About Josef Miyasato

Like Miyasato's writing, he's never fallen into easy categories. On his mother's side he is half-blooded Okinawan, an Indigenous people of the Ryūkyū Islands of Japan, which the Japanese government do not recognize as Indigenous. On his father's side he is primarily a mix of Scottish and Welsh. Miyasato was born in Landstuhl, Germany, and was raised in Boise, ID, USA.  

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Miyasato grew up in a religious home yet rejected religion early on. He became an avowed atheist and a devout nihilist. He ran from life for a long time before exploring it and finding his way in it. His story is the classic story of the angry young man, of the lost sheep, and the prodigal son. But like the classic monomyth, aka hero's journey, during this sojourn he eventually came to himself, to his faith, and to his God. 

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Along the way Miyasato met some, and became some, of the following cast of characters, including drug addicts, the homeless, bowling alley artists, the poor, the destitute, cult members, strippers, spiritual gurus, prostitutes, rejects, runaways, and rebels, good and bad Christians, pornography addicts, seekers, schizophrenics, philosophy professors, drug addicted athletes, petty criminals, white collar offenders, violent men, ex-cons, cops, pushers, peddlers, children of men, children of God, spoiled people, saints, sinners, and perhaps a few brave scarecrows and cowardly lions, here and there. And Miyasato tends to write about all of it.

 

His writing has been influenced by the fiction and nonfiction of authors Lewis Carroll, Shel Silverstein, Richard Scarry, Roald Dahl, J.R.R. Tolkien, Henry Rollins, Harvey Pekar, Art Spiegelman, Jack Kerouac, C.S. Lewis, Annie Dillard, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Arthur Koestler, Ivan Doig, Philip K. Dick, The Bible, The Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, Parley P. Pratt, David James Duncan, Margaret Atwood, Oliver Sacks, Anthony Doerr, Flannery O'Connor, Tim O'Brien, Denis Johnson, and too many others to keep mentioning.  

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Miyasato's writing explores the human condition in the tradition of Dostoevsky, Flannery O'Connor, Denis Johnson, and David James Duncan.  

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