is a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese fiction writer. She studied at the University of Tsukuba

University of Tsukuba

is located in the city of Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture in the Kantō region of Japan. The University has 28 college clusters and schools with a total of around 15,000 students...

, Ibaraki Prefecture

Ibaraki Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan, located in the Kantō region on the main island of Honshu. The capital is Mito.-History:Ibaraki Prefecture was previously known as Hitachi Province...

, and later moved to Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

. Her literary debut was Mado no Akari ("Light of Windows)" in 2005, winning the Bungei Prize

Bungei Prize

The is a Japanese literary award given by publishing company Kawade Shobō Shinsha. It was first awarded in 1962.-See also:* List of Japanese literary awards- External links :*...

. Aoyama was awarded the 136th Akutagawa Prize for promising new writers of serious fiction

Akutagawa Prize

The is a Japanese literary award presented semi-annually. It was established in 1935 by Kan Kikuchi, then-editor of Bungeishunjū magazine, in memory of author Ryūnosuke Akutagawa...

 (2006) for her novel Hitori Biyori (ひとり日和, "Being Alone"). The principal theme in the novel is the so-called freeters in Japan, the millions of young part-time workers, or jobless people prepared to do part-time work.