Local character and customs are important in mysteries, and Kanagawa Prefecture seems capable of anything!

Mystery writer Takahiro Okura is the screenwriter for the 27th film in the series, "Detective Conan: The Million Dollar Star." About two years ago, he moved from Tokyo to Kanagawa Prefecture and now writes from home. We spoke with Mr. Okura about film screenwriting, novels, his hometown of Kyoto, and Kanagawa.

—First of all, congratulations on the huge success of "Detective Conan: The Million Dollar Star"! It has become a record-breaking hit, grossing 15.4 billion yen and attracting over 10.8 million viewers. Please tell us about the thoughts you put into this film.

Thank you, Okura . At this scale, it's already beyond the realm of personal desires, or rather, it's just a matter of whether the people who look forward to the one theatrical film a year will be happy with it.
This is my fourth project, and when I accepted the first one, it wasn't on this scale, so I accepted it relatively easily (laughs), although it was still on the scale of over 6 billion yen.

—In the Detective Conan movie series, the setting of the story often plays an important role. This film is set in Hakodate, but your first film, "Crimson Love Letter," was set in Osaka and Kyoto. You are from Kyoto, so did you have any particular awareness of your hometown being the setting?

Okura: In "Crimson Love Letter," Hattori Heiji, who also appeared in this film, was decided to be the main character, and since he's from Kansai and known as the "Great Detective of the West," it was naturally decided that the story would be set in Kansai. On top of that, we decided to make karuta (Hyakunin Isshu) a key item, and specifically set the location in Kyoto. I used to like Yamamura Misa's suspense series that was broadcast on TV, and it was often set in Kyoto, and there were stories related to Hyakunin Isshu, so that also came to mind. So, it wasn't particularly because it was my hometown. As for the script, I was able to write the dialogue in Kansai dialect from the beginning (laughs).

—Now that we've talked about your hometown, I'd like to ask you about your background as well. Have you always been a fan of mysteries since you were a child?

Okura: I get asked that a lot, but when I was a child, I didn't read books at all. Everyone around me would tell me to read, which only made me read less (laughs). However, in my third year of high school, I had a really great teacher who taught me modern Japanese, and I thought, "If he recommends it, maybe I should give it a try," and that's how I picked up a book by Jiro Akagawa. After that, I went to Tokyo for university, and the commute was long. I started reading again to kill time, and that's when I picked up an Agatha Christie book at a used bookstore because it looked interesting. And it was so interesting! That's when I really got hooked on reading. However, since I started with mysteries, there are a lot of masterpieces in the history of Japanese literature that I haven't read (laughs).

—What are some of your favorite works? For example, if you could only take one book with you somewhere, which one would it be?

Okura: Hmm, there are many works I like... But if I had to choose something that represents my roots, it would be Seishi Yokomizo's "Gokumon Island." I was shocked, thinking, "Is there really such a well-crafted mystery out there!" and "I could never imitate that."
Before reading "Gokumonjima," I had read classic mystery novels by authors like Agatha Christie and Edogawa Ranpo, and since "Gokumonjima," I've also enjoyed more recent works like Hideo Yokoyama's "64," but if I had to choose just one book, it would have to be this one.

—What was the process that led you, Ms. Okura, to go from being a reader to becoming a mystery writer?

Okura: I've always had an otaku-like personality; when I like something, I can't rest until I've delved deep into it. So, after getting hooked on mysteries in my first year of university, I think I read about two books a week, and over 100 books a year. During my university life, which was a year longer than most people, I read over 500 books. After reading that many, I started to want to try writing myself. But I wasn't absolutely determined to become a writer, so when I graduated, I did proper job hunting and joined a company. Nobody believes me now, but I actually changed jobs once and worked as a company employee for 5 or 6 years (laughs).
However, I guess being a company employee just wasn't for me. After the first year or two, I thought, "I can't do this anymore!" I had been writing novels little by little after work, but I started writing seriously around the time I changed jobs. You could even say I changed jobs in order to write seriously.

But when I actually decided to write, I didn't even know how to fill out manuscript paper, so I happened to find a novel writing course and enrolled in it. The instructor was a famous author who had also won the Edogawa Rampo Prize, and he read and edited the novels I had written. He gave me positive feedback and encouraged me to start submitting my work to awards. After about two years, I won a newcomer's award for novels, had a book published, and then started receiving more requests, which led me to where I am today. I think I followed a fairly conventional path as a mystery writer.

