was a Japanese novelist, translator of German literature

German literature

German literature comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German part of Switzerland, and to a lesser extent works of the German diaspora. German literature of the modern period is mostly in Standard German, but there...

 and literary critic in Showa period Japan.

Biography

Nakano was born in Ichikawa city

Ichikawa, Chiba

is a city located in northwest Chiba, Japan, approximately 20 kilometers from the center of Tokyo. The city was founded on November 3, 1934. As of January 1, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 474,586 and a density of 8,259.42 persons per km². The total area is 57.46 km²...

, Chiba Prefecture

Chiba Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region and the Greater Tokyo Area. Its capital is Chiba City.- History :Chiba Prefecture was established on June 15, 1873 with the merger of Kisarazu Prefecture and Inba Prefecture...

, as the son of a carpenter. He was a graduate of the German literature department of Tokyo University in 1950. From 1952-1981, he worked as a professor at Kokugakuin University

Kokugakuin University

Kokugakuin University is a private university, whose main office is located in Tokyo's Shibuya district...

.

Nakano was noted for his translations of the works of Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...

 and Hans Elrich Nosack into the Japanese language

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

.

In 1976, he published a collection of essays, Buryugeru e no tabi (“Journey to Bruegel”), which he followed by an autobiographical series of books: Mugi Uru hi ni (When the Wheat Ripens, 1978), Nigai Natsu (“Bitter Summer”, 1979) ad Kisetsu no owari (“The End of the Season”, 1980). He won numerous literary awards in his career, cumulating with the Japan Art Academy

Japan Art Academy

is the highest ranking artistic organization in Japan. The Academy discusses art-related issues, advises the Minister of Education on art-related issues, and promotes art is the highest ranking artistic organization in Japan. The Academy discusses art-related issues, advises the Minister of...

 Award in 2004.