'June 28, 1997. I ceased being me. It was the day I was expelled forever from the world of sunshine. Up to then, I had nonchalantly spent my days unaltruistically, each passing day framed by the next as in a film, until the day when, suddenly, I began to be stigmatized as an enigmatic being.

"'Shonen A' ('Youth A') became my substitute name."

Above are the opening lines in the first chapter ("The Day I Lost my Name") in "Zekka" (which can be roughly translated as "Song of Desperation"), a 294-page autobiographical memoir by the pseudonymous Youth A. The text is preceded by an old color photograph of him on his fourth birthday, sitting on the lap of his grandmother. Neither is smiling.