Literature shattered the identity in which I boasted of grades at school.

Kyoji Watnabe

The critic failed the Navy Preparatory School during the war. He bought a collection of Roka Tokutomi at a secondhand bookstore he stopped by and after indulged in reading literature and history, looking for a much larger coordinate axis that measures the world. Before turning 90 years old, he says, "I don't like humans but undoubtedly some people are those I can like. Without them, I feel lonely." From "Beyond the place where dreams open" (volume 1).

"December 14 2019

from “Oriori no Kotoba” by Kiyokazu Washida, The Asahi Shimbun"