established 1970 by corky alexander vol. 39 no. 16 aug … · the hula fitness craze or cultural...

JAPAN’S ART ISLANDWHERE STYLE RESIDES

JAGUAR OR BMW?WHAT’S YOUR MOTORSTYLE?

WAY OF THE HULA FITNESS CRAZE OR CULTURALCRASH COURSE?

ESTABLISHED 1970 BY CORKY ALEXANDER VOL. 39 NO. 16 AUG 15 – SEP 04 2008 FREE

ALSO ONLINE AT WWW.WEEKENDERJAPAN.COM

STYLE

MOVIESTHE DARK KNIGHT

CATWALKKIDS

SHOPPING TO PLEASETHEM AND YOU

DINING AT VA TOUT

RURAL FRENCH EATING IN ROPPONGI?

HOW DO YOU DEFINE IT?

� | Weekender—Style Issue�

•••

•••

ESTABLISHED 1970 BY CORKY ALEXANDER VOL. 39 NO. 16 AUG 15 – SEP 04 2008 FREE

WEEKENDER—JAPAN’S QUALITY ENGLISH MAGAZINE

PUBLISHER Caroline�Pover�ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Rajiv�Trehan,�George�Taylor,�Emily�Downey EDITOR & DESIGNER Marie�Teather�ADVERTISEMENT DESIGNER Chris�May TRAVEL & SOCIETY EDITOR Bill�Hersey�ARTS EDITOR Owen� Schaefer� EVENTS EDITOR� Danielle� Tate-Stratton� DISTRIBUTION MANAGER� Stephen� Young� MARKETING CONSULTANT� Amy� Dose�CONTRIBUTORS�Owen�Schaefer,�Benjamin�Freeland,�Robert�Forrest,�William�Casper,�Ulara�Nakamura,�Ian�Tozer,�Denis�Leaker,�Norman�Munroe,�Rob�Goss,�Elise�Mori,�Nick�Vroman,�Alena�Eckleman,�Maria�Young.�OFFICES�at�Caroline�Pover,� Inc.,� 5th� floor,� Chuo� Iikura� Building,� 3-4-11� Azabudai,� Minato-ku,�Tokyo� 106-0041� Tel.� 03-5549-2038� Fax:� 03-5549-2039� Email:� [email protected].� Opinions� expressed� by� WEEKENDER� contributors�are�not�necessarily�those�of�the�Publisher.

FOUNDED IN 1970 BY MILLARD H. “CORKY” ALEXANDER

Aug 15–Sep � 2008 Vol. 39 No. 16 5

The Mori Family

06 Community Calendar Tokyo’s stylish events to be seen at

08 Feature Style—how do you define it?

10 Movie Reviews Including The Dark Knight

11 Movie Plus City ongoings

12 Fine Dining Brasserie Va Tout

13 Dining The French Kitchen buffet and a Roti recipe

16 Travel Japan’s art island

20 Business Interview Eddie Quinian

21 Business Profiles Blackberry and WebSoftTT

22 Motorng Profile Jaguar

23 Motorng Profile BMW

24 School’s In Global Kid’s Academy

25 School’s Out Catwalk kids

26 Sports Way of the hula

27 Bill’s Partyline

29 Arts & Crossword

FAMILY FOCUS

Phot

os b

y Be

n Be

eche

y.

Style has always been something nearly impossible to de-fine and yet those who ‘get it’ are easily distinguished. In Japan, style is something we seem to encounter daily in various forms and so, in this fun issue of the Weekender, we set out to find a Tokyo-inspired definition of style. See what insights our city’s experts offer on pages eight and nine. On page 16 you’ll learn about Japan’s art is-land, Noashima—it’s a place for the stylish, of course, and on page 26 there’s a stylish fitness craze that goes much deeper than the aesthetics.

Enjoy!Caroline Pover, Publisher

Endless style. How do you define it? See our feature on pages 8–9.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

J E T S E T R O P P O N G I

U H X P E O D

9 10

R E E L I N T E R R I F I C

11

Y B T S N K E A

12 13 14

D U L L T O P A Z P A I R

15 16

U U L L L F R D

17

T E E T O T A L L E R S

18 19

Y S C R H E D S

20

T A K E Y O U R P I C K

21 22

F J L C U E P Y

23 24 25

R E E F G L O R Y G L A D

26 27

I K T I S U O I

28 29

D A Y T R I P S A S I M O V

A L I S E A E

30 31

Y E L L O W E D G R A T I S

Answers�from�Crossword�#32�(Weekender�Aug�01)

Are you happy with the medical services available in Japan? To register your opinion on the medical services available to foreigners here, go to www.weekenderjapan.com and take part in our survey. The survey will be online for an extended period of time and the results of the 2008 Weekender Medical Services Survey will be published in depth later this year.

