1. Sweden takes place in 1968, a very tumultuous year in American history. What makes this story relevant 50 years later, in 2018?
1968 was a tumultuous year not only in American history, but in world history. It's certainly timely that Sweden is being published on the 50th anniversary of that year, which is when most of the events in the novel take place, but it's purely coincidental. I started writing the novel in 2010, with no idea when, or even if, it would be published.
But to answer the question, though much has changed over the last 50 years, much remains the same. As was the case in 1968, the U.S. is entangled in a war overseas with no end in sight. The war in Afghanistan has been going on for sixteen and a half years, and looks set to overtake the Vietnam War as America's longest war.
In the U.S. itself, the fight against racism continues. The Black Lives Matter movement claims inspiration from the civil rights and Black Power movements of the 50s and 60s, and there are parallels between its decentralized, non-hierarchical structure and non-violent tactics and the structure and tactics adopted by the social movements of 50 years ago.
The fight against sexism, too, is ongoing, with the emergence of the #MeToo movement calling to mind the rise of second-wave feminism in the 1960s.
The Never Again MSD movement is another group that harks back to 1968, not only in its organization and tactics, but also in its membership of predominantly young people.
Those in power will always oppose people pushing for social change—whether they are advocating for greater freedom, equality, or a world without war—because they have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. This universal conflict, and the willingness of people to pursue their ideals even at great personal cost, lies at the heart of Sweden.
2. The late 1960s was a period of increasing globalization, particularly with regard to music and arts. How did these circumstances tie into relations and connections between the characters?
The advent of videotape and live satellite transmission revolutionized television in the 1960s, helping bring the world closer together. For the first time in history, people could view events unfolding on the other side of the world live in their living rooms. The role television reportage of the Vietnam War played in hastening the end of that conflict has been well documented. In Sweden, an African American deserter watches coverage on Japanese television of the civil unrest that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. He is shocked, both at the death of MLK and the violence that is ripping his country apart, and the regret he feels at the possibility that he may never be able to return to the U.S. is assuaged.
Separate to this, the emergence of the U.S. as a superpower after World War II was a catalyst for the spread of American culture worldwide. The Japanese already had a generally favorable view of America in the wake of the occupation, and were particularly receptive to American culture in the form of American films, music, and fashion. And though the Japanese public were overwhelmingly opposed to the Vietnam War, this did not translate into widespread animosity towards the U.S. or Americans, even among those who protested against the war. For example, two prominent figures in the Japanese anti-Vietnam War movement and members of the group that assisted Vietnam deserters in Japan, Makoto Oda and Shunsuke Tsurumi, both felt an affinity for America, in part due to their having studied at university there. Another character in the novel is a fan of jazz music, which was and still is remarkably popular in Japan. American jazz musicians who toured Japan in the 1960s received the kind of welcome usually reserved for pop stars.
3. Sweden is historical fiction. Tell us about the research that went into writing the story. Where and how did you do your research? Which resources did you use?
I did most of my research by reading books, both in English and in Japanese. An unusually large number of the members of the group that aided Vietnam deserters in Japan were, or went on to become, writers, and so the Japanese-language literature on the subject is plentiful. I also read firsthand accounts by some of the deserters themselves. While researching and writing Sweden, I traveled to many of the locations in Japan where the novel is set, including Yokohama, Kyoto, Kamakura, Sapporo, Kushiro, and Nemuro. In addition, I drew on my memories of earlier trips to Kagoshima and New York in writing the scenes set in those cities. (I have never been to Sweden.)
4. You are a writer from New Zealand, writing a book about American history in Japan. Why did you choose this subject for Sweden?
Given my educational, work and personal background, it was probably inevitable that my first novel would have some connection to Japan. I chose the subject of Japanese anti-war activists helping American Vietnam War deserters because it had fascinated me from the time I first heard about it. The main themes of the novel—opposition to war, and the exploration and pursuit of non-authoritarian alternatives to the nuclear family and the nation-state—are also dear to my heart.
