Seiko Mikami, media artist

On the 5th of November, 2011, I had a short telephone interview with the Japanese 'media artist' Seiko Mikami for an article I was writing about her exhibition, "Desire of Codes," which was being held at the NTT InterCommunication Center in Tokyo. While the mere layman might find her English difficult to understand, I am an expert in understanding Japanese English so her meaning was clear to me throughout the interview.

Miya Ando, artist

I interviewed the artist Miya Ando by telephone on the 12th of September, 2011. She was in California, where she was anodysing some of her metal sculptures. We talked for around 40 minutes, mainly about her recentlty unveiled London memorial to the victims of the 9-11 attack and about her connections with Japan. Here are the first 25 minutes of the interview, during which she produced a commendable 22 y'knows.

Heidi Klum, model

I interviewed supermodel Heidi Klum at the inaugural MTV Japan Awards on Friday the 24th of May, 2002, in the press conference room. There were about 30 other journalists, some of whom asked a couple of questions, but I have included here only the questions I asked her.

Dr. NakaMats, inventor

Yoshiro Nakamatsu, a.k.a. Doctor NakaMats, is Japan's best known inventor. 

Mikiko Kumazawa, artist

In June 2011, I interviewed the young Japanese artist Mikiko Kumazawa. The interview was at the Mizuma Art Gallery in Tokyo. The interview was conducted with the help of an interpreter, Antoine Perrin, a native of France. The interview proceeded at a leisurely pace and lasted well over an hour.

Yayoi Kusama, artist

In February 2011, I sent some questions by email to Yayoi Kusama, the 'headline' artist for Roppongi Art Night 2011, in order to get some unique quotes for an article I was writing about the event. My questions were then translated into Japanese, answered, and then the answers were translated into English. Later, because of the Great Tohoku Earthquake of March 11th, 2011, and the subsequent accidents at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Stations, Roppongi Art Night was cancelled.

Janick Gers [Iron Maiden]

In February, 2011, I interviewed Janick Gers, one of Iron Maiden's three guitarists. The band was in Singapore on their The Final Frontier World Tour. The telephone conversation lasted about 15 minutes with the Maiden axeman managing to get off 39 "y'knows," at a very respectable rate of 2.6 per minute.
Iron Maiden arrived in Japan on the same day as the Great Tohoku Earthquake, with the result that both their gigs were cancelled.

El Anatsui, sculptor

On the 6th of February, 2011, I interviewed the Ghanaian artist El Anatsui at the Museum of Modern Art Hayama. He mainly makes wood scuptures of various kinds and large tapestries from bits of garbage, like bottle tops, aluminium foil, etc. The interview lasted around 17 minutes and was conducted as an "exhibition walk-through." Because of the need for visual reference, I recorded it on video.