Only 2000 copies of the book have been made and only 50 are available in New Zealand, at just two outlets. One is McLeods Booksellers in Rotorua and the other is Hedley Books in Masterton. Images featured in the book will also be on display at Masterton's HedSpace Gallery.
Speed of Life is a hand-bound, limited edition book, each copy signed by Sukita and Bowie. It features more than 350 photographs, of which 80 per cent have never been previously published. It also includes a 300-page essay and a vinyl single.
Hedley Books and HedSpace Gallery owner David Hedley worked with British company Genesis Publications on the book and on getting the book and Sukita to New Zealand.
Mr Hedley brought Sukita to Rotorua on Monday as part of Sukita's three-day trip to New Zealand.
He said he wanted to bring Sukita back to Rotorua because of the significance the city had on his life.
In 1986, Sukita was in Rotorua as part of a Japanese film crew. The group was in Rotorua filming commercial videos, which were screened in Japan.
While in Rotorua, Sukita, who doesn't speak much English, fell 6m off a crane and was hospitalised, he said. He had broken a vertebrae in his back and had also broken his hand.
A story about Sukita was featured in a newspaper at the time, which prompted Rotorua residents to visit him while he was in hospital.
He couldn't remember the name of the hospital but at the time he was there it was believed to be the largest hospital in the Southern Hemisphere with a hot spring facility.
He also said there was a large lake nearby.
Mr Hedley said they believed the hospital was The Queen Elizabeth Hospital at Rotorua's Lakefront.
While in hospital, Sukita was visited by a local couple who were their 40s, he said. The husband had often worked in Japan.
A teacher and two of her students also visited Sukita and brought him flowers.
He said the people who visited him were "very kind" as were the nurses who looked after him at the hospital.
He said it was his hope to be reunited with them during his visit to Rotorua, but after trying to track the nurses down he discovered one of them had since died while the identity of the other remains a mystery.
Mr Hedley said the book Speed of Life was all about the friendship between Sukita and Bowie. He said friendship was what led him to McLeods Booksellers and friendship was also why Sukita wanted to find those who were so kind to him so long ago.
"He was alone in hospital and these people were very kind to him and showed him friendship and made him feel not so alone."
Sukita was yesterday in Masterton launching the exhibition at HedSpace Gallery, which runs until October 6.
He is expected to return to Japan today but said he would consider returning to Rotorua if he could meet up with the people who helped him last time he was here.
Golden years with Bowie