To be honest, I never thought of Sweden as a novel about American history. My main aim was to tell the story of JATEC (the organization that helped the deserters), and to tie this in with other events happening in Japan at around the same time, such as the student occupations, and in so doing address the above themes, which I regard as universal. But in the course of telling this story I became intrigued by the deserters themselves. I also realized that concentrating more on these characters would bring the story to life and give it wider appeal.
5. How did you first come across the history of the deserters? What drew you to their stories?
I first came across this history while living in Japan in the early 1990s. I was working as a freelance translator, but spent a lot of my spare time reading about Japanese anarchists and the movements they were involved in, mainly before the war (a topic I returned to in 1996 as part of my research at Keio University). It was in the course of this reading that I came across the rudiments of the story that forms the basis of Sweden. At that time, however, the internet was still in its infancy, and my efforts to find out more about this subject proved fruitless. It was not until 2010, when I decided I wanted to write a novel, that I returned to the subject, and found that in the intervening years quite a lot had been written about it. And thanks to the internet, much of this information was readily available.
I suppose I was drawn to this history because of its political dimension and because it was a classic David and Goliath struggle, with a small group of idealistic young anti-war activists and deserters taking on the U.S. military and the U.S. and Japanese governments. But I also saw it as an opportunity to enlighten people about a series of events that are not widely known outside of Japan.
6. What first drew you to Japanese culture and society?
My mother studied and later taught Eastern religions at the University of Canterbury, and so as a teenager I was surrounded at home by books about Asia as well as Buddhist images and so on. Later, my parents taught English at a private language school for overseas students, most of who were Japanese. This was when I was in my early 20s. I was unemployed and bored (I had dropped out of university partway through my second year), so I used to go along to the school at lunchtime to talk with the students. This got me interested in learning Japanese. I started taking night classes at the local polytechnic, then studied Japanese full-time for a year. The rest, as they say, is history.
7. How did you ensure that you captured an accurate representation of Japanese culture in 1968? What research did you do to write Sweden?
In addition to the reading mentioned above, I viewed lots of photographs and videos of Japan in the late 1960s. My research also included re-watching the James Bond movie You Only Live Twice, which was filmed in Japan in 1966-67. One day, while browsing a secondhand bookstore, I came across a guidebook published in the 1960s titled Japan on $5 a Day. It was full of useful details such as the names of restaurants and the prices of meals, hotel rooms, and train tickets. I also lurked on an internet forum where former U.S. military personnel who were based in Japan in the 1960s reminisced about their experiences. And I spent far too long in transport museums in Japan viewing, touching, and taking photos of railway cars and streetcars from the 1960s.
8. You spend a lot of time walking around Japan, as does one of the main characters in Sweden. What elements from your personal journeys have you included in Sweden?
In Sweden, one of the deserter characters, Flynn, walks from Kamakura to Tokyo after going AWOL. I walked most of this route in 2009 when I hiked the Tokaido, and drew on this experience in describing Flynn's walk, including the simple pleasure of viewing hydrangeas in the rain. Later, Flynn walks from San Francisco to Bingham County in Idaho.
I included long-distance walking in the novel partly for the same reason that I included jazz, because I am obsessed with it. But I also wanted to allude to what I believe is the therapeutic value of walking. Flynn has been traumatized by his experiences in Vietnam, and while he never fully recovers, possibly due to some underlying psychological issues, he finds solace in walking and the walk from Kamakura to Tokyo in particular represents the first leg on his road to recovery and the restoration of his faith in humanity, which has been shaken by his experiences in the Navy.
9. What made you decide to write about multiple American soldiers instead of focusing on one deserter?
This was for purely practical reasons. I set out writing Sweden with the intention of telling the full story of the operation to hide deserters in Japan and smuggle them out of the country on fishing boats, which lasted for roughly a year and involved a number of missions. I decided early on that one of the POV characters would be a young Japanese activist involved in this operation. He ended up being a composite character based on two real people: Fumihiko Anai and Fuminori Yamaguchi. But I soon realized that I couldn't tell the full story from this character's perspective alone. I ultimately concluded that I needed to have at least two deserter characters as well.