Andrea has been living in Tokyo for just over eight years and Dave for six. The couple met during

Dave’s first week in Japan; the meeting followed a series of connections spanning their lifetimes—and before—and to which they draw reference to an old Japanese proverb; Akai ito musuburate iru, which loosely translates as; “a red string that connects us.”

The pair first met at a language school in Tamachi where Dave was working and Andrea had been sent to help cover lessons for just one day. For Dave, “when she walked into the staff room, it was love at first sight.” After a brief conversation they learned that they were both from Vancouver and that Andrea had grown up in the same town that Dave had commuted to three times a week during his childhood to learn judo. Dave goes on to explain that; “Shortly after we met, my par-ents emailed and asked how my first week was. I replied that it was great and that I had met the most amazing half-Japanese girl from Vancouver. My parents quickly replied, asking for her last name. At three o’clock in the morning I was awoken to his cell phone and the bel-lowing voice of my father saying, “Davie! Guess what?! That girl you met is your cousin!” I was shocked, embarrassed, disgusted, and immediately wide-awake until my father said, “Just kidding!, but I did just speak to her mother!” My relief was suddenly overwhelmed with the embarrassment of having my father call the mother of a woman I had only briefly met.”

The following morning Andrea also received a startling email. It was her mother telling her that Dave Mori had called her. Andrea’s stomach dropped as she imagined Dave as some kind of stalker calling her mother all the way in Canada. Andrea read on and realized that the Dave Mori her mother was referring to was Dave Mori Sr. and that the Dave she met was

Dave Mori Jr. After the embarrassment had worn off, they connected for their first date in Harajuku. “We then learned that the connections run way back, all the way to both of our grandparents living across a small farming road from each other and were best friends, and that my father and Andrea’s mother were the same age and went to school together from kindergarten to grade 12. We quickly realized that we were meant to be together.”

Being both half-Japanese and half-Canadian, Dave and Andrea were drawn to Japan to learn more about their heritage. After meeting, they soon married and on March 4 of this year Andrea gave birth to their son, Maxon Sachio Mori.

Andrea attends yoga classes at Shizen Yoga Studio—she started to attend the prenatal classes there—“which were a huge help when pregnant.” These days she goes with Max for the Yogamoms classes.

Dave is the co-founder and President of the Entrepreneur Association of Tokyo NPO (www.ea-tokyo.com) who, since 2003, has conducted monthly seminars to promote and support entrepreneurship in Tokyo. He is also co-founder and president of English OK Co. Ltd., who provide custom English training programs for the service industry throughout Japan and have launched Japan’s premier directory of English-capable businesses at www.englishok.jp.

The Mori family enjoying the good weather in Inokashira Park.

6 | Weekender—Style Issue�

COMMUNITY CALENDAR, by Danielle Tate-Stratton

Mt Fuji Climb with the Tokyo Gaijins

Take in Madame Kawakita, Her Life and Films through Sep 28 at the National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo, National Film Center in Kyobashi. The cinematic exhibi-tion celebrates 100 years since the birth of Kashiko Kawakita, who was instrumental in promoting the exchange of film between Japan and Europe. www.momat.go.jp

Kids and adults alike will learn how to dis-cover more about the world around them, while at the same time becoming more active at the NTT Communication Center’s ICC Kids Program 2008, which runs through Aug 31. 10am–6pm, free. www.ntticc.or.jp

Golfers age 4–15 can test their mettle at the US Kids Golf tournament held at Windsor Park Golf and Country Club today. ¥8,500 for nine holes or ¥9,500 for eighteen, includes green fee, lunch, insurance, and practice balls. For more information and to register: http://tinyurl.com/62nmx5.

Join in with the FCCJ’s Samba Carnival tonight from 6–9pm, part of the FCCJ Special Event Tuesdays in August series. The event features Brazilian dancers, authentic cuisine, and samba drums. ¥3,000, reserve by phone at 03-3211-3161 or online at www.fccj.or.jp.

Colombian dance troupe Ballet Folklorico De Antioquia will perform traditional dances tonight at the Showa Women’s University in Sangenjaya at 6:30pm. ¥3,500–¥4,500, tel. 03-3463-3120.

Travel to Tokyo Disney Sea to take in one of the many preview shows for Cirque du Soleil’s new permanent show, ZED, set to open Oct 1, tonight at 7:30. Tickets are avail-able from the website: http://ticket.zed.co.jp/top.html.

