At least he never walked.

Like most novelists, I like to do exactly the opposite of what I'm told. It's in my nature as a novelist. Novelists can't trust anything they haven't seen with their own eyes or touched with their own hands.

Please remember: things are not what they seem.

Who can really distinguish between the sea and what's reflected in it? Or tell the difference between the falling rain and loneliness?

In Japan, the writers have made up a literary community, a circle, a society. I think 90 percent of Japan's writers live in Tokyo. Naturally, they make a community. There are groups and customs, and so they are tied up in a way.

Whenever I write a novel, music just sort of naturally slips in (much like cats do, I suppose).

Sometimes I get real lonely sleeping with you.