Tshitaka Tsutsui——Do your best to do what you love!

Original text: Hobbies and Culture

Translation & Editor: Black and White Comic Culture

Tsutsui Yasutaka

Born in 1934 in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Graduated from Doshisha University. In 1960, he published the SF doujinshi "NULL" and was recognized by Edogawa Ranpo and became a writer. In 1981, his work "Kyogen" won the 9th Izumi Kyoka Literary Award. In 1987, his work "Dream of Kisaka's Bifurcation Point" won the 23rd Tanizaki Junichiro Award. In 1989, "Yoshitani Descendants" won the 16th Kawabata Yasunari. Literary Award: "Gasparu Asahi" won the 13th Japan SF Award in 1992, and won the Kikuchi Hiroshi Award in 2010. Newly published work "Stigmata".

"The treasure-house-style marksmanship is not allowed to pass on to others" is false and a joke.

When I visited the residence of Mr. Tsutsui Yasutaka, I saw three large guns standing conspicuously next to the entrance. In the past, I saw Mr. Tsutsui Yasutaka claiming in a magazine interview that "I am a Hohoin-style marksman, so I don't want anyone to pass it on", so I respectfully said, "I didn't know that was the case." The other person immediately smiled and said, "That's fake, it's a joke." It is the job of a novelist to make up grand lies to describe the true posture of human beings. We examined the negligible difference between fiction and reality with this playful leader in the novel world, and the 100-minute pleasant interview seemed to end in an instant.

——So, why are those guns placed here?

That is a gun passed down from generation to generation, it is true. After my parents died, I, as the eldest son, took over all the things of the Tsutsui family—the wardrobe and the guns. The spear in the middle has a hook-shaped tip. It is said that the ashigaru used this hook to hook the helmet of the mounted samurai to pull him off his horse, and then cut off his head with a "click". Although our family comes from the Tsutsui Village of Japan, Japan, but judging from the fact that we have such a gun, we should not be any special samurai. Moreover, it is said that he worked as a priest before coming to Osaka, some said he ran a private school, and some said he was engaged in business. There are various theories left behind.

——Do you usually use those guns for any fitness exercises?

Don’t do it! First of all, how dangerous it is. In the past, when the villain played by Denjiro Okouchi in the period drama, he took out his spear and shouted, "Housein-ryu no shōden!", and the villains all fled. The granddaughter on the side smiled bitterly and said, "It's Grandpa's treasure house style again." After seeing this plot, I started to imitate the appearance in the play. All rumors are false.

——Speaking of the Hohoin style, it is a famous school that can compete with Miyamoto Musashi. If you claim to "pass it on without permission", won't anyone come to challenge you?

That’s troublesome. In the past, when TV Tokyo came to my house for an interview, my favorite female anchor Yuka Aiuchi was holding a spear. This created a situation where we had to fight, but I still refused. "This is not okay, we will all die together!"

——So, does that mean you are not doing any decent exercise?

He was a middle-distance runner in high school. I started playing slot machines when I was an office worker, but I wasn’t particularly keen on it. After becoming a writer, I will change my mood in my spare time, that’s all. Some people start jogging after getting older, but judging from my friends, it doesn’t seem to have any effect. I feel like it's a bit overdone. Like Saiichi Marutani, who passed away 12 years ago at the age of 87, I regard doing nothing as the only health method.

——When it comes to health, diet is also a very important factor. In the novel "Stigmata" (New Trend Newspaper) published last year, a gourmet attitude is everywhere. So what does your diet look like in real life?

When I was a child, I didn’t eat anything decent because I was in the war. After I graduated from college and started working, my boss took me to restaurants in Osaka, but I never found them delicious. However, after getting married in his thirties, he went to his wife’s hometown in Tarumizu, Kobe. The boiled octopus served at that time made me sigh that there is such a delicious thing in the world. From then on, I went there often, and my father-in-law took me there to eat pufferfish, delicious meat, and so on.

——I also spent four years in Kobe, and the fish and meat there are very delicious.

Now this cold time is the best time to eat wild boar cubs. There are often wild boars in that area. When I was driving on the highway in Mount Rokko, I saw a wild boar mother and her son at the toll booth. The little piglets following the sow in small steps are delicious to look at. Although I also thought about catching the last little piglet, I was afraid that it would anger the old sow.

——I heard that I once went on a food tour.

I went to many places with my wife and brother-in-law. I also went to Norway and ate huge lobster. My personal experience is written in "Stigmata". Books about French cuisine and Japanese cuisine have also been used in novels.

——When someone eats something delicious, someone will try to cook it themselves. Do you also know how to cook?

It’s been done before.

