Lede
When a masked YouTuber becomes a bestselling novelist, you start to wonder: is the mask the point?
What does not make sense
- A talent this sharp hides under a mask, distorting his voice, making himself a myth, while publishers leak half his biography anyway.
- Theatrical branding — white mask, black bodysuit, robotic voice — is presented as necessity, but functions as hype.
- If only 30 people know his true identity, yet the press tells us his job history and family drama, is this secrecy or just PR cosplay?
Sense check / The numbers
- Origins: Uketsu began as a YouTuber in Japan, posting surreal horror videos — vegetables turning into fingers, grotesque floorplans, disturbing sketches. Always masked, voice altered, identity hidden. (Guardian)
- Life facts: Male, lives in Kanagawa Prefecture, parents divorced, spent part of childhood in the UK, previously worked in a supermarket. Identity known only to around 30 people — family, publisher, close collaborators. (Guardian)
- Publishing success: Debut novel Strange Pictures (変な絵) appeared in Japan in 2022, English translation by Jim Rion in 2025. Over 1.5 million copies sold worldwide, translated into more than 30 languages. (Asian Review of Books)
- Next book: Strange Houses, another puzzle-mystery built around floorplans and hidden spaces, already a hit in Japan with over a million readers, English translation by Jim Rion in 2025. (Pushkin Press)
Short synopses of Uketsu’s books
Strange Pictures
A collection of interlinked horror-mystery stories. The narrative uses disturbing drawings (by a child, a pregnant woman, even a murder victim), architectural diagrams, blog posts, and scattered clues. At first, they feel disconnected, but gradually form a coherent and unsettling whole. Themes of trauma, exploitation, and social unease lurk behind every image. (Asian Review of Books)
Strange Houses
A puzzle built into architecture. Readers become detectives, poring over floorplans and layouts to uncover secrets behind walls and missing rooms. It extends Uketsu’s trademark style of combining visuals, atmosphere, and narrative tricks. Already a bestseller in Japan, with translations on the way. (Pushkin Press)
The sketch (comic strip script, 3 scenes)
Scene 1: Masked Uketsu films asparagus morphing into human fingers.
Scene 2: A reader examines grotesque drawings and floorplans, whispering “creepy but compelling.”
Scene 3: Bookshop display — Strange Pictures sits in translation, readers flip it, but the mask still stares back.
What to watch, not the show
- Whether the mask sustains intrigue or collapses into gimmick.
- If anonymity frees Uketsu’s creativity — or becomes a burden when every interview is about the mask, not the work.
- How much of the appeal is story, and how much is marketing performance.
The Hermit take
- Uketsu’s mask isn’t camouflage; it’s the product. Mystery is the marketing.
- Strong writing survives without a disguise. But in his case, the disguise is part of the show — and oddly, it works.
Keep or toss
Keep.
Sources
- Guardian – “Am I a Cyclopian monster? How masked writer Uketsu went from asparagus videos to literary sensation.” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/jan/27/uketsu-masked-writer-japan-surreal-videos
- Pushkin Press – Uketsu author page. https://pushkinpress.com/our-authors/uketsu/
- Asian Review of Books – Strange Pictures review. https://asianreviewofbooks.com/strange-pictures-by-uketsu/
- Pushkin Press – Strange Houses details. https://pushkinpress.com/book/strange-houses/
- Jim Rion – Translator notes. https://jimrion.com/tag/strange-pictures/