FCCJ members and their guests are invited to a screening of Bordertown, starring Jennifer Lopez and Antonio Banderas. Their characters are quickly enveloped into a tangled—and dangerous—web woven around the troubled labor situation in Mexican border towns. For more information about the screening: www.fccj.or.jp.

One who never climbs Mt. Fuji is a fool and one who climbs it again is more than a fool.” So goes

the famous saying about scaling this oh-so-famous of mountains. Truthfully, climbing Mt. Fuji is a definite must-do activity over the course of your stay in Japan. While the 12,400 ft peak may be daunting to those of us who don’t count mountaineering among our hob-bies, the Tokyo Gaijins group offers a fantastic weekend package to get you safely up and down the mountain.

The group offers the chance to climb with fel-low expats from around the world, with two guides ensuring that the group gets up and down safely, as well as being on hand to offer minor first aid treatments. The group also takes care of all logistics, including hiring a private bus from Shinjuku to Fuji and providing headlamps, snacks, and oxygen

canisters to all climbers. By climbing overnight, you avoid some of the crowds, the blistering sun, and position yourself perfectly to catch the sunrise; cloud cover permitting. There is also the welcome chance to see stars (so rare in Tokyo!) and possibly even see fireworks in the Fuji Five Lakes region—from above the blooms themselves.

While sturdy walking shoes will suffice, be prepared for a variety of temperatures, as it can get cold, and be sure to buy a walking stick from the shops at the begin-ning of the climb. These turn into great souvenirs as you can have the wooden sticks stamped with hot iron brands at each station on the way to the summit.

For more information about the Tokyo Gaijin’s Mt. Fuji climbs this year, including one Aug 23–24, visit www.tokyogaijins.com/fuji/hikes.html.

The Azabu Juban Matsuri runs this weekend from August 22–24. Try food from around the world, as well as enjoying the entertainment, music, dancing, and shop-ping. www.azabujuban.or.jp

The FCCJ hosts Beatles Festival Night, which will feature the High Grade Gentlemen, winners of the Best Beatles Band competi-tion. ¥3,300 includes dinner and entertainment, www.fccj.or.jp.

Test your trivial knowledge at the Paddy Foley’s Pub Quiz tonight from 7:30pm. Teams of up to six can play with an entry fee of ¥500 per person. Winners walk away with great prizes. www.pad-dyfoleystokyo.com

© 2008 C

irqu

e du

Soleil Inc.

© J

ord

on C

heu

ng

SA

T 1

6 A

UG

SU

N 1

7 A

UG

MO

N 1

8 A

UG

TU

E 1

9 A

UG

WED

20

AU

GT

HU

21

AU

GFR

I 2

2 A

UG

SA

T 2

3 A

UG

SU

N 2

4 A

UG

MO

N 2

5 A

UG

TU

E 2

6 A

UG

WED

27

AU

GT

HU

28

AU

GFR

I 2

9 A

UG

“

Aug 15–Sep � 2008 Vol. 39 No. 16 �

Would you like your community event listed in this calendar? If so, please email [email protected] one month before the event is due to take place.

Tyler Shine On—Mystery a la Carte

While the event itself isn’t until September 26, the time is now to buy tickets for the Tyler Founda-

tion’s Mystery a la Carte dinner fundraiser at the Hilton Hotel. From 6pm–late, guests will be treated to dinner from a variety of internationally-known chefs, includ-ing Michelin-starred chefs Stephane Gaborieau of La Pergolese and Sebastien Lefort of two-starred restaurant Twenty-One. They are joined by Luke Mangan of Salt in the Shin-Marunouchi Building. The evening’s dining is rounded out by Artorio Spicocchi, of Michelin–starred La Stua di Michil in Italy, and Alexander Egger from Hotel La Perla (courtesty of De Longhi Japan).

As well as exquisite food, the event features a murder mystery hosted by actor Rachel Walzer and a live auction with prizes including airline tickets, meals, and more.

The Tyler Foundation’s aim is to support children with cancer in Japan and currently contributes to the lives of young cancer patients through initiatives such as supporting the salary of a doctor and child psychologist at the National Center for Child Health and Development. The foundation also hopes to open a Shine On House, to allow families to stay near their children undergoing treatment, in the near future.

To buy tickets, which are ¥30,000 each, or to find out more about the event or foundation itself, visit www.tylershineon.org.

Enjoy the colorful dancing of the Koenji Awa Odori today and tomorrow. www.koenji-awao-dori.comWatch as 12,000 fireworks explode at the Chuo City Fireworks from 7:20–8:30pm at Keio Tamagawa station.

Tomorrow is the last day of the Kodomo Exhibition at the Living Design Center OZONE in Shinjuku, an exhi-bition and seminars for par-ents and children on furniture. In Japanese: http://tinyurl.com/67yh4n.

