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“Success is 99 percent failure”
Soichiro Honda (Japanese Honda Motor Company Founder, b.1906)
Eric Kotani
An interview by Chizuko Jaggard
(The interview is available only in English. Editor)
- CJ: I heard that you have had strong interest in space since childhood. What do you think triggered your interest?
- EK: I don't understand the people who are not fascinated by the night sky. My hometown of Hitachi was burned out -- 93 to 98 %, over ninety percent in any case -- in July 1945. For a few years afterward, the night sky was beautiful. In a war-devastated Japan, space was indeed the final frontier, both physically and spiritually.
- CJ: When NASA was founded in 1958, you still lived in Japan. How did you come to know about NASA?
- EK: The newspapers and magazines reported the news widely. I had been following the reports about the Peenemünde team led by von Braun in the U.S. He invited me to visit him in Huntsville in the 1970s. I greatly enjoyed the meeting. That's Huntsville*, Alabama -- where Marshall Space Flight Center is located. Dr. von Braun was director of the MSFC. At the end of our meeting, which was to last half an hour, his secretary poked her head in and said very politely, "Dr. von Braun, you asked me to remind you about the next appointment". So, I started getting up. He waved me down saying, "She is supposed to tell me that in case I wanted to get rid of a visitor, but you are welcome to stay and chat some more if you like". So, I stayed on for another hour or so. Among the subjects we talked about was the terraforming of the planet Venus, turning Venus into a habitable planet. Venus is about the same size as Earth, so it would really be boon to us all.
[*There is also Huntsville, Texas, where they keep capital criminals before their execution.] - One evening, several reporters from Japan were visiting our home in Nassau Bay near the Johnson Space Center. One of them, who was going home the next day, was weary of the large number of news people waiting for this return from Houston for the news from the Moon. I gave him a piece of green cheese in a plastic container and suggested that he could show it and tell the TV people that the green cheese was brought back from the Moon by Armstrong and Aldrin. He liked the idea a lot, but I am not sure if he actually showed the cheese to the TV reporters, though.
- CJ: You had a comfortable life in Brazil as an accountant. What made you decide to go to the United States and further your studies about space?
- EK: I wanted to do what I really wanted to do -- rather than enjoying a good life in Brazil. It was indeed wonderful there, a paradise on this planet. Good food, fine drinks and good-looking and sympathetic senhoritas. (That's the Portuguese word for the Spanish word, señoritas.)
- CJ: What was your major? Was the purpose of pursuing higher academic degrees to work for NASA?
- EK: Physics and astrophysics. I simply wanted to work in the exploration of space.
- CJ: Since NASA was an organization administered by the U.S. Federal Government, it was mandatory that you obtained the U.S. citizenship. Did you have any reservations about being naturalized?
- EK: No, I don't think I had any serious problem.
- CJ: Please share with us some of your memories of the first man’s landing on the moon in 1969.
- EK: I was on the NHK TV right after the Apollo 11 landing. I agreed to appear on it on condition that they contact my mother so she would not be disappointed by missing the program. My brother later told me that she had two TV sets in her living room -- just in case one should fail. According to the NHK reporter, Mr. Katsube, it was the best-watched TV program ever in Japan.
- CJ: You had written many scientific articles and papers. But when you started writing SF fiction, do you recall if you had any difficulties in the new career as a writer?
- EK: Writing a fiction is quite different from writing a scientific report. The first few pages were the most difficult to write.
- CJ: You have been a judge of the Writers of the Future contests for two decades. Could you briefly tell us about the contest?
- EK: It is a contest that anyone who is not a published author or artist may enter. It is a quarterly contest -- four times a year. You can enter it as often as you want to until you win. No entry fees, either. All winners will be invited to a writers and illustrators workshop, typically in Hollywood; all expenses, air fare, hotels, workshop costs are paid by the sponsors. It is taught by professionally successful -- well recognized -- authors and artists. They will also be shown how to navigate successfully in the publishing business. Visit their website: http://www.writersofthefuture.com
- CJ: You are an accomplished scientist, writer, as well as martial art master. Do you think if there are some secrets to achieving excellence in multiple fields?
- EK: If I do a few things well, it must be because I do what I enjoy doing.
- CJ: I’d like to take this opportunity to extend my appreciation for your visit to Central Illinois in fall, 2008, and professional talks given on college campuses. After one of the talks, I overheard that you were fond of Doraemon (a fictional blue cat from the future). Why do you think you took a liking to the fictional feline character?
- EK: Doraemon reminds me of someone I know well
- CJ: Has Tor Books finalized the publication of Robert A. Heinlein’s 100th anniversary book, The Heinlein Century?
- EK: "The Heinlein Century" book will be published under the initiative of the Heinlein Foundation, which gives out a million dollar prize. They will decide who will publish the book; they might have already. The first Heinlein Prize -- a million dollars? -- went to Pete Diamandis, the founder of the X-Prize. I do not know if the publisher will be Tor Books. I have published several books from Tor and it is an excellent company -- I know Tom Doherty, the owner, too.
- CJ: Could you share with us what your aspirations are.
- EK: I'd like to keep doing what I enjoy doing -- be it scientific research, exploration of space, judo and aikido, or writing SF. And, eat .sushi, sashimi, yakitori, and maybe drink Shiruko with good tea.
- CJ: Thank you very much for your time.
Eric Kotani