Clive William Nicol, MBE (; 17 July 1940 – 3 April 2020) was a British-born Japanese writer. He was a long-time resident and citizen of Japan.

Early life

Nicol was born in

Neath Neath (; cy, Castell-nedd) is a market town and community situated in the Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a population of 19,258 in 2011. Historica ...

, Wales. He graduated from

Tokyo University of Science , formerly "Science University of Tokyo" or TUS, informally or simply is a private research university located in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. History Tokyo University of Science was founded in 1881 as The Tokyo Academy of Physics by 21 graduat ...

Career

In 1958, Nicol visited the Arctic Circle to research

eider duck Eiders () are large seaducks in the genus ''Somateria''. The three extant species all breed in the cooler latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The down feathers of eider ducks, and some other ducks and geese, are used to fill pillows and qu ...

s. He became a Canadian citizen. By the early 1960s, he was studying

Shotokan is a style of karate, developed from various martial arts by Gichin Funakoshi (1868–1957) and his son Gigo (Yoshitaka) Funakoshi (1906–1945). Gichin Funakoshi was born in Okinawa and is widely credited with popularizing "karate do" thro ...

karate (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fuj ...

-Do at the headquarters of the

Japan Karate Association Japan Karate Association (日本空手協会; ''Nihon Karate Kyokai''; JKA; sometimes referred to simply as ''Kyokai'' 協会 in Japan) is one of the oldest global Shotokan karate organization in the world. Origins Gichin Funakoshi played a m ...

(JKA) and studied Japanese and fisheries at

Nihon University , abbreviated as , is a private research university in Japan. Its predecessor, Nihon Law School (currently the Department of Law), was founded by Yamada Akiyoshi, the Minister of Justice, in 1889. It is one of Japan's leading private univers ...

. He spent 1967 to 1969 as a

game warden A conservation officer is a law enforcement officer who protects wildlife and the environment. A conservation officer may also be referred to as an environmental technician or technologist, game warden, forest ranger, forest watcher, forest gu ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the Er ...

, setting up the new

Semien Mountains National Park Simien Mountains National Park is the largest national park in Ethiopia. Located in the North Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, its territory covers the highest parts of the Simien Mountains and includes Ras Dashan, the highest point in Ethi ...

. He returned to Japan, writing a book about his Ethiopian experiences entitled ''From the Roof of Africa'' (1971). After he took up residence in Japan, Nicol focused on writing books and other literary works. In 1980, he won the Japan Broadcasting Writer's Award for a television drama written in Japanese. He continued to be an active

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that s ...

and lecture about the environment, addressing issues such as

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then land conversion, converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban area, urban ...

and the preservation of natural environments. He was particularly interested in restoring Japan's vast woodlands. The C. W. Nicol Afan Woodland in Kurohime, Shinanomachi, Nagano Prefecture, was established in 1986. Nicol became a Japanese citizen (and thus lost his Canadian and British citizenship), which he wrote about in . He wrote both fiction and non-fiction books, in both Japanese and in English. His subjects included

whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industry ...

(for which he went on a trip on a whaling vessel), the environment, martial arts and children's fiction. His books have been translated between English and Japanese, as well as into French, Italian, German, Mongolian, Korean and Chinese. In 2005, he was awarded an

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

. Nicol was the chairman of the Afan Woodland Trust. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2016, and died aged 79.

Selected works

*''The White Shaman'' *''Harpoon / Isana'' *''

The Boy Who Saw the Wind is an animated film based on the novel by C. W. Nicol. Directed by Kazuki Ōmori, it was released theatrically in Japan on July 22, 2000. It was also broadcast in Latin America by HBO, France by AK Video, in Spain by HBO and in Russia by MC Enter ...

'' *''The Raven's Tale'' *''From the Roof of Africa'' *''Moving Zen: Karate as a Way to Gentleness'' *''The White Hippo''

Discography

* ''Sail Down the River'' (1991) * ''The World of Little Twins'' (1992)

References

External links