Interview for NTV Channel 4

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Read interview on NTV Channel 4

On the morning of June 28, 1966, after an unscheduled nine-hour stop in Anchorage (travelling from Hamburg), The Beatles continued their journey to Tokyo and landed at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport at 3:40 am on June 29.

On June 30, July 1 and July 2, they played five concerts at the Nippon Budokan Hall. The primary purpose of this hall was to host martial arts contests. The Beatles being the first rock group to perform there, their appearances were met with opposition from those who felt the appearance of a western pop group would defile the martial arts arena.

On the afternoon of June 29, The Beatles gave a press conference at the Hilton Hotel. On their way down to the conference, they were intercepted by a camera crew from Nippon Television. The band stopped in a hallway alcove to chat with E. H. Eric (real name Taibi Okada), the master of ceremonies for all their Tokyo concerts.

Q: “My name is Eric. Good to meet you.”

PAUL: “Hello Eric.”

BEATLES: “Hello.”

Q: “Welcome to Japan. Well, I’ll be the emcee for your show. And well, I have a few questions here. Did you have a good sleep?”

PAUL: “Yes.”

RINGO: “Yes, fine.”

Q: “Did you have any knowledge about Japan before coming here?”

JOHN: “A little.”

PAUL: “Yes a little bit, you know. Not much though.”

GEORGE: “About as much as we know about most places we go to.”

Q: “I see. Well, how are the Japanese fans?”

PAUL: “Great. Seem very great, yeah. We get lots of letters from Japan.”

Q: “You didn’t meet them at the airport?”

RINGO: “No. We came…”

JOHN: (jokingly) “We couldn’t see a thing through the television lights.”

RINGO: “It’s AMAZING security, you know. I’ve never seen so many people guarding us.”

Q: “We don’t want you to be hurt or anything.”

RINGO: “No.”

Q: “So we’re trying our best.”

RINGO: “But we don’t want the security to hurt the fans, you know. Don’t get too rough with them.”

Q: “Mmmm. I understand you’ve met your Queen.”

RINGO: “Yeah.”

Q: “What was the impression?”

RINGO: “Uhh, she’s okay. Very good.”

PAUL: (jokingly) “Yes, yes, one of the best.”

Q: “How did you feel when you received the (MBE) medal?”

RINGO: “It was nice.”

JOHN: “Nervous.”

GEORGE: “Tired. It was early in the morning, about ten o’clock.”

RINGO: “We don’t like to get up too early, ‘cuz we don’t go to bed ’til late.”

Q: “What musician and composer do you respect most?”

PAUL: “No I don’t know, really. (pause) John Lennon!”

JOHN: (comically, shyly) “…Paul McCartney.”

PAUL: (jokingly, exaggerated) “Ha, Ha, Ha!!”

Q: “And uhh, Paul’s marriage…”

PAUL: “Yes, it’s not true. It’s wrong. It’s George’s marriage.”

Q: “George is married.”

PAUL: (gesturing to the others) “These three are married.”

Q: “How many times do you wash your hair in a week?”

RINGO: “About once. It depends, you know.”

JOHN: “Depends how hot it is… how dirty it gets, you know.”

RINGO: “Depends what you’re doing.”

Q: “Do you cut it often?”

RINGO: “That’s the same, you know. Whenever you feel like. You don’t do it every week or you don’t do it every month, you know. It just happens.”

JOHN: (sings as they depart) “Now we say goodbye!! Da-dah, da-da-dah!!”