Tokyo Weekender - January 2016

Taking a look at Japan’s “possible” futures through the
speculative lens of fantasy and science fiction
By Leslie Lee III
If you know anything about manga, you probably know a lot about VIZ Media.
The company is one of the longest-running and most notable international
distributors of anime and manga. Some of their properties include huge
series like “Naruto,” “Dragon Ball,” and “Bleach.” Last year VIZ Media
expanded into film production with the Tom Cruise sci-fi action thriller “Edge
of Tomorrow/All You Need Is Kill.”
VIZ Media’s venture into Hollywood
was enabled by its decision to
get into the Western dominated
science business. Since 2009, VIZ
Media’s Haikasoru line has brought
translations of popular Japanese
science fiction, fantasy, and horror
to the English-speaking world.
Award-winning author Nick
Mamatas—known for brewing a unique
mix of science fiction, fantasy,
and Lovecraftian horror in works
like “Love Is The Law” and “The
Nickronomicon”—is one of the is one
of the masterminds behind Haikasoru.
Their latest release on the
Haikasoru line is “Hanzai Japan,” a
collection of weird crime stories
from Japan and abroad. It’s the
third in a series of anthologies
that began with the sci-fi focused
“Future Japan” and the fantasyleaning
“Phantasm Japan.”
Nick and co-editor Masumi
Washington have put together an
entertaining and thought-provoking
collection of tales from both
Japanese and Western authors. One
sees yakuza use a monster attack as
cover for a bank robbery; another
has a sentient atlas that helps its
owner get away with heinous crimes.
Nick talked to Weekender about
“Hanzai Japan,” what he looks for
when publishing and a story, and
what he thinks the future of Japan
looks like.
What do you think makes Japan so
fascinating to Western SF/F readers
and writers? Why do you personally
find it interesting?
I suspect fundamentally that it’s a
false Japan—a Japan of the spectacle
comprised of ninja and glowing neon
and tittering geisha—that initially
attracts SF/F readers and writers to
Japan. Only when they dig a little
deeper to they learn about the
society, which does contain those
bits of spectacle, but which is far
more interesting than all of that. I
suppose what I find interesting about
Japan is its ability to navigate the
decades since the end of the Second
World War to become not just an
economic power on the world stage,
but a major exporter of popular
culture.
What’s your favorite story in
“Hanzai Japan”?
That’s sort of like asking
a parent who his or her
favorite child is. But I do
think there is something
special about “Monologue
of a Universal Transverse
Mercator Projection”
by Yumeaki Hirayama. I
would be amazed if it
doesn’t get nominated
for some sort of award
next year.
As an editor, what are you looking
from stories or writers when you
publish them on Haikasoru?
What I look for is something
roughly analogous to the sort of SF
Western readers already know, but
that doesn’t slavishly emulate it.
Sometimes we throw caution to the
wind and publish something entirely
off the wall, like “SELF-REFERENCE
ENGINE” by Toh EnJoe—a risk that led
to a reward in the form of a Philip
K. Dick Award Special Citation.
The book presents visions for an
alternative or future Japan; what do
you imagine is the future for the
country and culture?
I think that in the same way science
fiction and the pressures of the
Cold War influenced the United States
to become a contradiction—a giant
military tied to an individualistic
ethos—we’ll see a similar thing in
Japan: science fiction and population
pressures will lead to massive
innovations in robotics and portable
AI, and increased collectivist
attitudes among the non-robot
population, even as AI serve to
make people more self-sufficient and
isolated from their fellows.
What crime would you commit in
future, or present day, Japan?
Present-day: eating a food other
than ice cream, while walking down
the street, with my bare hands,
though that’s more of a social
violation than a crime.
Future: Kaiju rustlin’.
Hanzai Japan:
Fantastical, Futuristic
Stories of Crime From and
About Japan is available
on Amazon in paperback
or Kindle format. For
more information about
Haikasoru, visit
www.haikasoru.com
www.tokyoweekender.com JANUARY 2016