In an essay for Random House, Mitchell wrote: "I knew I wanted to be a writer since I was a kid, but until I came to Japan to live in 1994 I was too easily distracted to do much about it.
U jednom eseju za Random House Mitchell je napisao: "Znao sam da želim biti pisac otkad sam bio dijete, no sve dok nisam došao u Japan 1994. bio sam previše rastresen da nešto učinim.