Why I Write (2022)

Emulating Orwell

In the summer of 1946, George Orwell published an essay detailing his personal journey to becoming a writer. The piece entitled “Why I Write” outlined "four great motives for writing" which Orwell felt existed in every writer. He explained that all are present, but in different proportions, and that these proportions vary from time to time.

The first motive he called “sheer egoism” where the writer writes from a "desire to seem clever, to be talked about, and to be remembered after death.” The second motive is “aesthetic enthusiasm” which encompasses the desire to make one's writing look and sound good, having "pleasure in the impact of one sound on another, in the firmness of good prose or the rhythm of a good story." The third he categorized as “historical impulse” stating this motive is the "desire to see things as they are, to find out true facts and store them up for the use of posterity." Finally, the last motive, “political purpose.” Orwell wrote that "no book is genuinely free from political bias," and further explained that this motive is used very commonly in all forms of writing in the broadest sense, citing a "desire to push the world in a certain direction" in every person. He concluded by saying that "the opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude."

Although Orwell knew from a very early age, perhaps the age of five or six, that he wanted to grow up to become a writer, I had other ambitions at that point in time in my life. At first, I wanted to be an artist and spend my life sketching and painting. That dream gave way to wanting to become a film maker in my early twenties. Discouraged by my family who did not want me to pursue a career where a livelihood was not guaranteed, I graduated from university with a mundane business degree. But college did not entirely dampen my spirits when it came to creating. In fact, the experience taught me to re-channel my creativity toward writing.

Here I had an entirely new world suddenly and rather unexpectedly open up to me. I explored literature with a newfound sense of enthusiasm after spending much of my high school days absolutely detesting the classics. I learned that with my words, I can paint countless sceneries and tell stories with the precise timing and instinct of a seasoned film director. My first work of fiction, a short story submitted to a writing contest sponsored by a magazine in Chicago, won first prize and encouraged me to pursue writing, at least as a hobby.

Ultimately, I abandoned fiction for non-fiction and began working on my first manuscript. My first book was going to be devoted to a pastime which I thoroughly enjoyed, old time radio! I spent two years researching the topic, traveling to old time radio conventions, interviewing former radio actors, and networking with key people in the industry. I even made an appearance on a Chicago radio program where I discussed my upcoming book. But I was young, highly enthusiastic, and extremely naïve. I never imagined that I would encounter unscrupulous people in the world of writing.

In my quest to get published, I contacted an established author in the world of old time radio for advise. He seemed very interested in my work and offered to help me. I sent him a copy of my manuscript and eagerly awaited his response. Weeks passed and then months, still no word from said author. He completely ignored my attempts to reach him. A few months later, I learned that he released a new book with his partner. That book was my manuscript, identical down to the opening paragraph, word for word. I was devastated. How could I have fallen for such deceit? What made matters worse was that I knew I didn’t have the time and resources to pursue the matter in court.

Heartbroken and completely distrusting of others in the publishing industry, I turned my back to writing, but not completely. When blogging became popular, I launched my own blog detailing my travels in Japan. I had a passion for Japan and Japanese culture since a very early age. I spent countless hours as a youngster sketching portraits of Japanese women in kimono standing in front of magnificently manicured pines and drum bridges. I journeyed to Japan for the first time in 2008 and vowed to return every year after that.

I upheld my vows and returned to Japan every other year after that. These journeys culminated in a collection of articles which I published on my now defunct blog, Traveldreamscapes. A friend who had been following my blog since its inception suggested that I write a book about my travels. It seemed like an insurmountable task at the time and my wounds from my past experiences were newly scabbed over.

But here is where the “historical impulse” which Orwell referred to took over. During my travels in Japan, I discovered places that were completely unexplored and facts that were new to me. I wanted to share my findings with the world. I wanted to use my words to paint pictures of the things I had seen and record the knowledge I had obtained. Japan is a distant country that many people will never have the opportunity to visit. I wanted to bring Japan and Japanese culture to these people and teach them things that are seldom taught in the Western world.

I published “A Blogger’s Guide to Japan” in 2016. The book was not a monumental success unfortunately as Amazon has over 1,700 books about travel to Japan alone. But the experience was not entirely wasted. I had now waded into the pool of self-publishing and learned from my mistakes. There was another topic buzzing around in the back of my mind that I wanted to share with the world. The seed for that idea was sown when I visited the Chiran Peace Museum for Kamikaze Pilots.

