30 Minutes Over Oregon tells the true, powerful story of reconciliation after war. In WWII, a Japanese pilot bombed the continental U.S.—the only enemy to do so—and returns 20 years later to offer a heartfelt apology. This children’s nonfiction book, illustrated by author and illustrator Melissa Iwai, blends history with beautiful watercolor artwork where she captures the moments of healing and forgiveness. She shares insights into the creation process from her research trip to the Oregon Coast to the challenges of bringing this significant story to life.
Transcript
Dirty Freehub 0:39
30 minutes over Oregon is a fascinating story, and I feel like not a lot of people actually know about it necessarily. Maybe in just like a few sentences. Do you want to give us a quick little synopsis of the story and the kind of artwork in the story?
Melissa Iwai 0:52
Yeah, Well, yeah, it’s an amazing story. true story. And basically, during World War Two, in 1942, a Japanese fighter pilot named Noble Fujita bombed the Oregon coast. And there were no casualties. Not much damage. So it never made it to the National news. But what’s amazing is that 20 years later, in 1962, the town of Brookings, which is the town near the bomb site, they invited Noble to come to their town and they welcomed him with a hero’s welcome. And he apologized for what he did and they forgave him. And it’s just an amazing story about peace and forgiveness and the capacity of two World War enemies to not only make up, but to create this meaningful, long lasting relationship, which lasted over decades until his death.
Dirty Freehub 1:56
Wow, that’s fascinating.
Melissa Iwai 1:59
Yeah, It’s a beautiful story. I actually went there when while I was researching the first time I went to the bomb site. It’s in the mountains about half an hour from Brookings.
Dirty Freehub 2:12
I’m going to jump to one of the other questions because on that topic, like given that it is like a nonfiction book, how did how did you make the artwork come alive? Like, especially like what, researching and people, places and things. Did you meet along the way for that process?
Melissa Iwai 2:24
Well, this is a nonfiction picture book, so I really felt it was so important for me to get the illustrations correct. Historically correct. And because it deals with real people, I wanted to get the likenesses. And I was really worried because I did a lot of research on my and I live in New York, so I went to the New York Public Library and did a lot of online research and researched about World War Two pilots. but it was really hard to get a feel of the environment. So I took a trip, a research trip out to Brookings. Before I went. I contacted local newspaper, the Curry pilot, and the people there were so nice and they let me go look in their archives and that newspaper covered all the events from 1962, even in the forties, actually the forties, all the way through the nineties. So I just had this whole trove of information was so helpful to see reference for what the main players look like and what their clothes looked like and what Brookings looked like in the sixties. And then at the end, when I was driving up the coast to see my dad, I was able to see what the Oregon coast looked like at sunrise and see what the light looks like. And I saw the lighthouse that is featured in the story as well. So I don’t think I could have done this book if I hadn’t made that trip out there. It was so valuable.
Dirty Freehub 4:07
That’s amazing. Yeah. The Oregon coast is very unique and there’s a lot of, like historical gems like this. Tell me a little bit about the making of the book. How did you like work with the author? And like, I mean, you would explain a little bit about visiting the coast, but what are some your inspiration with that and how did all that process take place with the creation of it?
Melissa Iwai 4:27
I should preface it by saying that one of the huge misconceptions about my industry children’s books is that the author and illustrator work together during this creative process, and that’s not the case at all.
Dirty Freehub 4:41
Oh, really?
Melissa Iwai 4:42
Yeah, so I wanted to make that clear because what what happens is the I get hired by the publisher and I work with the editor. And so she had the manuscript that Mark Tyler Nobleman, the author, sold to the publisher, and the editors choose the illustrator to go with the manuscript. So
Dirty Freehub 5:06
Oh, interesting. Okay.
Melissa Iwai 5:08
yeah,
Dirty Freehub 5:08
Yeah.
Melissa Iwai 5:09
I just get the manuscript and I immediately said I wanted to do it after I read the story. I felt like I had a connection to it. so I work on my books for about nine months and I never work with the author, and sometimes I don’t even meet them.
Dirty Freehub 5:30
Whoa.
