Murai Shimako

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Murai Shimako (村井志摩子) is a Japanese playwright born on 12 December 1928. She was born in Hiroshima, but was not in the city on the day of the atomic bombings. She lost many friends in the bombing, and her profound sense of guilt led her to devote most of her life to producing plays connected with the Hiroshima bombings.

She felt a strong affinity with the architect Jan Letzel, who had designed the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition building^[1], which — by a stroke of luck — somehow survived the atomic bomb's blast, and thereby became the famous A-bomb dome. Letzel was Czech, and Murai decided to study in Prague. She translated various works between Czech and Japanese.

Later her plays were performed and won awards throughout Japan, as well as in Maui (Hawaii), the Avignon Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe, starring actresses such as Mahō Shibuki (ex Takarazuka), Takajō Miki (ex SKD=Shochiku Kageki Dan) and Kurihara Chieko (JMDB).

She is married to Kuzui Kinshirō (葛井欣士郎: JMDB), a film producer and manager of the art theatre Shinjuku Bunka.