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Erskine the elder isnt by any means simply playing herself, though.
Spoiler alert: We both cried a little.
How do you feel about the show?Im just really happy about the whole success of the wholePEN15.
Im happy, yes.
I said, No, you know I cant act.
She said, We need someone who can speak Japanese as well as English.
So I said, Well, that I can do.
So she filmed me on her iPhone and they thought I was okay.
I got involved in a test-case, 15-minute film.
You thought it would be a one-time deal?I was really hopeful for their success.
They were trying so hard.
Id like to help them out whatever I could.
Maya said, Well, Mom, youre going to be in it.
I was really happy for them first, surprised for myself [second].
Maya plays a unique character.
Is her persona a close facsimile to how she was as a kid?Very much, yes.
Very close, but a little bit exaggerated.
Some of the things like when she gets all upset with the family I hate you!
that happened quite often.
We can see the similarities, oh my God.
Making up stories, singing in the car, making up songs.
Was it surreal to re-create the past with your daughter?
The house was very, very different.
[Ours] is quite Californian and slight touch of Japanese here and there.
The [PEN15] set designer did an amazing job.
Some of my friends have houses like that, a Japanese house.
What does that mean to you?
With what sorts of details?Shrines, a lot of shrines, all the ancestors.
I dont have that here in my house.
Some of my friends would have a corner a picture of their parents.
I was always admiring all the Western artistic sensitivity.
The scenario struck me as relatable from a few standpoints.
Was that episode based on a real experience?
What did you tap into to play it?That whole episode felt really not awkward.
It just felt natural.
Id known Anna [Konkle] also for many, many years.
I had that relationship with Anna when she was here.
Not to that extent we had dinner here and Christmas here.
Maya didnt go crazy, didnt go jealous then.
I felt really comfortable.
I felt like I was in my own house, although all the decorations were different.
The atmosphere was as if I were in my house.
Theres something kind of cruel in that scene.Maya thinks that I play too nicely in the show.
I could be really mean-mean to Maya, I just feel I was really not nice to her.
So that still continues, you know.
Shes 31 and Im like,yo!
[laughs], but I still think its there.
It never goes away.
I dont know whats the fabric of the relationship of mothers and daughters.
I feel like my mother used to be like that to me.
Were you thinking about different ethnic senses of motherhood, in playing your role?
Its always a mixture.
This was a wonderful experience to learn, to actually look back at how I was at the time.
When did you come as an exchange student?I was in high school, in 1966.
Where in Japan did you grow up?Outskirts of Tokyo.
You returned there?Yes.
And then you came back here.Yes.
So you had mixed feelings?Yes, of course.
You dont realize what kids go through at school.
I cried [watching episodes], even if they were not exactly what happened.
So I wish I had [had] more time to think about her.
Hearing that makes me emotional.
I actuallywrote about the bullying episodeand similar experiences I had growing up.Oh!
You made me cry!
Both my husband and I read that.
That really hit us and we were so touched by your article.
You must keep writing.
Are your parents still here?
My mom actually passed away.Oh, Im so sorry.
Its fine, it was a while ago.
