is the pen name of , a well-known

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

. He is known for writing

Yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the ter ...

crime novels Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

. His pen name is based on the Chinese name of Hong Kong filmmaker Stephen Chow, Chow Sing-chi (周星馳), written backwards and rendered in Japanese. He was born in

Hokkaido, Japan is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

and graduated from

Yokohama City University is a public university, in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2013, YCU has two faculties with a total of around 4,850 students, 111 of whom are foreign. YCU also has four campuses (Kanazawa-Hakkei, Fukuura, Maioka and Tsurumi) and two ...

with his B.A. in 1987. A few of his novels were adapted into Asian films, such as ''

The City of Lost Souls is a 2000 Japanese action film directed by Takashi Miike based on a novel by Hase Seishu. Plot The Brazilian-Japanese criminal Mario hijacks a helicopter and uses a machine gun to attack a prison bus and free his Chinese girlfriend Kei. They att ...

'' and '' Sleepless Town'', in 2000 and 1998, respectively. Hase supervised the story for Sega's 2005

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

'' and its 2006 sequel ''

Yakuza 2 is an action-adventure game by Sega, the sequel to ''Yakuza''. It was released on December 7, 2006, for the PlayStation 2 in Japan and in September 2008 in North America and Europe. The game focuses on the former ''yakuza'' Kazuma Kiryu who receiv ...

''. He had no involvement with later entries in

the series ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

. In 2020, Hase won the

Naoki Prize The Naoki Prize, officially , is a Japanese literary award presented biannually. It was created in 1935 by Kikuchi Kan, then editor of the ''Bungeishunjū'' magazine, and named in memory of novelist Naoki Sanjugo. Sponsored by the Society for t ...

with his novel “Shonen to Inu” (“A Boy and Dog”).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Seishu, Hase 1965 births 20th-century Japanese novelists 21st-century Japanese novelists Japanese crime fiction writers Mystery Writers of Japan Award winners Yokohama City University alumni Living people Naoki Prize winners Writers from Hokkaido