Atsushi Nakajima (1909-1942) was born in Tokyo. He taught at a private high school in Yokohama, and was then sent to Palau as a text editor for the South Sea Mandate between 1941-1942. During his absence from Japan, he caught attention by his full-length novel, Hikari to Kaze to Yume (Light, Wind, and Dreams), but he died of asthma in 1942.