She also wrote under the pen name Sugar Salt (砂糖 塩, Satō Shio).
She made her professional debut in 1977 with the publication of Koi wa Ajinomono!?
[2] Sato regards her interest in science fiction from the patience and thorough answers of her father when she was young and asking "Why?"
[3] Her science fiction influences include Isaac Asimov, Cordwainer Smith and James Tiptree Jr. A major influence on her work Yumemiru Wakusei was the film Lawrence of Arabia.
[5] Satō died from brain cancer in Tome, Miyagi, on 4 April 2010, aged 57.