Otaro Maijo (1973-) is a novelist from Fukui, where most of his stories take place. Most of the illustrations in his novels were drawn by himself. He debuted with his mystery novel, Kemuri ka tsuchi ka kuimono (Smoke, Soil, or Food), with which he won the Mephisto Prize. He started writing pure literature with Kuma no basho (Place of the Bear), which was nominated for the Mishima Yukio Prize. Then in 2003, he won the Mishima Yukio Prize for Ashura garu (Asura Girl).
