My afternoon with Keiji Fujimoto, Part 2
By the time I was drowning in the introspection that I can barely spell, I realized we should go to the meeting spot for our interview -- a cafeteria at Sophia University. Keiji and I stood out like sore thumbs. Keiji is a tall, lanky man who looked like he hadn’t slept in a week, and I looked like a lost 12-year-old.
Just as I started to question whether we were going to get kicked out for looking suspicious, our interviewee showed up.
Suzuka Hirota walked over with a smile on her face. She and Keiji exchanged greetings. I stood there nodding and smiling. Suzuka said that she can’t speak English. Perfect, I thought, this is a chance for me to get familiar with working with a translator.
She started talking with Keiji, describing the events that happened during the earthquake. She spoke about the confusion and chaos of the first day. He relayed all of the information to me.
“Could you ask her, like, what she did after that? Like, what was going on after that,” I stumbled through my question like a rookie.
“Why don’t you just ask her what happened the next day?” Keiji asked.
Sure Keiji, if you want to streamline my nervous rambling into a coherent question, go for it.
He started speaking to her again. The conversation looked like it was going well. My frail ego started showing itself, and I started to get jealous, like the third wheel. I was hoping Keiji could teach me things about interviewing, not just hijack it completely. Once you take away language from Bowen West, he immediately loses any charm he had.
I continued to ask questions through Keiji; despite my unneeded presence, I still had a job to do. I asked another question, and Suzuka started talking before Keiji could translate. I interrupted her and jokingly called her out on the lie that she didn’t know English. She started laughing and shaking her head no. Keiji explained that she can understand a little bit of English.
“You are in Japan, you should know how to speak Japanese,” Keiji joked.
We were all laughing for a moment. It was a small instant of connection but it was enough to get me out of my funk. This interview was like any other. Keiji wasn’t a wall. He was a bridge.
Interviewing necessitates the ability to ask questions. It’s a craft that requires language, and more importantly it demands listening. A language gap doesn’t mean you aren’t an active player in the interview. It’s like when you are a little kid and your parent would let you steer the car while they controlled the gas and brake. Your parent could clearly drive without you, but by giving you the wheel, they let you connect with the road in a way you hadn’t before.