This dissertation is comprised of both a novel and an accompanying exegesis. The creative manuscript, And the Sea Stopped Raging, chronicles protagonist, Bud Allan Francis (Buddy) as he suffers from severe trauma and guilt resulting from the ambiguous death of his best friend, Leroy. The narrative is split into two sections. The first half of the novel, The Shadow on the Shore, is located within Australia. Here the reader is introduced to Buddy, his family, and his friends: Brian and Leroy. The malaise of early adulthood and the freedoms of privilege serve as the basis for the attitudes and conduct of the young male characters. Buddy and his friends also negotiate a shadowing suicide epidemic which weaves a tragic thread through their zeitgeist of listlessness and disconnection. This fatal atmosphere foreshadows the eventual death of Leroy and attempted suicides of the protagonist. The novel's second half, Under a Neon Sun, is set within Japan. Buddy spent his childhood in Tokyo and returns here after Leroy's fatal episode. The journey is undertaken as both an attempt toward healing and as an act of self-imposed exile. In this foreign setting, Buddy falls in love with Japanese female character, Yumi. Their relationship is soon marked by another upset within the narrative. Buddy's cross-cultural excursion also serves as a journey into the surreal and dreamlike space. Reality and fantasy begin to merge and ultimately further the character's unravelling. This shift towards an increasingly speculative and haunted plotline reflects the body of Japanese literature that has provided integral creative inspiration. 'Unravelling Mishima's Web: A Literary Interrogation' is the exegetical component of the project. The study concerns Japanese author, Yukio Mishima, and is conducted through three chapters serving to function as semi-independent essays. The first chapter seeks to interrogate Mishima's politics and his suicide. The second chapter characterises Mishima as possessing a dichotomous psyche and explores national context and tensions of the author's legacy. The third chapter frames Mishima within the Japanese literary tradition and discusses the enduring narrative elements and speculative themes of this canon. Analysis and discussion of my own novel is also introduced here. The three chapters are interjected by prose reflections outlining my discovery of Mishima and how his literature underpinned my own journey of healing and trauma recovery. The exegesis is thus both a literary interrogation and a deeply personal reflection woven with Japan, Mishima, and creative practice.