Yukiya Shōji (小路 幸也) made his debut as a writer by winning the 2002 Mephisto Award for Sora o miageru furui uta o kuchizusamu (Singing an Old Song about Looking Up at the Sky). Among his many works published since then are the Tokyo bandowagon (Tokyo Bandwagon) series, Cow House, and Hanasaki kōji yonchōme no seijin (The Holy Man of Hanasaki Street). He works at the entertainment end of the literary spectrum, in genres ranging from family novels to mysteries.