The Eastern Edge

I've been ultra busy lately and haven't got as much done as I'd planned, but here goes with what I have done so far on translating the Quick Japan#81 (Dec.2008) interview with Naoki Urasawa.

Remember, folks, this was done on the train with the magazine in one hand while thumbing my on-the-fly translation into my cell phone with the other.
It isn't meant to be a perfect adaptation, only an "as true to the Japanese as possible but still readable" English version for Urasawa fans.

Without further ado, here goes:

Q: I'd like to start off by asking you about your new serial Billy Bat. Up to now you have always created manga with Shogakukan, so your new serial being for Kodansha had Yahoo! News top story impact. How did this come about?

Urasawa: Well, there really is nothing earth shattering behind it (laughs). In 2001 20th Century Boys won the Kodansha Manga Award. It's not often that manga are recognized with publisher awards regardless of the publisher. Around that time there was "Do your next serial with Kodansha" kind of talk, and I had regular meetings with a Morning editor.

Q： In "20th Century Boys" there are a lot of references to Showa era pro wrestling. When I heard the news that you'd do your first serial for Kodansha, it was like a battle for a top foreign wrestler between the old New Japan Pro Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling (laughs). I got really exited wondering, "What's going on here!?”

Urasawa： (Laughs) Sorry, but there was nothing sensational about it at all.

Q： But the way you began Billy Bat with the "comic in a comic" American comic, and then in chapter three having the protagonist go to GHQ in Japan and meet Sadanori Shimoyama of the “Shimoyama incident”, really hooks the reader, reels them in, and makes them wonder, "What's this leading up to...?

Urasawa: When I meet people they ask me, "Hey, what's going to happen next?" and say things like "I can't get such and such out of my head." That makes me happy. It’s a response that is a continuous blessing for mangaka.
In any case, I want to make the reader excited. To accomplish that I'll even do 24 pages in full colour. Doing that is really tough, though (laughs).

[end page one]

Sorry part one is so short, folks, but that's all my thumbs could handle in the time I had on my jam-packed train ride to work so far this week. That was only page one, which has about two thirds less text than the other pages, so there is still a lot to come.

By the way, the “Shimoyama incident” is a reference to the death of the Japan National Railway president at the time, Sadanori Shimoyama. His body was found on the tracks of the JR Joban line on the morning of July 6th 1949 after having gone missing the night before.
This is Shimoyama from his appearance in chapter 3 of Billy Bat

His death was widely believed to have been a murder made to look like a suicide.
The case, however, was never solved.

1/28 Update:
Part 2 of the interview is now online