The inaugural Tokyo International Literary Festival was a fantastic dream come true, treating Tokyo's literati to live readings and panel discussions on various topics, ranging from otaku romance and global travel to jazz writing, monsters, the future of books and reimagining Tokyo. There was even a live writing performance that saw the author Shinji Ishii improvising a short story while riding a train. "It swayed, writing in there," he said, commenting about both the train and his spirit.
And boy were spirits swayed! Junot Diaz, the highly
acclaimed author of "This is How You Lose Her," talked about how the story of love is basically about two people when it works, but about society at large when it fails. Pico Iyer, the inimitable and intrepid postmodern travel writer with skyrocketing frequent flyer miles, talked about traveling to become young fools again in his discussion with John Freeman,the editor of Granta and a true polymath, and Geoff Dyer,an eclectic and delightfully humorous author of many books, whose topics range from the backstories of jazz legends to aircraft carriers.
An open mike session at Super Deluxe, one of Roppongi's most happening bars, featured Power Point enhanced poetry readings by the edgy, iPadwielding Bin Sugawara, a rap session by DJ Misoshiru & MC Gohan, a charming, squeaky clean artist of the"kawaii" school paying tribute to the glory of food, and a poetry reading by Wen Yourou, a vivacious multiculturalwriter who claimed to be neither Chinese nor Japanese, but"Chapanese" (a straddler of both Chinese and Japanese worlds).
Chip Kidd, the exuberant, stylish and trailblazing bookdesigner and author, was also there to talk
about the intricacies and wondersof a good book design that can't be
reproduced on a kindle (yet). JonathanSafran Foer, the highly acclaimed author of Everything is Illuminated, spokeabout "writing to see your thoughts," and Michael Emmerich, the eminent translator of many Japanese works offiction, including Monsters---a wonderfully manic short story by HideoFurukawa---delved deep into a discussion about voice and tone, using theanalogy of an airplane to shed light on the finer points of those literarydevices.
Deborah Treisman, the fiction editor of The New Yorker and JohnFreeman of Granta were brilliant moderators (along with many others), steering discussions with their thoughtful questions and comments,and Lexy Bloom, a senior editor at Vintage and Anchor Books offered some greatinsights into the process of producing works in translation. NicoleKrausstruly shined in the session titled Memory, Love,Words and in an another one titled Encounters at the Crossroads of Culture.
David Peace, an ex-Nova English teacher turned celebratedauthor of works such as Occupied City and Tokyo Year Zero, made an impassionedperformance, while the world-renowned poet Shuntaro Tanikawa recited verses that captured tender and bittersweet moments, but the highlight of the event was the Nobel laureate J.M.Coetzee's readings of excerpts from his upcoming novel, The Childhood of Jesus. Accompanied on stage during his final reading by a Japanese reader---the dashing Japanese actor, Shosuke Tanihara,whose golden voice had that familiar baritone urgency shared by many narratorsof Japanese television documentaries covering UFOs, ghosts, and prehistoricsubaquatic dinosaurs---Mr. Coetzee's eloquent and poignant reading reallybrought the event to a touching finale.
Perhaps the next installation could see the participation of other luminaries as well, such as Haruki Murakami,David Mitchell,Roland Kelts,Banana Yoshimoto and Randy Taguchi (of Outlet and Fujisan fame 😊). But all in all I had a giddy time, feeling like a kid lost in a candy store. Thank you, Japan Foundation, for making it happen. The team led by DavidKarashima---an accomplished translator himself---did an absolutely marvelous job.
Be sure to check out Tokyo-based journalist, ChristopherJohnson's take on the event as well. He provides great context.
Ms. Randy Taguchi, the author of Fujisan, has been hailed as the queen of the Internet for her online writings, and her first novel, Outlet (Konsento in Japan), was commended by a leading light of contemporary Japanese literature,Ryu Murakami, as one of the best novels he had read in a decade. The novel also went on to become a finalist for the prestigious Naoki Prize.
Described in the Japan Times as an Earth Mother figure, Randy cites authors of magic realism and the science fiction writer, Ray Bradbury, as her influences. In addition to being an author and essayist, she is also an activist, a cofounder of an advertising agency, a practitioner of Zen meditation, and a mother. I recently met up with this many-splendored person in Ginza to ask her about her inspiration behind Fujisan, her creative process, and what's in store for her fans.
Can you tell me what inspired you to write Fujisan? What got you started?
