Fuyuko Kamisaka, an award-winning nonfiction writer and outspoken conservative critic, died Tuesday, people close to her said Friday. She was 78.
A native of Tokyo, Kamisaka, whose real name was Yoshiko Niwa, was known for her works on Japanese history during and after the war, including "Keishu Nazare-en" on a facility in South Korea where aged Japanese widows of South Korean men reside.
Kamisaka won a prize for new authors in 1959 for her first book, titled "Shokuba-no gunzo" ("People at a Place of Work"), which drew upon her experience as a worker at Toyota Motor Corp.
She also revealed historical facts through her books on Sugamo prison, the Battle of Iwo Jima and vivisection conducted by a Japanese university on prisoners of war shortly before the conflict ended.
Kamisaka received the Kikuchi Kan literary award in 1993.