“The shortest route was a detour.” At Kobe University’s entrance ceremony, this famous line pulled from the hit manga “Jojo’s bizarre adventure” was delivered to students by IYOHARA Shin, recipient of the 172nd Naoki Prize in January for his novel “Ai wo tsugu umi [The indigo sea].” Following his graduation from the Faculty of Science at Kobe University, Iyohara pursued a career as a researcher until just before he turned 40, when he decided to change course and become an author. Quite the detour indeed. Even while struggling to put out a hit novel after becoming frustrated with his life as a researcher, he continued to spend his days writing. With his unique writing style fusing science and the human condition, Iyohara continues to attract brand new readers. We asked Iyohara about his memories at Kobe University, his life path, and the emotions he pours into his works.

 

Just like his previous works, this collection is an exceptional fusion of natural science and narrative that earned Iyohara his second Naoki Prize nomination. At the press conference for the award ceremony, a gentle smile came across Iyohara’s face as he said, “That someone like myself could just happen to go from a languishing earth scientist to writing a novel is such a curious feeling.”

Born and raised in Suita, Osaka, Iyohara decided that he wanted to enter the Faculty of Science after reading geophysicist UEDA Seiya’s “Atarashii chikyuukan [New view of the earth].” He was astounded by the theory of plate tectonics, which explains the distribution of earthquakes and volcanoes. After a gap year, he entered Kobe University. One of the reasons he decided on Kobe University was when his high school teacher told him that “Kobe University is full of geophysics and geology researchers.”

Iyohara wasn’t passionate about his studies at university from the start, however. He put a lot of energy into his part-time jobs at Expoland (the theme park near his house) and a tutoring school, as well as into tennis and skiing. He also had a motorcycle license and he used to ride around for fun. Eventually, Iyohara became interested in geomagnetism, later the focus of his research, through a class by his mentor and professor emeritus HYODO Masayuki. He looked forward to each and every class, which covered topics that look at the world from an overarching perspective, like the relationship between electromagnetism and climate change.

Once he started his fourth year at university, Iyohara decided on “paleomagnetism,” or the study of the earth’s prehistoric magnetic fields, as his graduation dissertation topic. An important reason for choosing this topic was that each year in the laboratory for geomagnetism, one fourth year student was able to participate in a trip to the Antarctic Ocean. Iyohara didn’t just have the pleasure of going on the trip; the research fundamentals, ethics, and ability to write dissertations he acquired while at the laboratory would also prove vital later on in his own research.

“For instance, I learned to cleanly separate my assertions with those of others and to distinguish the data that I acquired with that of previous research. I also learned to have just one conjecture and to not layer one on top of another. On top of these important fundamentals, I also learned how to reference other materials, which has proven exceptionally vital while writing novels.”

 

What pushed him past those difficult days was “Tsuki made san kiro [Three kilometers to the moon],” a collection of short stories he released in 2018. These stories feature characters who find themselves stuck in life or facing hardships, but have their lives changed through a chance encounter with the world of science. This gem of a collection was met with much acclaim and would go on to receive the Nitta Jiro Prize the following year.

The impetus for writing this collection of stories was when an editor and friend of his asked him, “Can you write a novel about the feeling of encountering science for the first time without ever having any prior connections with it?” The stories are weaved using material from a variety of fields such as astronomy, meteorology, and geology, but that knowledge is never overly emphasized, instead allowing for the human drama featured in each story to leave its impression on the reader.

But, Iyohara claims that it was never his intent to make science easy to understand or to write a human drama.

 “I’m just writing about what I find interesting, and science just happens to be the subject matter. When it comes to leisure reading, it doesn’t get any better than mystery novels, so I identify as a ‘mystery novelist.’ There aren’t ever any major incidents, but rather, lots of smaller mysteries that get revealed as the stories conclude. I’m not well versed in human emotions, so I’m doing my best to imagine as I write.”

Iyohara’s ideas sometimes begin with scientific subjects, and sometimes they begin with the characters in the stories. He then pieces the two together and once they click together like a puzzle in his mind, he begins to write.

“Sora wataru kyoushitsu [Classroom across the universe],” Iyohara’s novel that was adapted into a drama series for NHK last year, is based on a true story and features a vivid depiction of students in the science club of a part-time high school and their encounter with planetary science.

 

The title of Iyohara’s commemorative lecture at Kobe University’s entrance ceremony held this April was entitled “With a blank map.” During his lecture, he introduced the quote “The shortest route was a detour” from a character appearing in “Jojo’s bizarre adventure,” a favorite of his elementary school-aged son, while going into detail about the meaning of the lecture’s title.

“Why do people sometimes look as if they’re taking detours through life? It’s because we’re not provided maps with the correct route or the shortest route when we’re born. I think we’re all given blank maps.”

The roads that Iyohara has charted on his blank map feature their fair share of dead ends and winding paths. But the reason he never stopped walking down those paths was because of the people and encounters that helped him on his way. Looking back on those experiences, he delivered an encouraging message to new students.

“Places that look like dead ends are turning points that lead to new directions in life. If you wander around those long enough, you’ll have new encounters that will give you clues on finding your next path. If you ever feel lost, take a look back at your map. The more you chart the encounters you’ve had and the things you’ve learned, the more it’ll help you.”

Now that he has received the Naoki Prize and crossed over a turning point in his own life, where is Iyohara headed next? When asked, he told us that he wants “to do professional work but with the curious spirit of an amateur.”

His Naoki Prize-winning work features settings from all different regions of Japan, which allowed him to rediscover the culture, history and diversity of nature found throughout the country. These locations contained a treasure trove of subject matter that had yet to be discovered by Iyohara, some that even the locals didn't know about. 

He also told us that he’s expanding his interests into the realm of history, an area that he hadn’t given much of a look before. The next work that he plans to publish will be a biographical novel on the life of researcher SARUHASHI Katsuko (1920-2007), who paved the way for women in science. He’s also mulling over the idea of writing on the topic of “war and science.” Iyohara pursues interesting topics as a professional novelist while making sure to cherish the fresh perspectives unique to the eyes of an amateur. It’s with this attitude that Iyohara will continue to carve a new path forward.