Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan in 1954, eventually moving to England at the age of five, only to return to Japan twenty-nine years later. Growing up, Ishiguro had a traditionally Japanese mother, who influenced his writing when reflecting on Japan.[7] Furthermore, his reading of Japanese novels and comics allowed him to stay connected to his Japanese heritage as well as see the differences between Western and Japanese society, influencing his writing through developing a sense of Japanese ideals.[7]
Ishiguro was inspired to write An Artist of the Floating World, after tangentially treating a similar theme in his first novel A Pale View of Hills, which included an old teacher character, who has to rediscover and invent his own morals.[7] Ishiguro's childhood of moving countries and subsequently not feeling completely 'at home' led him to write in a globalised and international way, through which he explored his own background and heritage.[8] Overall, the novel is a reflection of Ishiguro's personal feelings of Japanese heritage, and a fictional reflection of his sense of identity, as presented through a youthful reconstruction of an imagined Japan.[9] One character, the boy Ichiro, has a cowboy obsession, which stems from Ishiguro’s own fascination with cowboys during his youth.[7]
