I have been studying Osamu Dazai as a writer who sought to create new methods and styles of the novel—in other words, as an avant-garde author. His early works, including those that may be considered failures, are filled with attempts to question and dismantle the very framework of the novel. I have been exploring where such methodological approaches originated, and how he was able to adapt and employ them under the conditions of wartime censorship. In recent years, I have also been interested in reading Dazai’s works in relation to detective fiction and cinema, alongside those of other writers.