I came across an autobiography written by one of the deserters, and decided to use this as the basis for one of these characters. I also came across a Japanese translation of correspondence between another deserter and the activists that helped him, and I used the information in these letters as the basis for the other deserter character.
Having two deserter characters also enabled me to present a fuller and more realistic picture of the deserter experience by getting into the heads of two people with different backgrounds and motives.
10. Sweden has quite a cast of characters, including Japanese hippies. What compelled you to include their unique culture in Sweden?
As with many of the events depicted in Sweden, the episode involving a group of deserters being sheltered on a hippie commune on the island of Suwanosejima is based on fact. I was keen to include it because these deserters were not the most cooperative of guests, and the tension between them and their hosts added another dimension to the novel. I also thought American readers in particular would be interested in the involvement of Gary Snyder. Snyder was closely associated with the group that founded the commune and a friend of Shunsuke Tsurumi, and served as an important link between the hippies and the organization helping the deserters. As well, the episode involving the hippies has been well documented in two books by the Japanese writer Fumihiko Anai, who as a 21-year-old was given the onerous task of accompanying the uncooperative deserters to the commune. Anai's accounts are incredibly detailed, even down to the contents of each meal they ate on the island, which made it relatively easy to research. But the culture of the Japanese hippies also ties in with one of the main themes of the novel, which is the exploration of alternatives to the traditional family and nation-state as organizational models for society.
11. Sweden equally features American characters—the deserters—and Japanese characters—the activists. Why did you choose to tell the story from both perspectives?
Given that what I was really interested in telling was the story of the Japanese anti-war activists who helped the deserters, the thought of not including a Japanese POV character never occurred to me. But in the back of my mind was the fear that without American characters the novel would not appeal to American readers. In the end, I realized that the story was so complex that I needed to tell it from multiple perspectives to do it justice.
12. How do you illustrate the cultural differences between the Americans and the Japanese? How did this affect the interactions between characters?
There's a lot of eating and drinking in Sweden, too much according to one beta reader, who advised me to cut out or shorten the descriptions of meals. Another questioned the amount of coffee that was being drunk. Surely in Japan people would drink tea? But in fact, with the exception of the wartime years when coffee was all but unavailable, Japan has had a vibrant coffee-drinking culture ever since the country opened up to the West in the mid 19th century. By the 1930s there were more than 30,000 coffee shops across the country. But coffee drinking really took off in the 1960s when canned coffee was developed.
The descriptions of food are partly homage to Haruki Murakami's novels (as is the main Japanese character, who works at a record store and frequents jazz coffee shops). But they also serve to highlight how foreign Japanese culture must have seemed to the deserters, most of whom had never left the U.S. before joining the military. In one part of the novel, this unfamiliar diet, and in particular the lack of meat, sparks a confrontation between a group of three deserters and their Japanese hosts that has disastrous consequences for another character later on.
In contrast, another deserter who initially balks at eating Japanese rice balls wrapped in seaweed comes to embrace not only Japanese food but Japanese culture as a whole, and expresses sadness when the time comes for him to leave the country.
At the same time, some of the Japanese characters grow weary at the unwillingness of their American guests to follow basic Japanese etiquette, such as washing before soaking in the bath. This weariness leads to mistrust, again with negative consequences.
But I was eager not to overemphasize this clash of cultures. Sweden is above all a story of people from different backgrounds overcoming their differences and working together for a common cause.
13. Jazz music has a recurring role in Sweden. What function does it serve to move the characters and plot forward?
I use jazz music not so much to move the characters and plot forward, but as a device for bringing characters from different backgrounds together and as a metaphor for the possibility of people working together despite their differences. Though jazz originated in America, and more specifically in the African-American community, it has grown into a truly global music genre, and as such has crossed cultural boundaries. In a sense it's an international language, spoken (albeit with slightly different accents) in America, Africa, Europe, and Asia.
14. Why did you choose to insert music, especially jazz music, throughout Sweden? Why music at all, or a different genre?
