Eita (left) and Ryuhei Matsuda played Tada and Yukiten respectively in the film Maho Ekimae Tada Convenience House.
Many people first met the two protagonists of the "Mahoku Tsuimae" series from film and television: Tada and Yuten. In two films and a TV series, two men procrastinate in the convenience house, from picking up and dropping off children to registering for bus shifts, in addition to doing these seemingly trivial tasks, they also give their clients all kinds of unexpected help in their own way, bringing about changes in their hearts, families and destinies.
The story is set in a city called "Mahoku" on the outskirts of Tokyo, Japan. Mahochi is not an actual place name, and its pronunciation is mahoroshi, which corresponds to the Japanese word "maboroshi", which can be said to be a fantasy city constructed by the original author Miura Aster. Of course, Mahoku is not a completely empty place, and many details are not difficult to recognize the shadow of Machida where Miura once lived, so the film and television photography location was chosen around Machida Station.
Shirokei Machida
The entire series consists of three novels: "Tada Convenience House in Front of Mahojimae", "Makoto Station In front of Fan field", and "Maho Ekimae Riot". In 2008, the first volume was published in the Chinese edition, and the three volumes of the whole series were launched successively, which is a fulfillment of the wishes of film and television fans. Some people think that the "Mahoku Station Front" series is housey and rotten, perhaps it can not be said that it is a misreading, the writing of the two male protagonists, the two people have a mother-in-law and a lazy personality, which is inevitably in line with the trend at the moment.
But don't forget that the original Japanese version was first published in March 2006, almost a decade ago. The author, Miura Aster, had published four books before that, and the response was ordinary. It was this fifth book that made her a Naoki Prize writer, and the publication of Strong Wind in September of the same year showed her writing skills in another way. Nowadays, in the Chinese publishing industry, the new editions of "Strong Wind Blowing", "Compilation of Boats", "Which Ah Na Ah God Goes to the Village" and "Mahoku Station Front" series have been listed successively, which is the late blooming flower of translated literature, and it just happens to step on the residual temperature of film and television.
Born in 1977, Miura wanted to become an editor at a publishing house after graduating from university, but he did not succeed, but the essay he wrote during the interview caught the attention of Tatsuro Murakami, who was working as an editor at Hayakawa Shobo at the time, and began to write. Miura is a bookworm who likes to read and sleep only, so he works in a second-hand bookstore while writing, which is different from the pattern of Japanese writers who generally enter the literary world with the Newcomer Award, and thus have a period of inner wandering.
"Masahiro Ekimae Tada Convenience House" became a hit, and the Japanese literary world has since added a writer with a distinct style - Miura's story often captures the inexplicable helplessness and embarrassment of those ordinary people's lives, and gives the characters an outlet with a brisk and absurd plot. She has a number of special occupations: convenience houses, dictionary editors, and long-distance runners. Rarely write about love, although the protagonist of "The Chronicle of the Boat" is married in the book. She said in the interview: "I have no interest in describing the relationship between men and women, but prefer to write about the relationship between men and men, between women and women, the kind of relationship that is neither a friend, nor a lover, nor a family, but somehow angry." ”
Miura Shion
[Dialogue]
Q: From the first book "Maho station front Tada convenience house" in 2006 to the 2013 "Manaboro station front rampage", the trilogy was written for a total of seven years, during which time did the protagonist's image change?
A: Basically no change. However, there is a gap between the second and third volumes, during which time the first film was released, and the second volume, "Mahoji Station Front Fan Field", was also made into a TV series. After watching movies and television, when I wrote the third book, the rhythm of their lines sometimes came to mind, as if "they would read this dialogue like this." Of course, there were no plans to make the third volume filmed at that time.
Q: In your novels, there are often jobs in specialized fields, such as convenience houses, dictionary editing, etc., how do you write about these professions, and do you accumulate material through interviews?
A: Are there convenience houses in China? (Nothing.) So everyone read it and thought it was funny. Think it can be a business? (It's subtle, maybe it's hard for people to trust convenience houses.) So there are detectives? (It should exist, but unlike Japan, where signs are hung on the streets or yellow pages are placed.) So how do you investigate an affair? (So it should exist...) ）
Regarding convenience houses, when I was working at a bookstore, one of my customers was a convenience house. The only person in the convenience house I met in real life was the guy who had seen his flyers. But I haven't worked in convenience houses, and I don't know what kind of people are doing it. The uncle, with a kind of ethereal temperament, is an interesting person. He told me a lot about the things that others had entrusted him to do, and I found convenience houses to be an interesting profession, so I wrote "Tada Convenience Houses in Front of Mahoji Station." It can be said that this is an opportunity. A few details in the novel evolve from the uncle's story, but no new interviews are made. Different novels may have some interviews, such as interviews with dictionary editors for the purpose of writing "The Chronicle of the Boats".
Q: When writing, do you usually write it with an overall plot conception, or do you write it again when you emerge as a character?
A: Neither. At first, there was a vague image, not a character, but "wanting to write a story like this.". It was a vague impression, like a smell. Then I would think about what kind of characters I should have to write such a story. When thinking about the characters, you will have an inexplicable feeling of how the story will end up. It's really inexplicable. For example, I feel that the story will end in a bright direction. So I almost never conceived a clear story line, and the general main line would be a little bit of thinking.
