Ghost of a flea

"The diary notes details of his life during a certain period of his youth. Mishima's works were believed to have been completely fictional, but the diary suggests that he drew material from what he actually experienced," Sato said.

The diary, written in a notebook from May 11, 1946, to Nov. 13, the following year, is titled, "Account diary." It was initially his account book, but later became a memorandum of his daily life. The diary clearly describes films he saw, railway fares, admission fees to drama theaters, prices of books he bought and the amount of money he paid for coffee he drank at a coffee shop with a friend. At the time, he was enrolled in the law department of the prestigious University of Tokyo.