Message from the author
1980s.
El Paso, New Mexico, USA
In the spring of the year I graduated from university, I visited the embankment of the Rio Grande River. The towns, and the river itself, often appear in Westerns. Upon crossing the river, I found myself in the Mexican town of Juarez.
On the opposite bank, I spotted many young Mexicans sitting around. “They’re waiting for their chance to enter America,” my American companion informed me. They had only to cross the river to set foot into a country of wealth and prosperity. Working in America was their dream. Being Japanese, the whole idea was difficult for me to comprehend.
From that time on, immigration to the US from Latin America (including Mexico) has led to various issues. Illegal immigrants take American jobs, and there are crimes that do occur. On the other hand, without the cheap labor force, the US would be in a bind. There were a ton of contradictions to unpack. The one truth everyone could agree on was that Mexico was poor, and the US was rich. What was behind this wealth gap in a place with the same landscape and climate? Was it the state or the people at fault? Perhaps it was both. I just didn’t know at the time.
This state of affairs has persisted for nearly half a century.
2017.
“I’ll build a wall on the Mexican border!”
Partially on the back of this statement, Donald J. Trump became the 45th president of the United States.
The next year, the “Caravan” became a hot button issue. A group of refugees from the poorest countries in Latin America, their homelands full of gang violence and corrupt politics. They traveled a long way towards in search of better lives. That number swelled to the thousands mark before the group reached the border.
The swelling ranks of refugees all over the world.
The problems that come with illegal immigrants and refugees are spreading to EU countries. While asylum seekers escape from civil wars and dictatorships in Africa and the Middle East in order to protect themselves and their families, the tax burden regarding refugees and the security concerns are sparking political instability across the nations of the EU. The UK’s departure from the EU was also triggered in part by the rise in immigration.
Why do people from the Middle East and Africa aim for Europe? One reason is the political instability in their countries of origin. Many people have been killed or injured due to civil strife. Another reason is the wealth gap, which has grown ever larger over the past century. People from poor countries tend to flow into rich countries. But how does this gap arise to begin with?
Other problems include high crime rates, drug cartels, and low quality education in their homelands. Moreover, corruption is widespread, and the public doesn’t trust in their governments or politicians. The police and the military are typically no better either.
Currently, the issues of immigration are spreading across the globe.
Everyone loves their homeland.
Many refugees try to cross the Mediterranean from Africa and the Middle East by boat, or to get to the EU on foot. And many lives are lost, including women and children.
It’s a matter of course—everyone loves the homeland where they were born and raised. So why must they abandon their homelands and head towards foreign lands, risking their lives in the process? It’s not as though those foreign countries will welcome them in with open arms.
“It’s in search of a better life.” “It’s to avoid the civil war in my homeland. I want to live.” “I want my family to be safe and secure.”
There may be various reasons, but the foremost is the sense that one’s life is always in danger in the homeland, and that there is no hope in sight for oneself or one’s children.
For a homeland where the children can safe and sound.
Immigrants should not have to abandon the countries where they were born and raised. They want to live in their homelands, and they want their homelands to be places where their children can grow up in safety and security. To be places their children can take pride in. They aren’t escaping to other countries, so much as they’re seeking a nation that’s easier to live in. As such, reconstructing their homelands is the best solution to the immigration/refugees crisis. No one would abandon a home-nation they can take pride in, and where they can raised their children with peach of mind.
We shouldn’t be creating walls. We need to be revitalizing people’s homelands, and tearing down the walls in our hearts.
A new democratic state.
Companies, mercenaries, scientists and economists joining forces to create a new nation, based on advanced AI. Wiping out drug cartels and defeating the dictatorship, and then aiming for a more rational and livable democratic country by way of AI. It is the establishment of a new nation that could not be accomplished during the Arab Spring. This book depicts one example of that process coming to fruition.