But it was a long time ago, when I lived in Tarumi, there was not a decent French restaurant around there - now a delicious restaurant has opened - so after becoming a writer, I would look at France in my free time. Cooking books, while cooking by myself, and then looking for random people to eat. There is a special joy in letting others eat your own cooking. Since then, I have been cooking enthusiastically for about 20 years, but no longer do so. I moved here to live in Omotesando, Tokyo, more than ten years ago. There are many delicious restaurants around here. You can go to nearby restaurants to eat without cooking.

——When you started cooking French cuisine, where did you go to learn it?

No, I didn’t learn it anywhere in particular. Just follow the cooking instructions in the cookbook and it will be delicious. In addition, my wife graduated from the Department of Home Economics, and she can also cook at home what she learned in the cooking class during the day.

——Do you also go to French restaurants now?

No, there used to be only French restaurants, so I ate French food, but now I am a fan of Italian food. There are delicious Italian restaurants about 5 minutes’ walk from my house. There are countless delicious restaurants here.

——So, what do you eat on weekdays?

Basically fixed. Breakfast is rice with grilled seaweed, fried salmon, a little spicy mentaiko, and then small white fish with mashed radish - a very traditional Japanese breakfast - usually eaten around 11 or 12 o'clock. Because my wife and I have different work schedules, I make breakfast by myself. Skip lunch. In the evening, I will buy various things to eat at the nearby Kinokuniya supermarket. Sometimes we have dinner outside, but only rarely.

——You have a cooking table with an irori in your home. It should be able to accommodate many people to happily gather around the irori.

Yes, sometimes everyone has a lively dinner together. If you squeeze in, it can seat up to 11 people. I even brought Akita hot pot to a party some time ago. However, my tongue is afraid of burning, so I can't eat very hot food. But my wife likes hot pot very much, which is quite troublesome.

——When it comes to hot pot, there is usually a "pot leader" who is in charge of the overall situation. Is Mr. Tsutsui the same?

No, no. In the past, the person who was my agent at Horipro Company was a "pot follower".

What would a person become without libido? This is the starting point.

——When it comes to food, drinking is indispensable. I heard that you often drink too.

Drinks alcohol on active duty, sometimes to excess. Some time ago, I went to an Italian restaurant near my house with people from Xinchao Society and started drinking at around six o'clock in the evening. Afterwards, we gathered at my house and continued drinking at this place until two thirty in the morning! I can’t remember clearly what happened when everyone was sent away, but I heard it caused a big commotion.

——Drinking like crazy?

I'm not crazy about drinking. But come to think of it, from six o'clock in the evening to two thirty in the morning, I didn't even go to the toilet once. It is said that after everyone returned, I kept squatting in the toilet and refused to come out, which made my family very worried.

——By the way, the protagonist of "Stigma", Takao, is a boy whose male genitals were cut off in early childhood. The book describes him as a unique and beautiful boy in the world, who is admired by the women around him. He grew up carrying his secrets and used his keen palate to advance in the culinary world. Why on earth should we describe such a character?

What would people become if there was no libido (the source of sexual impulse)? This is the starting point. Psychoanalysis by Freud and others believed that the source of all actions comes from libido. So, what would happen without libido?

——There are no eunuchs in Chinese history in Japan.

There are no castratos either. "Stigma" theorizes the question of "what would a person become without libido?" and the story becomes interesting little by little. In other words, the protagonist gradually becomes a good person, the number of bad people around him is also decreasing, and the number of good people is increasing. I tried adding a bad guy as a sub-protagonist, but some people said that there were fewer people who were interested in it, and it was not interesting as a novel. Readers of my work expressed their wish that the work could be more farcical.

——Many of your works have been adapted into movies, but this work contains a large number of handsome men and beautiful women, so it may be difficult to make it into a movie.

Probably not. The protagonist Takao goes through childhood, adolescence and adulthood. At least 3-4 actors are needed, and there are many women with rare beauty appearing. It is estimated that it is impossible to gather all the actors for these roles. As for animation, maybe it's okay. But it’s not interesting to make it an animation.

—— Let’s go back to the topic of drinking. What kind of wine do you usually drink?

I drank a lot. First of all, in the days of twenty-something corporate workers, it was soda and water whiskey on the rocks—Torlis whiskey mixed with soda water. At that time, Johnnie Walker was still a high-end product. After graduating from college, I worked at Nomura Craft Co., Ltd. for about four years. Late at night, I would often go to an izakaya in Uemotocho, Osaka, with my fellow workers, and always order electric brandy. Drinking too much can be dangerous. At the end of the year, when Christmas decorations are replaced with pine branches to celebrate the new year, workers work at high altitudes.

——Then what?

