Chapter 2. Tokyo and David Burliuk
The eleven hour flight from Moscow was uneventful and we tried to sleep as much as possible, anticipating a heavy schedule which would start as soon we would reach Japan. From time to time I would look down from the small oval window at the vast emptiness of Siberia as we passed over the Russian interior. We arrived at Tokyo Nartito airport and then onto a train to the centre of Tokyo. By lunch time we had ascended from the metro onto the blazing humid streets of Tokyo. After Moscow it was a bit of a shock but fortunately we were quite close to the hotel already and within fifteen minutes I was unpacking the equipment for the interview which was scheduled for two o'clock in the afternoon. That was when we had our first hitch.
Natalia always assists me were ever I go but after such a long flight and the heat she felt ill. She lay down for five minutes and fatigue and sickness set in. There was nothing we could do, the interview was already arranged and I couldn't change anything. It was probably a mistake to organise the interview immediately after such long flight but it was too late to worry about that now. Fortunately Michiko, who had done a lot of organising for us and had in fact set up the interview with Akira Suzuki, was on hand. When she arrived she took stock of the situation and reassured me everything would be fine and she would take care of any problems. With that we went down stairs and waited for Akira Suzuki.
When he arrived in the hotel lobby I was pleasantly surprised and with just one glance I knew he would be a good interviewee. Dressed casually in light coloured trousers and a blue shirt, his attentive expression exuded intelligence and seriousness even though I could see he was a bit nervous. I was nervous myself as I hadn't fully decided in which language I wanted to conduct the interview. I knew Mr Suzuki spoke English but I find that interviewees always give of their best when they speak in their own language. Certainly they come across more natural and relaxed which is really what I wanted. We found an empty part of the hotel lobby with plenty of light and with a good view of the garden and beyond the garden, in the near distance, Tokyo Bay. After a bit of time spent getting the radio microphone to work properly and getting the sound levels right we made a start. We tried a bit in English and then I asked Michiko if she would actually ask the prepared questions in Japanese to see what the difference would be and I would film Mr Suzuki in conversation with Michiko, although with Michiko out of shot. Straight away I knew this was the correct decision. He began to speak animatedly and enthusiastically as if he was explaining all about Burliuk in Japanese to an old friend he hadn't seen for a while. Also Michiko was very professional almost as if she had been doing this kind of work for years. Mr Suzuki had brought with him editions of the books he had written and translations of Burliuk's books that he had undertaken himself, which Burliuk had written during his stay in Japan. I featured them in the interview quite prominently. The "props" enhanced the interview greatly and gave it a more intimate tone while at the same time adding a visual contrast to the overall conversation. I hate interviews which are just a person's head and shoulders talking all the time. As the interview came to an end Natalia came down and joined us looking much better. I introduced Mr Suzuki to Natalia and unexpectedly he began talking in fluent Russian with her. This was when the "second interview" started. With Natalia's questions, Akira Suzuki seemed to get a second wind and spoke lucidly in Russian about Burliuk for about another hour. As we later discovered, he had been an interpreter in the Far East of Russia in Vladivostok and on Sakhalin when the Soviet and Japanese governments decided on forming a closer trade relationship, in the area of oil exploration. His Russian was extremely good and this meant that I could now understand what he was talking about at first hand. It would help me with the rest of the next two weeks shooting. He was an absolute font of knowledge on the subject of Burliuk in Japan and I kept the tape rolling all the time.
What had been worrying me up to now was how I would integrate the material from the island of Ogasawara into a film about a futurist artist from Russia; stylistically and generally speaking how would it work. It just didn't seem to make sense and while I was looking forward to the idea of spending a few days on some remote tropical island in the Pacific Ocean which could only be reached by ship, I was beginning to wonder why I was actually going there, apart from being able have a holiday by the sea. Akira Suzuki cleared up the problem almost immediately when he began to explain why David Burliuk went to Ogasawara himself.
