After an initial career in radio, he wrote his first stage play "Nihonjin no Heso" in 1969 for Theatre Echo. He first gained literary recognition for his satirical comic plays in the tradition of the Edo period "gesaku" genre. Inoue has won a very large number of literary awards in the course of his career, including the 67th Naoki Prize in 1972 for his novel "Tegusari Shinju" ("Handcuffed Double Suicide"). He followed on this success in 1981 with "Kirikirijin" ("The People of Kirikiri"), which was awarded both the Yomiuri Literary Prize and the 2nd Japan Science Fiction Award.