Going back to Japan

Returning to Japan →　Osaka

We left the hotel at 8:30 in the morning.
Pusan Airport was really crowded. Maybe it’s because of summer vacation – all the flights were full.

I read an article in the The Dong-A Ilbo.
In central Korea, the towns were flooded, causing much damage.

We heard that it rained heavily in Seoul, too.

It was as if the typhoon had turned north, and avoided hitting Pusan for our sake.

Which brought to mind, that on the day we started shooting the film “Yume Oikakete (Touch a DreamI)”, the typhoon that was supposed to hit Shizuoka turned its course by 90 degrees right in front of our eyes.
We were experiencing a great storm until 4 in the morning, but we ended up being blessed with an amazingly clear sky.
A local fisherman told us that it was the first time in more than twenty years that it did not rain in Hamamatsu.

In “A Delinquent’ Dream”, too, we were lucky to have continuous fair weather which was rare during the summer in Hokkaido.Even though it rained a record amount in mainland Japan, Hokkaido experienced days of sunny weather and heat.
Come to think of it, in “Lament of the Lamb” also, it rained severely around our location, but the skies over us at Suzaka city cleared up – in a shape of a doughnut.

Rain awaits us where ever we go. It pours on that spot like it is trying to cleanse it, and later, the skies turn light.
Do we owe this also to the God of dragon?Oh yes, speaking of strange occurrences, right after we finished shooting from the train in Pusan yesterday,
Naka-chan screamed, “look at the UFO!”

Sure enough, there was a gleaming round silver object just above the railroad tracks.
Four people witnessed it, including myself.

Oh, why did I forget to take a picture of it then (laughs).
So, we arrived safely in Osaka.

It was fair here, too, but somewhat humid.
But I guess we shouldn’t complain.

In the evening, the main troupe was to join us from Tokyo.
They will be coming in a location bus which would take take about 10 hours.
It must be an exhausting trip. Starting tomorrow, we will be shooting for 3 days in Osaka.

（Originally posted in Japanese on July 29, 2006）