Sugahara: I have to get back to the story of your own parents. I am very curious about what kind of parents you had, because you are so lively, and you also have childishness, creativity, and still you have strength as producer, but you do not show the strength at all but you always smile, and organize everyone.
Does your dad looks like Mr. Suzuki in the movie?

Yamazaki: No, not at all. He is very serious person.
He just gets angry once in a year, but when he gets angry, he will be too far from Mr. Suzuki!
But when he gets angry, doors will be flying all over the rooms. And he only gets angry when he is totally right.
If he got angry that doesn’t make sense, I would answer back “Hey father!” but he only gets angry when we can’t answer back at all.

Sugahara: What kind of memories you have when you were punished by your dad?

Yamazaki: Hmm well, I can’t remind the details because it is so shocking that I forgot everything (laughs). And no, he used to do judo, so he would throw me over his shoulder.

Sugahara: Wow, you should make one movie with this story! (Laughs) Is your mother like Hiroko Yakushimaru who is warm and kind that offers her and protect you from angry father?

Yamazaki: Yeah, she is sort of kind, but she also get angry as well. However, in the Always Sunset on Third Street, all the families were on Ms. Yakushimaru’s hand, but compared with that, my families were more like on my father’s hand.

Sugahara: In terms of food. What type of meal your mother used to cook for you?

Yamazaki: As my father was running sweets factory, it was very easy for us to get flours and butters, so that’s why we could always have hand made sweets in our house.
However, it was quite hard situation for a kid like me, because when all of my friends are eating colorful sweets with lucky numbers in mom-and-pop candy store, and when I don’t have any money and I ask my mom some money, she just says we have in our house, and she would have served Madeleine.
When I think about it now, I might have been a happy child, but at that time, as a child, I felt so unhappy.

Sugahara: Was she also very good at cooking food as well?

Yamazaki: Yeah, she was cooking very well all the time.

Sugahara: That is so happy thing isn’t it?

Yamazaki: When I think back, I was happy child, but honestly speaking, I really wanted to go to eat out (laughs).
It was very rare, but sometimes, once in 100 times, I had chance to eat out, and then but I was incredibly happy!

Sugahara: Yes, that is true, in our youth; we just went to eat out like once a year.
I remember I went to eat subgum ramen at Christmas.

Yamazaki: Yes, when we went to a department store with my family, and its way back home, they took me to a restaurant, and told me that I can have anything I want coos the day was someone’s birthday!
So, it just happened once or twice a year.

Sugahara: So, what do you remember that you mom cooked for you when you were young?

Yamazaki: Well, anything was very good, but especially, corn soup was very delicious.
She used to cook it properly from white sauce, so it was quite serious one.
Sugahara: Well, then she must be really good cook if she makes it properly from white sauce.

Yamazaki: Actually, I can cook white sauce as well!
Isn’t it like stir the flour, and put some milk in it?
Well, actually my mom was properly making soups, but then after she changed it to Ajinomoto (laughs).
One day, in my family, they decided to buy a microwave oven, and then I thought it could make food automatically, but I was so surprised and falling down when I found out that actually it was just the machine that makes food warm (laughs).

Sugahara: Well, yeah I remember, in our generation, we were nearly crying with our family when we got refrigerators or electric rice-cooker.
These evolutional new products were coming out once in a couple of years.
As it was in the movie, there was a scene that they were putting their head in the fridge, and saying “I’m happy”! But it was really kind of like that. But how could you think of the idea like that?

Yamazaki: Yeah, actually, we found the idea from our coverage.
We asked to all the people “What was the most fun thing when you bought your refrigerator for the first time in your life?” and then all the people answered that they put their head into the fridge.
So, that’s why I put the scene in this movie, and then, all the people who saw this movie said “I also put my head into the fridge”. So, all the people have must put their head into the fridge at that time (laughs)!

Sugahara: Aha!
There was a time when the fridge was made of wood before normal fridge appeared.
So, I felt nostalgic in the scene when the wooden fridge has changed to the electrical refrigerator in the movie.
Well, but it was very rare to have wooden refrigerator at that time.

Yamazaki: The wooden refrigerator must have been very expensive at that time.
The iceman had to come home, and change ice everyday. So, it must have been very rich to have the wooden refrigerator at home.

Sugahara: I know.
The ice will melt and become small, though it is in the wooden refrigerator, and water will drop off from it.

Yamazaki: Yes, so, I was told by some people that normally anyone will through out those wooden refrigerator outside like that!

Sugahara: I put the scenes that the iceman will find the refrigerator through out so that I can just express the feeling of way going showa era, but yeah, maybe that’s true, I really felt that would be true that nobody will through the refrigerator away like that.
Well yeah, the happiness about the refrigerator, thermos bottles, and washing machine, television, each of the stuffs were so alive in the movie.
It is said that none can forget when the TV came to their homes, so its kind of epoch

Yamazaki: I had TV in my life since I was born, but when I asked many people, the appearance of TV was very special thing that they can see video at home normally.
I tried to express it in the movie bit over because I thought the people’s life has jumped up so high that they could even watch professional wrestling at home through TV, so I was very surprised to hear everyone saying that it was exactly like that what happened at that time!

Sugahara: Yeah, that is true, it was exactly like that!
At that time, in the beginning, it wasn’t like every family had TV in their house, but only rich family had TV at their house.
So, it was exactly like that was in the movie that everybody gathered in to the house and said “excuse us, can we watch TV?” and then “yeah, please! Welcome!!”
At that time, we went to watch other people’s house “Lassie’s Great Adventures”, “Lone Ranger” probably you might not know (laughs).
Later, sometimes, we went to watch TV to ice shop, and then they let us watch TV when we ordered shaved ice from them, but when we did not order anything, they didn’t let us watch TV.

Yamazaki: Wow, that’s the way how they could run their business that long!!

Sugahara: Yeah, so it was very packed when the professional wrestling was on TV.

Yamazaki: What happens when they finish eating shaved ice by the match is over?

Sugahara: When they have finished it, the iceman would stare fixedly, and then they had to ask another one (laughs)

Yamazaki: But their cheek must get too cold (laughs). I like this story!! I should have heard this story before I take my movie.

Sugahara: The generation that had been watching TV since they are child, they had TV where they had their dinner, but normally parents didn’t allow watching TV when they were eating because of the point of dietary education, but how was it at that time?

Yamazaki: Yeah, it was as same as now, so they used to say turn off TV when you were eating.
However, when there were some programs that their parents really want to watch, special cases started to appear.
And then soon, everyone started to watch NHK Historical Drama, and at the end there were no rules at all (laughs).

Sugahara: Oh, that is funny (laughs).
As I am working in this kind of healthy industry, we don’t have TV in our room where we have our dining table.
So, that’s way all of my kids are quite talkative.

Yamazaki: Wow, that beautiful.
Yeah, that is true that we could have less conversation when we watch TV. And I guess that really bad.

Sugahara: Also, it’s not good that you will not notice whet you are eating at the moment.
Have you had any experiences that you don’t recognize the taste, or your month has been opened when you are concentrating on some other thing?

Yamazaki: Well actually I had.