Best Wishes For Tomorrow - Work and Play in Tokyo

Since my arrival on May 26th I have been having an incredible time. Right from the start, beginning with a Zazen 45 minute meditation at a temple with the cast, the experience has been unique and gratifying.

Early on the work schedule was pretty easy, 7:30 - 3 or 4, with lots of downtime. The director shoots very few takes, and he's using three 35mm cameras simultaneously for every scene.

I've been told that the Japanese actors are the cream of the crop and they're all super nice. The elders, Makota Fujita and Sumiko Fuji are practically National Treasures. One recent 4 page scene involved a young actress, Yu Aoi, who won the Japanese equivalent of the Academy Award here last year. And another day we worked with Yoshiko Tanaka, who's quite well-known, and was part of a very successful girl group in the 70's, The Candies, so she was like the Japanese Posh Spice. She was very good.

And the director, Takashi Koisumi, couldn't be nicer.

It is a bit like working with a zen monk - he is such a peaceful, meditative fellow. He gave me a few of his previous films to watch. His first was an adaptation of a story by Kurosawa - a very beautiful little Samaurai story. He told me yesterday morning, that Kurosawa comes to visit him in his dreams alot, so in the middle of the night he often regresses back to being an A.D., running around like crazy, but that night he stayed a director without a visit from his old boss.

While things started out slow for me, recently my scenes have a bit more bite and I've felt more actively involved. That is really satisfying.

All in all I'm really enjoying the total work and play experience. I've met nothing but wonderful, wonderful people. Soooo gracious and friendly. Wish I could work on this film forever.

Here are a few photos of the people I'm working with -