A university professor filed a lawsuit Jan. 13 against Toyoko Yamasaki, a prominent novelist, claiming Yamasaki has plagiarized her work in her famed piece, "Daichi-no-ko" ("The Child of the Earth"), which dealt with Japanese children left in China in the aftermath of World War II.Homare Endo, 56, demanded Yamasaki publish an apology in four major newspapers and in the Bungei Shunju monthly magazine, in which Yamazaki originally serialized the novel for four years beginning in 1987. The plaintiff also demanded an apology be printed on the book and 1.5 million yen in attorney fees."Daichi-no-ko" came out in both hardcover and paperback. It was published by the Bungei Shunju publishing house.Yamasaki said Endo's claim is totally one-sided and Endo is under the wrong impression. Yamasaki claimed she completed the story after more than seven years of research that began in 1984.Endo, who was born in China in 1941. She moved to Japan in 1953 and published three novels between 1983 and 1985 based on her childhood experiences during China's civil war.
