His obituary was not carried by major media, but Nobuyuki Ogasawara left a distinctive mark on Japanese journalism.

Far from being a star journalist, he earned his living and secured his reporting expenses mainly as a writing course instructor at cram schools, but the freelancer produced numerous books and magazine articles on a broad range of social issues, from nuclear power and reproductive medicine to euthanasia.

Dying suddenly last July at age 64, he left a draft of an unfinished book that was completed by a close friend and published in December under the title "Reader on 'Northern Territories Issues,' " a Q-and-A-style book on the decades-old territorial row between Japan and Russia.