[3][4] While Inoue asserted that he was born in Lüshun, China, other sources name Kurume in Fukuoka Prefecture as the actual place of birth.

[4] As a youth, he worked in a steel factory in Amagasaki and a coal mine in Nagasaki, before graduating from the Army Radio Weapon Technology Training Center.

[1] In 1946, he joined the Japanese Communist Party (JCP), but after facing criticism for his short story Kakarezaru isshō (lit.

[1][5] In the Kenzaburō Ōe edited anthology The Crazy Iris and Other Stories of the Atomic Aftermath, Inoue was attested to "capture the tension of post-war Japan in a unique and distinguished style".

[4] Translations of his works appeared in English,[7] German,[3][8] Russian,[9] Czech and Serbian[10] language anthologies, in particular his short story The House of Hands about a group of survivors of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.