Maid In Japan

thanks to Kay

PETE TALKS TO OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN ABOUT HER FAR-EASTERN TOUR

IT was 2 o'clock ln the morning in an aeroplane high above the clouds. Olivia Newton-John and Cliff Richard were flying back from Singapore to Rome after their Far East tour.

Cliff was last asleep. So were the members of the backing group that accompanied them. But Olivia was wide awake and so was David Price, the man who arranged the tour. Quietly he slipped away down the plane and returned with a huge birthday cake for Olivia and bottles of champagne.

And there and than he woke the others, and Olivia had a birthday party in the clouds!

It was all such a surprise, she said, sitting in her manager's office back in London. I was really taken aback! I was given some really beautiful presents too.

Cliff bought me a white silk traditional Japanese wedding dress kimono, with huge hand-embroidered gold, pink, red and green peacocks, and a red silk lining. I was also given a digital clock and a room decoration that hangs from the ceiling. And some of the boys in the group gave me the most beautiful orchid you have ever seen. It was a purple-mauve colour and really lovely.

It was so beautiful that I wanted to keep it and bring it home with me, so I packed it in a box with dry ice, hoping that would preserve it. But when I got home and unpacked it, the orchid had all shrivelled up. It was still a lovely birthday to remember, though!

The event itself took place on the way back from their Far-Eastern tour. It started in Djakarta, where they spent three days. Then on to Hong Kong, back to Tokyo and on to three major Japanese cities, Osaka, Kyoto and Nogoya. Then back to Tokyo for another week and a few days’ holiday.

We weren't scheduled to have any time out at all, Olivia said, grinning. But the concerts in Singapore and Korea were cancelled because they thought Cliff's hair was too long - which made us all laugh!

Then when we did have those days off, I had a tummy upset. We all caught a bug at one time or another, but none of us missed a show through it. We also got caught in a typhoon in Nogoya. After a show. we were due to catch a train. but then they told us we couldn't go because a typhoon was coming. At one part, we were at the top of a restaurant building and could feel it swaying!

Looking out of the window we could see roof-tops being blown down the streets and the electricity went off three times! I was in a panic, but then it went absolutely still. Apparently, at that moment we were right in the middle of it.

When we were finally able to leave, we found no trains were able to run so we had to travel 100 miles by taxi to the next town. Even at that we travelled through floods, so the journey took us over four hours. We later heard that tour people had been killed in the typhoon. and were told another one was due while we were in Tokyo, but luckily it missed us.

On those days off, though, we went to see the palaces and a few Buddhist temples; I loved the custom of taking your shoes off before going into the temples. The temples themselves were beautiful. with lots of gold work, especially on the ceilings.

It was, in fact. Olivia's first trip to Japan. though she had visited Singapore before.

I expected Japan to be more different than it is. she says. not nearly so modern. But I suppose skyscrapers are making all cities look similar these days. When we left Tokyo, however, I felt we were beginning to see more of the real Japan.

Kyoto was set against mountains which made a perfect background for all the greenery surrounding the palaces. I suppose Kyoto is like the Bournemouth of Japan, except that it's not by the sea. I wanted to visit a typical Japanese home while I was there but unfortunately I wasn't able to. When you work in the kind of world we do you tend only to meet other people in the business. which is nice. but I had wanted to visit the real Japanese people.

I did have a real Japanese bedroom though. Olivia added. Through lack of space, people in Japan don't have a bedroom, but roll out bedding on the floor; then in the morning they roll it up and put it away in a cupboard so that the space can be put to other use. The bed is a kind of very soft matting with a covering, similar to European duvets.

Bathing is luxury for the Japanese, though they are the most clean end fastidious people I have ever seen. Most houses don't have baths, so probably twice a week families go down to the baths.

Olivia says that she and Cliff noticed that Japanese cities had a much worse pollution problem than we do in this country. She only went out on the streets of Tokyo once - but noticed that everyone working in the streets, traffic police, cleaners and so on all wore smog masks.

We ate in Japanese restaurants, sitting on floor cushions — though they do provide back rests for Westerners. Some dishes are cooked in front of you from a hotplate and you take the pieces of cooked food off with your fingers when they're cooked.

We also drank lots of saki with our food. It's a rich wine which you drink from tiny cups and it's slightly warmed. Really delicious! I also got quite proficient with chop- sticks. They seem to eat quite a lot of spicy food in Japan. Lots of pickles and things.

Olivia says she was none too keen on the raw fish dishes. One dish I particularly liked though but whose name I can't remember was made by placing a bowl of boiling water in the centre of a table into which you threw bits of meat and vegetables. When they were cooked you would fish them out and dip them into any of the various sauces provided.

I didn't like bean curd, which is a kind of white jelly with no taste — very bland and nasty. But it obviously had a high vitamin content because you see quite poor people buying it on street corners, where it's cut off in great slabs.

The first thing that Olivia and Cliff noticed was that the Japanese people are very hospitable. Whenever Cliff appeared on stage the audience threw flowers and tiny dolls in costume to him — some of which he kept and some he gave to Olivia.

Altogether there were twelve of us on the tour, Olivia went on. and every day we had at least one meal together. If we had a few hours free. we would sometimes go to the pictures.

One evening we went to see Cat Stevens do a show in Tokyo. He was in the same hotel as us, so we all had dinner together. It was the first time I had met him, in fact, I was wandering around the garden one day when I came across him being interviewed. It was quite a surprise.

He's a really nice guy and it was nice to see someone from home. In a way, it made me feel just a little homesick — but not for long.

Japan is one of the loveliest places I've seen, and I'm sure I'll feel at home when I go back- which I will do, of course!

(Jackie, girl's magazine from UK. No.478)