Hisako Matsubara (Japanese: 松原 久子; *May 21, 1935 in Kyoto) is a Japanese novelist who writes in German and English as well. Born as the daughter of prominent Shinto priest, she went to high school in Kyoto. She attended Tokyo's International Christian University, where she studied comparative religion and literature. After receiving a BA, she moved to the United States to study theater arts at the Pennsylvania State University, from which she graduated with a MA. She worked for a while as an editor in the US before moving to Europe for further studies. After studying in Zürich, Marburg and Göttingen she finally got a PhD in philosophy from the Ruhr University of Bochum in 1970. She settled in Cologne and worked as journalist and translator. Meanwhile, in 1969 she published a German transla