Books: Mishima beyond his centenary, still surprises -- and disturbs

It is hard to imagine the brilliant novelist Yukio Mishima taking a driving test, but he did in 1962, eight years before his sensational ritual suicide. At the somewhat mature age of 37, the man sometimes described as Japan's greatest "sacred monster" showed up at a remote test center and, along with nearly 200 other applicants, answered a series of pernickety multiple-choice questions about road safety.

We know this because he crafted an amusing short story about the episode, with himself as a nihilistic dandy who sets his sights on a much younger lady driver -- and pays the price.