Mariko Bando (坂東 眞理子, Bandō Mariko) is a Japanese writer, critic, and former bureaucrat. Bando started her career in…Mariko Bando (坂東 眞理子, Bandō Mariko) is a Japanese writer, critic, and former bureaucrat. Bando started her career in the Prime Minister's office, later becoming a consul general and the first director general of the Japanese Cabinet Office's Gender Equality Bureau. Her 2006 book The Dignity of a Woman has sold more than three million copies in Japan. She is currently the president and chancellor of Showa Women's University.
Yoshie Hotta (堀田善衛, Hotta Yoshie; July 17, 1918 – September 5, 1998) was a Japanese writer of novels, short stories…Yoshie Hotta (堀田善衛, Hotta Yoshie; July 17, 1918 – September 5, 1998) was a Japanese writer of novels, short stories, poetry and essays, noted for his political consciousness. His most acclaimed works include Hiroba no kodoku (lit. "Solitude in the Public Square", 1951), which was awarded the Akutagawa Prize, and Kage no bubun (Shadow Pieces, 1952). Hotta has also been associated with the Atomic bomb literature genre.
Shūzō Takiguchi (瀧口 修造, Takiguchi Shūzō; December 7, 1903 – July 1, 1979) was a Japanese poet, art critic, and artist.…Shūzō Takiguchi (瀧口 修造, Takiguchi Shūzō; December 7, 1903 – July 1, 1979) was a Japanese poet, art critic, and artist. He was a central figure in prewar and postwar Japanese Surrealism, helping introduce the movement through his 1930 translation of André Breton's Surrealism and Painting and through direct correspondence with Breton. He also published a 1940 monograph on Joan Miró that museum sources describe as the world's earliest monograph on the artist. He was also a key figure in the history of wartime repression directed at Japanese Surrealism: in 1941, he was arrested on suspicion of violating the Peace Preservation Law, and museum accounts note that he remained under police surveillance until the end of the war. Starting in the 1950s, he also supported younger postwar avant-garde artists through his work at Takemiya Gallery in Tokyo, where he was responsible for selecting artists and coordinating exhibitions from 1951 to 1957. In 1958, he served as commissioner for the Japan Pavilion at the 29th Venice Biennale and as a member of the international jury. Around 1960, he increasingly turned to his own visual practice, producing drawings, watercolors, decalcomanias, and other experimental works. He was also recognized in international Surrealist circles: according to the Dalí Foundation, Takiguchi and Chirū Yamanaka were named in the 1938 Dictionnaire abrégé du surréalisme as "promoters of the surrealist movement in Japan". His writings, artist books, and works have since entered the holdings of major international institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago. His posthumous reception has also included presentation in major international exhibition contexts, including Surrealism Beyond Borders, organized by The Met and Tate Modern, and a 1986–1987 programme at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.