I always used to have this vague notion of using Mount Fuji as a theme. Fujisan is a tall mountain and you can see it from various places in Japan. You can often catch a glimpse of it beyond the vista of an ordinary cityscape, looking absolutely surreal and mystical. Perhaps because of such an omnipresence, I’ve always had this sense of being watched by Mount Fuji. In Japan, you’ll find many ancient towns named Fujimi, which literally means “see Fuji.” So these towns were probably ideal places for sightseeing Mount Fuji before modernity set in and obstructed the view with tall skyscrapers and other buildings. At any rate, what this tells me is that the Japanese are a people who have been conscious about Mount Fuji, that they have been feeling since time immemorial that they have always been and continue to be observed by the mountain. I wanted to capture that aspect in my fiction.
What is your favorite story in Fujisan?
Jamila.
One of the recent reviewers of Fujisan on Amazon also mentioned Jamila as his or her favorite. It happens to be mine as well.
Is that right? I’m delighted.
What’s attractive about Jamila? What is it that resonates with people about this character?
When I was little, I used to watch this show called Ultra Q and it was this action monster drama for kids, and Jamila was the name of a monster that appeared on this show. This monster was a really tragic character and I’ve written the backstory about her in Fujisan as well, but the thing is I could never forget about this monster and I even own a Jamila figure, a miniature. What do you call that?
Action figure?
Yes that’s right. So with this action figure in my mind, I constantly wondered how I could make use of the character.
While translating Fujisan, it occurred to me that the image of the hole is a recurring visual motif throughout most of your stories, especially in Jamila and The Blue Summit.
Yes, uh-huh.
On the whole, would you say that this motif was something you intentionally wove into the fabric of your stories?
No, it wasn’t intentional. It just surfaced, unconsciously.
Well that seems quite right. After all a hole is the perfect metaphor for the unconscious, isn’t it? Can you tell me if this imagery in your stories articulates the value of the philosophical concept of mu, or nothingness, as in the idea of the void?
The presence of Fujisan itself is on the one hand something physical and at the same time there’s the Fujisan that’s abstract and transcendent in the mind of the Japanese. Mount Fuji has such a duality you see. In my writings regarding Fujisan, what emerges is this multidimensional aspect; the two qualities of what exists and what’s nonexistent.
I see, so the idea of the hole is a vehicle in you stories to convey this duality?
Yes, the hole to me is basically an entryway into a different dimension, into another world. So while I was writing about Fujisan as a physical object, to also show Fujisan as an event, as a happening, I needed the hole. So you can say the hole in my stories represents a gateway.
Yes, gateway. I hear you loud and clear. It’s a passage. In fact, just like in Alice in Wonderland, it’s a rabbit hole, right?
Oh yes, yes. That’s exactly right. Rabbit hole.
Can you share any personal accounts related to Mount Fuji?
Yes, well, the final story, Child of Light, is based on my actual experience of having climbed Mount Fuji. I actually climbed the mountain and came across these people running the mountain lodges found along the way to the summit there. They were such mean people I tell you. Anyway, my personal accounts of them made it into Child of Light, along with other details of trekking up Mount Fuji.
During your childhood, did you visit Fujisan often?
No. I used to just see it from afar. I was living in an area from where you couldn’t see the mountain.
So I suppose your curiosity for Mount Fuji grew all the more.
Yes, I suppose so. Mount Fuji was also depicted in an ofuroyasan (public bathhouse). We had our own private bathtub and all, but sometimes my mother would take my siblings and me to an ofuroyasan. In most Japanese public bathhouses you’ll find a mural depicting Fujisan.
Do you go hiking often?
Hiking, ha, ha. Well, I used to live out in the countryside where hiking was a daily routine. I mean that’s what I had to do to get to school, ha, ha. It used to take me about one and half hours to reach with my kiddy feet back then. I grew up in a rural area.
Where was this?
Ibaragi prefecture. At the foot of Mount Tsukuba.
Oh right. It’s beautiful out there.
It used to be when I was a child, but now there area lot of residential areas.
Can you tell me how you launch your stories? What inspires you to create one?
Well, I have two approaches. First there’s the title, and the story just unfolds from the inspiration I get from the title. The other way is, for example, in the case of the Blue Summit, what I wanted to do was basically write about the convenience store. So the seed of the story was my fascination for the convenience store. I like that space very much. Well it’s not so much the space of the convenience store that I’m fascinated about but the phenomenon that is the convenience store. It’s such a special and strange environment and I wanted to find an expression for that.
I remember you telling me that it’s a place for people who are clean-freaks.
Yes, yes. It’s a really strange place, and I like it. That was my angle into the story.
Do you carry out research for developing your characters?
