Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! 2022 (This Mystery is Amazing! )
Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! is an annual mystery fiction guide book published by Takarajimasha. The guide book publishes a list of the top ten mystery books published in Japan in the previous year.
-- Today is the opening interview of "Kono Mys". We've just finished shooting the cover, are you familiar with Kono Mys?
Of course! I read it every year. I'm always interested in the results, and sometimes I decide what to read based on the ranking. I'm also interested in the current trend of mysteries. However, I'm not a mystery writer, so I have mixed feelings about whether I'm being invited as a talento or as a writer (laughs).
-- Of course, I'm speaking to you as a writer today. For Alternate, you won the Yoshikawa Eiji Literary Newcomer's Award and you were also nominated for the Naoki Prize, which was a big deal.
The selection committee members are all writers, so being known by these writers is huge for me. There was also a lot of coverage in the media. I've never been involved in that kind of thing before, and I've always been a small-time writer, so I feel like I've finally made it to the starting line as a novelist.
Until now, as a fan of the Akutagawa Prize and Naoki Prize, I listened to the Literary Awards Metta Slash SP* everytime. I wondered how painful it would be to be in the position of being cut down (laughs). It was a very fresh experience for me. As a genuine fan of literary awards, I had read the other nominated works, but I didn't realize how uncomfortable it would be if I were one of them (laughs).
-- Thanks to this, you've finally gained solid recognition from the literary industry.
I don't really feel it, but I'm getting nervous that they will be paying more attention to me in the future. I've always been thick-skinned so I don't think it will affect me that much. Alternate was a work that really just happened to turn out that way.
-- I felt that the depiction of the three teenagers and the themes assigned to them were very well calculated.
I was thinking about how the story would unfold as I was writing it. Normally, the story would be centered around a matching app called Alternate, but I liked the unevenness of the story. I wanted to avoid any kind of predetermined harmony, or rather, I wanted to write it as if it were half-baked, and then tighten the screws nicely somewhere. In the beginning, I thought that it was not youthful for a novel to proceed as calculated, so I wrote it without setting a goal, as if I were reliving my youth with the characters. Then, halfway through the novel, I realized that they would not converge if I continued. I thought that young people wouldn't read a novel about youth that was over 400 pages long, and that the only way to link the three stories together was to write the scene at the school festival. It was pretty random.
Originally, the editor asked me if I wanted to write a coming-of-age novel. When I was younger, I was reluctant to write about high school students because it seemed like I was flattering them, but now that I've been writing for almost ten years and I'm over thirty, so I thought it was time to throw the ball straight. I thought it would be okay to dare to write a fresh teenage novel that I had never written before. I thought that if it could reach young people, it would be a way of giving back to the literary world. One more thing, I didn't want to get older and be an uncle that depicts high school girls (laughs). So I thought it would be my last chance.
-- Shosetsu Shincho has a readership of 60s and 70s, right? However, with the serialization of Alternate, the magazine was bought by young readers who didn't know that there was such a magazine, or where they could buy it, and recorded its first increase in the past 63 years. This is a great contribution.
When I think of a young girl with only a copy of Shosetsu Shincho in her tiny bag, I feel sorry for her (laughs).I'm glad to hear that some fans have read other novels from it. But next time, I'd like to do the opposite of Alternate.
-- Like Tezcatlipoca by Kiwamu Sato?
That was great! It was so great that it's heartbreaking, but I have to try not to be influenced by it. it's not the direction I want to go, but I want to write an adult novel that look at the society properly.
When a novel is nominated for the Naoki Prize, many people read it and say many things about it. Until now, I have been conscious of making it easy to read so that many people could read it. In particular, I wrote "Alternate" in the hope that it would be a good starting point for young people to read a book for the first time. However, books such as Rin Usami's Oshi, Moyu is a pure literature*, have sold over 500,000 copies. So even if a work is not that easy to read, it can still reach people.
Oshi, Moyu (Oshi - your bias or favorite in your fandom, Moyu means burn but in this context it means being the object of a public scandal, The story is narrated in the first person by a teenage protagonist whose life revolves around her favorite male pop idol. Her life seems to be unraveling after her idol commits an act of violence and his legion of fans on social media react viscerally.)
-- It's a bit complicated when a novel that you wrote a recommendation sells so much..
I feel sympathy in a different way than the regular readers. It's like I wanna say, "I'm sorry," and I feel more like I'm responsible for the role (laughs).
-- But you're the type of person that won't get burn (laughs).
No, no, you never know, anything can happen at any time! Anyway, I think I've achieved a certain level of reach to young people with Alternate. The next step was to write about what I liked. If I saw Alternate in a bookstore, I might not have picked it up. With that novel, I felt like I was trying to meet a need by writing what was requested.
-- So, did you do what you liked in Tuberose de Matteru?
I felt like I did something unreasonable in Tuberose (laughs).
-- It's a two-volume set, but I was stunned by the truth. I had no idea that such a trick was waiting for me at the end.
