戸塚祥太 の ジョーダンバットが鳴っている No. 5 [ダ・ヴィンチ 2014.03]
Hello, dear friends! This is part one of Tottsu enthusiastically discussing his favorite author Isaka Kotaro [伊坂幸太郎]. Tottsu doesn't really go into who he is because he's very famous in Japan already and he just assumes we know. You may have already seen some of the movies based on his books! For more information on Isaka, you might want to read this interview with him from 2011. It's one of the few things English I could find. And just on a personal note from me, Tottsu talks about how he opened his world by reading books, which is exactly what I did when I was that age.
(Originally posted May 3, 2014. I am not a professional and this is for educational purposes only. Please do not copy.)
JORDAN’S BAT IS RUMBLING
ジョーダンバットが鳴っている
by
Totsuka Shota
No. 5: On Isaka Kotaro (Part 1)
Very personal essays from the book-loving Totsuka Shota of Johnny’s acrobatic unit A.B.C-Z. While reflecting on events he searches for “links” in the books he’s read.
“If you were on a desert island and could only have one thing, what would it be?”
“Isaka Kotoro’s books. All of them.” I can easily imagine myself answering with something like that; I love Isaka Kotaro’s books.
The first encounter was six years ago. I was 21 and appearing on the live chat show Hanamaru Market [NOTE: Watch young Tottsu on the show here!] I didn’t have a large vocabulary at the time and I remember a sense of impending doom when the job was settled. To combat this, I assigned myself some reading. However, the spacing of the type in the shonen manga that were like my bible was already rather difficult for me and complicated kanji were also a tough fight. Even making full use of the dictionary on my cell phone, one book would take me two months to complete. You could say that, for me, reading was a war waged against difficult odds.
One day, I went to the bookstore to look for the next book to battle and an intriguing title caught my eye------Gravity’s Clowns [重力ピエロ; trailer for the movie]. My shallow reading history made me somewhat hesitant about the mystery genre but I remember marching decisively to the register. And, in the end, this work would become my introduction to the celebrated Mr. Isaka and one which changed my outlook on reading. Even now, the memory of being moved to the tears on a packed train has yet to fade and the book still emits a special glow sitting on my bookshelf.
Actually, this is still something of an embarrassing story but, at that time, my happiness was for encountering Gravity’s Clowns and the name of the author didn’t breach my consciousness. It only became clear that the name “Isaka Kotaro” had been latently etched in my mind when I saw the film The Duck and Canard's Coin Locker [アヒルと鴨のコインロッカー; “official” English title is The Foreign Duck, The Native Duck and God in a Coin Locker] Watching the ending credits roll by, soaking in the last dregs of the film whose title had so charmed me at the DVD rental shop, I recognized a name------“Based on a novel by Isaka Kotaro.” Even though I had finished reading Gravity’s Clowns several days before I discovered the name, I hadn’t connected the dots. With this turn of events, I couldn’t stand still. Just like that, I raced to the neighborhood bookstore.
I quickly found the Isaka section and but I had come without doing any background research and I couldn’t begin to choose a book from the many on display. I was gazing at the book spines and taking in the titles when I noticed a display of books titled Golden Slumbers. I took one. Because I love the Beatles, I must have been unconsciously thinking, “This is a Beatles song, too. This is it!” And so, for the first time, I bought two books in a row by the same author. That was January, 2009, about the time I was appearing in Shinshun Takizawa Kakumei.
[NOTE: Golden Slumbers [ゴールデンスランバー; lit. “Golden Slumbers”; movie trailer] is the one book of Isaka Kotaro’s that has been translated into English but I don’t recommend it because the translation is half-assed. e.g. The “official” English title is Remote Control which is dumb because “Golden Slumbers” is perfectly understandable and has the added bonus of being a Beatles song relevant to the plot.]