The Australian and New Zealand Chamber of Commerce invites members and their guests to a Wednesday Night Waterhole at Aussie-owned bar Araku in Golden Gai. ¥500 includes snacks, cash bar. www.anzccj.jp/events.php

The Tokyo Comedy Store’s TCS Crocodile Show is from 8–10:30pm tonight at the Crocodile in Shibuya. ¥2,000. Full drink and food menu. www.tokyocom-edy.com.

The Asakusa Samba Festival takes place today from 1:30pm, featuring a combination of colorful Brazilian samba dancers and one of Tokyo’s most traditional neighborhoods. www.asakusa-samba.jp

Support eco-friendly cycling charity Bee Japan at their charity concert at Heaven’s Door from 6–11pm. The concert features acts such as the Max Blues Band and is ¥2,000 including one drink. Bee Japan makes yearly cycling trips across Japan to support sustain-able living as well as promoting this way of living year-round. www.beejapan.org

The Ghibli Museum is playing host to the Petite Louve Museum, designed to give adults and children alike the chance to experience works from the Louve in a relaxed setting. Reserve tickets (required) at: www.ghibli-museum.jp/en.

Join EA Tokyo as Daisuke Iwase, co-founder and COO of Lifenet Insurance Company (an online insurance venture), talks about Breathing New Life into an Old Industry. The event is open to members and non-members of EA Tokyo and costs ¥3,500–¥6,000. To sign up, visit www.ea-tokyo.com/app/events/signup/24.

Visit the theater and take in The Winds of God, a play about two kamikaze pilots that looks at life and war. At the Kinokuniya Southern Theater in Shinjuku Sept 2–9, www.wog-stage.com.

Anyone interested in Japan–Ireland busi-ness relations is invited to The Ireland Japan Chamber of Commerce informal networking event tonight at Le Dragon Bleu in the Atago Green Hills Plaza. ¥3,500 includes dinner and two drinks. www.ijcc.jp/events/24.

Head to National Azabu for your weekly shop and while you are there, pick up the special Singapore issue of Weekender, due out today.

© Jacob Eh

nm

ark

SA

T 3

0 A

UG

SU

N 3

1 A

UG

MO

N 1

SEP

TT

UE 2

SEP

TW

ED

3 S

EP

TT

HU

4 S

EP

TFR

I 5

SEP

T


Style—How Do You Define It?A�Tokyo�definition�from�the�international�community,�by�Marie�Teather

Christian Thoma is the Managing Director of Triumph International and has been working for the company in Japan since 1986. Triumph has been in Japan since 1964 and specializes in ladies under garments.

How do you think attitudes to fashion and style have changed over the past 10 years in Tokyo?You cannot talk about a ‘Tokyo style’ but the retail industry has changed a lot. Before it was just department stores where people would do all of their shopping under one roof, but during the past 10–15 years there has been a huge increase in the number of boutiques and specialized stores.

What changes have you seen in your industry?Twenty years ago our customers were ladies over 35 years old and they were very conservative. Now our average customer is around 22 or 23 years old and the image has changed dramatically. Customers used to think that underwear was functional not fashionable. Today it has become a fun product.

Who do you think the Japanese are looking towards for their style inspiration?They are making their own styles and the Western world is looking towards Japan instead.

What could anyone visiting Japan learn from Japanese fashion and styles?The dynamics and the cleanliness of clothes, not to wear dirty or shabby clothes, and the love of something new.

(left to right:)

Lilo Maruyama—“You have to know yourself and what suits you best. It’s OK to have a few pieces of

fashionable items but you should just follow your instincts!”

Kiko Ireton—I have a few favorite stores (most-ly non-brand, private labels) that I visit from time-to-time and if I happen to find something I like, I purchase and wear it. I don’t have—what shall I say—any ‘fashion statement,’ or whatever. If anything, I wear black, white, and grey mostly,

with occasional very bright colors when I find them, again, it’s what I like!

Grace Saito—“Style and fashion should just be about expressing yourself—happily!”

It was Yves Saint Laurent that once said, “Fashions fade, style is eternal,” and true though that may be, it didn’t really define or enlighten us as to what style is, exactly.

On the concept of style, living in Japan is a fantastic place to ponder over this dilemma as we watch ‘the next big thing’ fly in and out of fashion at alarming rates, but with the majority of us remaining just far enough from the center of the hype to avoid being caught up in the excitement. How very cool we must be, but how does that define us, the international community, and our concepts of style? Everyone, it seems, has a different idea of what constitutes style—some very passionately—and so Weekender got to asking just what style is.

