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There's nothing in Chinese culture that is an equivalent of the geisha. It's so different, so special to Japan.

Geisha because when I was living in Japan, I met a fellow whose mother was a geisha, and I thought that was kind of fascinating and ended up reading about the subject just about the same time I was getting interested in writing fiction.

To be a geisha, you have to have to an iron-clad layer around you - around your physical body and your heart.

What I really wanted to know, though, was what it was like to be a geisha? Where do you sleep? What do you eat? How do you have your hair done?

For myself I don't like the geisha look. It's like a mask.

It is confusing, because in this culture we really don't have anything that corresponds to geisha.

Everyone thinks that 'Chinatown' is the best screenplay. I'm not sure it is.

I had to trick people into giving me money for my first film. Making a romantic comedy is easier and more expected from a woman than it is to make a drama about a Japanese warrior.

It is impossible to remain indifferent to Japanese culture. It is a different civilisation where all you have learnt must be forgotten. It is a great intellectual challenge and a gorgeous sensual experience.