Written on June 30, 1990 [Permalink]

June 26

A full day of carving. The kimono pattern is still a long way from being finished, but it's more than half done.

Mr. Iwaji called back (surprise! NHK took weeks between their first few phone calls last December). He asked if we were free this afternoon for him to come out and discuss their ideas for the program. He showed up at about five, and stayed till about eight, going over possibilities. The bad news is that he's not from the normal Asahi TV, but from some kind of cable network, and their programs presumably have a much more limited distribution.

It wasn't very clear what kind of program the segment will be part of. I think he called it 'Catch the Wave', which certainly doesn't sound like Edo-era woodblock printing really suits .... He talked about a 10 minute segment, to appear on next Wednesday's program, and said that he would fax us a 'shooting schedule' in the morning, A shooting schedule? What is this going to be, a movie?

June 27

The schedule arrived this morning. Two days of filming, at six locations! He has filled next Friday and Saturday with a packed schedule of events: workshop scenes, interviews with both me and Michiyo, a session with Matsuzaki-san together in his workshop (me learning from the master), filming at the Hoikuen and with Himi and Fumi at home playing with their friends, an English class (including interviews with students), some kind of session at an art gallery in Shibuya, and finally (finally!) four hours of shooting at a kaiseki- ryori cooking school somewhere in Tokyo, where I will be 'studying' how to prepare traditional Japanese festival food. He's serious about this! Something to do with 'foreigners studying Japanese culture', etc. etc. And I thought that the five or six hours that NHK ran us through was tough! All this for a ten minute spot? Maybe they really are going to make a movie.

June 28

Called Matsuzaki-san to confirm that he would be willing to do the TV thing, and he seems OK. His session is scheduled to start at 8:30 on Saturday morning, so I'll have to leave here at 6:30 or so...

Prepared 10 sheets of paper for Friday's demonstration, and put the sumi on 5 of them. I'm going to use Horikawa. I never have been satisfied with the colours on this one, and this extra chance for a session with Matsuzaki-san will give me a chance to get his advice on it.

Stopped by the Kominkan for the Karuta meeting, and dropped off three prints that some of the women had ordered. Somebody brought along a set of wooden cards today, and that was tough! Not only do they use kanji characters instead of kana, but old-fashioned kanji to boot. What made it even more tough, was that we played in one large circle, so I was frantically trying to find each card before everybody else. I got three, which I consider an honourable performance, considering ...

Simon called today, to let us know that his boat was docking Saturday afternoon. This is nice timing, as I'll just be finished up the filming - also in Tokyo. I'll meet him at the pier when we're done, then come home together. He and his girl will probably have the Sunday free, so we'll take the kids down to see his boat, and then hit Ueno park or something.

June 29

A very full day of filming, and very interesting in the contrast with the NHK crew who came last year. Also four guys - a young director, an older cameraman, a sound man, and a driver who waited outside through the whole thing. Just like the NHK affair, the whole show was run by the experienced cameraman, even though the younger guy was the nominal boss. The filming was a carbon copy of last year's stuff: interview, carving, tools, etc., hoikuen pickup, and general 'seikatsu'. The only difference was the addition of an interview with Michiyo, which she unsuccessfully resisted.

The general tone though, was quite different. While the NHK guys came through here like conquerors, ordering us this way and that, these guys behaved like the guests that they were. It was a far more enjoyable experience. The 'interview' also went much better than before, and I am looking forward to seeing how it comes out. The only problem of course, is that next to nobody will see it, as it's going to be aired on the cable network rather than the main network.

Tomorrow, off to Tokyo for the second day.

June 30

So, it's all in the can, and another interesting day. I got to Matsuzaki-san's place at 8:30, and found him sitting like an emperor smack in the center of his workroom, on a brand new zabuton and in very clean workclothes. He and his wife had obviously gone over the entire house from top to bottom cleaning everything in sight. Not a corner was left untouched, and they must have spent every minute of the last couple of days at it. I didn't have the heart to tell him that it would have been better just to leave things as they were - a typical shokunin's workshop. It doesn't make any difference to the finished program though, and I guess they felt more comfortable this way. The filming was no problem. He was a bit nervous, but I'm sure that there's enough good stuff on the tape. I also got some good ideas on the Horikawa colours, although the finished print that he came up with still doesn't feel quite right. They were rushing him quite a bit to get finished, so he didn't have a chance to sit back and work something out.

After we said our thanks and goodbyes, it was off to the gallery in Omotesando. I hadn't really understood why Iwaji-san wanted to include this, but after the meeting, I got the picture. The segment consists of me entering the gallery, asking if I could have an exhibition and sale there, and being (gently) turned away as being not suitable. The camera then follows me leaving the place sadly, and walking down the street 'off into the sunset'. It's kind of phony, as I'm not interested in selling through a gallery, but as I was trying last month to find a place to exhibit, I guess it is a legitimate 'dramatization'.

Next stop, after stuffing a bit lunch, was the cooking school, where a class was in progress, with 8 or 9 Japanese ladies intently watching the sensei's demonstration, and a half dozen foreigners lounging around in the back rows. I was simply told to join them while the camera rolled. After about an hour of being lectured to, the class suddenly split up into groups of five, and proceeded to start in on reproducing what we had just seen. I was assigned to a group of the ladies, who paid me no attention whatsoever (they did let me slice the gobo!) while they whipped up the three dishes. The camera crew spent most of their time shooting the foreigner's group, who had no idea how to proceed with the cooking, as they hadn't listened to any of the lecture, but were having a blast, drinking beer and copying what the group beside them was doing. I think that this was part of the wider theme of the TV program, of which my printmaking is but one segment. I have no idea how it's all going to fit together, and I hope that they send us a tape copy when it's all done (Iwaji-san has promised us one, but then so did NHK ....). The last filming of the day was of me trying vainly to eat some of the result of the cooking. I was still totally stuffed from our hurried lunch a couple of hours before, and could only manage a couple of bites The crew then dropped me at the pier, and we said our goodbyes. The last couple of days has been fun, but pretty tiring. It should be a kick though, watching the finished program.

Simon wasn't at his boat. He had got himself free about noon, and had boogied over to Hamura with Ellen. I had phoned home earlier in the day to try and catch up on the latest plans, but must have just missed him.