If I had a spare moment--in the train on the way to the theater, during break times--I opened the book. Framed for the assassination of the prime minister, powerful forces are playing with the protagonist Aoyagi Masaharu. No matter what difficulties he crosses, he continues to flee. I read along feeling like his cheering section: “You can do it, Aoyogi!” I had a deep sympathy for family and the brotherly bonds in Gravity’s Clowns but reading Golden Slumbers, unpredictable yet strung everywhere with foreshadowing, I felt true pleasure. And above all, the words. My heart was caught by the large number of words overflowing with a peculiar worldview; words good and kind bursting forth from the characters. My beliefs had been changed by this second work from Mr. Isaka that I had so carelessly picked up and I decided that I would spend my lifetime following after this author.
February 1, 2009, about a month after the play ended, I was suddenly struck with primary spontaneous pneumothorax and sent to spend ten days in the hospital. But the tediousness of only being able to lie down in bed was changed into nirvana because of Isaka’s works. After looking online, I had ordered Isaka’s debut work Audubon’s Prayer [オーデュボンの祈り; NOTE: and from what I can tell, the story seems to be about a guy who robs a convenience store and ends up on mysterious island. The book apparently makes heavy use of metaphors involving John James Audubon and the passenger pigeon.], Lush Life [criss-crossing stories of messed up young people], and Children [five linked short stories (?)] and asked my mother to bring them to me in the hospital. I was feeling guilty about leaving a hole in my regular television shows but unable to work the way I was, what could I do? Everybody else kept working while I was forced to wait…...The negative feelings born from this impatience were quietened down by the third book.
[NOTE: Other people had to fill in for him on his regular shows. If you watch the Hanamaru Market I linked to above, it would have been just before Tottsu got sick, poor thing]
To say that my twenties are tied up in Isaka’s works would be an understatement. I only have to see a title and it brings back to life the circumstances I was in when I was reading it.
Grasshopper, which I read in the van going to a location shooting for a television show with a sleeping staff member in the corner of my eye, is a novel full of screamingly seductive violence. I was attracted by “Locust,” the most honest of the three hitmen characters.
Supporting me while I spent a month in Osaka for a play was Oh! Father! My heart trembled reading the scene where the father of four gathers his strength for the sake of his son. Feeling the strength of a person who didn’t give up, I thought that I, too, should honestly do my best.
Continuing with Johnny’s like this, would I really debut in the end? Reading The Desert [砂漠 Sabaku], in the embrace of that unease, how I took courage from the line, “You may as well worry about snow falling in the desert. You worry too much!”
On June 22, 2010, an unforgettable, unbelievable event happened. I was doing a piece for a magazine in Tokyo and as soon as I entered the studio, an editor who knew me by sight spotted me and handed me a paper bag. “Here, it’s from Mr. Isaka to Mr. Totsuka.”
Huh? Mulling it over, I didn’t know anybody called “Isaka” and while I happened to have some knowledge of Isaka Kotaro, there was no reason he should know about me. But even while I was thinking that, his name was the only thing that came to mind. “By ‘Mr. Isaka,’ do you mean Isaka Kotaro?”
“Yes, yes, that’s the one.”
“Um, really?”
“Yes, really. There’s also a letter from Mr. Isaka. Please read that first.” And she passed me a sheet of paper.
Hello, this is Isaka. I know you’re busy, so please excuse the sudden interruption. Actually, at the end of this month, a new book is coming out. The editor in charge of the book is a fan of Totsuka’s and during a business meeting she told me, “You can replace the name Tottsu with the numbers 102.” (10 is pronounced ‘to” in Japanese combined with the English 2 or “tsu.”) Taking that conversation as a hint, I was able to write chapter four of this book. And so, indirectly, it’s thanks to you that I was able to complete this work. So, now the hard work is over, I thought I would send the editor to hand the book over to Totsuka. We didn’t to say anything to the editorial staff but created a chance during the photo session.
June 21, Isaka Kotaro
When I opened the bag I had been given, Bye-Bye Blackbird was inside. It was the book I had had a little part in! Although I had been handed a miracle, I was hurried through a simple response because the editor knew of another present for me. “I’m going to call Mr. Isaka right now. He’d like to talk to you, Mr. Totsuka.”
I was unable to process the reality unfolding before my eyes. The hero I had looked up to had noticed me and now I was going to speak on the phone with him. “Hello, I wrote you a letter but~” Mr. Isaka politely explained all the details again to me.
