To clarify, it’s not a return to the land itself but a return to a relationship with that land. There’s a big difference. Sometimes I’ll see people who come back from living abroad turning oddly patriotic （in some cases even ultranationalistic） as a kind of backlash, perhaps, but that’s not true in my case. I just came to consider more deeply the meaning of my being a Japanese writer, and the place of that identity.
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My works have now been translated into over fifty different languages. I’m proud of this accomplishment, since it means that my books are appreciated in the context of many cultures. As a writer this makes me very happy, and also proud. This doesn’t mean, though, that I see what I’ve done as “right,” and I’m not going to claim that. Again, apples and oranges. Even now I’m still developing as a writer, with the scope, maybe, or potential, for growth still （nearly） unlimited.
So where, I ask myself, do you think that potential lies?
It’s found inside me, I believe. First, I established myself as a writer within Japan, then turned my attention abroad, and widened the scope of my readership. And after this, I think, I will go even more deeply down inside myself, probing even further and deeper within. For me that’s a new, unknown land, the final frontier.
I don’t know if I can effectively open up that frontier, but as I said, it’s a wonderful thing to have a goal like this for yourself. No matter how old you are, no matter where you live.