Pathway to Japanese Literature

Discover Japan's stories—across time, across language.

Fallen YouthAuthor: Sakaguchi Ango

Original Title	淪落の青春
Author	坂口安吾
Genre	Modern Short Fiction
Author Type	Male Author
Summary	Teikichi Sekizuka returns to a Japan unrecognizable after eight years of war and captivity. His homeland, once familiar, now pulses with chaotic energy: village youths slick their hair with pomade, women don garish makeup, and jazz-fueled dance parties erupt in school auditoriums. Yet Teikichi feels no nostalgia. The war’s primal brutality lingers in him—memories of Burmese jungles and hunger eclipse any sentiment for a nation rebuilding itself. His family, fractured by greed and postwar scarcity, offers no solace. Eldest brother Shoichiro hoards resources with miserly fervor, while repatriated siblings cling to crumbling hierarchies. Amidst this dissonance, Teikichi’s half-sister Kinuko exudes enigmatic calm, her beauty and composure hinting at unspoken schemes. Drawn to Tsuneko, a brash village girl embodying raw vitality, he seeks solace in primal connections, yet Kinuko’s presence whispers of deeper, unresolved ties to a civilization he struggles to reclaim. As traditions erode and new desires erupt, Teikichi navigates a world where survival demands reinvention—or surrender to the wildness within.