Akutagawa Ryunosuke was born in Tokyo in 1892. He is known for writing short stories. Although he has only published novels, he is also slightly interested in drama, haiku and poetry.
Student at the Department of English, Tokyo Imperial University (now the University of Tokyo). After graduation, he participated in Natsume Soseki's "Muyo Meeting" held every Thursday many times and was greatly appreciated by him. Since then, he has become famous in the literary world and has worked as an English teacher and reporter.
After experiencing the world-wide economic crisis of capitalism in the 1920s and the unfortunate experiences of relatives and friends around him, he wrote "Continued: People of the West" in his study in 1927 and committed suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills.