Psychiatrist and essayist Shigeta Saito died of heart failure Monday at a Tokyo hospital, his family said. He was 90.
The eldest son of renowned poet and psychiatrist Mokichi Saito (1882-1953), Saito wrote numerous essays analyzing relationships, mainly within families. One of his pieces is "Mokichi no Taishu" ("Mokichi's Body Odor"), a study of his father's character and qualities.
His 1980 book "Chonan no Hon" ("The Book of Eldest Sons"), which depicted the thinking of eldest sons, became a best-seller.
Saito graduated from Keio University after majoring in psychiatry and headed a mental hospital. He was chief of the Japanese Association of Psychiatric Hospitals.
He later became president of the Japanese Center of International PEN, an association of writers.
His younger brother is psychiatrist and novelist Sokichi Saito, who writes under the pseudonym Morio Kita.