The Masaaki Sakai interview was intended to be published in the Guardian newspaper on Saturday 5 August 2000, but unfortunately, it didn't appear in the newspaper in the end:
1) Masaaki Sakai did the interview for the BBC to use in the Guardian newspaper, but
2) The answers came back too late for the newspaper's deadline
So it won't appear after all...
However it may surface at another time if the BBC rerun Monkey in the near future. Here's what my contact at the BBC sent me:
"Unfortunately we have not been able to use the Masaaki Sakai interview to support the Japan TV Weekend on BBC Choice. (By the time the answers came back from Japan, the newspaper was actually on deadline...) However, we have kept the answers and if the series is repeated on the BBC in the near future we will try to sell in the interview again."
For more information about the Japan TV weekend on BBC Choice, see the Monkey TV Guide - UK Digital page.