Adolescent anxieties: Schoolgirl, by Osamu Dazai, reviewed
In this collection’s titular story, the tormented Dazai, who committed suicide aged 38, transfers his own existential crises into the private thoughts of an unhappy Tokyo schoolgirl
Culture clash: Sympathy Tokyo Tower, by Rie Qudan, reviewed
Social, moral, architectural and linguistic problems collide in this gem of a novel set in lightly altered contemporary Tokyo
Menacing masterpieces: Voices of the Fallen Heroes and Other Stories, by Yukio Mishima
Of the collection’s 14 mesmerising tales, two in particular stand out: a hallucination of nuclear apocalypse and a requiem for Japan’s war dead