That idea became “The Sun Will Rise Again” which I published on October 31, 2017. This time, the book sold a little better and it received many rave reviews. One reader commented, “I think it is an excellent read to remind us of the horrors of war, the unspeakable destruction that comes from the use of nuclear bombs, and hopefully, why we should never use such weapons again. Thanks so much for writing this book, Ms. Ohkubo. I hope many more people will have the opportunity to read it as well. I highly recommend [it].”

For someone who started out as a hesitant author, I published my third book “Nickname Flower of Evil (呼び名は悪の花): The Abe Sada Story” in 2019. I wrote that book with the desire to take my readers back to the newly modernized, male-dominated, misogynistic, post-Tokugawa era in Japan. I wanted them to visit a society where women were deprived of their economic independence, subjected to the will of the household heads, and sold into the sex industry. This was the world into which Abe Sada was born, raised, and forced to survive.

Many of the earlier books written about the ill-fated former geisha/ prostitute were written from a man’s perspective and focused primarily on her unbounded sexuality in an effort to sell books. Only Abe Sada (in her biography) and one other author focused on Sada the victim. I wanted to paint a picture of the real Sada, not just focus on the aspect of her life that aroused the sexual desires of even the judge who was assigned to her case. To date, this book has been my best selling work, but it has not reached the stratospheric level of success that other authors such as romance novelist Nora Roberts and J. K. Rowling of the Harry Potter franchise have attained. Still, reading the positive reviews and comments such as, “I never expected to develop such empathy for Abe Sada while reading this book. The writer does such an amazing job taking you back and reliving all of the moments as though you were right beside Abe Sada as they unfolded...” remind me of the real reason why I chose to write this book.

Still, I had not satisfied my compulsion to further explore the Pacific War. I concluded “The Sun Will Rise Again,” with a chapter devoted to the Russian invasion of Sakhalin in 1945. What happened on that island was extremely tragic, yet many people in the West had not even heard of Sakhalin. On my birthday, September 28, 2020, I released “Sakhalin: The Island of Unspoken Struggles.” Once again, a topic that may only appeal to a niche market, but how many people know the story of how the Soviets crossed the 50th parallel and invaded Japanese-controlled Karafuto just days after the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki? How many people realize that the ferocity of the Soviet forces resulted in the deaths of 3,700 innocent civilians, some of whom were as young as one year of age? It was a story that needed to be told and I wanted to be the one to tell it.

In 2021, I shifted my focus to a more enjoyable aspect of Japanese culture – rakugo! There are very few Americans, and Japanese Americans for that matter, who have actually heard of the term. But this 400-year-old art of comic storytelling is so entertaining that I couldn’t keep the knowledge all to myself. With rakugo performed in English becoming more and more prevalent, I thought the time was ripe to produce a book about the art form.

Between 2021-2022, I released two books, “Talking About Rakugo 1: The Japanese Art of Storytelling,” and “Talking About Rakugo 2: The Stories Behind the Storytellers.” Both books received rave reviews; comments like, “Distinctive, informative, enriching,” “Characteristically, it is well-researched and chock-full of information that is presented in an easy to digest style,” and “Highly recommended for anyone interested in Japanese culture!” The positive reception the books received invigorated me to work on a third book, “Eiraku's 100 English Rakugo Scripts (Volume 1),” in which I served as the editor and designer.

Was Orwell right when he concluded, “all [motives] are present, but in different proportions?” Perhaps, but in my case historical impulse seems to dominate all other motives in my writing. I may posses a small percentage of sheer egoism as all humans have a desire to leave something behind, something to prove that they existed. I may even have a political purpose in seeking to motivate people to ask questions and to look beyond what we are spoon fed throughout our lives. But one thing is for certain, I do not select topics for their money-making potential. Many authors dream of writing Pulitzer Prize material or perhaps even to be considered for the Nobel Prize In Literature. Others just want to be the New York Times Best Selling Author and to make thousands if not millions in royalties. I want to be remembered for teaching my readers something they did not know before. That to me is more valuable than earning top royalties, and being offered movie deals and speaking engagements. If my writing slightly transforms the world making it a better place in which to live, then my mission has been accomplished!

amazon.com/author/kristineohkubo