Tanizaki Prize
Kuroi is a member of the "Introspective Generation" of Japanese writers, whose work depicts the thoughts of ordinary Japanese. He lives in Tokyo's western suburbs, along the Chūō Main Line, in a neighborhood similar to that depicted in his novel of linked stories, "Gunsei" (Life in the Cul-de-Sac, 群棲), for which he won the 1984 Tanizaki Prize.