Melissa Iwai 5:31
But in this case, because it’s nonfiction and I wanted to do more fact checking, I asked my editor if it was okay to contact the author. He gave me some more information there was that aspect to it, but the whole creative process was just. My cell phone in collaboration with my editors. And then after the book was published, I met I got to meet more.
Dirty Freehub 5:56
Oh, wow. Very cool.
Melissa Iwai 5:58
I did all my research and I do sketches from my research, and then I develop what’s called a book dummy, which is kind of like a storyboard of how the book will go and working out the page, change at page turns and designing the layouts, whether they’re double page spreads or pages or spot illustrations and and where the text goes. And that really impacts the pacing of the story and where you turn the page and the illustrator does all of that. I worked on that and at each stage I get it approved by the creative team. And then when that’s all approved, then I did the final things and then turned in my work. And then it takes a year where the book was printed. So it’s a it’s a whole process.
Dirty Freehub 6:53
Yeah. And honestly, too, like a whole year for, a children’s illustration book. that’s a it’s like making a movie.
Melissa Iwai 7:01
It kind of is.
Dirty Freehub 7:02
Yeah.
Melissa Iwai 7:02
And that’s why I love what I do, because there is a lot of that creative freedom. And in this case it’s nonfiction, so it’s not as much about me developing the characters, but setting the stage and as I said, the pacing and everything. It’s kind of like being a director
Dirty Freehub 7:21
Mm hmm. Totally.
Melissa Iwai 7:22
myself. One of the things that helped me is I got there’s all these technical terms and in the story, in terms of the the plane that he flew, it’s a sea plane that was able to fit into a submarine. That’s how he was able to get that close to the Oregon coast. So I was like, how am I going to how am I going to paint that? And my friend found on eBay this cool plane model, and I bought it and I put it together and I was able to use that as a model for my drawings, which was so helpful because I was able to look at it from different angles like above. And so I had never done something like that.
Dirty Freehub 8:13
Oh, what a good idea, though, to use a little model plane. What was your favorite part about working on this in, like, what was it like seeing all the art come to life after, you know, visiting the coast?
Melissa Iwai 8:22
I think one of the most enjoyable parts really was the research phase and going to Brooklyn, Brooklyn people there and seeing the actual location where this story took place that was so moving to me. And this was the first nonfiction book I’d ever worked on, but it was also a huge challenge and a huge learning curve for myself as an artist because of the fact that it was nonfiction and the audiences for older kids, which I’m not used to, I’m used to doing work for younger kids. So the style was different. I painted it all in watercolor with Ink Line, and I never illustrated a book like that before.
Dirty Freehub 9:13
Yeah.
Melissa Iwai 9:14
So that was a huge, huge challenge for me.
Dirty Freehub 9:19
Yeah. A lot of exploring on that.
Melissa Iwai 9:21
Yeah, So it was so rewarding to actually see the final
Dirty Freehub 9:27
Yeah.
Melissa Iwai 9:27
product because there were times when I was thinking, Oh my God, I’m not going to be able to do it.
Dirty Freehub 9:32
Yeah,
Melissa Iwai 9:34
I had major doubts. Yeah,
Dirty Freehub 9:36
That’s amazing. That’s even more rewarding.
Melissa Iwai 9:39
was rewarding. Yeah, that was for
Dirty Freehub 9:40
totally.
Melissa Iwai 9:40
a while. I didn’t. Artists are usually their own worst credit. I really had to shut that critical voice down because I did make so many mistakes. I painted the same painting so many times. I got it right.
Dirty Freehub 9:55
Where could people learn more about you and your work?
Melissa Iwai 9:58
And you can go to my website. It’s Melissa DIY dot So my name and my last name is I w i and I’m on Instagram, Facebook. I have a YouTube channel also.
Dirty Freehub 10:10
Oh, cool. We’ll have to go give you a follow to those things.
Melissa Iwai 10:14
Thanks.
Dirty Freehub 10:14
Yeah. always admire people like you who can look at something like that and, like, generate something so beautiful from it. I think it’s such a gift.
Melissa Iwai 10:23
Thank you. Thank you so much. I’m so happy that you found the book.
