The town was also known as the birthplace of famed author Osamu Dazai.
They often write about Japanese classical literature, for example, Osamu Dazai, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Jun-ichiro Tanizaki, and so on.
The name "Saibou Bungaku" is after the title of the fanzine issued by Osamu Dazai in 1928.
Osamu Tezuka | Osamu Nishimura | Osamu Dazai | Osamu Shimomura | Osamu Watanabe | Osamu Mukai | Osamu Kitajima | Osamu Kido |
Other members of the family included Representative, Councillor and Governor Bunji Tsushima (Seiyūkai/LDP – Aomori), Representative Kichirō Tazawa (LDP – Aomori), Representative Kyōichi Tsushima (LDP/DPJ – Tōhoku), Representative, Peer and Kanagi mayor Gen'emon Tsushima (Seiyūkai – Aomori), Kanagi mayor Eiji Tsushima and writers Shūji Tsushima (Osamu Dazai), Yūko Tsushima, Shizuko Ōta and Haruko Ōta.
The term mainly applied to Ango Sakaguchi, Osamu Dazai and Sakunosuke Oda, however, it also often referred to others, such as Jun Ishikawa, Itō Sei, Jun Takami, Tanaka Hidemitsu and Kazuo Dan.
Ōta is a bibliophile—reportedly reading over 100 books a year—and some of his favorite authors include Kurt Vonnegut, John Irving, J. D. Salinger, and Osamu Dazai (of whom Ōta's father was a student), many of them holding some similitude to his often absurdist view of the world.
He has written critical studies of the major Japanese writers Yasunari Kawabata, Naoya Shiga, Osamu Dazai, and Yukio Mishima, and edited books on Asian nationalism (especially ethnic nationalism, religious nationalism, and cultural nationalism), globalization, and pan-Asianism.