Otohiko Kaga
Biography. Kaga was born in Tokyo, and studied psychiatry and criminology at the University of Tokyo Medical School. He worked in a hospital and then prison before going to France in 1957 for further studies. After returning to Japan in 1960, Kaga took up university teaching, and was a psychology professor at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University (1965-1969) and Sophia University (1969 - 1979). Kaga wrote several novels based on his time in France, including "Arechi o tabi suru monotachi" (Travelers through the Wasteland) and "Furandoru no fuyu" (Winter in Flanders) which won the Minister of Education  Award for New Artists in 1968. His 1973 novel "Kaerazaru natsu" (帰らざる夏, A Summer Long Gone), on the tragic consequences of a young man's military indoctrination during World War II received the Tanizaki Prize. His 1982 historical fiction about World War II, "Ikari no nai fune" (Riding the East Wind), has been translated to English to good reviews. He has been a full-time writer since 1979. In 1987 he converted to Catholicism at the age of 58 through the influence of Shusaku Endo.