Not really. Not for my characters.
But you do carry out research, right? What is it for?
For things like the setting in a story. For example, I visited the Sea of Trees (a forest at the foot of Mt. Fuji notorious for suicides). But as far as characters are concerned, they just appear in my mind on their own. While I may visit the convenience store to gain a better understanding of what an attendant there does to round out my character in my story, I basically let my subconscious come up with the personality and motivation.
You were taking part in a Zen meditation program the last time we talked. You said it was for research, but are you still practicing meditation?
Yes I am and I’ve been doing Tai chi and meditation for about four years now.
Was it for researching a character?
Going to the zazen dojo (seated meditation hall) was for character research but I’ve been involved in meditational practices for personal reasons, for improving concentration and posture too. We writers tend to have back problems, so we need to be careful.
Can you talk about your project, Fukushima Kids?
Sure. Basically I’m participating in two projects that are related to the nuclear incident that occurred in Fukushima. One is Fukushima Kids and this involves taking kids in Fukushima to a forty-day summer camp within the prefecture in an area considered to be radiation-free. The idea is for them to let their mind and body relax. After the incident, the kids in Fukushima have become very nervous, and their parents in particular have become highly-strung, so the kids are leading stressful lives. My hope is that they will have some time to just hang out and have fun among friends in the great outdoors and get cheered up. The other project is holding seminars and workshops on nuclear power. It’s something I’ve been doing since some time prior to the nuclear accident, and it’s held at a university in Tokyo. The audience is made up of the general public and scientists researching nuclear power.
How long has this project been underway?
We started in October 2010, so it’s been two years exactly.
Any progress? Targets achieved?
Actually we’re not aiming for something like that. Our aim is to keep a dialogue going with young people. What’s important is continuing to do that. So as long as I can continue this project, I intend to do it until the day I die.
You were talking about Sakura as a theme for your next short story collection. Can you talk about that?
I’ve had this wish to write about Sakura for several years, but these days I have been preoccupied with the radiation issue related to Fukushima so I’ve shelved the Sakura project for now. After I finish the Fukushima project though, I intend to return to the Sakura stories.
Sakura is really iconic of Japan isn’t it, just like Mount Fuji?
Yes that’s true, but to me what Sakura symbolizes is death. Originally, the flower of Sakura is written as tomuraiboku, which means funeral tree. So Sakura trees were originally trees that were planted where the dead were buried. That’s why Motojiro Kajii said Dead bodies are buried under the cherry trees! They were memorials. So while the cherry blossom is a beautiful sight to see, the deeper appeal of the Sakura tree for the Japanese is the beauty of chirigiwa, or being on the verge of the end like the petal of a cherry blossom that could fall any moment. In essence, Sakura blossoms resonate well with the Japanese view of life and death, and I wished to capture that resonance in my fiction.
Sometime during my grade school years, I wrote a haiku with the image of sakura in my mind, and it won first place.
Oh that’s terrific!
So when you’ve completed your Sakura stories, please think of me again.
(Buoyant laughter)
In my mind the Sakura tree is all about celebrating and having parties, and images of drunken salarymen (businessmen) at hanami (flower viewing) parties come to mind. Hanami is a very Japanese thing, isn’t it?
Ha, ha. Yes that’s right.
What are the stories going to be like? Do you already have some characters in mind?
Oh no, not at all. With me, until I’m on the verge of starting to write a story, I have nothing. It’s a blank slate. All white. But when I sit and start to write down the first line, the story starts writing itself. It’s pretty handy I have to say.
Everything! The beauty of his prose, the raw strength of his prose. He’s overwhelmingly good. Really good. Just wonderful. He’s sensitive, lyrical, poetic, melancholic, nostalgic. Really nice.
As a child, Mount Fuji was an exciting getaway to me, an escape into the
green and airy wilderness far removed from the orderly, plastic confines of Yokohama city. My father, a free-spirited, traveling bard wearing the guise of a
family man and silk exporter, would usher my brother and me on a sunny Saturday
into the back seat of a brown, four-door Toyota Crown, as my mother prepared
some “grasshopper-green” chutney sandwiches. Once she and the tasty morsels made
their way to the passenger seat, my father would sing out a hymn to praise the
Overseeing One in the sky prior to revving the engine and driving off
southbound toward Shizuoka prefecture, home to the world’s most flavorful green
tea leaves and Mount Fuji.