Since I'm not a good novelist anyway, so I was wondering what to do, and that was the first time for me to do a serialization at Weekly SPA! Before I did the serialization, I had an initial idea to retrieve that trick on the second part. However, the first part had to stand on its own and be interesting to read.
-- The introduction is about a college student who fails to find a job and is scouted by a host club, which is aimed at SPA! readers. It's a kind of a work novel, but also a coming-of-age novel. It was later overturned spectacularly.
Looking back, there was a lot of waste, and I received a lot of criticism from mystery lovers. There were Doujinshi* sent to me discussing whether this novel was right or wrong. While there were people who criticized me a lot, there were also people who praised me, and I thought it was okay if the result was so exciting. But it was fun. As with Pink and Gray, I wanted to add some kind of gimmick.
-- It's a shame that not many people who like mysteries haven't read this book yet.
I'm currently working on a paperback version, but I need to reorganize it a little more. I wrote it about five years ago, so I have a lot of work to do.
-- In addition, the setting is in the near future, in the year 2024.
That's not good either, because it's coming soon. Before that, I published a short story collection called Kasa wo Motanai Aritachi wa, in which I tried my hand at mystery and science fiction, so I decided to take it one step further and write a full-length story.
-- In that short story collection, I also enjoyed the science fiction short story Iganu no Ame in which a mysterious creature falls from the sky.
That was fun, too. From that point on, I became a little freer. I didn't really know what kind of writer I was, so I just tried to enjoy writing about various things. When I was young, I liked Otsuichi's ZOO.
-- It's a very high level of editing, with each story taking on a different genre. Each one has its own surprises. Kasa wo Motanai Aritachi wa has something in common with ZOO. You can write any genre of fiction and still look good. Have you done any research?
I read a lot of books like how to write mysteries. I don't think I can write it because I read it. But you should still read it. It's better to keep track of classics and trends.
-- You also pay attention to trends.
For the past few years, I've been thinking that I can't keep writing unless my books sell. I'm in a special position, so I'm grateful that many people read my books, but the number of reprints keeps decreasing (laughs). I was thinking a lot about how I could make it sell more and make it more interesting. I was thinking about this all the time when I was working on Alternate, and I thought that I don't need literary awards anymore, I'll just write something that will sell. I thought I could just be a talento writer and write, but this is what I ended up with (laughs). I shouldn't divide myself afterall (laughs). I felt like the gods of fiction were pulling me back to not just write what sells.
Well, to be honest, I was hoping that I might be able to get around 8th place in the Bookstore Awards. I had been aiming for 8th place in the Bookstore Awards for a long time. The first talento to be recognized before me was Gekidan Hitori's Kagehinata ni Saku, which came in 8th place. I kept saying things like, "If it's this interesting and I'm in 8th place, then 8th place is fine...", and I really was in 8th place, so I did what I said I would do (laughs).
-- It's a characteristic of your works that there are elements of science and technology in them. In Alternate, there's a story about genetic testing for a matching app. Have you always been interested in technology?
I've always liked it, and when I do perform as Johnny's, we always use the latest technology. There are many opportunities for me to come into contact with it, so I am quite familiar with it. The book Genocidal Organ by Project Itoh is also a science fiction in the near future, but it is very convincing. I thought that in order to bring out that kind of reality, I had to mix it with my own experience.
--Do you have a goal to become a writer like this in ten or twenty years from now?
I haven't found my own artistic style yet. I'm pretty much in the middle of the ranks at Johnny's, so I know where I stand. Well, even at the office, I am already treated as a writer (laughs). I'm not going to go as far as extraterritoriality, but they say, "You're the writer, Kato" (laughs). It's a great position, and I'm grateful for it.
--It brought very good news to the office.
The office received a lot of flowers and became a little more lively, so that was probably a good thing. But I'm not sure where I stand as a writer. It's too special.
-- Did you start reading novels when you were a child?
I think I did. It's not that I liked them very much. But I didn't enjoy picture books very much, so I thought it would be better to read novels. When I was in junior high school, I read Jiro Akagawa and Shinichi Hoshi's short short collection. However, I never found a book that changed my life. Even when everyone else was into Haruki Murakami and Osamu Dazai, it didn't feel right. When I was in high school, it was a huge bestseller period. There was The Da Vinci Code, Crying Out Love in the Heart of the World, and Harry Potter. Also, when I was a freshman in high school, Hitomi Kanehara and Risa Wataya became the youngest winners of the Akutagawa Prize, and it was a huge boom. They were about three years older than me. That was a shock.
-- It was around that time that you wrote your first novel, wasn't it?
At the time, my grades in Japanese were poor. I thought I might not be able to write my graduation thesis at university. So I wrote something like a novel for my Japanese class and turned it in, and my teacher found it interesting. I thought I had chosen a class that would teach me how to write, but it turned out to be a very creative class. The assignment was something like, "Explain the game of tag in 200 words." The usual way to do this is to write, "First, play rock, paper, scissors, and go to..." But since this was a class where you could write anything you wanted and still get a credit, so I jokingly wrote a story like "The demon inside me is..." and turned it in, and it was voted the best story in the class. The teacher seemed to like it and gave me a gold star (laughs). That's how I started to enjoy writing. It was right around the time when Johnny's started their blog, so I said I wanted to do a series of blogs and was allowed to write about it, and that became a hot topic. When I got to university, there were people around me who were biased towards what I liked, I became more enthusiastic about books and movies, so I was accepted.
