It is incredible how much sympathy a man like Osamu Dazai inspires. Though it has been some time since I read his work, the image of that profound anguish remains. An anguish that is familiar, all too familiar, which not even the language barrier can obscure. And to recall, in this work, those recurring, unpleasant, dangerous ideas, which, once they take root in the mind, are truly to be feared… The aura that emanates from this little book needs no explanation. Nor do the reasons for the inevitable sympathy. Osamu Dazai is so human, just like us… What will endure of him is the memory of the writer who did not play games, who ennobled art through the seriousness of his motivation.