Kota Ishii (born 1977) is a Japanese nonfiction writer. He made his debut with “Monogou Budda,” based on his reporting on people with disabilities and beggars in Asian countries, and has since investigated poverty, disasters, crime, medicine, and education through extensive interviews with those directly affected. His representative work, “Itai: Shinsai, Tsunami no Hate ni,” documents a temporary morgue established in Kamaishi after the Great East Japan Earthquake, focusing on those who struggled to identify the victims, preserve their dignity, and help bereaved families confront their deaths. Ishii received the Shincho Documentary Prize in 2021.
