Japanese literature volcanic island, close to Kagoshima, on the southern tip of the Kyushu island. Osamu Dazai's novel "The Setting Sun" tells of a soldier returning from Manchukuo. Shōhei Ōoka won the Yomiuri Prize for his novel "Fires on the Plain" about a Japanese deserter going mad in the Philippine jungle. Yukio Mishima, well known for both his nihilistic writing and his controversial suicide by seppuku, began writing in the post-war period. Nobuo Kojima's short story "The American School" portrays a group of Japanese teachers of English who, in the immediate aftermath of the war, deal with the American occupation in varying
Yukio Mishima which was published in 1954, and drew inspiration from the Greek legend of Daphnis and Chloe. Mishima made use of contemporary events in many of his works. "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" published in 1956 is a fictionalization of the burning of the famous temple in Kyoto. "Utage no ato" ("After the Banquet"), published in 1960, so closely followed the events surrounding politician Hachirō Arita's campaign to become governor of Tokyo that Mishima was sued for invasion of privacy. In 1962, Mishima's most avant-garde work, "Utsukushii hoshi" ("Beautiful Star"), which at times comes close to science fiction, was published