He studied Dutch Language and Literature at the University of Amsterdam and drama at The Webber-Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts in London and the Amsterdam Theatre School. He has acted on stage, screen and television for many years, at one point even singing as a soloist at the Dutch National Opera.

Japin has also written award winning stage and screenplays and has published two volumes of short stories, of which the first Magonla has being made into film.

As writer in residence he has taught at Hull, Sheffield and Cambridge Universities, the University of Central London and New York University.

His work is published in over 20 countries and has been awarded many prestigious prizes, including the
2005 Libris award. The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi has been adapted for the stage several times in Europe and Africa. In 2007 it will be seen both as a feature film by Oscar winning director Marleen Gorris and an opera by British composer Jonathan Dove.

In 2008 the British edition of The Lion Dreaming was published, a novel set in Rome featuring Italian filmdirector Federico Fellini, with whom Japin found himself caught up in an unlikely love triangle. In 2009 this boek will be published in Russia, and in 2010 in the United States of America.