Here is one of my favorite screen captures. And there is a story behind it. Can you see Fuji-san (Mt. Fuji) in the background? She had eluded us all day long. We had gone to the top of the Shinjuku Municipal buildings to find her. From the 42nd floor, you can see a panarama of the Tokyo landscape. On a clear day, you can see Fuji-san. But the day was not clear. It was hazy. And, although we could see Fuji-san with the naked eye, the camera could not capture it. There was too much haze…too much reflective light. Patrick and I got really frustrated and started to snap at each other. It was time to go. The only record of Fuji-san on the tape would be the voices of the Japanese visitors saying “Mieru?” “Hai, Miemasu! Fuji-san…sugoi!” Frustrated, Patrick and I decided to head back to Nick’s house. We’d been up since 5 a.m. and we had to shoot in the evening. We needed some rest.
Nick lives near to a small station on the Odakyu line–Higashi Kitazawa. It was here that she revealed herself to us. I could hardly believe it. I asked one of the school kids in my gaijin Japanese: “Is that Fuji-san.” “Yes,” she said in English. “Lovely.” There she was, glowing in the sunset, her beauty not obstructed but enhanced by the forground of wired and electric Tokyo. It was one of those moments that I will treasure…one of those moments that, when I think of it, I want to fly off to Tokyo right now…my heart fills with nostalgia for shooting, for Tokyo, for the Cowboys, for the 33 million Japanese living in that city. Please, please…for the love of God, someone help me finish this film. Someone take me back.
