No Longer Human

The second notebook recounts Yozo’s high school and early college years. Yozo moves in with relatives to attend school; he finds being in a new town more agreeable than his hometown.

By now, Yozo has perfected his clown act. However, Yozo’s persona is tested by Takeichi, an unintelligent classmate who nonetheless sees through one of his capers and accuses him of faking it. This sends Yozo into a spiral of panic, worried that Takeichi will divulge his secret. He tries to think of what to do; he notes that the one thing that he did not think to do was kill Takeichi. Instead, he tries to befriend him.

One day, while caught in a downpour after school, Yozo takes Takeichi to his home nearby. When Takeichi complains of ear pain, Yozo gently cleans his running ears. Takeichi tells him “‘I bet lots of women will fall for you!’” (47). Though this was meant as a compliment, Yozo reflects on the vulgarity of the phrase “to fall for” and believes it to be a dire prophecy. Though he grew up primarily with girls and women in his house, Yozo finds women to be even more incomprehensible than men; their insults cut him deeper than men’s anger. He must work harder at entertaining women than men because he believes they have a deeper appetite for humor. Yozo’s two female cousins with whom he lives treat him as a source of entertainment and a confidante in their personal matters.

Takeichi shows Yozo a print of a Vincent Van Gough portrait, claiming that it is a picture of a ghost. The idea that paintings could be considered ghosts takes hold in Yozo’s mind. Yozo feels a kind of kinship with painters whose terror of humanity led them to paint ever more monstrous figures. He determines then and there to become an artist. He begins painting self-portraits that depict his hidden, inner self. He keeps these hidden, only showing them to Takeichi. Takeichi predicts that Yozo will become a great painter.

Yozo moves to Tokyo. Though he wanted to go to art school, his father enrolls him in university to become a civil servant; Yozo is characteristically unable to refuse. Yozo is unable to handle the communal life of school dormitories, so he gets his doctor to certify that his lungs are afflicted, and he moves into the townhouse that his father uses when he is in Tokyo. Yozo frequently cuts classes and attends private art lessons.

Horiki Masao, a student in one of Yozo’s art classes, introduces him to “the mysteries of drink, cigarettes, prostitutes, pawnshops, and left-wing thought” (58). Horiki is six years Yozo’s senior and is well acclimated to the urban, libertine lifestyle. He takes Yozo out drinking, and, through intoxication, Yozo begins to feel liberation. Though he despises Horiki as “someone only fit for amusement,” he sees him as a fitting guide to a life of dissipation (60).

Yozo does not see prostitutes as entirely human but finds security in their arms and is able to sleep soundly. Through Yozo’s experience with prostitutes, Takeichi’s prophecy unfolds: Women begin to fall for him, quickly and easily.

During this time, Horiki also introduces Yozo to the Communist Party, with whom the latter begins to find a sense of purpose; he naturally resonates with the principles of materialism. Yozo gravitates toward social outcasts and the misunderstood, so the underground Communist movement soothes him. He becomes popular with his comrades; his clowning brings a sense of levity to their meetings, and he never refuses any job they have him do.

Yozo’s father decides to retire from political life in Tokyo. He sells his townhouse, and Yozo moves into a boardinghouse. Yozo’s excesses quickly deplete his father’s monthly allowance, and he faces financial trouble. He frequently begs his family members for money, resorting to absurd lies as excuses, and begins pawning possessions. Yozo’s poor attendance causes his university to write to his father; his father and brothers write letters warning him to change his ways. He becomes head of the student Marxist groups in Central Tokyo, doubling his responsibilities. To alleviate the pressure, he decides to kill himself.

Three women are interested in Yozo. The first, his landlord’s daughter, annoys him with her constant attentions and overt feelings for him. The second, a comrade in his student Marxist group, follows him around; they have sex in one of the group’s offices. Yozo finds himself unable to avoid either of these women, though he desperately wants to.

The third woman, Tsuneko, is a waitress at a bar in Tokyo’s Ginza district. Yozo finds her presence calming and quickly takes a liking to her. Tsuneko is a married woman; her husband is in prison, but Yozo does not mind. He finds kinship in her gloomy demeanor. He stays with her one night, and she recounts her life story, concluding, “‘I feel so unhappy’” (80). Tsuneko’s words bring Yozo a contentment that he has never known before. However, in the morning, Yozo returns to his normal state of anxiety masked by clownishness. He is eager to leave.

Yozo does not see Tsuneko for another month, during which his brief happiness fades. He begins to feel she is “just another threatening woman” (82). One night, while out with Horiki, Yozo drunkenly proclaims he will take his companion to “‘the land of dreams’”—the bar where Tsuneko works. Horiki proclaims that he will kiss whichever hostess sits next to him. As luck would have it, it is Tsuneko. Yozo does not feel protective of Tsuneko but is shocked by her willingness to be kissed by Horiki. However, Horiki suddenly proclaims “‘I’ve had enough...Not even a lecher like myself can kiss a woman who looks so poverty stricken’” (85). The unexpected sympathy and stirring of love that Yozo feels for Tsuneko drives him to drink more than ever before; he blacks out. When he wakes, he is in Tsuneko’s room. The two agree to end their lives together. The next night, they throw themselves into the sea. Tsuneko dies; Yozo is saved.

The news causes a scandal due to Yozo’s father’s position. Yozo is criminally charged as being an accomplice to a suicide, but due to his tuberculosis, he is treated leniently. He misses Tsuneko terribly. When the Chief of Police interrogates Yozo, he recommends that the latter contact a guarantor to pay his bail. Yozo contacts Flatfish, an antique dealer and business associate of his father from his hometown.

During his cross-examination by the District Attorney, Yozo has a coughing fit. He adds some feigned coughs, prompting the District Attorney to ask if he is faking it; this haunts and torments Yozo for years. Yozo’s charge is suspended, but this provides no relief as he waits for Flatfish.