Author Fumio Yamamoto is seen during an interview in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, in this Feb. 18, 2021 file photo. (Mainichi/Shinnosuke Kyan)

       Fumio Yamamoto, the 2001 Naoki Prize-winning author of the novel "Planaria," has passed away at her home in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture. She was 58.

       Yamamoto, whose real name was Akemi Omura, had been battling pancreatic cancer. She had been receiving treatment at home since spring this year. Her husband Koji will hold a memorial gathering in Tokyo at a later date.

       Yamamoto was born in Kanagawa Prefecture. Before rising to literary prominence, she was a company worker. She won the 1999 Yoshikawa Eiji prize for new authors for her work "Renai Chudoku" (Loveholic) before she took home the Naoki Prize -- one of Japan's two most coveted literary awards alongside the Akutagawa Prize -- two years later.

       (Mainichi)

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