She won the tenth annual Dengeki Novel Prize for new writers for Shio no Machi: Wish on My Precious in 2003, and the book was published the following year.
It was praised for its love story between a heroine and hero divided by age and social status, and for its depiction of military structures.
[citation needed] Arikawa noted that her works were largely influenced by Gamera films and The Great Escape.
[citation needed] She has written about the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF); her first three novels concerning its three branches are known as the Jieitai Sanbusaku (The SDF Trilogy).
[5][6] Likewise, two other of her novels, i.e. Freeter, Ie wo Kau and Hankyū Densha were adapted respectively in film or TV series in 2010 and 2011.