Shirou Orihara

Shirou Orihara (折原 士郎, Orihara Shirō) is the father of Izaya, Mairu, and Kururi. He works for a trading company and is often overseas.

Personality
Based on the excerpt from his journal, it appears that he is a fairly normal man who only wants the best for his family. He seems to care deeply for his children despite rarely being around. He takes their actions to heart and worries over them. Shirou has a way of referring to humans slightly similar to his son, at one point saying 'this is why humans are strange'.

Background
Shirou was rarely around for his children, often overseas with his wife doing business, spending so long as a year away from home. He named Izaya for the prophet Isaiah and specifically chose the characters to reflect someone who watches over events. He had allegedly worried that the reading of the name would not be allowed, but to his relief it was. He became concerned over Izaya's antisocial behaviour when he was younger and wished that Izaya would come to love humans. He was very upset after learning about Shinra's stabbing and wondered if it was somehow his fault. Shirou was aware of Izaya's fights, but seemed to be ignorant of the exact magnitude of them. Shirou shows some wariness over Kururi and Mairu's behaviour, stating that they are 'too fond' of their brother, and wondering why Kururi wears a gym uniform.

Shirou is in the dark about many things concerning his children. He does not know about Kururi and Mairu's love for each other, and knows little about their relationship with Izaya. He believes Izaya is a financial planner and is unaware of Izaya's fights post-high school. Shirou also appears to have no knowledge of the extent of Izaya's love for humans or his experiments to gouge their reactions. He even seems to be happy regarding Izaya's love of humans.

Etymology

 * The name Shirou means "samurai, warrior, gentleman" (士) (shi) and "son" (郎) (rou).
 * Shirou's surname Orihara means "occasion, chance, suitable time" (折) (ori) and "field, plain" (原) (hara).