First we spoke with the ‘experts,’ three members of the international community who are very much involved with the style and fashion industry, to ask them how they thought fashions and styles were chang-ing here in Tokyo and how the foreign community could learn from it. Secondly, we asked those members of the foreign community, who are inspired by and who have allowed style be a part of their lives about how they defined style. Of course, that leaves you next, so, how do you define style?

Phot

o by

Nic

k D

ale.

“Style�is�representing�

your�spirit”

–Timothy Coghlan, organizer of Tokyo Girls Collection.

“Style�is�not�following�fashions”

–Anri Schross, Tokyo-based fashion journalist.

What’s your attitude to style?

Aug 15–Sep � 2008 Vol. 39 No. 16 9

FEATURE

Cristiano Scognamiglio is the Managing Director of M+M Scognamiglio, a family business specializing in Cameo jewelry that started 150 years ago. The company is the largest manufacturer of handmade cameos and has been seen on the TV series Sex and the City and on other celeb-rities. The Japan branch can be found in Ginza.

How do you think attitudes to fashion and style have changed over the past 10 years in Tokyo?Until 10 years ago Japan was a very conservative place. Clothes were more formal and everyone would pretty much wear the same styles. Designers would bring their designs to Japan and customers would simply wear the outfits exactly as designers presented them. But, thanks to the internet, cus-tomers no longer have to wait for designers to tell them how to dress and instead are able to learn immediately from fashions the world over.

What changes have you seen in your industry?In jewelry, until very recently Japanese girls would mostly wear diamonds. But now, as in Europe where it is considered slightly unoriginal to wear exactly the same designs as your peers, more and more Japanese are looking

for original designs and one-off creations. We are making lots of handcrafted jewelry—each piece is unique—and we are promoting the idea that ‘You are the designer of yourself.’

How easy is it for you as a foreigner to work in the fashion industry here?My family has been in Japan for five generations and so we are well trusted by customers. You need to be accepted to do well here and even more so today as customers are so well informed; they study and will know everything they need know about a product before buying it.

Who do you think the Japanese are looking towards for their style inspiration?Currently, in New York jewelry is all about ‘volume.’ Big is in and we are seeing people adopting this style here too. Also, as in Europe and the US, people are mixing and matching expensive jewelry with other cheaper accessories.

In Ginza, you’ll see people looking towards Europe for their inspiration, in Shinjuku it’s the US, and in Shibuya you see rap. Japanese are very good at copying styles that have been presented to them in a certain way, but it is only now that they are starting to have more contact with foreigners and they are learning that not everyone in Italy dresses in one concept of ‘Italian style’ and not everyoone in the US dresses in another concept. Japanese are starting to mix and match.

Where do you think is the most stylish place in Tokyo?All of it. There’s a stylish place for everyone and that, in itself, is stylish. What could anyone visiting Japan learn from Japanese fashion and styles?Not to judge someone by the outfits they are wearing. They wear a particular outfit because they like it, not because they think it’s better than anyone else’s. Its just fun and there’s room for everyone.

Finally, how do you define style?Style is that you only show your personality through your dress, not your social standing.

Fumio Kawashima has been a hairstylist to the stars after opening his first Peek-A-Boo salon in Omotesando in 1978. Peek-A-Boo now has six locations throughout Tokyo and employs more than 200 staff. Fumio studied under Vidal Sasson in London for seven years in the seventies and has been in the industry for over 40 years.

How do you think attitudes to fashion and style have changed over the past ten years in Tokyo?Attitudes have changed a lot. Before it was very conservative and Japanese didn’t really want to have their hair cut. These days, you don’t see so much black hair anymore and younger ladies are willing to try anything.

What changes have you seen in your industry?I’m seeing more people with dimension haircuts (hair that is short under-neath and long on top) and, more importantly, that younger people want to be different.

Who do you think Japanese people are looking towards for their style inspirations?Definitely Europe. Not so much the US, but London and Paris. Japanese

can identify more with European styles. Also, younger people are still learning from the pop culture you can see in London.

Where do you think is the most stylish place in Tokyo?Harajuku and Shibuya. There are so many shops there—it’s all apparel—and all those people who work in those fashion stores make it very stylish.

What could anyone visiting Japan learn from Japanese fashion and styles?It’s the other way around. Japanese want to learn from western people, as they know so much more about style. They learn more than they teach.

What do you think is the single most important item to give you instant style?A good haircut. If you wear good clothes a bad haircut can ruin it all. Also, no matter how fashions change you should remain feminine and not be too aggressive with your styles.


