Back in Japan at last to research my next book – but what a time to be here! All the newspapers back home were writing of radiation risks, of water with radiation levels millions of times higher than they should be, and when I e mailed Tokyo friends one at least declared he was on his way out of the country pronto. Bankers fleeing, embassy staff being evacuated, airlines no longer flying here – and the UK Foreign Office Advisory scaring the wits out of me, saying essential travel only advised. Researching for book is not essential travel.
Decided to come anyway – after all Tokyo is a long way from Fukushima, 140 miles or so. And very glad I did. Tokyo is quiet, subdued but normal – though very sadly I did cancel my trip to Aizu Wakamtsu, which is very close to the crippled reactors.
Now in Kagoshima where the second half of my new book will be set. Also almost as far as it’s possible to be from the nuclear reactors – though every night on television there are harrowing scenes from up north. Photographs rescued covered in mud, car parks full of broken cars, people keeping up a brave face. It’s been freezing in Tokyo – and up north they have no heating. And have lost everything. It doesn’t bear thinking about.
So instead today have been exploring places associated with the Last Samurai – Saigo Takamori – who will form part of my book (though, as I’m writing fiction, I’ll change his name). He’s a total hero here, his huge bull-like presence everywhere. Saigo’s birthplace, Saigo’s house, the cave where he hid on his desperate last stand, the place of his death. I hope I’ll be able to communicate something of his enormous presence.