Takami was interested in literature from youth, and was particularly attracted to the
humanism expressed by the
Shirakaba writers. On entering
Tokyo Imperial University he joined a leftist student arts group, and contributed to their
literary journal (
Sayoku Geijutsu). After graduation, he went to work for
Columbia Records, and continued his activities as a
Marxist writer, as part of the
proletarian literature movement. In 1932, he was arrested with other
communists and suspected members of the
Japan Communist Party under the
Peace Preservation Laws, and was released six months later after being
coerced into recanting his leftist ideology. An auto-biographical account of his experience appeared in
Kokyū wasure ubeki ("Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot", 1935), which, although considered wordy, was nominated for the first
Akutagawa Prize. The theme of ironic self-pity over the weakness that led to his “conversion” and his subsequent intellectual confusion were recurring themes in his future works. He gained a popular following in the pre-war years with
Ikanaru hoshi no moto ni ("Under Whatever Star", 1939–1940)., a story set in the
Asakusa entertainment district of
Tokyo. During and immediately after
World War II, Takami served as Director of the Investigation Bureau of the Japanese Literature Patriotic Association. After the war, he suffered from poor health, but continued to write poetry from his sickbed. In 1962, Takami helped establish the
Museum of Modern Japanese Literature. In 1964, his poetry collection
Shi no fuchi yori ("From the Abyss of Death", 1964) won the
Noma Prize. The same year, he also published,
Takami Jun nikki, ("The Diaries of Takami Jun"), an extremely detailed account of over 3000 pages, in which he described his experiences during the war and immediately afterwards. Takami Jun lived in
Kamakura,
Kanagawa prefecture from 1943 until his death of
esophageal cancer. His grave is at the temple of
Tōkei-ji in Kamakura. ==Legacy==