Partly this is because I love jazz music. The author Meg Wolitzer said in a recent interview, "People say, write what you know, but it's really write about what obsesses you." Two of my obsessions are jazz and walking, and both of them found there way into Sweden. Of course, as mentioned above, both of them also serve a purpose. But I also wanted to make people aware of the history and popularity of jazz in Japan. In addition, one of the actual people on whom the main Japanese character in the novel is based, Fuminori Yamaguchi, really did play the trumpet, so there is a factual basis for this character's interest in music.
15. You included the Japanese student protests in 1968 in Sweden. What made you decide to include this event? How do you feel the protests are relevant to the rest of the story?
Again, I wanted to make people aware of this important episode in Japanese history. Unfortunately, the Japanese student protests and campus occupations tend to be overlooked in studies of the global events of 1968. For example, they barely rate a mention in Mark Kurlansky's 1968: The Year That Rocked the World.
But the student protests, and the campus occupations in particular, also tie in with the novel's theme of the exploration and pursuit of non-authoritarian alternatives to the nuclear family and the nation-state. Many of the students involved in the occupations wanted not only to improve conditions for students and change the way the universities were run, but to change society as a whole. Their vision was utopian, and in this sense they had a lot in common with the hippies on Suwanosejima and the residents of the communal farm in Nishikiyama.
16. The deserters, particularly the “Intrepid Four,” (*1) have been both hailed as heroes, and denounced as traitors. Do you admire the deserters for their bravery or feel they abandoned their fellow countrymen?
"Heroes" is perhaps too strong a word, but as a pacifist, I definitely admire the Intrepid Four and the other deserters who took a stand against war at great personal cost. With one or two exceptions, I do not think I portray the deserter characters in Sweden as heroes. Rather, I made an effort to portray them as individuals, some weak, some strong, who for a variety of reasons including principles and self-preservation made the difficult and life-changing decision to desert. But I definitely do not see them as traitors. I have a negative view of patriotism and nationalism, which are based on the ridiculous notion that one's own country is somehow better than others simply because one happened to have been born there.
17. How do you think the circumstances of the Vietnam War allowed for a different outcome for these deserters? In World War I and II there was little sympathy for deserters and some were sentenced to death. What was different about the Vietnam War?
I think the main difference between the Vietnam War and those earlier wars is that the Vietnam War was extremely unpopular and seen by many Americans as unjust. This undoubtedly affected how the military and government authorities dealt with draft evaders and to a lesser extent deserters. Also, society had changed, as evidenced by the events of 1968. Young people were less willing then their parents' generation to blindly obey authority, in fact many of them openly questioned it. That said, there was little sympathy for deserters in America during the Vietnam War. And even today there is still great stigma attached to desertion. This was brought home to me when I asked some ex-military personnel to share their experiences of serving in Japan, and was rebuffed when I told them I was writing about deserters.
18. Craig Anderson, one of the real life “Intrepid Four,” recently returned to Japan for the first time since deserting in 1968 to speak about his experiences and concerns about the “remilitarization” of Japan. How relevant are the events, emotions, and politics of 1968 to modern day society, particularly in Japan?
I'm happy to report that the anti-war sentiment described in the novel is still very strong in Japan. Those on the right, including prime minister Abe, who are seeking to revise the constitution and remilitarize Japan face an uphill battle. Indeed, as I write this, concerned citizens are staging large-scale protests outside the Japanese parliament calling for Abe to resign. These protests were sparked by scandals unrelated to the above issues, but I have no doubt that Abe's eagerness to revise the constitution is also a factor in the effort to unseat him.
Until recently, it was the older generation, including those who had experienced the devastation of World War II as well as veterans of the protest movement of the 1960s, who were most vociferous in their opposition to war in Japan. But large numbers of young people are attending these latest protests, and the emergence of groups like SEALDs (Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy), which in 2015 and 16 mobilized opposition to a series of security bills that would have allowed the Japanese Self-Defense Force to be deployed overseas, also suggests that the younger generation is ready to take up the mantle of opposition to remilitarization and war from their forebears.
19. How do you think the Vietnam War’s effect on popular culture differed from previous wars?
I'm not really sure. But I know there were many popular songs released in the U.S. during the Vietnam War that were explicitly anti-war (such as Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son," one of whose lines was the inspiration for a possible title for the novel, No Fortunate Sons), which is something that probably would not have been tolerated during previous wars.
