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3. Did your stay there kindle a fire of interest in Japan of sorts? Upon
your return to the USA did you know you were destined to return there?
Referring to my answer to question number two, yes, if you consider that
apanese culture is classically related to Chinese culture.
Upon my return to the United States, I had no idea whatsoever that I would ever
return to the orient. I spent three years going through the Art Center School
(then in Los Angeles, now in Pasadena) and met two guys who were Japanese
exchange students. We got along famously. They returned to Japan to take up
positions as teachers.
4. In 1961 you returned to Japan and this time visited the cities of Nagoya,
Tokyo and Kyoto. In relation to Okinawa, what was your impression of that
visit and which city in particular left a lasting impression on you?
I graduated from Art Center, went to work with the Ford Motor Company's
Advanced Design studio, and quit after twenty six months and took a position
with a promotional company in Chicago. Between accepting that job, and leaving
Ford Motor Company I took my first trip to Japan. I flew first class from San Diego
to Tokyo Narita airport and spend two weeks exploring and enjoying Tokyo's
atmosphere including several meals at neighborhood restaurants, an incredible
massage session and a trip up into the then NEW Tokyo Tower. Then, I took
a train to Nagoya to meet one of my Art Center friends. He was teaching
eramics for export. I still have the Noh mask he gave me! (The Shinkanzen
was then just being built) With that meeting done, I then looked up a designer
friend from General Motors in Detroit who had been hired by Mitsubishi to help
them set up their automobile design studio. He had learned conversational
Japanese, had brought his Mercedes Benz sedan with him from the states
and with his two lady friends in full geisha costume, and the two of us
in jackets and ties, drove down to Kyoto. We arrived at the hotel and were
treated like royalty! At that time, there were only five Mercedes sedans in Japan.
The Imperial palace owned two, two had been buried during the war by Keiretsu
executives, and Hans had the fifth one! After the exhilarating Kyoto stint,
I then returned to Tokyo, got to know a young lady who escorted me around
the Real・Tokyo for a few days. I stayed at the Hotel New Japan in the
Akasaka district. (The hotel is now gone.) I hooked up with the brother
of an Art Center exchange student. The family name was Okuda. He was a
Time/Life correspondent in Tokyo and showed me around the city.
It was a fascinating trip! So, that was 1961.
5. So when you were asked to design the cityscapes of a futuristic
Tokyo in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, did you draw upon what you saw
in the Japanese metro areas you had visited? What facets of what you
had experienced personally did you incorporate into your designs?
Actually, none. Remember that in 1961, the Ginza wasn't nearly as
illuminated as when I returned in 1983 for my one man exhibition at
the LaForet museum in the Harajuku district. No, the BLADERUNNER
scenes drew on my memory of high density architecture, and the
kanje graphics were 'made up' for graphical effect and the general
feeling of the BLADERUNNER ambience was a response to the script
and Ridley Scott's promptings.
6. Around 1983 you worked on an American film design project based
on an anime property that was eventually aborted for legal reasons.
The was a film for Lions Gate based on adapting the mobile suit
Gundam mecha for domestic audience film style. Can you tell us more
on this project? Did you ever complete your original designs for Gundam?
No. I worked first on the ZAKU character because for whatever reason, the director
thought that would be more mechanically interesting as a demo. The character of
GUNDAM was started after I drafted the ZAK character for computer vector plotting
and modeling. (The computer being used at the time was a supercomputer CRAY.)
Lions Gate had failed to get license approval from Sunrise! The Sunrise New York
office sent a cease and desist court order and the project was shelved, never to be
resurrected. My job was to first, draft the ZAKU character for plot input, and then
I started on 租e-kabuki-izng・the GUNDAM character for the American market.
I finished the head first, and was starting on the body when the project was
discontinued.
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