was a Japanese writer and sex worker. She is best known for her blog , which was published as a book in 1998.

Biography

Early life and career

Natsumi was born in 1973 in the

Kantō region The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. Slight ...

of Japan. While in high school, she contributed writing and

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

to manga magazines specializing in

adult comics The catch-all term adult comics typically denotes comic books, comic magazines, comic strips or graphic novels that are marketed either mainly or strictly towards adult (or mature) readers. This can be because they contain material that could be ...

that were edited by . After graduating high school, Natsumi began working as a clerk at a clothing store. She later transitioned to the water trade, alternately working as an erotic masseuse, at image clubs, and in soaplands. She additionally worked as a nude model for erotic books and adult films, though after being arrested for

indecent exposure Indecent exposure is the deliberate public exposure by a person of a portion of their body in a manner contrary to local standards of appropriate behavior. Laws and social attitudes regarding indecent exposure vary significantly in different ...

after stripping nude on a street in

Shinjuku is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

for a photo shoot in 1996, she retired from modeling. In the mid-1990s, Natsumi began publishing a blog about her experiences as a sex worker titled . The blog was later published as a book by the Japanese publishing house Yosensha in 1998; its success prompted Natsumi to become a full-time author of novels and manga. "Vulgarity Drifting Diary", an English-language column by Natsumi, was published in the American manga magazine '' Pulp''.

Personal life and death

In her writing, Natsumi referenced having once been married to an unnamed husband whom she divorced. She reported having a troubled relationship with her parents, particularly her father. On November 4, 2002, Natsumi died at the age of 29. The cause of death was not released, beyond that she had been in poor health since mid-2002 and experienced a "sudden change in health". A private funeral was held. In February 2003, a commemorative issue of the literary magazine '' Bungei'' was published in Natsumi's memory. Among the contributors to the issue were ,

Yukari Fujimoto is a manga researcher and professor of global Japanese studies at Meiji University. She was born in Kumamoto Prefecture. She was an editor for Chikuma Shobō. She is a manga critic, gender theorist, family theorist, current events critic, author, ...

, , and , the lattermost of whom regularly collaborated with Natsumi as the illustrator on her manga works.

Works

*, Yosensha, 1998; republished by Kobunsha in 2000 *, Futami Shobo, 1998 *, Kobunsha, 2000 *, Akita Shoten, 2000 *,

Kadokawa Shoten , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing based in Tokyo, Japan. It became an internal division of Kadokawa Corporation on October 1, 2013. Kadokawa publishes manga, light novels, manga anthology magazines su ...

, 2001 *, Kadokawa Shoten, 2002 * (Seikatsusha, 2002) * in , multi-author anthology, Tokuma Shoten, 2003 *, Kadokawa Shoten, 2003

References

Bibliography

External links

* (posts from before 1999; in Japanese) * (posts from 1999 to 2003; in Japanese) {{DEFAULTSORT:Natsumi, Hikaru 1973 births 2002 deaths 21st-century Japanese novelists Japanese women novelists Japanese bloggers Japanese women bloggers Japanese models Japanese columnists Japanese women columnists Japanese sex workers