"Dr. Banzai's Apartment"

This content was eventually published on the Banzai Institute website.

Blame it on our celebrity-worshiping culture, but there seems to be an unquenchable thirst for details concerning Buckaroo Banzai's daily life.

High Sierra and I recently had the privilege of touring Buckaroo's private apartments, and, let me tell you, there's not much to tell.

In fact, there's little difference between his modern digs and those of ancient times. The "living" room where he receives guests contains about eight mats and numerous saddles which serve as chairs for his western guests, and that's about it, while the adjoining room is a smaller apartment containing perhaps three or four mats and a Turkey carpet. He also has a third room, where only his most intimate guests are allowed to enter.

The "living" room is large and bright and fitted with the usuasl toko-no-ma (alcove) and chigai- dana (a recess with two shelves); in the former hang pictures and specimens of caligraphy by noted Japanese artists. In addition, cut flowers are arranged in vases of Kutani porcelain; these flowers are changed according to the season. There will also be found musical instruments such as the koto, bongo drums, and a guitar, as well as numbers of sundry knicknacks, such as a Wedgwood inkstand, a shelf-ornament in the shape of a jack rabbit, made of crystal, which is perched on a tiny cushion of daintily dyed crepe; a hanging clock, a handsome mirror, a framed oil-painting of the Priddy sisters; a small library of novels, magazines, theatrical notices, playbills, and other light reading matter designed to beguile the tedium of his guests -- yet, curiously, also an edition of the Xenophon in sixteen volumes.

On the chigai-danarests a deep lacquered tray and other objects, while the room invariably contains a clothes-horse and a six-fold screen (roku-mai-ori-no-byodu).

In the private apartment is a shelf on which Buckaroo's pistols and store of ammunition are placed, and this covered with a bright green furoshikion which is dyed the ornamental figure of his family badge (a pair of bamboo leaves turned downward and topped by three simple flowers). Below this shelf is a chest of drawers containing his wardrobe, while the other articles of furniture consist of an oblong brazier on which is placed a kettle, a cupboard with a glass door within which yo-cha-ki (tea things) and eating and drinking utensils are neatly arranged, a mirror-stand, a cup used for gargling, a mimi-darai (a metallic or lacquer tub with a pair of handles or ears, used for toilet purposes), cushions and various other paraphernalia, such as a laptop computer and CD-player.

His futon is a regular style, three of which have been laid one upon the other to form a nice soft bed, his only concession to personal comfort.