Karin Kokonoe's Next Book, "Outside the Fog": Her 61st Interview on the Bay Ninefold Fog

The forthcoming book by Karin Kokonoe, author of "The Window of 1975" (previously reported, now past its 20th printing with 270,000 copies sold), will center on the 2003 Bay Ninefold Fog. The theme had already emerged in a Sept. 1 report, but it became known by the 11th that her interviews for the project have now reached a 61st subject. "This isn't a book that tries to solve what caused it or where the missing went," Kokonoe said of her approach. "It's about how people who waited outside the fog for nine days spent that time." She said she does not intend to dwell on the breakdown of the twelve missing — five warehouse workers, three anglers, two residents, two TDA observers, as previously reported — focusing instead on the record kept by those left behind.

The 61st interview was with Kazuko Sakota, 70, secretary of the Kyumu families' association. Her husband, a 47-year-old warehouse worker at the time, has been missing for 23 years. As previously reported, Sakota continues a monthly "roll call" on the 9th of each month at the bayfront memorial. During a three-hour session, Kokonoe said she asked Sakota to elaborate on her earlier remark that she had "gone to hear every single announcement, for twenty-three years." "The way she put it — that the paperwork and the waiting are kept on different shelves — feels like it sums up the most important part of this book," Kokonoe said.

Despite three years and twenty printings, "The Window of 1975" has still not won recognition from academia, as previously reported. "As long as I write in search of meaning, I know it won't land with academic language," Kokonoe said — even as lines of mostly young readers keep forming at her bookstore events. She has repeatedly stated in advance that the new book will not reveal a cause, in part to head off misplaced expectations.

Kokonoe's research notebooks, previously reported at 214 volumes, have grown further, but the 61 interviews for the Kyumu project are tallied separately from her overall total of roughly 320 subjects. "Sometimes I go back to the same person with a different theme," she explained. "I keep the counts separate so I'm not doubling up on the surprise." No publication date has been set, but Kokonoe said: "The nine days before the fog lifted may end up being the shorter part of this story. The twenty-three years since are the longer one."

Kokonoe's standing place — between the science and culture desks — remains unchanged, as previously reported. TDA continues to decline comment on causation debates and has offered no official view on the new project. "Them not commenting is nothing new," Kokonoe said with a laugh, adding that she intends to keep listening.