Hanamaru Market

Olivia appeared on this Japanese breakfast show to promote her Japanese tour and her two new CD release - Indigo and Stronger Than Before.. She needed an interpreter for the interview and this slows down the interview (although it is an advantage to English fans as we understand what's said).

The Japanese hosts had gone to some effort and the set was nicely decorated with albums and videos from Olivia's career. They'd also prepared Olivia's favourite breakfast of fruit, muesli and soya milk. They also had an old Japanese magazine with a cover of Olivia eating an apple. Olivia couldn't remember it.

Olivia had brought along six personal photos. The first was a photo from her 1981 visit to Japan when she dressed in a kimono. The next of daughter Chloe from a few years ago (the host said she looked sexy for a (then) 16 year old). One of a display in her house mixing Buddhism and Christianity artifacts. Another photo of her Californian garden, Olivia had taken this specially because she thought it looked like a Japanese garden due to the piles of wood bark; also her oak tree in the photo looked like a bonsai tree. An atmospheric photo of her Australian farm with a horse and birds. Finally a photo of her roses which she grows "hundreds of" in California.

Japanese interviews are always very different to the rest of the world, full of joy, sincerity and respect. Olivia seemed nervous at first but soon began to feel more comfortable when she realized how nice the Japanese hosts were. I believe this was her first live Japanese TV interview since her visit in 1990.

The respect the Japanese feel for Olivia is obviously reciprocated. Olivia was asked what she liked about the Japanese people and she replied how nice they were, very gracious and respectful of one's privacy.

Olivia also surprised the chef with a on-screen kiss. He was overjoyed and you can clearly see Olivia enjoyed the surprise, giggling behind the scenes.

photos brought along

Thanks to Naoki