Keikaku Itou

Itou Keikaku also known as Project Itoh real name Itou Satoshi October 14 1974 March 20 2009 was a Japanese science fiction writer and essayist. Born in Tokyo and graduated from the Department of Imaging Arts and Sciences at Musashino Art University. While working as a web designer he wrote Genocidal Organ and submitted to Komatsu Sakyou Award contest in 2006. Although it did not receive the award it was published from Hayakawa Publishing in 2007 and was nominated to Nihon SF Taisho Award. Since 2001 he had to be hospitalized frequently for recurrent cancer. He died at age 34 on March 20 2009. The video game Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and the last chapter of the manga Aki Sora were dedicated to his memory. A poll by the yearly SF guidebook SF ga yomitai ranked Genocidal Organ as the number one of the domestic SF novel of the decade. Hayakawas SF Magazine AllTime Best poll in 2014 ranked Harmony as the top of the Japanese SF novels. Toh Enjoes SelfReference ENGINE was also a finalist of Komatsu Sakyou Award and published from Hayakawa Shobou in 2007 along with Itous Genocidal Organ. Since then they often appeared together at science fiction conventions and interviews and collaborated in a few works until Itous death. At the press conference after the announcement of Enjoes Akutagawa Prize in January 2012 Enjoe revealed the plan to complete Itous unfinished novel Shisha no Teikoku. It was published in August 2012 and received the Special Award of Nihon SF Taisho Award.