Contrary to popular belief, this is not what Japan looks like.

Science fiction novel Neuromancer takes place in a city just outside of Tokyo called Chiba. This is what Chiba looks like in Neuromancer:

 

 

 

And this is what Chiba actually looks like:

And those cool cyberpunk kids with the black wielding goggles, long trench coats, and leather gloves with the fingers cut off? Here’s what a native Japanese one actually looks like:

So, why write a science fiction book in Japan?

“You’re ‘murican, Ryan. You got a ‘murican passport. You can write science fiction in ‘murica.”

This is true. I’m not particularly tied to Japan and its influence on science fiction. Nor do I incorporate Japan or Japanese culture into my writing other than a few passing references.

So, then? WHY DID YOU WRITE A SCIENCE FICTION BOOK IN JAPAN???

Let’s go back to when I was in 4th grade.

I had my first creative writing assignment in English class. We read a short science fiction story about tiny robots coming down from space and befriending a little boy. I can’t remember exactly what the story was, but at the end the robots said, “If you don’t do (such in such), we’ll melt ourselves down.” The story ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, so the teacher (Mrs. Bartelle, for those who remember) asked us to write our own ending to the story. I think it was only supposed to be 2 or 3 sentences, but I wanted to change the whole story and write a completely new second half.

In 7th grade, the teacher (Mrs. Remmington—I hope I’m getting these names spelled correctly) gave us a single word: “Isolation.”

“Write a short story using the word ‘isolation,'” she said.

Again, I think we only had to write like half a page, but I turned mine into like a 6-page one that involved people hanging from the ceiling in cages and a light saber battle at the end. I think I put God in there too (hey, it was a Catholic school).

I don’t think I wrote any other short stories until sophomore year in high school when I took a creative writing class. This class was filled with stoners who thought they could just make shit up and get an easy A. And, in a sense, yeah, you could do that in a high school creative writing course. Granted, you’d have to actually write something, print it out, and hand it in on the due date, but, yeah, an easy A is possible.

Oh, and you had to use Times New Roman 12 point font, not Wingdings 72.

My story was about a guy who really liked silence, so he swam to the bottom of the ocean and found a community of sea people living in a sea bubble. They looked human at first, but as he lived with them at the bottom of the sea for longer, they started to change. They grew algae-looking skin, webbing between their fingers and toes, and gills in their necks. While they thought he was sleeping, they would swim around in the ocean outside of the bubble, looking all sea-creature-ly.

One day the main character got lonely and swam back to the surface to see his family again, but when he rose up out of the water on the beach, people screamed at the hideous sea monster that had risen from the tide and ran for the hills. He was afraid they’d tell his loved ones that he’d turned into a monster, so he pulled out his laser gun (not sure how he got one of those) and lasered everyone to death.

That story won me the creative writing award in my high school. Granted, my competition was a bunch of stoners with Wingdings 72 stories, but still, it was something.

Then I lost it.

See, there’s this thing called school, and in school you have to teach kids something, and you have to give them an A, B, C, D, or F grade so that universities can judge whether or not they’re smart enough to enter and businesses can feel justified in giving them thousands of dollars in scholarship money. In order to teach kids subjects and give them a grade, you have to have a textbook with facts written inside, and the kids are supposed to memorize these textbooks and pass tests.

In regard to subjects like science, math, social studies, history, and grammar, yeah, you need a textbook. Because there are rules and facts that have been set in stone for sometimes hundreds of years, and future graduates with Masters and PhD’s are supposed to spend their entire careers trying to disprove them.

Then there are other subjects like business, advertising, marketing, and, in my case, filmmaking and short story writing, where certain basic principles and common practices exist, and those comprise the textbook. However, what does mastering the principles and common practices in business and getting an A actually mean? That you’re going to be a successful business person in the future?

I had a good friend in high school that I made a few short films and 1 feature-length film with. Let’s call him “N.” I wouldn’t be the person I am today without N. He taught me about art, about craftsmanship, history, about being critical and having opinions. Before him, I was a socially awkward goofball from a small cornfield town in the Mid-West. I didn’t have any plans for the future, and he straightened me out.

We watched hundreds of movies in my basement together. Movies from all over the world and ranging from new releases (back in 2001) to way back in the 1800s when Thomas Edison was experimenting with the Kinetoscope.

We’d see plays together in Urbana, IL at The Station Theater and Krannert Center. We’d read and exchange books. We’d write stories and screenplays and critique each other’s work. We’d hang out with the University of Illinois students and go to college parties—even though we were still in high school.

We got along great, and he introduced me to a new world and new way of thinking that I would never have discovered on my own.

But there was one point where N and I differed. One key point that to this day justifies my reason for staying in Japan for 10 years.

And that key difference was……………………………

 

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT TIME ON THE PLANET LAZY BLOG!…..

 

Planet Lazy (A Science Fiction Comedy), now available on Amazon Kindle and paperback. (KINDLE BOOK ON SALE FOR $0.99 UNTIL MARCH 5TH! ONLY 3 DAYS LEFT! BUY NOW BEFORE IT GOES UP TO REGULAR PRICE!!)