To that kind voice, I gave an unrefined self-introduction and what words came out next will make your head spin completely around. ------ “I love Mr. Isaka’s books.” I still feel dejected, reflecting on it. Silence would have been better than that childish message but Mr. Isaka answered me like a gentleman. Relieved that had passed, the next moment I shamelessly asked for a favor. “Mr. Isaka, if you are going to dramatize The Desert, please let me do the role of Kimura! I won’t let you down!”
And then Mr. Isaka gave a strained laugh. I was embarrassed at my audacious utterance and the conversation felt like it was wrapping up. And saying only trite phrases like this--“I’m a big fan! I’ll support you! You give me courage to live! Please continue to do your best from now on!”--the conversation that had been like something out of a dream was over.
Conveyed directly from the man himself, even I couldn’t quite believe it but a few days ago, reading Abe Kazushige’s The Quasar and the 13th Pillar [クエーサーと13番目の柱], I came to learn about “The Law of Attraction.” Maybe if you have a strong enough desire, the force will make something happen, I thought.
Enter Ninai Kento. He was born on June 21, 1982, the same day as Princess Diana’s son Prince William, and so their fates, holding their desires, line up. According to the dates that are in agreement, Ninai confirms that he can bring his desires close to reality. While reading, I got really excited about it. There are various links be between the book and various events. If “Thoughts (Desires) into Reality” was nothing but personal experience then, according to the key person, my personal experience was becoming an idol. Playing along, Ninai’s birthday and the day Mr. Isaka wrote the letter address to me were one and the same: June 21st. And numbers (dates) of when the woman who was good with wordplay handed me Bye-Bye Blackbird and when I received Quasar~ held key points in common. Even beyond that, I’m the same age now as Ninai is in the book (27 years old) and my lucky number is 13…… Quasar~ was recommended to me from somebody but I feel like there is a line connecting the timing of the writing of the manuscript and when I encountered it.
To date, while gathering material for the magazine, stories about Mr. Isaka’s books have come to me a number of times. I only want to convey my genuine feelings of love with no self-interest but I would like to indirectly convey my thanks for the book, in case Mr. Isaka or the editor reads this small comment. The warm sympathy that reached me was also a big surprise. To see my thoughts clearly turned into reality right before my eyes, I was truly happy.
Actually, thus far, despite what I was given, I wasn’t sure what shape my feelings of gratitude should take and and I couldn’t write a letter thanking him. I’ve truly reflected deeply over this.
But then, three years and five months later, God gave shameful me a second miracle.
(Continued in part 2.)
-----------
This month’s linked book:
クエーサーと13番目の柱 (The Quasar and the 13th Pillar)
阿部和重 (Abe Kazushige)
Takatsuki Rikio is a member of a papparazzi team going by the name of Q, that keeps idols under surveillance. The latest target of Kakioka, the owner, is the ED (extra-dimensional) Mika. Ninai Kento is employed to monitor her and on meeting Takatsuki, naturally, he boasts of their attraction. After he joins their team, there’s interference during watches and attacks against the other members and other suspicious events continue. Is this Ninai’s aim? What’s his real motive? And Takatsuki’s sense of impending doom…
-----------
With a laugh, Ninai Kento is teasing... (omission)
“Seems like it’d be better suited to the strength of your emotions.”
“What about the strength of my emotions? Do you even know what unrequited love is?
“Ha, ha, ha. Not that, the power to visualize an image and then materialize it.
With that answer, Takatsuki suddenly showed interest. “Are you talking about concrete things or willpower?”
“It’s not just willpower!”
“Fine, so then what does it do?”
“Well, now. It kind of does everything. Have you heard about the law of attraction?
-----------
Totsuka says: There are still coincidences in The Quasar and the 13th Pillar. The 23rd of June, on the day after the surprise happened, is my mother’s birthday and the desire Ninai holds is about his mother. And then, in the middle of the work, The Secret, the book that the law of attraction comes from, makes an appearance. So, when I was surprised when an acquaintance recommended that book to me.