After a long period of travelling across Russia and Siberia prior to embarking on a military transport to Japan, enduring revolution and the uncertainties and danger of civil war, Burliuk wanted to rest in a warm climate with his family. One of the other reasons was that he was a great admirer of the work of Gauguin. It was Gauguin who inspired Burliuk's early work and that of Burliuk's contemporaries. Burliuk longed to follow the example of Gauguin and paint on a tropical island far away from the cares and influence of the everyday world. This became possible after he had staged a successful exhibition in Japan and managed to raise a considerable sum of money so that he could also bring his family to join him on the voyage. Akira Suzuki further recounted how when Burliuk returned to Tokyo he put on another exhibition of paintings he had completed on Ogasawara. The Japanese public where somewhat taken aback. They had come to expect avant-garde abstract paintings from this futurist artist and instead they were treated to a series of scenic views presenting the astounding beauty of the island of Ogasawara painted on canvas in the traditional manner of landscape painting.
Immediately I had the last part of the jigsaw and had no doubt as to how this element of the story would fit in with the rest of the film about Russian avant-garde and in fact how it would fit in with the whole series of six films. The simple fact is that Gauguin was a precursor of the avant-garde and in particular the Russian avant-garde itself. Most of the great Russian avant-garde artists and futurists like Kandinsky, Kulbin, Rodchenko and as already mentioned, Burliuk himself, were inspired by Gauguin's work. Here was a way of integrating all this material in a meaningful, coherent and hopefully interesting context and it would tie many elements together which I had been struggling to make sense of within all the other films.
Natalia always assists me were ever I go but after such a long flight and the heat she felt ill. She lay down for five minutes and fatigue and sickness set in. There was nothing we could do, the interview was already arranged and I couldn't change anything. It was probably a mistake to organise the interview immediately after such long flight but it was too late to worry about that now. Fortunately Michiko, who had done a lot of organising for us and had in fact set up the interview with Akira Suzuki, was on hand. When she arrived she took stock of the situation and reassured me everything would be fine and she would take care of any problems. With that we went down stairs and waited for Akira Suzuki.
When he arrived in the hotel lobby I was pleasantly surprised and with just one glance I knew he would be a good interviewee. Dressed casually in light coloured trousers and a blue shirt, his attentive expression exuded intelligence and seriousness even though I could see he was a bit nervous. I was nervous myself as I hadn't fully decided in which language I wanted to conduct the interview. I knew Mr Suzuki spoke English but I find that interviewees always give of their best when they speak in their own language. Certainly they come across more natural and relaxed which is really what I wanted. We found an empty part of the hotel lobby with plenty of light and with a good view of the garden and beyond the garden, in the near distance, Tokyo Bay. After a bit of time spent getting the radio microphone to work properly and getting the sound levels right we made a start. We tried a bit in English and then I asked Michiko if she would actually ask the prepared questions in Japanese to see what the difference would be and I would film Mr Suzuki in conversation with Michiko, although with Michiko out of shot. Straight away I knew this was the correct decision. He began to speak animatedly and enthusiastically as if he was explaining all about Burliuk in Japanese to an old friend he hadn't seen for a while. Also Michiko was very professional almost as if she had been doing this kind of work for years. Mr Suzuki had brought with him editions of the books he had written and translations of Burliuk's books that he had undertaken himself, which Burliuk had written during his stay in Japan. I featured them in the interview quite prominently. The "props" enhanced the interview greatly and gave it a more intimate tone while at the same time adding a visual contrast to the overall conversation. I hate interviews which are just a person's head and shoulders talking all the time. As the interview came to an end Natalia came down and joined us looking much better. I introduced Mr Suzuki to Natalia and unexpectedly he began talking in fluent Russian with her. This was when the "second interview" started. With Natalia's questions, Akira Suzuki seemed to get a second wind and spoke lucidly in Russian about Burliuk for about another hour. As we later discovered, he had been an interpreter in the Far East of Russia in Vladivostok and on Sakhalin when the Soviet and Japanese governments decided on forming a closer trade relationship, in the area of oil exploration. His Russian was extremely good and this meant that I could now understand what he was talking about at first hand. It would help me with the rest of the next two weeks shooting. He was an absolute font of knowledge on the subject of Burliuk in Japan and I kept the tape rolling all the time.
