The subject of Finnish poetry ought to have a special interest for the Japanese student if only for the reason that Finnish poetry comes more closely in many respects to Japanese poetry than any other form of Western poetry.

I did not have a very literary background. I came to poetry from the sciences and mathematics and also through an interest in Japanese and Chinese poetry in translation.

All through the years since World War II the Japanese people have I am convinced made strenuous efforts to preserve and promote world peace contributing to the progress and prosperity of mankind.

The greatest problem all around the world today whether in America Japan China Russia India or anywhere else in the world is that people are not in peace. People want peace.

Sometimes I miss out the morning's painting session and instead study my Japanese books in the open.

We had news this morning of another successful atomic bomb being dropped on Nagasaki. These two heavy blows have fallen in quick succession upon the Japanese and there will be quite a little space before we intend to drop another.

Culture and tradition have to change little by little. So 'new' means a little twist a marriage of Japanese technique with French ingredients. My technique. Indian food Korean food I put Italian mozzarella cheese with sashimi. I don't think 'new new new.' I'm not a genius. A little twist.

In 1977 we played America and Europe three times and Japan - my marriage suffered as a result. My then wife took the kids to Canada to be near her parents.

I think the biggest difficulty is that when I'm here in America there's a necessity of using English so I really have a great sense of really wanting to learn but unfortunately when I head back to Japan the necessity vanishes and so does my enthusiasm about learning.

I had actually been on tour in Japan and I had my own world tour that I was doing. I was used to doing a show for an hour so I was always learning choreography.