Furui was born in
Tokyo, Japan. He was educated at the
University of Tokyo, where he majored in German literature, receiving a BA in 1960. His undergraduate thesis was on
Franz Kafka. He remained at Tokyo University for graduate work for another two years, earning an MA in German literature in 1962. After graduating, he accepted a position at
Kanazawa University where he taught German language and literature for three years. He subsequently moved to
Rikkyo University in Tokyo where he remained as an assistant professor of German literature until the watershed year of 1970. The early 1970s was a period of rapid economic growth and cultural efflorescence. In the literary sphere, a new group of authors was emerging. These authors differed notably from their predecessors because of their move away from the overt social and political commentary—particularity as directed against the system that supported Japan's involvement in World War II—then common both in recent works of literature, and as a measure by which literature was measured. Because this new group of authors turned their gaze from society to the individual, looking inward, engaging the fears and fantasies of an urban population beset by a crisis of identity in a time of rapid economic growth, they were called the , and Furui was, perhaps, their exemplar. In 1970 Furui resigned from Rikkyo University to become a full-time writer. In 1971 his novella
Yōko was awarded the
Akutagawa Prize, and he has subsequently won both the
Tanizaki Prize and
Kawabata Prize. Furui has also translated
Robert Musil and
Hermann Broch. On 18 February 2020, Furui died of
hepatocellular carcinoma in his home in Tokyo. He was 82. == Major prizes ==