Sharing useful information about Japanese food with the world - Interview with Michael Booth, author of "A British Family Eats Japan

Sushi & Beyond: What the Japanese Know About Cooking," a travel book written by British food journalist Michael Booth, has been animated by NHK since April this year, and is also being broadcast worldwide by NHK World. The book was actually written by Mr. Booth in 2007. The book is based on the experience of the Booth family's 100-day stay in Japan in 2007, and the anime adaptation is based on this experience and adapted into a story about a British family visiting Japan to explore Japanese food. The original book was published in the U.K. in 2010 to great acclaim and won a literary award. It has been translated in many countries, and was released in Japan in 2013, becoming a huge hit with a total of over 150,000 copies sold.

We interviewed Mr. Michael Booth, who visited Japan, to find out how he feels about this animated film, in which his own experiences are turned into an anime and he and his family become the characters. The way he perceives Japan through the eyes of a Briton was a kind of culture shock for us.

Creative Nonfiction" in Books and Anime

─ ─ How did you receive the offer to adapt the book into an anime?　And how did you feel when you heard about it?

Booth: Suddenly, I got an e-mail from the producer of the anime. It was a bolt out of the blue. I've been a journalist for almost 20 years, and I've had a lot of offers from TV shows to make my books into movies, but I've never been able to make it happen. However, it is not always easy to make them happen, you know. One day, however, the producer contacted me again and asked, "May I come over to your home and talk to you? And that was the first time I was able to see that they were really planning to go ahead with the project. That was the first time I felt that the project was really moving forward. It seemed a bit unrealistic, but it was very exciting.

─ How did you feel about having yourself and your family become animated characters?

Booth: When we were first shown the drawings of the character designs, everyone in the family was rolling with laughter. My children were so excited that they asked me to send them a picture that they could put in their cell phones. It was interesting to see how people around us saw us, and a little strange at the same time. It is true that I can be greedy and bossy, but I think I have managed to use and exaggerate these qualities to my advantage and become a character.

─ ─ Your character, in particular, is deformed with a bigger belly than he actually has. When I meet him, I am a little surprised because he is more handsome and slimmer than Michael in the cartoon.

Booth: I think I am portrayed more handsome in the cartoon. I don't think you can see it because my shirt hides it, but I'm still trying to lose 10 more pounds.

─ ─ What do you find interesting about the anime?

Booth: At first, I thought the animation wouldn't be very interesting, but when I saw the finished animation, I was very impressed with how well it turned out. I couldn't imagine how the contents of the book would be expressed on the screen, or how the story line would be created, but I told the director, Mr. Lareco, that he could make it as fictional as he wanted. He did so, and I enjoyed watching it. What I really liked was the live-action part at the end, which I think is very interesting as a documentary for Japanese viewers.

─ In the book, you did the research and interviews by yourself, but in the anime, you visit places with your family and have a lot of slapstick.

Booth: That's right. I think it's more interesting to go out with the family and have various interactions there than to go alone. My style of writing is creative nonfiction. I gather information, sift it through, and then add a bit of fiction to the sifted information.

Discoveries that transcend prejudice against other countries

Booth: I am constantly surprised by Japan, and there is always something to learn. I know I have only scratched the surface, but one thing I have discovered in my 20 or so visits to Japan is that people overseas are not aware of the fact that the Japanese have such a great sense of humor.

─ Are you saying that you thought that Japanese people are uptight?

Booth: I think there are two extreme views of Japan: one is the side that enjoys crazy TV shows that are not very humorous, that try to see how far they can endure. The other is a very serious, quiet, self-disciplined, hard-working person. I think there are two ways to look at it. Well, every country has its own prejudice, which is not limited to Japan, as some people do not easily understand other countries and criticize them based on their simple views. This kind of prejudice is not limited to Japan. I think it is something that various countries do to various countries.

─ You wrote in your book that Mrs. Lisson strongly encouraged you to come to Japan with your family.

Booth: We talk about it all the time. I make dinner at home every night, and I also pack lunches for the children. Sometimes I bring them sushi rolls or something like that. I try to feed my children organic food as much as possible, without serving them processed or frozen foods. I think there are many people in Japan and Europe who are trying to do that now. I am hoping to visit Japan again next year with my family. I am currently working on a book that will be a sequel.

─ ─ This book has given me a great deal of insight into the way Japanese food is made, its background, and the way it is thought of in terms of the environment. What do you think is the mission of a food journalist in light of this?

Booth: I didn't write this book with such a big idea in mind, but at the time, the only Japanese food that was known in the U.S. and the U.K. was sushi. I wanted people around the world to know that there are many other foods in Japan besides sushi. So I did not want to make a big deal about the environment or anything like that, but as a result, it was very valuable for me to learn about Japanese food. I believe that the Japanese diet, which has been developed in Japan since ancient times, including eating seasonal and local foods and incorporating many kinds of fish and vegetables, is very useful and informative, no matter where in the world you put it.

(Reporting by Akiyoshi Hizume and Hitomi Okumura; Writing by Hitomi Okumura)

NHK DVD "A British Family Eats Japan

January 6, 2016 release (both sell and rental)

Price including tax 3,024 yen (each volume)

Total 4 volumes / 6 episodes per volume

Audio: Japanese + English with Japanese subtitles

Original sticker included

Program Information
Original story: "An English Family Eats Japan" by Michael Booth (translation by Nobuko Teranishi)
Music: Yuri Habuka, Yoshiaki Dewa
Animation Director/Character Design: Raleco
Animation Production: Fanworks
Production Cooperation: G's Corporation
Production: NHK Enterprises
Production and Copyright: NHK

From April 2015
Broadcast on NHK General and NHK World
#1

Year-end and New Year special program "A British family eats New Year's food" (Japanese only)
NHK General, Friday, January 1, 2016, 10:15 p.m. (49 minutes)