Poetry
When I left Japan, my tutor gave me some valuable advice: "Fuyuko, when you are in America, forget about your first language. Learn English first, and then come back to Japanese, slowly and carefully."
At the Creative Writing Course at the University of Iowa, I had to do short stories and essays for homework, always with a specific theme: ‘write a story with a first person narrator who is not trustworthy’ or ‘write a scene describing how hot it is without using the word ‘hot’.’
I had nothing but my poor English to hold on to and this is how I developed my own style with just a few simple words and a world of meaning behind them.
I started to write tanka and haiku in my native language at the age of 40. Slowly and carefully I returned to my mother tongue.
Around 1000 of my Japanese tanka, haiku and free verse poems have been published in Japan. A small selection has been translated into English and presented on this website.
At the Creative Writing Course at the University of Iowa, I had to do short stories and essays for homework, always with a specific theme: ‘write a story with a first person narrator who is not trustworthy’ or ‘write a scene describing how hot it is without using the word ‘hot’.’
I had nothing but my poor English to hold on to and this is how I developed my own style with just a few simple words and a world of meaning behind them.
I started to write tanka and haiku in my native language at the age of 40. Slowly and carefully I returned to my mother tongue.
Around 1000 of my Japanese tanka, haiku and free verse poems have been published in Japan. A small selection has been translated into English and presented on this website.