Shun Medoruma

Shun Medoruma (born 1960) is, along with Matayoshi Eiki, one of the most important contemporary Okinawan writers. He was awarded the Akutagawa Prize in 1997 for his short story A Drop of Water (Suiteki). (Also translated as "Droplets" by Michael Molasky, appearing in the collection of translated stories and poems from Japanese into English titled Southern Exposure: Modern Japanese literature from Okinawa.) Central themes in Medoruma's literary works are Japanese occupation and suppression of Okinawan culture and language, as well as the presence of American soldiers on the islands.