Osamu Dazai (1909–1948) was a Japanese novelist born in Kanagi, Aomori Prefecture, under the name Shūji Tsushima. He began writing while studying French literature at Tokyo Imperial University and published his first collection, "Bannen," in 1936. After the Second World War, he became a leading figure among the writers known as the Buraiha, using confessional narration to portray isolation, self-rejection, and lives unsettled by the collapse of established social values. His representative novel, "Ningen Shikkaku," takes the form of three notebooks left by Yōzō Ōba, a man who conceals his fear of other people behind comic behavior and gradually loses his connection to society through alcohol, drugs, and destructive relationships.
