Simply put, without the influence of two remarkable cities I’ve called home—Tokyo and Melbourne—this story would not exist.
Otherwise, artwork-wise, hefty nods go to designer Damian Stephens, and Julian Hebbrecht for his geisha image. Phil Jourdan also merits a big hand, having asked me to get involved with Perfect Edge Books, along with editors Trevor and Mollie.
Love to friends and family—of particular note, my wife Yoko and my daughter Cocoa, mum Fée and dad Des, and my four grandparents, including Les.
For culture tips and having organized Kyoto last September—when this novel was scribbled notes on bits of paper—bravo and hurrah to my mates Yoshiko, Toshie, Hashimoto-san, Tsukako, Hiroko, Yumiko, and Nonaka-san, from our movie class.
To those media people, and complete strangers, who supported my last novel Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat, thereby inspiring me to get on with this one, I cannot (ever) thank you enough. Obviously. You are no longer strangers!
Japanese filmmakers, artists, actors, musicians and writers deserve grandstanding respect here. For starters, Satoshi Kon and Akira Kurosawa, whose respective movies, Millennium Actress and Drunken Angel, were a big influence on the story. Other vital directors include Seijun Suzuki, Kon Ichikawa, Yasujirō Ozu, Shunya Itō, Masayuki Suo, Mamoru Oshii and Masahiro Makino. Thanks also to manga artists Osamu Tezuka, Tōru Shinohara, Fujio Akatsuka, Shotaro Ishinomori, Hiroshi Fujimoto and Motoo Abiko; singers Shizuko Kasagi and Sayuri Ishikawa; writers Seishi Yokomizu, Yukio Mishima and Yasunari Kawabata; and actors Takashi Shimura, Toshiro Mifune, Meiko Kaji, Kazuo Hasegawa, Akiko Wakabayashi, Mie Hama, Mieko Harada, Hideki Takahashi, Setsuko Hara and Ken Takakura.
Yes, I’m Australian—so Western and ‘other’ cultural influences weigh in, referenced openly, or with a hopeful cheeky wink. Think writers like Raymond Chandler, Edgar Allan Poe, Dashiell Hammett, Lewis Carroll, Norman Lindsay, Arthemise Goertz, Roald Dahl, and Dante Alighieri; composer Richard Wagner; movies You Only Live Twice, The Princess Bride, Swing Time, Apocalypse Now, The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Wizard of Oz, and Don’t Look Now.
As a side note, One Hundred Years of Vicissitude relates to my previous book, Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat, a reading of which might add some clarity to the experience. It was published in 2011, via the cool cats at Another Sky Press (anothersky.org).
Also figuring in the blend are Greek myths, fairy tales, comics, Star Trek, actor Peter Lorre, Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, MacArthur’s pipe, Tristan and Iseult, Totoro, floriography, haiku (ta, David G. Lanoue), and—oh, yes—Sir Thomas Malory.