Memory and Amnesia----Steve Erickson Converses with Kyoji Kobayashi

Tokyo, April 15, 1997

It was drizzling all day. Unfortunately, the cherry blossoms this season had quickly disappeared with the cold wind and rain before we had a chance to sit under the tree and forget ourselves in poetic raptures. That was a pity.

But we were not necessarily unlucky or unhappy, since Steve Erickson visited Japan for the first time. He read from his work at various places from universities to bookstores, responded to many interviewers from newspapers and magazines, and talked with three Japanese novelists, including Kyoji Kobayashi.

Accepting a kind invitation from Mr.Kobayashi, Steve Erickson and I arrived late one afternoon at his house halfway up the sky-high building in Nishi-Waseda, Tokyo. We enjoyed a terrific view from his living room-- though the windows were a bit blurred by the rain--where the pleasant conversation took place.

Both Kobayashi and Erickson were suffering from a bad cold that day, but the exciting talk went nonstop for two hours, and continued unabated over pizza dinner, punctuated by complaints from the professional translator.

Kyoji Kobayashi(b,1957) is one of the most promising young novelists in Japan. He has published not only more than half a dozen novels and collections of short stories so far, but is famous as a master Haiku-poet. You can find English translations of his work in "Monkey Brain Sushi: New Tastes in Japanese Fiction" edited by Alfred Birnbaum and "New Japanese Voices: The Best Contemporary Fiction From Japan" edited by Helen Mitsios.

Part of this conversation was published in a Japanese culture magazine, "Esquire Japan."(August 1997). We all thank Ms.Eri Onodera, editor of the magazine, for her efforts to preserve this otherwise dreamlike encounter in print.

Yoshiaki Koshikawa

December 1,1997

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