—It seems like you became a writer very quickly!

Even though I'm Okura , I failed to win an award eight times in two years (laughs). I wrote 10 books in two years, and finally won an award with my ninth. The normal pace is said to be one book a year, so although two years may seem short, it took quite a long time in terms of the number of books.

Books sold better back then, and the situation was better, but if I had known about the inner workings of the publishing industry—where many people who debut don't last—I probably wouldn't have become an author. I wouldn't have quit my job without a plan. In that sense, I guess I've been lucky to have continued this far (laughs).

—In your works, Mr. Okura, you have many memorable and unique characters, such as Kenji Gito in "Shinigami-san" and Fukuya in the "Fukuya Police Inspector Series." How do you come up with the ideas for these kinds of characters?

Actually , I don't start by thinking about the characters. I start by thinking about the background, or the "framework." The characters then emerge from that framework.

For example, the "Detective Fukui" series was inspired by the 1970s American TV drama "Columbo." I loved this drama since I was a child and wondered if I could somehow turn it into a novel, so I started writing. Columbo is a middle-aged man, so if I just wrote it as is, it would be a rip-off. I thought about how to drastically change the impression, and I made the protagonist a woman. In this way, I had the framework of Columbo, and the character of Fukui came later.

Left: Inspector Fukuya's return visit (Tokyo Sogensha) Center: Inspector Fukuya's greeting (Tokyo Sogensha) Right: Inspector Fukuya's report (Tokyo Sogensha)
Left: Shinigami-san (Gentosha Bunko) Right: Shinigami-san: The Hated Detective (Gentosha Bunko)

Since the characters aren't created from the outset, they change as the story progresses. I like watching foreign dramas, and long-running series are adept at researching viewer demands and constantly changing the characters. Japanese dramas usually end after around 10 episodes, so they stick with the initial character settings until the end, but dramas that use this approach often go on for over 100 episodes, and they become quite interesting from around episode 60 onwards. This is possible because the characters aren't rigidly fixed.

Sometimes, when an unexpected part of a story is written on a whim and the reader enjoys it, I tend to elaborate on that part in the next installment. So, I think the characters change and develop from the beginning of a series to the latest one. I hate to say it, but I think if the world is interesting, the characters can be added later (laughs).

—Writing scripts for works with an already established world, like "Detective Conan," and creating a work where you build the world from scratch—these require completely different approaches. What is your experience like in reality?

Okura: First of all, the process for writing novels and screenplays is different, so you need to switch between them. In addition, Conan is unique in that there are many things that "only Conan can do." The distribution and placement of characters in Conan is done very well. The mystery genre also has a wide base. There is always a character that fits what you want to do. For example, if you want to make a story about theft, there is Kid, if you want to make a political intrigue story there is the Black Organization, for a spy story there is Amuro, and for a straightforward mystery, there is Conan and Kogoro.

Especially with theatrical film scripts, the characters are already decided, and once you use those characters, you can pretty much do anything else, so it's an easy approach. Earlier, when I was talking about characters, I said that novels start from a framework, but Conan scripts are the exact opposite approach.

However, even if the approach to developing the plot is completely opposite, once you start writing, it's essentially the same, isn't it? As I mentioned earlier, the process or technique is different, though.

—This may overlap with questions about "Crimson Love Letter," but do you think the place and environment you currently live in influence your work?

Okura: I haven't written a story set in the place where I currently live yet. But if possible, I would like to actually visit the place I use as the setting. For this Conan story, I went to Hakodate, which is the setting, and the script definitely changed before and after I went. I gained so much from the atmosphere and the stories I heard from the locals. Especially in mysteries, the character and customs of the people of the place are deeply involved.

—Finally, could you tell us about your impressions and the appeal of Kanagawa Prefecture from the perspective of mystery writer Takahiro Okura?

Okura: I've only lived in Kanagawa for about two years, and I'm a real homebody, so to be honest, I don't know it very well (laughs). Kanagawa is really big, isn't it? I used to go camping in Tanzawa with friends a lot, and that's in Kanagawa too, right? It has mountains and lakes like Hakone, the sea like Odawara and Shonan, and glittering places like Minato Mirai, so it seems like you could do all sorts of things in terms of a mystery. I'd like to make use of it in my actual work.

However, I don't usually use real place names in my novels. Because murders and things like that happen, some people would be happy to hear place names mentioned, and others wouldn't (laughs).