Hiroshi Yamamoto and the Academy of Outrageous Books

Hiroshi Yamamoto sheds light on his role as chairman of The Academy of Outrageous Books in an amusing interview with Alex Martin of the Japan Times.

Yamamoto traces his interest in such books to one published in the 1980s by Toru Kawajiri that interpreted the prophecies of 16th-century French seer Nostradamus — a favorite of many “outrageous” theorists worldwide.

In his 1998 publication, “Tondemo Nostoradamus-bon no Sekai” (”The World of Outrageous Nostradamus Books”), Yamamoto describes how Kawajiri picked out the French word “demeurance” from one of Nostradamus’ prophesies, scrambled the letters to create the phrase “uran de ceme,” and thereby “proved” the seer had prophesied the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

I can’t say much for Toru Kawajiri’s exploration of Nostradamus, but I think he’d make a terrific Countdown contestant.