Toyohiko Kagawa(1888-1960)

Japanese author Toyohiko Kagawa was born in Kobe, Japan, in 1888. While a youth in school he enrolled in a Bible class in order to learn English, and wound up converting to Christianity, which was unusual for a youth in such a devoutly Buddhist country as Japan. After completing his studies he traveled to the US, and upon returning to Japan he became involved in the labor and social reform movements, In 1921 and again in 1922 he was arrested and jailed for those activities (while in prison he wrote his two best-known novels, "Crossing the Death Line" and "Shooting at the Sun"). He worked tirelessly for the right of every Japanese male to vote, and when that was finally achieved in 1925, it was due in large part to his efforts.

Kagawa was alarmed by the rise of militarism in Japan in the 1920s, and in 1928 he founded the National Anti-War League. He was strongly opposed to Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1931 and its full-scale invasion of China several years later. In 1940 he was imprisoned briefly for the "treasonous" action of publicly apologizing to China for the Japanese invasion of that country. He later traveled to the US to try to stop what he saw was the coming war between the two countries. He was unable to return to Japan until after World War II ended, and when he finally did he resumed his activities in the labor and social reform movements and even joined the movement for women's suffrage.

A prolific writer, he turned out more than 150 books, including novels, sociological studies and religious treatises. He died in Tokyo in 1960.