On December 31st,
2000, we managed to catch up to Peter Hoflich and drill him with some questions
for the site.
Interviewer: What
is your name, age, other information.
Peter Hofilch: My name is Peter Hoflich, I live in Japan but I was born
in Canada. I have O blood type, I like all kinds of food, I like
travelling and all kinds of music. I am an English teacher and I write
fiction, criticism, and other stuff. I was born in the spring before the
Summer of Love, 1969, and I have a pet cat. Zorro.
I: That's very interesting. What brought you to Japan.
PH: Ha ha. (Scratches his head) My wife Naoko, a.k.a. Miki,
brought me to Japan, I guess. I met her in Taiwan, where I lived for 3
years. I was studying Chinese there and having a nice time being away from
frosty Canada and just being a young and adventurous. New food, new
people, new language, new culture. I met Naoko, we both needed a place to
go to after our sojourn in Taiwan, and Japan seemed more interesting to me than
Canada. Interesting, since I knew nothing about it. Interesting
also since we get all these images of Japan from the media but none of us
really have first hand knowledge of it. I mean, there is a Chinatown in
every major North American city, but as North Americans our relevant knowledge
of Japanese people is limited to tales of Japanese internment in the
1940s. Now that I am in Japan, I'm glad that I'm here. Great food,
great music, great film, all the amenities of North American living, proximity
to the rest of Asia... and Hawaii. My in-laws are great. I learn
something new every day. I have a nice life here. So many positive
things, so few complaints...
I: It's really that good?
PH: Well, life anywhere has it's ups and downs, but I'm having a good
time and accomplishing things.
I: Good. Tell me about your homepage.
PH: Well, this is my homepage. I started it this year thinking
that I wanted to put some of my creative writing out on the net for people to
look at if they were so inclined. I also wanted to have a forum to
describe my experiences in Japan. At first I thought that would be
travel, but nowadays it's turning more into the music and film angle. I
watch a video every night at dinnertime. I do this instead of watching
TV, since I don't understand Japanese TV and am not in any way interested in
it, and I am glad that I don't have the distraction of English-language TV
since catching up on film history and broadening my knowledge of film is more
important to me than seeing something trendy. So I put the film reviews
of the videos I see on the web. With the music, I have access to a lot of
great Japanese underground music, both in terms of CDs and live
performances. So I report and review about that and people who want to
know about obscure Japanese bands can find information on my site. Some
of these people have contacted me, so I know I'm helping out in a small way...
I: What about the creative writing angle?
PH: Well, the ironic thing is that while I created the site in part to
showcase my creative writing, the truth is that I now have less time for the
writing itself. The page has become a bit of an obssession. The way I
look at it, though, is that no matter what I am writing, it's someting. I
remember some story I heard once where some famous writer gets paid a lot to
speak to a group of creative writing students at a seminar somewhere. He
comes out and says "Do you want to be writers? Then go out there and
write." End of speech, he walks offstage, goes home, and continues
his novel. It might be an urban myth, but it seems like it could have
happened. Anyway, with the writing, I did finish up some projects this
year, and I have whittled down my unfinished stories down to a mere
handful. I'll get those done soon and embark on something new. I
have some ideas for novels, so I have to think about how I am going to approach
that in the new year, new millenium, whatever...
I: What are some good movies you've seen this year?
PH: I don't want to talk about that, it's all on my website. This
year I did make some great film discoveries as well as some musical
discoveries. I saw the Sopranos first season, which was great, and I also
watched whoe Twin Peaks again, which was fantastic.
I: Speaking of music, why do you like Henry Rollins so much?
PH: Wow, that was from left field! Well, I like his attitude, I
like his music, I like his style, I like his lyrice... well, most of his good
lyrics anyway. He's a smart guy. He has branched out into spoken
word and the written word, he has published or distributed books by worthy
authors that he likes whose books are not readily available, he has a
mission. He's sharp and has a way with words.
I: Do you know anybody who's famous?
PH: A guy I went to school with always wanted to be an actor. When
we were kids, we used to read comic books and watch Gilligan's Island
together. I think I knew him best in late primary school. He later
went off to Hollywood. He was in a few B-movies. Recently he has
become a screenwriter. He wrote the screenplay to the X-Men. He's
probably the most famous person I know, but you wouldn't recognize him on the
street. I don't think I'll ever see that guy again...
I: Well, it's getting late, you probably want to close up the
shop. Maybe we can continue this interview some time later?
PH: Sure any time. Let me know
I: Yeah, OK. Take it easy, and have a happy new year.
PH: Yeah, you too. Here's to 2001, the year we discover the
monolith on the moon!
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