Chiba Tetsuya was born on January 11, 1939 in Tokyo.
When he was very young, his family moved to China. When the World War ended, he was in China. There were many Japanese people who needed to go back to Japan. His family hid themselves in an attic for a winter. He has three younger brothers. They weren't allowed to go out to play. His mother told him to make a story book with illustrarions for them. His younger brothers enjoyed the books.
He is one of the leading mangaka in Japan. In 1956, when he was in highschool, he wrote "Fukushuu no Semushiotoko" for a publisher that produced rental books and got 12315yen. In 1958, he made his professinal debut in Shoujo Book with "Butoukai no Shoujo". In the sixties, he worte shounen manga and shoujo manga at the same time. His major shounen manga titles are "Chikai no Makyuu" and "Ashita no Joe". His major shoujo manga titles are "Yuki no Taiyou", "1, 2, 3 to 4, 5, Rock", "Rina", "Shimakko" and "Yuka wo Yobu Umi". Because he is a great shounen mangaka, his shoujo titles written nearly forty years ago are still in print and they have even Chinese version.
"Yuki no Taiyou" was running in "Weekly Shoujo Friend", which was the first weekly shoujo manga magazine, from the very first issue in 1963. Tezuka Osamu's shoujo titles were fantasies and the target age group was under ten. Chiba Tetsuya's stories were more realistic and target audience were a bit older.

"Yuki no Taiyou"
(serialized in Weekly Shoujo Friend in 1963)
Yuki is a 10-year old girl who's grown up in an orphanage. She is adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Iwabuch. Mr. Iwabuchi runs a construction company. Yuki's step sister Sanae is a nice girl but she has a heart disease. Mr. Iwabuchi is planning to build a research center in Hokkaido. When Mr. Iwabuhi and Yuki get lost in the snow, Ryuuta saves them. Ryuuta is Ainu and hates mainland Japanese invading Hokkaido.
One day Yuki finds a church. She sees a sculpture of Mary and thinks it looks like Mrs. Iwabuchi. When Yuki is taking a bath, the clergyman and his wife find out that the cross that Yuki has is what Akarupa made for his daughter. Akarupa is an Ainu man who made the sculpture of Mary, too. Hearing about the sculpture from Yuki, Mrs. Iwabuchi asks Yuki how Akarupa lives.
Mr. Iwabuchi's company goes bankrupt due to a betrayal of an employee. Mr. Iwabuchi has a second house in Hokkaido and he wants to move there. Mrs. Iwabuchi disagrees with his plan and she leaves them.
In Hokkaido, Yuki and Ryuuta see Mrs. Iwabuchi and Akarupa talking. Akarupa has a gun. Yuki and Sanae finds an old photo. Mrs. Iwabuchi and Akarupa are in it with a baby. Sanae passes out to see it. Yuki thinks the baby could be Yuki.
Mrs. Iwabuchi doesn't know Yuki is her real daughter until Ryuuta tells it to her. The house where Yuki lives gets fire. Akarupa saves Sanae from the fire and is terribly burnt.
The clergyman tells Yuki and Sanae that Akarupa is Yuki's real father and Mrs. Iwabuchi is her real mother. Akarupa dies in the hospital. He leaves the last statement to Yuki that she should forgive her mother and live together. Yuki tears it up before his grave. She leaves home to escape from the sadness.
Yuki meets Kijima in a distant town.He is arrested by the police. His younger si
ster, Kumi, is blind.
Mrs. Iwabuchi comes back to see Yuki and Sanae. Yuki asks her what she wants, but Sanae looks happy that her mother has come back. Yuki forgives her mother. James comes to see Sanae. Sanae's real mother, Isabella, was American, and her grandfather is still alive. Sanae goes to the US with James.
Kijima escapes from the police and proves that Mr. Iwabuchi's company went bankrupt because an employee cheated Mr. Iwabuchi. When Sanae comes back to Japan with her grandfather, Mr. and Mrs. Iwabuchi and Yuki meet them in a restaurant in Tokyo. Sanae's grandfather is a billionaire and buys back Mr. Iwabuchi's house in Tokyo. He gives up living with Sanae because he gets to know the strong ties of the Iwabuchis. He decides to go back to the US with Kumi to cure her eyes. Yuki decides to go back to Hokkaido alone.