KOBO ABE was born in 1924 in Tokyo and grew up in Mukden, Manchuria, during World War II. In 1948 he received a medical degree from Tokyo Imperial University, but he never practiced medicine. Abe is considered one of his country's foremost novelists. His books have earned many literary awards and prizes, and have all been best sellers in Japan. They include The Woman in the Dunes, The Ark Sakura, The Face of Another, The Box Man, and Secret Rendezvous. Abe is also widely known as a dramatist. He died in 1993.