What had been worrying me up to now was how I would integrate the material from the island of Ogasawara into a film about a futurist artist from Russia; stylistically and generally speaking how would it work. It just didn't seem to make sense and while I was looking forward to the idea of spending a few days on some remote tropical island in the Pacific Ocean which could only be reached by ship, I was beginning to wonder why I was actually going there, apart from being able have a holiday by the sea. Akira Suzuki cleared up the problem almost immediately when he began to explain why David Burliuk went to Ogasawara himself.
After a long period of travelling across Russia and Siberia prior to embarking on a military transport to Japan, enduring revolution and the uncertainties and danger of civil war, Burliuk wanted to rest in a warm climate with his family. One of the other reasons was that he was a great admirer of the work of Gauguin. It was Gauguin who inspired Burliuk's early work and that of Burliuk's contemporaries. Burliuk longed to follow the example of Gauguin and paint on a tropical island far away from the cares and influence of the everyday world. This became possible after he had staged a successful exhibition in Japan and managed to raise a considerable sum of money so that he could also bring his family to join him on the voyage. Akira Suzuki further recounted how when Burliuk returned to Tokyo he put on another exhibition of paintings he had completed on Ogasawara. The Japanese public where somewhat taken aback. They had come to expect avant-garde abstract paintings from this futurist artist and instead they were treated to a series of scenic views presenting the astounding beauty of the island of Ogasawara painted on canvas in the traditional manner of landscape painting.
Immediately I had the last part of the jigsaw and had no doubt as to how this element of the story would fit in with the rest of the film about Russian avant-garde and in fact how it would fit in with the whole series of six films. The simple fact is that Gauguin was a precursor of the avant-garde and in particular the Russian avant-garde itself. Most of the great Russian avant-garde artists and futurists like Kandinsky, Kulbin, Rodchenko and as already mentioned, Burliuk himself, were inspired by Gauguin's work. Here was a way of integrating all this material in a meaningful, coherent and hopefully interesting context and it would tie many elements together which I had been struggling to make sense of within all the other films.
The afternoon was gradually turning towards evening and we decided to call it a day and continue our discussions in a more relaxed mood in the bar of the hotel. I packed up all the equipment and within twenty minutes we were seated at a table on which had been placed some cool clear Japanese beer and some supper. I had a prior agreement with Akira Suzuki as to how much I would pay him for the interview, which was not extravagant but it was what I had in my budget. Akira Suzuki insisted on spending most of the fee on treating us to another few rounds of beer and numerous delicacies which the hotel had on offer. We sat for another three to four hours in lively discussion, exchanging ideas about Japanese and Russian culture and our respective interests. It was on this first meeting that we managed to forge a lasting relationship with Akira Suzuki who has many times since helped us on our numerous subsequent trips to Japan.
As far as I was concerned the material for the interview was excellent although it required checking. However, from what I could make out the sound, despite the compromising conditions of the hotel lobby with its background noise and distractions, had come out good which was the most important thing, . It all seemed like an auspicious start to our departure next morning to Ogasawara. We arranged to keep in touch with Akira Suzuki and I promised to keep him up to date with the progress of the film. After saying goodnight we got straight to bed. It had been a long day and Natalia and I were very jet lagged and tired but at the same time satisfied after the anxiety of getting the interview completed. I knew tomorrow was going to be an early start and filming would be equally demanding. However much I enjoy the process you still have to be able to concentrate and be well rested to give your best.
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