Jirō Nitta

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Jirō Nitta
新田 次郎
Born Hiroto Fujiwara
藤原 寛人
(1912-06-06)June 6, 1912
Suwa, Nagano Prefecture, Japan
Died February 15, 1980(1980-02-15) (aged 67)
Musashino, Tokyo, Japan
Occupation Novelist
Nationality Japanese
Notable award(s) Naoki Prize
Medal with Purple Ribbon
Order of the Rising Sun, 4th class
Children Masahiko Fujiwara (son)
Relative(s) Sakuhei Fujiwhara (uncle)

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Jirō Nitta (新田 次郎 Nitta Jirō, June 6, 1912 February 15, 1980) is the pen name of popular Japanese historical novelist Hiroto Fujiwara (藤原 寛人 Fujiwara Hiroto). He was born in an area that is now part of the city of Suwa, Nagano Prefecture, Japan.[1]

Career

His uncle was the famed meteorologist Sakuhei Fujiwhara and his son is mathematician Masahiko Fujiwara. After retiring from the Japan Meteorological Agency, 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 (八甲田山死の彷徨 Hakkōdasan shi no hōkō) is based on an incident in 1902 in the Hakkōda Mountains. Alaskan Tale (アラスカ物語 Arasuka monogatari) is about the adventures of Frank Yasuda.

Phantom Immigrants (密航船水安丸 Mikōsen Suianmaru, lit. "Stowaway-ship Suianmaru"; translated by David Sulz) deals with the Meiji era entrepreneur, Jinzaburo Oikawa (及川 甚三郎 Oikawa Jinzaburō) from northern Miyagi prefecture, who went to Canada in 1896 to export salmon roe back to Japan. In 1906, he chartered the schooner Suianmaru to smuggle 82 fellow villagers out of Japan and into Canada. They were apprehended and arrested on Vancouver Island without passports but allowed to stay in Canada thanks to negotiations by Saburo Yoshie (吉江 三郎 Yoshie Saburō) (aka Fred Yoshy) of the Japanese consulate in Vancouver.

References

  1. Jirō Nitta. (Japanese) Suwa City. Accessed July 25, 2010.
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