20. Would you characterize Sweden as a “war novel”? Why or why not?
An argument could be made for characterizing Sweden as a war novel. It definitely deals with war and addresses important issues surrounding war. But in terms of a genre, I would not feel comfortable with it being categorized as a war novel. Genres are largely about readers' expectations, and anyone buying Swedenexpecting it to be filled with battlefield action will be disappointed. Most of the story takes place in Japan, away from the theater of war. There are one or two battle scenes, but they are told in flashback and only included to explain the actions or motivations of the characters involved.
21. Is Sweden anti-war? Why or why not?
Yes. The view of war depicted in it is entirely negative, reflecting my own position. Nothing good comes from war.
22. Why did you decide to end Sweden right at the point of the deserters escaping to Sweden? Why not also take the reader to Stockholm?
To me, the essence of the novel was always the relationship between the deserters and their Japanese handlers, so it seemed logical to end the novel at the point where that relationship ended. I originally included an epilogue set in New York some years later to tie up some loose ends in the narrative. Later, my publisher pointed out that some of those loose ends were still untied, so I added a second epilogue set in Stockholm.
What happened to the deserters once they reached Sweden is a fascinating story in itself, and one that has been related in great detail in Matthew Sweet's recently published non-fiction work Operation Chaos: The Vietnam Deserters Who Fought the CIA, the Brainwashers, and Themselves.
23. Tell us about your writing regimen for Sweden. When and where did you write? How long did it take you to complete the novel? Did you listen to music while you wrote, like jazz?
As someone whose day job (translating) involves working from home, I'm lucky enough to have a dedicated work/writing space. I wrote the book mainly at home in Christchurch during whatever time I could spare from my day job.
But not long after I began writing Sweden, disaster struck. Literally. On February 22, 2011, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit Christchurch and the surrounding area, killing 185 people and destroying or damaging many houses and other buildings. This impacted the writing of the novel in several ways. My home was badly damaged, and writing there was no longer the pleasurable experience that it was before the earthquake. As well, a general malaise descended over the city as a whole as the magnitude of the task ahead to rebuild Christchurch became clear. (Today, more than seven years after the quake, many people are still living in damaged houses and much of the central city still resembles a construction site.) This and the pressure of trying to settle our insurance claim had a detrimental affect on my mental health. During this period, I would welcome any opportunity to travel because it meant I could write in the peace and comfort of hotel rooms.
In early 2013, a friend in Japan generously offered me the use of her apartment in Nagoya for a month to complete the third draft of the novel. To be able to escape Christchurch and focus on nothing but writing for that month was an incredibly satisfying experience. The routine I followed while in Nagoya, of writing for an extended period in the morning between breakfast and lunch, going for a long walk in the early afternoon, then writing again before dinner, would be the routine I would follow if I did not have to do another job to support myself.
As to how long it took to write Sweden, I began writing it in September 2010, and finished it in late 2013. Later, after The Mantle expressed an interest in publishing it, I rewrote several chapters and added a second epilogue at the publisher's request.
I prefer to write in silence, no music.
24. Sweden is your first novel -- how’s it feel to release your first book?
I'm excited but anxious.
25. What are your next projects?
I have two more novels in the works. The first, which is nearly finished, tells the story of a university lecturer whose life has been thrown into turmoil by the 2011 Christchurch Earthquake. Following the death of her estranged father, a famous New Zealand playwright, she comes across evidence suggesting he was involved in a crime while serving with the New Zealand Army during the military occupation of Japan, so she goes to Japan to investigate. The second, which is still at an early stage, is a thriller set on the island of Malta.
1. In 1967, four Navy seamen absconded from The Intrepid aircraft carrier when it docked in Japan. Aided by Japanese anti-war activists, the self-proclaimed “patriotic deserters” stowed away aboard a Russian passenger ship, which took them to Siberia. During their six-week stint in Russia the foursome were both lauded as “heroes” and despised as “cowards.” Eventually the four men ended up in Sweden.
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