This text presents a searching study of Shimao Toshio and his work. It is not only a thorough assessment of his literary legacy, but also aims to consider the broader issues relating to the emergence and nature of the postwar Japanese sense of identity. The book contextualizes Toshio's ""dream stories"" as a literary expression of wartime trauma, and argues that Shimao's powerful narration of guilt and victimization challenges standard readings of Japanese war literature. The author links all of the seemingly disparate strands in Toshio's stories, and shows that together they represent a consistent attempt to depict the existence of ""the other"".