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\u30fcQ\uff0eSo what did you do after releasing My Friend Luizinho?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Kadono: After the release, I wrote by myself for seven years.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>\u30fcQ\uff0eFor seven years you didn\u2019t share your work with anyone?<\/strong><\/p>\n Kadono: That\u2019s right. I think it was laudable; I wrote every day. My child was still three or four years old, so she required a lot of attention, but I continued to write as I tried to keep up with her. Writing was so fun; I was possessed.<\/p>\n \u30fcQ\uff0eIs that around the time when you decided to pursue life as an author? Kadono: I didn\u2019t think of it that way, but I knew I wanted to write for the rest of my life. I wasn\u2019t concerned whether my writing would turn into a book, or if I would become a professional author; I just thought to myself, \u201cIf I can continue to write for the rest of my life, I can live everyday full of energy.\u201d Of course, it\u2019s a pleasure being a mother, but there\u2019s a surprising degree of loneliness that comes with raising a child. I was so happy to find my calling. You can call me a \u201cpro\u201d now, but that\u2019s how I felt at the time.<\/p>\n \u30fcQ\uff0eWhat happened to the work you wrote during those seven years?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Kadono: There were two works I created during that time that I wanted to share with people. After showing them to editors, the works were released as The Fox Displaced by a Building (published by Poplar) and A Husband for Nessie (published by Kinno Hoshi Sha). They sold very well and received good reviews, which led to more writing work. It was at that time, when I was 42, that I become a real, professional author.<\/p>\n \u30fcQ\uff0eWhile My Friend Luizinho is a work of nonfiction based on your experiences in Brazil, the following two works are children\u2019s literature. What compelled you to write stories for children?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Kadono: During my first year at university, Iwanami published a series of children\u2019s books. You\u2019ve probably come across these. These adorable books, such as Kikansha Yaemon and Curious George, could be found at bookstores. I was especially fond of The Little House, which was first published in the US in 1942. I thought to myself, \u201cI\u2019d like to translate these kinds of books someday.\u201d<\/p>\n But Tatsunokuchi said to me, \u201cDon\u2019t translate; write.\u201d Because he told me that I shouldn\u2019t translate, I assumed he was implying that my English wasn\u2019t good enough, so I gave up on that thought and started working at a publisher after leaving university.<\/p>\n \u30fcQ\uff0e I get the impression that your foundations as a writer were laid during your time at Waseda. Why did you decide to enter the School of Education, where you focused on English literature? \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Kadono: The war had just ended when I was in junior high school. With the lifting of restrictions on cultural imports, items from other countries were flooding into Japan. These captivated me.<\/p>\n At that time, the English literature department at Waseda\u2019s School of Humanities focused on Shakespeare and older works, while the School of Education gave more attention to newer works of American and British literature. That\u2019s why I decided to enter the School of Education. As part of Tatsunokuchi\u2019s seminar, I focused on newer works of literature from Steinbeck and Maugham.<\/p>\n \u30fcQ\uff0eHow did you spend your days as a student?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Kadono: I had a lot of fun. [laughs] I went to the movies and went to cafes where I listened to classical music and chatted with friends and teachers. We had closer relationships with teachers back then. It was a lot of fun, but I wouldn\u2019t say I studied hard. I generally hung out around Takadanobaba and Shinjuku. Among the places I hung out at was a lovely cafe called Daitokai in Takadonobaba, which was run by an older couple.<\/p>\n Kadono\u2019s representative works include the Kiki\u2019s Delivery Service series and the Chiisana Obake series, the latter of which turned 40 this year. Those who read them upon their initial release are likely now sharing them with their own children.<\/p><\/div>\n \u30fcQ\uff0eIt sounds like you had a fun student life. What books did you read in your seminar? <\/strong><\/p>\n Kadono: I read authors from the American South. Capote, Faulkner, and Steinbeck were really popular, and Steinbeck\u2019s works have received film adaptations. I also read women authors, including Carson McCullers, whom I wrote my thesis on. If you were to stack her entire oeuvre, it would only amount to around five centimeters, but that\u2019s one of the reasons I was drawn to her. [laughs] If I had picked Maugham, it would have been quite an endeavor just to read his works.<\/p>\n
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