The sources from which Miller gathered information for his article reveal a meticulous search for understanding yet, a few crucial mistakes were made concerning the composition and marketing of the essay: these missteps would turn Reflections into Miller’s foremost overpriced and ineffective composition. Certain events surrounding the Japanese publication of Reflections expose why the opinion piece created merely a momentary impression in Japan and nearly no impact throughout the rest of the world.
Outside of Japan, Reflections was a complete commercial failure, as Miller was unable to place the essay in the mainstream-or even obscure-media outlets. The manuscript was only published in mass media form in Japan, giving us the impression that Miller was writing specifically for Japanese readers archival materials, however, make clear that Miller was eager to publish an English version of the article in the West. Translated into Japanese by Tobita Shigeo, the article was serialized in one of Japan’s most popular gossip magazines, the Shuukan Post ( Weekly Post ) in October and November of 1971. Moved to write about the incident, in March 1971 he began composing the short epistle Reflections on the Death of Mishima. 1 When the news reached American author Henry Miller (1891-1980), he immediately felt a reverberating shock. 2 As I will discuss, the price paid by the Japanese weekly magazine led Miller to demand that he rece (.)ġ The year 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of Mishima Yukio’s dramatic ritual suicide on 25 November 1970, an event that stunned Japan and the rest of the world.
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