Toshinari Masuda (増田 俊也, born November 8, 1965) is a Japanese novelist, critic,[1][2][3] and visiting professor of Nagoya University of Arts.

The inspiration for this piece came from the rage he felt when he was part of an environmental protection movement group back in college, fighting the forced logging of the Shiretoko virgin forests.

[11] In 2017, he won the second "Books About Hokkaido Award" for his work, "Hokkai Times Story.” He admires García Márquez, Milan Kundera, and has mentioned Shichio Shiono, Yasutaka Tsutsui, Robert B. Parker, Kurt Vonnegut, Truman Capote, Hemingway, and Dostoevsky as his favorite authors.

[12][13][14] His debut novel, Shatoon/Brown bear Forest, is an entertaining piece influenced by Steven Spielberg,[15] and it also received attention from creators of other genres such as Hideaki Sorachi and Hitoshi Iwaaki.

Some criticized Masuda's depiction of Masahiko Kimura, saying it was biased in his favor, but writers such as Baku Yumemakura, Keiichiro Hirano, Hiroyuki Itsuki, Riku Onda, and Yoshiko Sakurai said they enjoyed the book.