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Undercurrents
Episodes from a Life on the Edge
Shintaro Ishihara
Translated by Wayne P. Lammers
Hardcover 256 pages
152 x 226mm 560g
ISBN : 978-4-7700-3007-8 / 4-7700-3007-X
Publish : Apr, 2006
Price : $24.00 |
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[ About the Book ]
"With a pitiful whimper more like the cry of a small animal than of a human voice, a sound so weak it barely reached our ears, the swimmer disappeared beneath the waves. The power of the creature was shocking; the man was dragged under literally in the blink of an eye.
Then, as if to make sure we knew what was what, the man-eater returned to the surface with the human prey still in its jaws. What we could see of the shark's head alone suggested a monster nearly as long as the fishing boat on which we stood."
The author of this unforgettable, true-life adventure book is the outspoken Governor of Tokyo, Whose efforts to rejuvenate and refinance the city have won over even those who thought him too unorthodox to support.
What many Westerners may not know is that, before his political career, Ishihara was a prominent and successful novelist. Here is this volume, however, he has turned his hand to non-fiction writing, and assembled forty episodes from an active life that represent the times he felt he was most alive. And most of these reminiscences involve two passions: sailing and scuba diving.
Ishihara has raced oceangoing yachts all over the world. In the course of this pursuit he has known of crewmen being washed overboard and drowned; of boats being upended in monstrous seas; and of navigators—himself among them—being lost from start to finish of long voyages.
Beneath the waves as well, he has had some equally exciting experiences. Among them, he recalls encounters with man-eating sharks both inside and outside a protective cage; indeed, he has seen a great white take a fisherman almost right under his own nose. Within the confines of an underwater tunnel he has come close to losing his life to a giant rock cod. And thanks to powerful currents, he has put his own and his sons' lives in jeopardy in remote Pacific seas.
Linking all these episodes is the awareness he acquired in extreme situations both at sea and on land: of how fine a line separates life and death, and how it is possible to stray across that line yet still bear witness to the experience. Hence the recurrence in this book of incidents that defy "normal" explanation: the time his father, for example, was seen in the garden of some close friends just moments after he had died elsewhere; and the tale of a young pilot who "died once" before returning from bombing Pearl Harbor.
With good humor and in a relaxed, personal style, Ishihara tells stories that will fascinate not only those who share his love of dangerous outdoor pursuits, but also people simply intrigued by the prospect of knowing what lies just beyond the boundary of common reality. In all these ways, Undercurrents will provide lasting pleasure.
About the Author
SHINTARO ISHIHARA elected Governor of Tokyo since 1999, has been described by his American biographer as "a national hero and for many Japanese an appealing alternative to the party hacks who led the government. . . . When voters are polled about who they would like to see as Prime Minister, he gets high marks."
In the fall of 1955, when he was a twenty-three-year-old student, he wrote a short novel—Season of the Sun—that won the top literary prize for new writers in Japan. A film version was released a year later, with Ishihara and his younger brother Yujiro in minor roles. As a result, both became teen idols, with fans mimicking their hairstyles and clothes.
Ishihara followed this triumph with numerous plays and novels—even a musical version of Treasure Island—and ran a theater company, traveled to the North Pole, raced his own yacht, and crossed South America on a motorized journey that resulted in a best-selling memoir.
At the end of the 1960s he entered politics, becoming known for the independent position he summarized in the controversial The Japan That Can Say No, which he co-authored with the head of sony, Morio Akita.
Specially selected for the Japanese Literature Publishing Project (JLPP)
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