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is one of Japan's most prominent postwar playwrights, novelists, and essayists. He won a name for himself as a writer in the "nonsense" genre and has helped lay the foundations of the Japanese "theater of the absurd."〔"Artist Interview: Minoru Betsuyaku | Performing Arts Network Japan." Artist Interview: Minoru Betsuyaku | Performing Arts Network Japan. Performing Arts Network Japan, 16 Oct. 2007. Web. 01 May 2015.〕 His works focused a lot of the aftermath of the war and especially the nuclear holocaust. == Early life == Manchuria Minoru Betsuyaku was born in 1937 in Manchuria. Before he was born, inner Manchuria was detached from China by Japan to create a buffer zone to defend Japan from Russia's Southward encroachment. Due to Japanese investment and being rich in natural resources, Manchuria became an important industrial domain for Japan. Under Japanese control Manchuria was one of the most brutally run regions in the world, with a systematic campaign of terror and intimidation against the local Russian and Chinese populations including arrests, organized riots, and other forms of subjugation. The Japanese also began a campaign of emigration to Manchukuo, the name the Japanese government gave to its puppet state in Manchuria. The Japanese population there rose from 240,000 in 1931 to 837,000 in 1939, and the Japanese had a plan to bring in 5 million Japanese settlers into Manchukuo.〔 Hundreds of Manchu farmers were evicted and their farms given to Japanese immigrant families. Manchukuo was used as a base to invade the rest of China in 1937-40. At the end of the 1930s, Manchuria was a trouble spot with Japan, clashing twice with the Soviet Union. These clashes - at Lake Khasan in 1938 and at Khalkhin Gol one year later - resulted in many Japanese casualties. The Soviet Union won these two battles and a peace agreement was signed. Adding to being born in a harsh environment, Betsuyaku also experienced severe deprivation during World War II because his father died. In July 1946, a year after the sudden Soviet invasion of Manchuria, his mother succeeded in repatriating by ship with her children. Then the family moved to Sasebo in Kyushu and spent two years in Kochi, his father’s hometown. Then they moved to Shimizu where Betsuyaku finishes high school before he went to Tokyo for university. He actually wanted to become a painter in high school, however, his relatives strongly disapproved of this career path. Therefore, Betsuyaku enrolled in Waseda University in 1958 with the intention to become a newspaper correspondent. In his first day of school, his upperclassman suggested that he look into becoming an actor since he was tall. That is why he joined a drama club called Jiyu Butai where he met Tadashi Suzuki, a director who would start the Waseda Small Theater Company with Betsuyaku.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Minoru Betsuyaku」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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