Richard Appignanesi interesting and Mr. Appignanesi's descriptive skills are considerable." Almost two decades later Appignanesi published "Yukio Mishima’s Report to the Emperor", a fictional autobiography of the Japanese poet, novelist, playwright, film director, actor and bodybuilder Yukio Mishima (1925 - 1970), one of the most important Japanese literary and artistic figures of the 20th century as well as an extreme-right activist. Appignanesi's novel is set predominantly in post-World War II reconstruction Japan and in Benares, India. Its narrative builds up to Mishima's horrific ritual suicide by seppuku that accompanied his failed right-wing coup against the Japanese government. The novel explores some of
Go Mishima his commanding officer. Upon the end of the Second World War in 1945, Mishima relocated to Tokyo, where he immersed himself in the nascent gay nightlife of the city. Many bars and nightclubs during this era were operated by the yakuza; Mishima's fascination with their crew cut hairstyles and irezumi tattoos would figure heavily into his art. During the late 1950s, Mishima discovered the art of Tom of Finland, who came to influence his own work. In 1955, Mishima met the writer Yukio Mishima at a gym, and formed a friendship on their shared interest in athletics, bodybuilding, and hypermasculine