I’ve been drinking whiskey since I became a writer. However, I don’t know when I started to like bourbon - maybe it was influenced by Raymond Chandler, Philip Marlowe has been drinking it - it is also brewed from rye, with an alcohol concentration of Spirits between 35° and 45°. Just in time to start running around outside. Stores that provide wine storage services now also store my wine, usually mixed with soda water or ice water.

——I just mentioned that you like French cuisine. Do you drink wine? Especially when talking about French cuisine, wine bars usually come to mind.

I don't like red wine very much, but my wife likes it very much. My wife will be very happy if she receives it. I can drink white wine and I can drink champagne. Also, I drank a lot of soju. Although I don’t drink it all the time, Morizo ​​is great. If chilled with ice cream, you can drink two glasses. In the past, Bunta Sugawara once told me that this brand of taro shochu is definitely the best choice. But drinking shochu makes your throat feel thirsty, so I often switch to beer midway. Basically, I drink Ebisu, which is very delicious. Although I like wine very much, I have never had the experience of drinking several types of wine in one night.

——I like red wine very much. In the autumn of 2012, I went to Saint-Emilion, near Bordeaux, France for a week to collect information. I visited 20 pubs in five days and drank red wine in every pub. , and ended up with a nosebleed. It felt like red wine coming out of my nostrils.

I don’t get nosebleeds even if I drink alcohol. But once, at Christmas, Yosuke Yamashita gave me a roast turkey as a gift. I thought it was delicious and unknowingly ate a lot of turkey skin, which resulted in a nosebleed the next day.

——This may be a rude question. You are 79 years old. Have you ever considered controlling your drinking?

"Let's drink enough tonight!" and "Let's control it a little bit." These two thoughts are there.

Just never give up and move towards what you love.

——When it comes to drinking, you can’t help but mention smoking. Mr. Tsutsui's love for smoking left a deep impression on everyone.

This must have been a long time ago. While writing the novel "The Last Smoker" (1987), I accepted many interviews, probably because of this reason.

——How much do you usually smoke?

I am very devoted when creating and don’t smoke much. Normally, one drink per hour on average. When taking the Shinkansen, you probably have to make three or four trips to the smoking room.

——January is the "Day of Adulthood". As an old-timer, do you have anything to say to today's young people?

When I was in my twenties, it was a pretty bad time, and there’s no way to compare it to now. In addition, the young people around me are all good, but the ones I see in the news and TV are all bad kids. The most outstanding young people I know may have joined JAXA (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency) now. According to experts, a spaceship that ordinary elderly people can ride on will appear in about 30 years. I will be 110 years old then.

——What kind of young man was Mr. Tsutsui like when he was 20 years old?

I have always wanted to be an actor and a comedian since I was a child, but at that time Kansai actors had to speak authentic standard language like announcers when performing in Tokyo. There is no hope for nasal dullness or anything like that without a lot of training. So it became a very distant dream.

After giving up, the next option was to become a novelist. At that time, the new genre of SF had just been introduced to Japan. My father is a scientist, and I also have something to say about science, so I felt that I am the only one who can write SF in Japan! What I thought at the time was that if I hadn’t accomplished anything by the time I was thirty, I might as well just die. Looking back today, I feel that no matter what I do, as long as I am willing to work hard, I will achieve something.

——Compared with the spirit you had at that time, how do you view young people today? There seem to be many people who have absolutely no idea what they should do.

Probably because I gave up from the beginning. From now on, whether it's comics, animation, movies, anything. Just don't give up and move in the direction you like. No matter who you are, there is probably something you like.

——What about young writers nowadays?

After becoming a writer, I learned that there are many taboos that cannot be touched. But conversely, you can’t become a real writer without breaking taboos. I think so, so I write a lot of various things. When I think about it now, I really wrote a lot of remarkable things. However, the number of things that cannot be written is increasing rapidly, which is really a headache.

——If this continues, we have to say that the number of writers will gradually dry up, which is worrying.

Among the SF I wrote, there are many works that were later implemented. For example, "The Delusion of 4.8 Billion" (1965), a story about the news media setting up surveillance cameras all over the country to conduct surveillance.

There may be many themes that may be fantasy now but will soon become reality. In this case, let alone taboo, it will almost become an era where writing cannot be done freely.

——In this case, it will become a difficult time to create, and it will become possible to simply not write from the beginning.

Among them, many young writers have stylized their creations. Even if I start writing SF and dual personality in order to escape that creative mode, these new themes will form a new mode. In order to tell everyone that novels should be freely created and what should be written, I published the short story "Hit the Penis" in the January issue of "New Wave News". It would be great if we could make this closed era a little more open.