is a Japanese science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 writer.

After a career as a CAD programmer and game designer, he was first published in 1992, the Creguian game novelization.

He admires Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke

Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...

, and his own works are classified as hard science fiction

Hard science fiction

Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by an emphasis on scientific or technical detail, or on scientific accuracy, or on both. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell, Jr.'s Islands of Space in Astounding Science...

, favoring planetary science

Planetary science

Planetary science is the scientific study of planets , moons, and planetary systems, in particular those of the Solar System and the processes that form them. It studies objects ranging in size from micrometeoroids to gas giants, aiming to determine their composition, dynamics, formation,...

 as a theme. His Rocket Girls

Rocket Girls

is a light novel written by Hōsuke Nojiri. Set in the Solomon Islands, it follows the exploits of high-school girl Yukari Morita, who is pressed into service as an astronaut by the Solomon Space Association when it is unable to build a rocket that can lift the weight of an adult male.Rocket Girls...

series deals with human spaceflight

Human spaceflight

Human spaceflight is spaceflight with humans on the spacecraft. When a spacecraft is manned, it can be piloted directly, as opposed to machine or robotic space probes and remotely-controlled satellites....

 in a light novel

Light novel

A is a style of Japanese novel primarily targeting junior high and high school students . The term "light novel" is a wasei-eigo, or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language. Light novels are often called or for short...

 form with hard SF backing; the reason that only girls are hired as astronauts in the novels is for their light weight.

Awards

• 1999: S-F Magazine Readers Award
  Hayakawa Award
  The Hayakawa's S-F Magazine Reader's Award is an award chosen annually by the readers of Hayakawa's S-F Magazine for the best Japanese short story, illustrator, and foreign short story. The honor has been awarded since 1989...
  
   Best Japanese Short Story for (short story version)
• 2000: Seiun Award
  Seiun Award
  The is a Japanese science fiction award for the best science fiction published in Japan during the preceding year, as voted by attendees of the Japan Science Fiction Convention. "Seiun" is the Japanese word for "nebula", but the award is not related to the American Nebula Award. It was named after...
  
  Best Short Story of the Year for (short story version)
• 2002: Seiun Award Best Novel of the Year for
• 2003: Seiun Award Best Novel of the Year for (novel version)
• 2007: Seiun Award Best Short Story of the Year for ("A Furoshiki and Spider's Thread")
• 2008: Seiun Award Best Short Story of the Year for
• 2009: Seiun Award Best Short Story of the Year for

English

• Usurper of the Sun (2009): translation of (2002)
• Rocket Girls (2010): translation of (1995)