1980年代。
アメリカ、ニューメキシコ州、エルパソ。
大学を卒業した年の春、僕はリオグランデ川の堤防にいた。西部劇によく出てくる町と川だ。川を渡るとメキシコの町、ファレス。
対岸の土手の上には、所在なさげに座っている多くの若いメキシコ人がいた。「彼らは、アメリカに来るチャンスを狙っている」と、一緒にいたアメリカ人が教えてくれた。メキシコ側から見ると、川を渡ると富める国、アメリカだ。アメリカで働くことは夢なのだ。日本人の僕にとって、理解できない光景、考えだった。
当時から、メキシコをふくむ中南米からアメリカへの密入国者が問題になっていた。不法入国者がアメリカ人の職を奪う。犯罪が多発する。しかし、安い労働力なくしてはアメリカも困る。矛盾は山積していた。誰もが認める真実は、メキシコは貧しい国、アメリカは豊かな国ということだ。
陸続きの同じ土地、気候なのに、その貧富の差はなぜできるのか。国民が悪いのか、国が悪いのか。それとも両方か。当時の僕には分らなかった。
この状況は半世紀近くたった現在も変わっていない。
2017年。
「メキシコとの国境に壁を作る」
この公約とともに、ドナルド・ジョン・トランプ第４５代アメリカ合衆国大統領が誕生した。
翌年には「キャラバン」が問題になった。中南米の最貧国から、アメリカに押し寄せる難民の群れである。祖国はギャングの横暴と汚職政治が蔓延している。彼らは生きるため、子供たちによりよい生活をさせるために、アメリカを目指して長い道のりを旅してくる。その数は、国境に到着するまでに、数千人に膨れ上がった。
世界に広まる難民の群れ。
「不法移民」「難民」の問題は、EU諸国にも広がっている。内戦と独裁政治が続くアフリカや中東の自国から、自分や家族を守るために逃げてくる。その難民に対する税の負担、治安の悪化は、ＥＵ諸国に政治の不安定化を引き起こしている。
イギリスがＥＵを離脱するきっかけになったのも、増え続ける移民がある。
なぜ中東、アフリカの人たちは、ヨーロッパを目指すのか。第一の理由は自国の政情不安だ。内戦で明け暮れ、多くの国民に死傷者が出ている。
貧富の差は今世紀になって、ますます大きくなった。貧しい国の国民は、富める国へと流入する。
なぜ、この差は生じるのか。
祖国の犯罪の多発。麻薬カルテル。国民の教育。
国にも大いに問題がある。汚職が蔓延し、国民も政府、政治家を信頼していない。警察、軍にも同様に問題があるのだろう。
現在、この移民の問題は、世界に広がっている。
誰もが祖国を愛している。
アフリカ、中東からＥＵ諸国を目指して、船や徒歩で多くの難民が地中海を渡ろうとした。そして、子供や女性を含め、多くの命が失われている。
誰もが自分が生まれ、育った祖国を愛しているはずだ。なぜ彼らは、命をかけてまで祖国を捨て、他国を目指すのか。その他国では、決して喜んで受け入れられるわけではいない。
「より良い生活を求めて」「祖国の内乱を避け、生きるために」「家族を安全に暮らさせたい」
様々な理由はあるだろうが、祖国にいると命の危険を感じる、自分や子どもたちに一片の希望も見い出せないことが第一だろう。
子どもたちが安全に豊かに暮らせる祖国を。
移民、難民たちも生まれ育った国を捨てたくないはずである。祖国に住み続けたいはずだ。子供たちが安全に育ち、誇れる祖国が欲しいはずだ。
他国に逃げるより、より住みやすい国家を求めている。
「祖国の再建」こそが、「難民、移民問題」の最良の解決方法ではないだろうか。「誇りの持てる祖国」「安心して子供を育てることの出来る国家」であれば、祖国を捨て、他の国に移り住もうと考える国民はいない。
「壁」を作るより、「新しい祖国」を創り、「心の壁」を取り除くことこそ、求められている。
新しい民主国家を。
新しい国家を作るために、企業、傭兵、科学者、経済学者たちが動き出した。AIに基づく、新しい国づくりだ。麻薬ギャングを一掃し、独裁政権を倒す。その後は、AIによるより合理的で、住みやすい民主国家を目指す。「アラブの春」で果たせなかった新国家の樹立だ。
『ザ・ウォール』は、一つのそうした過程を描いている。
Through this book, therefore, Takashima is expressing the hope that a more humane immigration and refugee system exists worldwide, including in the United States, where he lived earlier in his life, not too far from the border with Mexico in southern California.