ROPPONGI: Roppongi Hills Cinema. Roppongi 6-10-2, Minato-ku. 03-5��5-6090. In the Roppongi Hills Keyakizaka Complex, facing the Mori Tower, Hibiya Line Roppongi Station. Showing: The Dark Knight, The Incredible Hulk, Kung Fu Panda, The Happening, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. www.tohotheater.jp.

SHIBUYA: Shibuto Cine Tower, Dogenzaka 2-6-1�, Shibuya. 03- 5�89-�210. From JR Shibuya station, take the Hachiko exit to the large intersection (to Dogenzaka). Go up the road, and it will be on your left (across from Shibuya 109). Showing: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Happening,. http://gmap.jp/shop-1533.html.

SHINJUKU: Shinjuku Milano Za, Kabuki-cho 1-29-1, Tokyu Milano Bldg. 03-3202-1189. JR Shinjuku station East Exit, number B13. Walk towards Nishi-Shinjuku station; the theater faces this station. Showing: Kung Fu Panda, Speed Racer, Rec, Ghost in the Shell,

ODAIBA: Cinema Mediage. Daiba 1-�-1, Minato-ku. 03-5531-�8�8. Across from Tokyo Teleport Station, just behind the Fuji TV building. From the Yurikamome line’s Daiba station, cross the street. The cinema is next to Aqua City Odaiba. Showing: The Dark Knight, The Incredible Hulk, Kung Fu Panda, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, www.cinema-mediage.com.

WEEKENDER’S�FAVORITE�MOVIE�THEATERS

��For�more�reviews�please�visit�our�website�at�www.weekenderjapan.com

MOVIE REVIEWS BY WILLIAM CASPER

phot

o co

urte

sy o

f War

ner

Brot

hers

.ph

oto

cour

tesy

of 2

0th

Cen

truy

Fox

.

The Dark Knight

What Happens In Vegas

Semi-Pro

Inevitably and tragically, The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan’s second batman film, is all about Heath Ledg-

er. The fine, young actor died following an overdose of prescription drugs soon after filming had finished. He joins the likes of River Phoenix and James Dean in dy-ing just at the point a brilliant career was getting into its stride. His superb performance in Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain alone is a worthy memorial to his obvious tal-ent, although one suspects it is his fine characterization of the Joker in this film that will become the abiding iconic image of his all too short career. I’m not sure play-ing a wildly maniacal psychopath is more of a challenge than an inarticulate gay cowboy trapped in the tightest of closets, but it will be hard to argue against if this per-formance wins him a posthumous Oscar in March.

Elsewhere, there is much to enjoy in this action packed, big screen version of the most adult of comic book heros. Christian Bale’s Batman, like Sean Connery’s Bond, is the one all previous efforts fail to match. Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Gary Oldman, three of the best actors in the business, offer sterling support and by swapping the lovely and talented

Maggie Gyllenhaal with the hopelessly miscast Katie Holmes as the love interest, the pro-ducers removed the one glaring flaw in Batman Returns. Aaron Eckhart is another new edition and more than holds his own as District Attorney Harvey Dent. Having covered most of Batman’s back-story in the earlier film, The Dark Knight is as much about the villain as it is our hero. Ledger’s Joker stages ingenious (though evil) elaborate set pieces, posing terrible dilemmas for Batman and any other authorities that attempt to resolve them. The psychological battle between the self styled Cape Crusader and the crazy clown is totally engrossing and at times, with the special effects on show, mesmer-izing. The film’s greatest strength is that none of the characters get lost in the avalanche of action sequences and retain our attention, compassion, and concern throughout—which for a film about a comic book hero is no mean feat.

In the mid 1990s, just like now, Cameron Diaz’s then-youthful face adorned countless billboards around

Tokyo. In those far-off days, presumably considered the perfect role model for young Japanese women, she was promoting a leading brand of menthol cigarettes rather than a cell phone giant as now. As she has al-legedly been paid over ten million dollars on at least eight different occasions for various movies—including a mind boggling $20,000,000 for the Charlie’s Angels se-quel—it’s a wonder she can be bothered to flog other people’s stuff at all.

This piece of fluff, for which Diaz reportedly received another eight figure salary, co-stars Demi Moore’s toy-boy husband, Ashton Kutcher. Kutcher usually bears the dazed expression of a performer who has been handed his script 30 seconds before the director calls “action,” but here, as an unpleasant slacker slob, he is quite effec-tive and more than holds his own against his co-star’s

prissy banker. These two unkindred spirits meet in Vegas. They get wasted together (as you do), they get married (as you do), immedi-ately regret it (as you do), win $3,000,000 on a slot machine, and are forced to stay together for six months in order to keep the money (as you do—only in the twisted imaginations of the people who churn out these half cocked rom-coms). It’s not the worst film ever, there are some funny moments but you’ve seen most of them before featured in its countless cinematic second cousins. It’s main fault though, is that it should have starred—without being ageist—someone like Lindsay Lohan rather than a 36-year-old ex-tobacco industry face, who really should be doing better than this by now.