To pass the time on our two-hour
road trip, Father would be crooning Indian classical ditties called ghazals, which were mostly philosophical
musings about life's vagaries and the despair arising from self-pitying broken
hearted romances. They seemed more fitting as soundtracks to sandstorm-swept
desolate expanses of the Khyber Pass than to the straight and relatively narrow
route down the sanitary tree-lined expanses of the Tomei Express Highway, one
of Japan's many visible signs of the “economic miracle” that was gaining
momentum back in those halcyon days. But as we approached the countryside,
where the air was fresher, cooler, and crisper, Father would start singing one
Bollywood number that served as the perfect soundtrack to the majestic sight of
a rather unearthly mountain looming in the distance.
The song was from a Hindi movie titled Aa Gale Lag Jaa (Come,
Embrace Me) and the tune continues to occupy a special place in my heart as
a song that celebrates the warm and fuzzy winsome magic, the sacredness, the
“material and immaterial” beauty of Mount Fuji, Japan's one and only
sacred peak that not only inspired monks and artists of yore, but also my
father to faithfully salute the mountain every time he caught a glimpse of it,
even while driving us kids to school.
Many years later, after doing my
time as mostly a rush-job hack translator of marketing proposals, I came upon
the good fortune of working for TranNet, a literary translation agency that
used to be headquartered in Jinbocho, the heart of Tokyo's used-book stores and
publishing houses, and came across the front cover of a book titled Fujisan. It
featured a caricature of a wide-eyed girl, rendered in a style that was a cross
between the one seen in a shojo manga
and the psychedelic pop art style of Yellow Submarine. For this fan of Alice in
Wonderland, the Beatles, and Haruki Murakami, it was love at first sight. I instantly
envied the person who would get to translate this beauty and wished a plague on
his or her house before moving on with my work-a-day life.
So you can imagine the Jolt-Cola
surprise I experienced when that person I cursed turned out to be myself in the
end, as AmazonCrossing, Amazon Publishing’s imprint dedicated to international
literature, came knocking on my door. At the time I was just grateful that I
actually still had a door that anyone could knock on. Really. It was such an
exciting and woozy experience. But once the contract was signed, I was able to still
my mind and spend some of the most memorable moments in my life up to now——about
four months of it, in fact, losing myself in Ms. Randy Taguchi’s rarefied world
populated by a disillusioned ex-cult follower trying to reengage with society
while seeking refuge in the brightly lit, tabula rasa purity of the convenience
store; three erudite teenagers desperate to catch a glimpse of the other side
before they crossed their shadow lines into adulthood; a cynical Adonis who
discovers truth and beauty in the life of a mysterious, aged hoarder residing
near Mount Fuji; and a young nurse filled with remorse for working at an
abortion clinic. I pretty much lived and breathed these characters, drawing on
my method acting know-how I acquired during my college years to transmute them
from one world to another. In short, I was acting on the page, with the great literary
alchemists at AmazonCrossing illuminating the stage. In the end, my method
acting had taken on an epic earnestness, immersing me so deeply into the world
of Randy’s stories that I’m convinced I was climbing Mount Fuji together with
the characters in the final story, Child of Light, as I was translating. You
see, by the time I finished, my right foot was sprained and I had to limp my way
to the clinic with a walking cane in hand. No joke. But I was elated nonetheless.
Another blessing that transpired
in the course of translating Fujisan was actually getting to meet Randy
herself. It’s one thing to think you know the author through her work and
completely another to know her in person. But she was as amazing in person as
she was on the page. In fact, she struck me as a modern-day Alice, full of
wonder and curiosity, and very open to my out-of-the blue, leftfield suggestions.
I was also thrilled to find out that Randy and I were pretty much on the same
wavelength, discovering that, just like myself, she’s a card-carrying fan of
David Lynch. Once that was settled, the direction for my translation in terms
of tone and style was pretty much set in stone I think.
Without a doubt, Randy’s stories
prioritize characterization over plot, just as many works of contemporary Japanese
short fiction do. Perhaps this stylistic trait can be traced back to Japanese
literature’s haiku roots, where the entire enterprise is geared towards
stimulating your imagination than in delivering a sense of narrative closure: the
staple of the three-act blockbuster fiction. But even so, in translating
Fujisan I was also reminded of what Aristotle said about plot; namely that a
good one is where the character is plot and vice versa. In this sense, I
believe Fujisan——one of many of Randy’s works of deep explorations into the
psyche of modern-day Japan, which is really a festive confluence of both
Eastern and Western memes in my humble opinion——paints a vivid character
portrayal of a majestic, snow-capped, ethereal mountain, sending out life-affirming
signals to all who seek answers, gently singing, “Come, Embrace Me.”
