Noboru Karashima, who passed away recently, related to which among the following fields?

Historian
Distinguished Tamil scholar and historian of South India and South Asia, Noboru Karashima from Japan passed away in Tokyo. He was 82. His research has rewritten the economic and social history of medieval South India and had published number of writings on them. He also had played a critical role in developing Indo-Japan cultural ties. His use of statistical techniques to distil information from a mass of inscriptions was his seminal contribution to South Indian history.