Q: As I mentioned just now, the bright ending, the Mahoku Ekimae series is basically bright, while "The He I Started To Tell" is a bit gray. So is it fun to write bright works?
A: Happy. After all, there is a sense of excitement in writing bright works. Writing dark works can also release the dark emotions in your heart, which is also a pleasure (laughs). These emotions are generally not released in human interactions, but they can be freely released in novels, so they also have fun. When I finish writing, I still have a sense of consumption and I am very tired. Writing about dark stuff will do just that.
Q: You see a lot of bl works, so will the men who write the works write with the fun of bl?
A: No, it won't. Although it is often said that "the work has a bl style", I myself did not do it consciously. How to say it, I have little interest in describing the relationship between men and women, but prefer to write about the relationship between men and men, between women and women, the kind of relationship that is neither friends nor lovers, nor family, but somehow fits in with each other – it is a pleasure to write about such a relationship. Maybe that's why I'm called "bl style".
Q: You've mentioned in other interviews that what interests you most is in "human relationships."
A: That's right. It's hard to sum up as "friend" and "lover" in one word, but with inexplicable ties and care for each other, I think such a relationship exists. That's what I want to write about. Wanting to write can't simply define in language why what's the relationship. Undefinable relationships, temperature between people, I think that's what I want to write about.
Q: How do you generally observe the relationship between people, through reading, interviewing, or other means?
A: I don't do any interviews on purpose. I often watch people talking in the tram, or the sense of distance between them. For example, in a café, you will also pay attention to the people at the table next to you. Doesn't it sometimes feel like someone next to you is having some kind of strange conversation? They are forcibly selling something, or they are trying to persuade others to join some religion. There are often such things in the café, I don't know what the relationship between those two people is, and people talk very warmly. I can't help but wonder, are the two of them breaking up or what are they doing? I would quietly prick up my ears and listen to their conversation (laughs).
Q: Your prose seems to have a lot of "delusional" temperament.
A: Yeah, like the conversation I hear in a café, I like to start the delusion: what kind of people, what kind of stories. When writing novels, sometimes these café scenes unfold.
Q: Tell us about your experience before becoming a writer.
A: There's no experience to talk about (laughs). Nor was it a decision to write a novel from the start. After graduating from college, because I like books, I wanted to work at a publishing house, but I didn't get an offer. The editor of one of the publishing houses interviewed me said to me, the article you wrote in the written test is very interesting, do you want to write a novel to see? And so I started writing novels. But because I couldn't make a living writing novels, I worked in a used bookstore for the first few years after graduating from college.
Q: At that time, I was working while writing, so when did you decide to concentrate on writing novels?
A: About two and a half years after writing the novel. I had been writing a book called The Secret Garden, and I had always had doubts before: could I support myself by writing a novel, could I keep writing it? But when I wrote The Secret Garden, I felt that I still had a lot of things in my heart that I wanted to write a novel. At that time, I had some kind of tangible feeling for the first time, so I made up my mind to quit my job, although I only reluctantly lived by writing. At that time, I just wanted to focus on writing novels. The "feeling" of writing that novel was my turning point to become a professional writer.
Q: You also write a lot of book reviews, which are said to be the "no pick" type, right?
A: It's not that you don't pick, but it's relatively widely read. And in my own opinion, there is always a line of interest. But I don't have the type of book I don't want to read or be interested in. Judging from the results, it is relatively broad. If it weren't for book reviews, purely personal reading, I would buy new books by novelists I like, and also like to read non-fiction books, such as ethnology.
Q: In addition to work and study, what else do you usually do?
A: Do nothing. Just eat and sleep. It's not busy, it's just that there's nothing you particularly want to do except read books (including comics). What makes me feel happy is that in addition to reading books, I can only watch kabuki, bunraku (puppet pure glass) and other performances. That's once or twice a month. I don't walk, and I don't run. Although I've written about runners.
Q: Do you like to travel?
A: Travel often in the country and take the tram (afraid to take a plane). I really couldn't fly, although I did. But two weeks ago I started to have stomach pains and had to go to the hospital for appetizers, and the doctor said my stomach was about to be perforated. After taking stomach medicine, I reluctantly took a plane. It had been a long time since then, and I was very tired of fighting stomach pain and fear. That's been the case since I first flew. Maybe I'll be knocked unconscious in a box and I'll be able to fly to meet Chinese readers (laughs). I was also seasick, and of course seasickness was nothing compared to the horror of flying. I had never been to China, and I thought it would be nice if I could go once in the future.
Q: There are many readers who say that reading your novels is "healed", what do you think of it as an author?
A: Of course, it is also important to face up to the complexities in life. But in the work, you can temporarily forget the complexity of life in society, and you can temporarily immerse yourself in that world purely. I think novels have this kind of relaxing function. I myself don't think much about complicated things when I write bright novels, and I write happily. Maybe I'm relatively simple myself. Because my life is to eat, sleep and read, I am already satisfied.