Will Ferrell? A quirky sports movie? THE SEVEN-TIES!? It’s almost as if the ball has been tossed

gently up to the basket, it hovers there waiting; this must be as sure fire a slam-dunk as you will see. There-fore, it is something of a surprise as the ball falls harm-lessly down to earth and skips away in a series of ever decreasing bounces.

It’s not that Semi-Pro is bad; were it the first Will Ferrell film of its kind, the set up and the seventies parody would probably be enough for most viewers. Unfortunately, it isn’t the first, so despite the two or three genuinely funny sequences, it feels tired. There is too much that is familiar in the tale of an underdog

basketball team owned by disco king and Team Captain Jackie Moon (Will Ferrell). Variations on it’s theme crop up in Blades of Glory, Talladega Nights, Anchor Man, Old School (same scriptwriter), and even non-Ferrell films like Kingpin, Balls of Fury, and Major League. Indeed, with the 1989 baseball movie, it shares a subplot—the aging top-draw star given one last chance of glory in the city where, coincidently, an old flame is currently living. Semi-good.

Heath Ledger as the Joker.

phot

o co

urte

sy o

f New

Lin

e C

inem

a.

Romance—Vegas style.

Airball.

Aug 15–Sep � 2008 Vol. 39 No. 16 11

MOVIE PLUS WITH BILL HERSEY

SHINAGAWA: Shinagawa Prince Cinema. Takanawa �-10-30, Mi-nato-ku. 03-5�21-1113. Across the street from Shinagawa station, in the Shinagawa Prince Hotel. Showing: The Dark Knight, Kung Fu Panda, The Happening. www.princehotels.co.jp/shinagawa/cin-ema/index.html.

YOKOHAMA: Toho Cinemas Lalaport. �035-1 Ikebe-cho, Ysuzuki-ku, Yokohama. 0�5-929-10�0. JR Yokohama Line, Kamoii station. Take the North Exit; theater is on the first floor of the Lalaport Complex. Show-ing: The Incredible Hulk, Kung Fu Panda, The Happening, Speed Racer, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. http://yokohama.lalaport.jp.

Out�on�DVD!By�William�Casper

��For�more�reviews�please�visit�our�website�at�www.weekenderjapan.com

NB. Schedules are subject to change so please make sure to check the website to avoid disappointment.

phot

o co

urte

sy o

f War

ner

Brot

hers

.

Jumper—Interesting premise; being able to instantly relocate anywhere. A decent cast including Samuel L Jackson and a big budget. All wasted by some awful storytelling.

Enchanted—The most successful mix of animation and real ac-tion since Roger Rabbit. Charming, funny, and yes, enchanting.

The Golden Compass—Excellent adaptation of the first part of Phillip Pullman’s superb trilogy His Dark Materials. Sadly looks like being the only part to be made into a film. How insecure the institutions that campaigned against it must be.

The Killing of John Lennon—Better than Chapter 27, dealing with

the same sad incident, but still heavy-going.

The rainy season is over. But I feel I can safely say, as far as summer film happenings go this year, when it rains, it pours!

Press conferences for visiting celebrities, premieres, receptions, and other movie promo events have been on a sometimes twice-a-day basis.

There have been some really special promos with really special people including people from Kadokawa Pictures and Paramount’s Kung Fu Panda, and Warner Brothers press confer-ences and the screening of the awesome animated Star Wars. Sony Entertainment had a green (color of the Hulk) carpet premiere of their box office hit The Incredible Hulk at Ginza Nichigeki. Over at the Tokyo International Forum, Warner Brothers held a star-studded premiere for their record-breaking The Dark Knight. Noted Director M. Night Shyamalan was here for 20th Century Fox to promote his film The Happening. When he wasn’t working he hung out and made lots of friends at the New Lex.

Looking ahead, August will have some great films here so you can relax, enjoy, and escape the heat.

20th Century Fox had a promo for their film What Happenes in Vegas which opens August 16 and Toho-Towa did a major promo for Mummy which opens the same day. You can also see the popular superstar Will Smith in his Sony release Hancock. Gaga will release the much antici-pated Sex and the City on August 23.

Good stuff coming up this fall includes Sony’s Ironman and Warner Brother’s Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. John Woo fans can look forward to Towa’s fall release, Battle of Red Cliff. I’ll have rundowns and photos of most of these promos later. Meanwhile, I’d like to suggest you see Across the Universe, a film set to the Beatles’ words and music. Thanks to Sony’s Dick Sano I got to have dinner with one of the film’s

stars Jim Sturgess. What a talented and a nice young guy he is.