-Robert D. Eldridge > read more
About the Author
1949: Born in Okayama Prefecture
1973: Graduated from Keio University’s Technology department
1975: Graduated from Keio University’s Engineering graduate student course; became a research worker at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute
1978: Studied abroad in the University of California
In 1978, an article of his was carried by "Scientific Instruments vol.49"(a publication of the American Institute of Physics).The title of the article was Drive Characteristics of a Fast Movable Limiter in the JT-60 Tokamak (by T.Takashima, M.Ohta, and M.Shimizu), Division of Large Tokamak Development, Tokai Establishment, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, Tokai-Mura, Naka-Gun, Ibaraki-Ken, Japan (received 26 August 1977; in final form, 17 October 1977). A pair of fast-acting movable limiters are to be installed in the vacuum chamber of the JT-60 tokamak being designed at JAERI. Their purpose is to suppress skin current in the plasma column. They should travel across the vacuum chamber over a stroke of about 1 m in 0.1 s during the build-up phase of the plasma current. Each movable limiter system consists of the drive system, a vacuum seal, a bearing usable at high temperature in a vacuum, and a molybdenum rail limiter head. For the drive a hydraulic mechanism is used with servovalves to control the oil flow. To develop satisfactory movable limiters for JT-60, the full-scale model was constructed and tested. Overall tests with the model showed high reliability, reproducibility, controllability, and safety of the movable limiter. The drive pattern measured is in good agreement with that simulated. The movable limiters should prevent the skin effect of plasma current in the current rising phase and also provide information on particle diffusion during the flat-top phase of plasma current.
1995: Became a member of the Mystery Writers of Japan
2000: Became a member of the Japan Writer's Association
2001: Became a society director at the National Coaching School Cooperative
2007: Midnight Eagle received a film adaptation (Shochiku-Universal Pictures), which was reviewed by Matt Zoller Seitz in The New York Times
Awards
1979: Atomic Energy Society of Japan Technical Prize
1990: Yasushi Inoue & North Japan Literary Prize for Homecoming
1994: Modern Mystery Novel Newcomer Award for Meltdown
1999: Suntory Mystery Award, Grand-prix and Reader Prize for Intruder
2006: Iue Cultural Prize
2011: Kobe Culture Award
2017: Energy Forum Award for Miracle of Fukushima II Nuclear Power Plant
Why Crowdfunding?
Tetsuo Takashima already completed The Wall, the novel centering around the US-Mexico border wall and the problems attending the refugees from Central America. It was published in Japan in April of 2020 by Gentosha. However, Takashima originally wrote The Wall in the US. His true dream is to have the novel made into a Hollywood movie. One of his novels, Midnight Eagle, was adapted into a movie by Universal Pictures and released in 2007, but it was a Japanese movie.
We have begun making our pitch to Hollywood, but talented Hollywood workers are afraid of suspected plagiarism and refuse to accept works not published in the United States. That’s why we moved to get The Wall published in the US. The content of the novel was deemed great, and the published praised Takashima for the theme. But there was one big barrier to publishing his novels in America—the necessary translation fee. We want to get The Wall translated and published in the US, and crowdfunding will help with that.
There are two other big reasons:
1. To reach readers who might not otherwise find this book from among the deluge of books published every day.
2. To give readers a chance to pre-order the book in order to help with manufacturing costs.
Rewards
All funds will go straight to the translation effort. The rewards of this project consist mainly of manuscript data, sending out the book, and reports.
[ Details will be announced later. ]
Project Timeline
June 2020
Story translated, cover illustrated, everything edited and proofread, layout crafted, printing process organized.
August 2020
Color-proofing and final check. Books begin printing.
October 2020
Books will begin shipping out to you. Coloring book will be emailed out. The Wall will be on your bookshelf.
Risk & Challenge
We have two reasons to launch The Wall with a Makuake:
a) to reach readers who might not otherwise find this book from among the deluge of books published every day, and
b) to get a novel by Tetsuo Takashima, an excellent Japanese writer, translated.
When you back this project on Makuake, you’re essentially making a pledge to support the book.
The only risk is potential delays in the publication process.
As you may be aware, publishing a book is a big project, from its conception to the editing, design, proofreading, printing, binding, and distribution process. There are many places where days can be gained or lost.