Shiel returned to contemporary themes in "The Yellow Wave" (1905), an historical novel about the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. The novel was a recasting of "Romeo and Juliet" into the ongoing war with leading families of the two nations standing in for the feuding Capulets and Montagues of Shakespeare's play. Shiel modelled his hero on Yoshio Markino (1874–1956), the Japanese artist and author who lived in London from 1897–1942. In February 1904, Shiel had offered to Peter Keary to go to the front as a war correspondent with letters of introduction from Markino. He may have met Markino through Arthur Ransome who dedicated "Bohemia in London" (1907) to Shiel and used him as the model for the chapter on "The Novelist."