Rikkyo University

TOBI　Yes. Yes, I probably read them all.


TOBI　Actually after I became an adult, I thought, “I doubt I'll ever read Rampo again,” and I just ended up selling the books whenever I moved. Yet, I found I bought them again. I kept repeating that over and over again.


TOBI　Rampo relocated lot, and I also moved more than 20 times including the time I lived in France. But it is something I don't mind doing. It's like becoming a new person, or I having the feeling I want a change. It's exciting to join a totally different community or go to a city where the people didn't know you before.


TOBI　That's right. I was influenced by the manga of Yoshiharu Tsuge, the poetry of Hosai Ozaki, the novels of Edogawa Rampo, so I thought I would reset myself and go to the next place. But people don't change just from moving, so I sought the same things again, and six months later end up buying them.


TOBI　No, I sold all my books and belongings before I went to France, so I had nothing in Japanese except for the entire collection of Glass Mask that I thought I had thrown away, which was somehow sent to me via sea mail.


TOBI　There is a cinema in the 10th arrondissement of Paris that constantly shows old Japanese films, and I used to go there often. Japanese people living over there are starved for the Japanese language. That is when I watched Beast in the Shadows. The amazingly beautiful version with Yoshiko Kayama playing Shizuko Oyamada.


TOBI　Yes, that's right. There are many films based on Rampo's works, but I personally like The Beast in the Shadows the best. I felt that what Rampo wanted to do was also coming to terms with it as a popular film in a good way.


TOBI　Yes, I agree. It's a shame because it's the humor that you smile a little that makes Rampo so appealing. Later, when Inju: The Beast in the Shadow was made into a French-Japanese co-production (2008, directed by Barbet Schroeder), I was asked by a friend of mine who was doing the casting to audition for the role. I didn't get the part, however.


TOBI　That's right. From then, I thought Rampo was interesting after all, so I started reading his books again. People who are going back to Japan leave paperback books behind. They say things like, “You can take any book you want.” Many people had Rampo's books, which made me feel nostalgic.


TOBI　I have an impression that there are many French people who like Rampo. The pronunciation is “RAMPO” (* “R” is a French fricative), so at first I didn't know who people were talking about (laughs). Rampo's work has also been translated in French, so think there is a high affinity with the French public.


TOBI　I am also fond of The Blind Beast (1969, Daiei) directed by Yasuzo Masumura. It was also a film that depicted aesthetics. Those two things jump out at me, or rather, leave a lasting impression. When Rampo's work is put to film, it tends to be erotic and grotesque, but that narrows the scope. That's not the only truly interesting thing about his books that should be picked up. I think those two films are successful as film adaptations in that they have just the right amount of humor.

TOBI　I wouldn't go as far as to say involved (laughs). At the time, a friend of mine, a director named Pascal-Alex Vincent, asked me about making a documentary on Japan's postwar LGBT culture. When I told him about Akihiro Miwa, he became very intrigued.


TOBI　No, no, not at all. He had always loved Japanese films and had seen many old and new ones. Before becoming a director, he even worked on the distribution and DVD release in France of past masterpieces by Yasujiro Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, and others. His passion impressed Miwa, and he was able to include interviews of such amazing people as Tadanori Yokoo, Kinji Fukasaku,Takeshi Kitano , and Hayao Miyazaki.


TOBI　Yes. I first saw the film starring Akihiro (Miwa) Maruyama (1968, Shochiku) on TV. Her looking back and saying, “A-ke-chi!” which was a shock to my child's mind. As an adult, I also saw the film at a theater in Shibuya on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Rampo's birth. I felt that this was a film to make the world aware of Miwa's appeal with the splendid lineup of director Kinji Fukasaku and screenplay by Yukio Mishima.


TOBI　I saw it in France. That was great too. However, even in Kyo's case, it still looks to me like a promotional video for someone who performs Black Lizard.


TOBI　They are totally different. I basically think that Akechi's cherry-picking behavior is unfair, so I read on with vague expectations that next time Akechi would suffer (laughs). It is interesting that The Black Lizard portrays Akechi as also resonating with criminals.


TOBI　Yes! I thought, “Going that far!” I was anti-Akechi as a child, but after reading The Black Lizard, I realized that Akechi is also an outcast from society.


TOBI　That could be. Thanks to The Black Lizard I could see that Akechi was also a troubled man. He also had to live as he is. He's not emotionally involved with the criminals, but he's not putting himself on the side of the police or the public either. I think the awareness that he is not from that side of society was born from his encounter with Black Lizard. Naturally, the film is interesting in its own right, but I personally think it would have been more interesting if the eccentricity of Black Lizard had been picked up, with the story depicting Akechi as a detective who feels sympathy for the criminal Black Lizard and communicates with her, as in the original story.


TOBI　That's right! Someone lived in the loft of my empty apartment, not the attic, for 22 days (laughs). Yes, that is indeed also very Rampo-esque.


TOBI　That may be so. That's why I didn't notice him (laughs).


TOBI　That person is also... When you refer to a criminal as “that person,” you are already standing on the criminal's side (laughs). I feel like we were buddies in a shared house. My apartment is a memorable for being the first place entered by a thief who stole 400 million yen from an upscale residential neighborhood.


TOBI　If I had failed there, I would have given up already. It's like I was living together with The Fiend with Twenty Faces, isn't it?


TOBI　So maybe The Fiend with Twenty Faces also had a patron who supported him behind the scenes.


TOBI　Someone who is emotionally invested in The Fiend with Twenty Faces' side. That may possibly be Rampo himself (laughs).

*The content of this article was correct when the interview took place and may not reflect the latest information.