Writer Yang Yi made history on Tuesday by becoming the first Chinese national to win the prestigious Akutagawa Prize for literature.

Yang's novel "Toki ga Nijimu Asa" (A morning when time blurs), was selected as the winner of the 139th Akutagawa Prize in Tokyo on Tuesday. It's the first time since the prize was founded in 1935 for it to be awarded to a work written by an author whose native language is not Japanese.

"I'm thankful to write a novel in Japanese as a foreigner, and have it receive this kind of appraisal. I'm very happy," the 44-year-old said. "Of course, I want Chinese people to read it too."

Yang, who is from the Chinese city of Harbin, came to Japan in 1987 at the age of 23, and began studying Japanese at a Japanese language school, and then at Ochanomizu University. Her debut work, "Wan-chan," was also nominated for the Akutagawa Prize. "Toki ga Nijimu Asa," set in China and Japan, depicts the dreams and frustrations of Chinese youths.

According to the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature, Yang is the fifth Akutagawa Prize winner of foreign nationality. However, the four other winners were South Koreans or North Koreans who'd been familiar with the Japanese language from a young age.

Another literary award, the Naoki Prize, was also announced Tuesday. The award went to 47-year-old novelist Areno Inoue for her work "Kiriha e" (To the coal face).

The Akutagawa and Naoki prize ceremonies will be held in Tokyo on Aug. 22. The winners receive a pocket watch and a 1 million yen cash prize.

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