Satoshi Azuchi was born in Tokyo. After graduating from the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Law, he went to work at the Summit chain of supermarkets, and helped make what was then a middle-ranking firm into one of the top chains in Japan. Azuchi made his writing debut in 1981 with Distribution Industry, the Novel, later retitled Supermarket. Since, Supermarket has been a consistant top seller in Japan, and is considered a classic of modern Japanese literature.