December 8th

by Osamu Dazai

「無頼派」「新戯作派」の破滅型作家を代表する昭和初期の小説家、太宰治の短編。初出は「婦人公論」［1942（昭和17）年］。「昭和十六年の十二月八日」に「日本のまづしい家庭の主婦はどんな一日を送ったか」について書かれた作品。主婦のモデルが津島美知子、主人は太宰自身、園子が太宰の長女、また亀井勝一郎や今官一など現実の人物も登場する。開戦の様子をごく平凡な市民の目で描いた好作。

Genres: Japan, Classics, Short Stories

Unknown Binding

First published February 1, 1942

About the author

Osamu DAZAI (native name: 太宰治, real name Shūji Tsushima) was a Japanese author who is considered one of the foremost fiction writers of 20th-century Japan. A number of his most popular works, such as Shayō (The Setting Sun) and Ningen Shikkaku (No Longer Human), are considered modern-day classics in Japan.
With a semi-autobiographical style and transparency into his personal life, Dazai’s stories have intrigued the minds of many readers. His books also bring about awareness to a number of important topics such as human nature, mental illness, social relationships, and postwar Japan.

Reviews

[sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

the story didnt have much to it, but i always enjoy reading whatever dazai writes <3

little glimpses into peoples lives are always really fascinating to me; i think human nature is one of the most complex and yet simultaneously most simple things in this world. i liked this short story and being able to see into the wife's life!

[Neonical · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite some of the optimism and hope that sanctioned by the Japanese government during WWII, Dazai Osamu's "December 8th" is a cynical and unsettling prediction of the future of Japan. With the announcement of Japan declaring war onto the US on December 8th (When President Franklin D. Roosevelt officially declared war on Japan following the Pearl Harbor attacks on the previous day), the main character, who is a housewife, becomes uncertain of the future of Japan, thinking of all the possible attacks from the US military onto Japan. With fears of possible air raids, blackouts, and other rations needed during wartime, the Japanese housewife is filled with fear for her husband, who is depicted as being a lazy novelist who seems tense yet fine with the future of Japan. The housewife frequently thinks about how she would have to carry her child on her back in the case of an air raid, which children is one of the many sources of fear and worry that many parents had during the war. Dazai Osamu's work, written in February 1942, becomes a disturbingly accurate prediction of the cynical and grim outcome of Japan during WWII. But unlike most authors at the time, Dazai was cynical and cautious of the way the Japanese government handled Japanese artists of all mediums at the time (From novelists to filmmakers) because of the propaganda that was demanded by the government to boost the Japanese morale of both the civilians and the soldiers alike. And although Dazai does dedicate a section in this story where the housewife is hoping the Japanese soldiers will win the war and come out victorious, he comes back to the same uncertain question: If things have come to the worst (Such as the air raids and the bombings), where can Japan go then?

And in the story's final scene, a blackout that occurs while the housewife and her drunk husband walking alone in the dark. The husband becomes a symbol of the Japanese propaganda system, criticizing the cynical attitude of the housewife for not having enough faith on the Japanese military and what they are doing. The wife, who already is starting to practice carrying the child on the back, becomes a character that eventually stood the test of time, representing the hopelessness and fears that many Japanese people faced during and after the war. Dazai Osamu's "December 8th" became a depressingly accurate prediction of where Japan was heading towards, breaking into reality from the propaganda and diehard attitude that was explicitly encouraged by the militarists during the war.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

20/20 — 2023. the 20th book of 2023’s reading challenge.

it is june 23, a month away from my birthday, and i continue reading osamu dazai’s “december 8th.”

it is not a fictional story. it is a diary.

the book starts with the nameless housewife confessing as she writes her diary. it is december 8th, 1941—the 2,600th anniversary of the founding day. jane doe decided to write a diary for the 2,700th anniversary of founding day, hoping her book would be somewhere in the corner of a storehouse somewhere or hopefully cherished by many as a historical reference. then, jane specifies that her husband, unnamed as well, is very critical of her writing, the sentences are not at all beautiful, he says.

she then begins to ramble about what happened between john doe (fyi, john doe and jane doe aren't their names. they are simply a replacement as it would be very hideous to write “the wife, the wife, the wife” every time i want to mention something) and mr. iba, a friend of john doe. the conversation goes as follows:

“you know, i really have been worrying recently—when the 2,700th founding anniversary comes, do you think we should we refer to it as ‘twenty-seven hundredth’ or ‘two thousand, seven hundredth’? it’s definitely been bothering me. i’m really suffering over it. what about you—doesn’t it bother you?” mr. iba said. “hmmm,” mr. doe said, thinking seriously. “now that you mention it, it does bother me a lot.” “see what i mean?” said mr. iba, also sounding quite serious. “they all seem to be making it ‘twenty-seven hundred.’ that’s what they seem to be doing. but i’d rather see them do it ‘two thousand, seven hundred.’ somehow, ‘twenty-seven hundred’ just doesn’t seem right. it’s kind of nasty, don’t you think? i mean, it’s not a telephone number, and i’d just like to see them do it right. somehow or other, i’d like to hear it done as ‘two thousand seven hundred,’ don’t you think?” asked mr. iba in a truly worried tone of voice. “but then,” john proposed in a horribly self-important tone, “in a hundred years from now, it may not be either of those ‘seven hundreds’—they may have come up with some totally different pronunciation. say, ‘sivinty,’ or something like that. . . .”

that is when jane bursts out laughing. and how truly absurd it is to converse about such things with guests.

then, jane specifies how her husband makes a living from writing novels. jane specifies her inability to read her husband's stories because he is apparently not good.

i will leave the rest for you to read. this story is extraordinarily fascinating, and i do not want anyone to miss out on how remarkable it is.

[Bruna]

1

[Mia˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The og #ihatemyboyfriend enthusiast

[sanika · Rating 5 out of 5]

'I meant the war, of course, but my neighbor had been elected chief of the neighborhood association just the other day, and apparently she thought I was referring to that' i giggled

[Dido Verboven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty darn good for such a short story.

[Hannah Cartojano · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look into the mind of a cynical Japanese housewife during December 8th 1941.

[pridna katoliška punca · Rating 4 out of 5]

22:29

“They say that artists have strong intuitions; it might be that he’d had a premonition. It rather impressed me. But then he went on to say something so awful, it canceled it out.
“Where is the western Pacific? San Francisco, huh?”
I was disgusted; my husband had absolutely no sense of geography.”

the perspective of a cynical and humorous japanese housewife from the WW2 times. thank you dazai for letting me see a glimpse of her life.

“For the most part, what was written in the paper was what I had been hearing on the radio news all day. But I read every last word anyway and felt the same deep feelings welling up.”