Suzumo Sakurai was born in Hokkaido, Japan, in 1968. He held several jobs, including postman, waiter, and meter reader, after his graduation from Meiji Gakuin University with a degree in sociology. He published his first novel, Aleluya, in 2002, and has since published two other novels, A Day in the Garden of the Cherry and Wintertime Voyage, and a collection of short stories, Women. He loves cats, alternative rock, and Henry Miller.