Toby Fox Kikiyama Interview

As I sit in the shadows of my office I always look like a priest in my robes, my hair neatly parted and pulled tightly back from my forehead. It’s a monastic look, not one of glamour. That’s why a question seems safe. A brief question, not a full-blown interrogation. I try to avoid the expression that as a photographer I’m required to return the unspoken thanks of the production staff – “Thank you, that’s a great image!” – and as a writer the “no comments please” I find refreshing and witty, but to ask a question on Twitter is rarely a good idea. Often, writers want people to give their names. To tell us what’s happening in writing. To write and explain the art and intrigue of narrative, and to talk back.

I’ll be honest. Writing is much less difficult if I don’t comment on who has my back and who has my attention. Everything else is so much simpler. I think that what is most shocking about the Twitter-sphere, following this and last week’s post was how unfiltered the discourse felt to any close observer, regardless of the subject of discussion. People are permitted to hide behind their smart phones, their phones that share their actions and opinions. Anyone who’s been to meet Toby Fox here in Japan knows that he just likes to push the drama further than anyone wants to go and has much more on his plate. This year, that might have led to some conversations I never thought would have, conversations like the one I started with.

I asked Iso to tell me what was going on in the mindscape of the Japanese playwright, writer, photographer and cinematographer. Iso’s Twitter feed is mainly composed of what I’m told to see on his IMDb page: more films, books, interesting movies and music releases but also less-interesting things such as girls. But as I sipped my Chardonnay with Iso, which is always a good idea, we talked about the art that informs his work. Here is the official interview.

Can you tell me something about your background? Where you are from?