Typed by Masanori Hikita (Matsumoto Academia)

April 18, 2006 (Tuesday)
JANE FONDA (69)
As Blue As She Gets.
ジェーン・フォンダ。この歳で最高の毛並みパフォーマンス
A phone rang. “I just heard the news on the radio. Jane Fonda is giving abook-singing speech at Barns & Nobles, Union Square. Are you coming, sensei?”“Why not?” “I know you’d love that.” I love Jane Fonda. So do many. In fact, I
used to put her on the top of the lists of celebs I most wanted to interview –professionally.
My heart leapt. My spirit soared.
I bared my soul to Annie M. Van Assche during lunch at a Korean Restaurant andStarbucks and she bared hers. She’s on the wing, promoting Kimono and textiles.
She quit working for Japan Society because of too “clubby” an atmosphere. She’san adult butterfly, away from a long “larval” journey. – corporate trainer (P&G Osaka),
student of Buddhism (Kyoto) etc, before landing a job that requires her editing skills(managing editor). Her family of European background, is talented artistically. Annie
is musical. A free spirit. A butterfly. I was in the interviewing spirit already,despite the fact I’ve been feeling betrayed and rejected by a producer who’d beenpromising me he’d make me a professional interviewer with healing words. That’s
what I’m here for on my third exploratory trip to N.Y. No such luck. Annie andTomomi, will, I hope, put me out of misery, by establishing a network here for me. No
healing words any more. I don’t want to feel like Jane Fonda’s father, when he“overtrusted” his friends including a producer passing around bad checks.
“When I went out, I was Henry Fonda again. An unemployed actor but a man.”(Jane Fonda, p.36). And she heals her dad. “Oh yes, Dad. I want to cry out when
I read that , but why didn’t you let that experience teach you that talking to someone
who listens with an understanding ear can be healing, not a sign of weakness.”
She’s empathetic, hardly a monster-in-law as in her latest movie.
Will I be able to get back on my feet again with Tomomi’s crowd here, Anne, Vicky,Junko and her male connections? “Don’t you ever underestimate the power ofwomen. Remember, a male language such as samurai or bushido might turn women
off. They are your potential supporters.” Even Cohen, a Delphi Club guy, might
help me out for old time sake.
I’ll keep that in mind, my Muse in N.Y.
28

Typed by Masanori Hikita (Matsumoto Academia)

Such a huge crowd on the fourth floor of Barns & Nobles, when she arrived atscene at 7 p.m. Came a gang of photographers, like a wall of hungry locusts,
blocking the sight. We, sitting at the down-front seats, were not able to get a
glimpse of her, speaking from the podium. Those Rocky Mountain grasshoppers(must’ve been thirty of them) disappeared. There she was. Jane Fonda, a great
Hollywood star, a goodness radiating aura all over. She had an incredible presence.
Beautiful despite the fact she was pushing seventies. Such a grace, not royal butclass. Where does this aura of her come from? Her poignant life, fighting her
Disease to Please, while desperately maintaining her complicated family backgrounds.
Call’em blue genes.
Blue not in the British sense of royalty, but inthe sense that her parents were married inheaven, A perfect match between a divinely
handsome father and a devilishly or seductively
beautiful mother to whom many men were drawn,
like moths to a flame.
Jane writes in three chapters: Act Ⅰ ,Gathering. Act Ⅱ, Seeking. Act Ⅲ, Beginning.
So spiritual. Rebirth or reincarnation. She
loves to talk about ‘emptiness’ pointing her
fingers at her belly. It’s the void axis aroundwhich everyone evolves.
How I wish I could have a golden opportunity to interview her? Back in my hotelroom, I called Sasa-san (Tachibana), long distance, to ask her if it’s possible totranslate her book in Japan. She sounded overjoyed when I said, “Look, Tomomi
and I saw Jane Fonda at book-signing tonight. And said, “Any plans to go to Tokyo
to be interviewed by me, an author of 130 books. And she said, “Why not?, but it
hasn’t been translated in Japan yet.”Ms. Sasa said, “We’d love to. I’m a mad fan of Jane Fonda myself.” “What’sthe catch.” “She’s expensive. Most publishers in Japan might get cold feet. But
I’d appreciate it if Tomomi-san would negotiate with Random House to get herintentions.”
Turned on TV at midnight. Jane Fonda again, on Thirteen, interviewed byBarbara Walters. Cool! I mean both of them. Jane was so graceful, talking soeffortlessly, but talking tearfully, occasionally. Barbara was interviewing hermatter-of-factedly, while showing her soft sides in a while, uncharacteristically. Her
throat and inaudible voice didn’t bother me. Her professionalism, being disciplined
and dispassionate, was a devil’s own. Barbara is a real pro. – controlling herinterviewee as if a conductor controlled his orchestra. The perfect match!
29