The late social activist Toyohiko Kagawa was on the nominee lists for the Nobel Prize for literature in 1947 and 1948, according to the Nobel Foundation Web site.

Kagawa (1888-1960), a labor activist and poverty relief advocate, was the author of the best-selling autobiographical novel "Shisen wo Koete" ("Crossing the Deadline").

He is also known to have been a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize for three years from 1954.