The Untold Story of the Birth of Aritsune Toyoda's "Time Cannon Project" - A Night of Creation at the Crossroads of Joke and Science (Late 1960s)

The Untold Story of the Birth of Aritsune Toyoda's "Time Cannon Project" - A Night of Creation at the Crossroads of Joke and Science (Late 1960s)

In the late 1960s, the world of Japanese science fiction was in its "adolescent" period. As postwar reconstruction settled down and a future-oriented mood prevailed throughout society, young writers gathered at night to spend their time drinking and discussing. In the taverns of Shinjuku and Shibuya, Tokyo, people such as Yasutaka Tsutsui, Sakyo Komatsu, Taku Baimura, and Aritsune Toyoda gathered to laugh at the boundary between reality and fantasy and to sow the seeds of creativity. In the midst of this excitement, Aritsune Toyoda's masterpiece "Time Cannon Project" (1969) was born.

This work is known for its bizarre setting in which a military research institute shoots out time like a cannonball. However, the idea did not originate in scientific theory, but in a drunken conversation one night. When Toyoda joked to his friend, "If we could shoot time, the war might end," Sakyo Komatsu replied, "No, if we shoot time, we will destroy the future itself. This casual exchange later crystallized into a novel.

At the time, Japan was preparing for the 1970 World Exposition, and while praising science and technology as "hope for the future," people were also beginning to worry about its uncontrollable power. The Time Cannon Project" reflects the atmosphere of that era perfectly. Behind the light style, the author sharply pointed out that science is simultaneously a human dream and a form of insanity.

Despite his knowledge of science, Toyoda is known for his style that emphasizes humor and satire. For him, science fiction is a "free playground of knowledge" that lies between academia and jokes, and this attitude fostered the diversity of Japanese science fiction. Behind the birth of "Time Cannon Project" was the richness of the times, when intellectuals and writers talked and laughed night after night while envisioning the future.