-- Normally, you would apply for a newcomer's prize and aim to become a writer.
At that time, there was a boom in critique. Hiroki Azuma came out and so on. I was into movie scripts and film criticism. I used to read Shigehiko Hasumi's books.
-- If it wasn't for Johnny's, you would have been on a liberal arts college course.
I was really stupid (laughs).I listened to the radio and read critiques. I was a typical subculture dork (laughs).
-- That's exactly why Hanataba Mitaina Koi o Shita seems to sting so much.
When I saw that movie, I thought, "That's me!"(laughs). The names of the authors and their bookshelves were so similar to my books that I thought, "Yuji Sakamoto-san (scriptwriter), please stop!" (laughs). I couldn't stand up from my seat. That movie was too much for my back (laughs). It was painful. I don't know why I paid money to be hurt (laughs). It stung too much.
Hanataba Mitaina Koi o Shita is a romance film starring Suda and Kasumi. Both of the leads have so many similarities with their interests, from their favorite books, authors, movies (which Shige was able to relate too as a fellow subculture enthusiast. 😅)The couple were so in-sync on so many levels... until it doesn't anymore.
-- I had a dream where I'm a Johnny's idol and a novelist who won a literary award, then I woke up. This is where my life really is... sort of like that.
Wow, that's scary (laughs). That's how much you sympathized with me, or rather synchronized.
-- So you didn't go into writing critiques?
On the contrary, I was intimidated. I know it sounds strange, but I thought that since critics were so great, maybe I could be a writer instead. I also wanted to try to create a novel from scratch. When I was about twenty-three years old, I had an amazing feeling. I was four years older than Wataya-san when she won the Akutagawa Prize, and Ryo Asai also came out at that time. But although I wanted to write, I didn't read many novels, and then I hit a wall.
-- Did you have any novels as a model?
I didn't have many. I didn't want to get into a Haruki Murakami type of mood or get drunk on myself. I like strange novels like Masaya Nakahara's and Furukuri Kinoshita's, but I couldn't write anything like that, nor did I want to.
-- It was a good thing you didn't go that way, because that would have been a typical dork wannabe course (laughs).
I can't write my own, so I enjoy reading them (laughs). I like to read pure literature, but I wasn't really influenced by it. I have my own means somehow. Maybe it was the fact that I was also singing that flooded me with so many words.
-- Who are some of the authors who have influenced you other than pure literature?
I don't really get hooked on one author, but the only one I have read all of work is Takehiro Higuchi. I really like Minshuku Yukiguni and Sex in Japan, and the way he seems to enjoy doing whatever he wants.
-- Oh, that's unexpected. It's like an honor student yearning to be a delinquent. But when you put it that way, Tuberose has a Takehiro Higuchi feel to it. A bit like Sono Sion too.
I think so. I was quite influenced by it. Also, Akira Higashiyama.
-- Higashiyama won the Naoki Prize for Ryu and made his debut at the first Kono Mystery ga Sugoi Grand Prize.
--What kind of work will you do next?
Actually, I'm thinking of doing a mystery next. I've been collecting things that have caught my attention in my daily life and things that bother me in society. Thankfully, as a writer and a talento, I've been invited to various jobs, and although I can't say it out in the open... I often hear stories like this, and later I wonder if they could be made into a novel. It was the same with Pink and Gray, when things go well, the scene and the theme overlap, the puzzle pieces start to fall into place naturally. I hadn't thought about the twist in Tuberose at first, but it came up because I needed something there, and then I went back and wrote more foreshadowing.
However, since what I am writing now is a mystery, I had to be very specific, so for the first time in my life, I wrote a solid plot of about 20,000 charcters. If I had to do it the way I've done it in the past, I would have had to discard many parts, and it would have taken a long time. Recently, I've been a little busy with my work as a talento, so I decided to find holes in the plot as a way to write a novel even when I'm busy.
-- You are becoming more and more like a professional writer, aren't you? I was wondering if you could give us some first-hand information about your new novel.
Yes, that's right (laughs). Please look forward to it.
--Oh, you're so guarded (laughs). Next time, I'd love to hear from you again in an interview with the author who won first place in Kono Mys. Thank you very much for your time today.
[Translation Notes]
* Literary Awards Metta Slash SP is a dialogue program between Nozomu Omori and Yumi Toyosaki in which they read all the works nominated for the Akutagawa and Naoki Prizes and discuss them as they wish. The program used to be broadcast on Radio Japan, but it has been moved to the YouTube channel "Literary Award Slash! channel on YouTube.
*Pure Literature is a general term for novels that focus more on "artistry" than "entertainment," as opposed to popular novels.
*Doujinshi is the Japanese term for self-published works, usually magazines, manga or novels.