style of story-telling marked by non-sense, irrelevance and slapstick is influenced by Kamigata (Kansai) Rakugo and Jidaigeki (samurai dramas). Some critics link him to self-destructive writers before World War II such as Kamura Isota and Chikamatsu & Oda Sakunosuke is also cited as his influencer. He won the 123rd Akutagawa Prize with Kiregire ("Shreds") in 2000 and the Tanizaki Prize with Kokuhaku ("Confession") in 2005.
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Won the Akutagawa Prize in 2000 for his book, 'Kiregire'
$13 Million
