is the pen name

Pen name

A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...

 of popular Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese historical novel

Historical novel

According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...

ist . He was born in an area that is now part of the city of Suwa

Suwa, Nagano

is a city located in Nagano, Japan.As of October 1, 2010, the city had an estimated population of 51,084 and a density of 468.40 persons per km². The total area of the city is 109.06 km²....

, Nagano Prefecture

Nagano Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Nagano.- History :Nagano was formerly known as the province of Shinano...

, Japan.

Career

His uncle was the famed meteorologist Sakuhei Fujiwhara

Sakuhei Fujiwhara

was a Japanese meteorologist who became the namesake for the Fujiwhara effect. Novelist Jirō Nitta is his nephew and mathematician Masahiko Fujiwara is his grandnephew.-Early life:...

 and his son is mathematician Masahiko Fujiwara

Masahiko Fujiwara

Masahiko Fujiwara is a Japanese mathematician, who is best known as an essayist....

. After retiring from the Japan Meteorological Agency

Japan Meteorological Agency

The or JMA, is the Japanese government's weather service. Charged with gathering and reporting weather data and forecasts in Japan, it is a semi-autonomous part of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport...

, he began writing professionally. Originally a meteorologist, he wrote mainly on themes connected with mountains.

At least three of his documentary novels have been translated into English. Death March on Mount Hakkōda is based on an incident in 1902

Hakkoda Mountains incident

The Hakkōda Mountains incident occurred on January 23, 1902, when a large group of Japanese soldiers on a training exercise became trapped on a mountain range, causing many of them to die....

 in the Hakkōda Mountains. Alaskan Tale is about the adventures of Frank Yasuda.

Phantom Immigrants (Japanese title Mikkousen Suian Maru or "Stowaway-ship Suian Maru"; translated by David Sulz) deals with the Meiji era entrepreneur, Oikawa Jinsaburo from northern Miyagi prefecture

Miyagi Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku Region on Honshu island. The capital is Sendai.- History :Miyagi Prefecture was formerly part of the province of Mutsu. Mutsu Province, on northern Honshu, was one of the last provinces to be formed as land was taken from the indigenous Emishi, and became the...

, who went to Canada in 1896 to export salmon roe back to Japan. In 1906, he chartered the schooner Suian Maru to smuggle 82 fellow villagers out of Japan and into Canada. They were apprehended and arrested on Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...

 without passports but allowed to stay in Canada thanks to negotiations by Saburo Yoshie (aka Fred Yoshy) of the Japanese consulate in Vancouver.