In closing, I’d like to mention that I had a really fun night—almost morning—at the New Lex on July 29 and 30 with Aussie superstar Hugh Jackman and a group of his “neighborhood mates” who were here holi-daying. My thanks to 20th Century Fox’s honcho Jesse Lee for setting it all up.

In addition to his great film work (X-Men, Van Helsing, etc), Hugh won high acclaim and a Tony award for his role as Judy Garland’s Australian showbiz husband Peter Allen in the musical The Boy From Oz. I guess that’s where he learnt to dance as well. He’s a nice, as down to earth guy as you ever could meet—and he can really shake his booty!

As they say movies are better than ever and theater owners are going all out to make watching films in their super venues the absolute ultimate in comfort. The newly opened Shochiku Cinema complex near Isetan in Shinjuku is a perfect example. The theater features ten screens with a total of 2,237 seats, luxury rooms and seats, cutting edge audio technology, a cinema library, and a café. For more infor-mation check out the website: www.shinjukupicadilly.com

On the down side, The Shinjuku Koma Stadium, an institution for all kinds of entertainment since 1956 will close down at the end of this year. As Queen sang, Another One Bites the Dust. Filmmaker Toho is already working on plans for a big redevelopment in that part of Shinjuku’s Kabukicho.

Lucy Liu and Jack Black having fun at the Kung Fu Panda press conference.

Photographer Nick Dale and director M. Night

Shyamalan at the New Lex.

Paramount Japan Sales Director Kiyoto Takaya, Dreamworks Animation

CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, Paramount Marketing Director Hisamichi Kinomoto, President and GM of Paramount Japan Ichiro Okazaki,

Senior Vice President United International Pictures Kurt Rieder.

Hugh Jackman with 20th Century Fox General

Manager Jesse Lee.

3


FINE DINING BY ROBERT FORREST

Brasserie Va-Tout

Best table: Outside is best if the weather is good, and they can accommodate large groups inside too. Try to arrive early evening. Location: Walk from Roppongi Crossing towards Tokyo Tower. It’s ten minutes on

your right. Prices: A great lunch menu is offered from ¥1,000, and mains for dinner are about ¥2,500. Their monthly course is ¥5,250. Contact: www.brasse-rievatout.jp or call 03-3568-2080 for reservations.

French food cooked to perfection.

This should have been so easy: “Write about a styl-ish restaurant.” So I racked my head, lubed my

brain, and tried to think of all the spangled places where I have eaten, seeking signs of life for those with hunger looking for taste, and those with taste satisfying hunger.

Immodestly, I am the latter, but my day job designing does not always translate to nifty table-cloths come mealtime. Instead, we often end up at this friendly if slightly absent-minded restaurant on the strip leading from Roppongi crossing towards Tokyo Tower. Every other year, Va-tout and the Axis building next door hosts Designer’s Night, a tight gathering of car designers who have migrated to the Tokyo Motor Show. Va-tout puts on quite a spread, but it is hard to concentrate on balancing a buffet when business cards keep slipping from your cuffs.

My co-designer Francophone was with me this time, and not a supplier in sight. “I fear we have an unusual case of French mangled to the effect of an English t-shirt bought in Harajuku,” he seemed to say while finishing the bread. Va tu, va tous, but not va tout. Not unless you add faire, though this might act as a deterrent if put on the sign. As if the slow service would not be enough. Each time we dine here we wait: there is clearly a talented chef in the kitchen eager to make his food great, but he needs somewhere smaller. The drinks are also expensive—I paid ¥1,300 for 600ml of Yebisu. A generous glass, but an absurd price. So why do we keep coming back? Location is one thing: from here you can watch pretty girls trotting and fast cars rolling; it also has excellent variety in its menu: duck with apricot, chicken tanjine, and roasted lamb are all meals I have enjoyed here. Now, with summer panting down our necks, I chose this month’s special five-course meal: Legumes d’ete.

“Eventually, the first course arrived.” That was my planned start to this paragraph, but today barely a moment had passed from the keg arriving to my mousse d ’ a v o c a t introducing itself. Forget that we had to wait 15 minutes for the beer and this is a giddy effort for a restaurant that reproduces the pace of rural France to spectacular effect. My amuse bouche certainly stimu-lated with bitter tomato puree smeared over the dense mousse, but the presentation could have been better: green and red belong side-by-side, not suffocating in a Pyrex dome. And before I finished the hors d’oeuvre arrived. The waiter looked faint. This was crab salad successfully imitating coleslaw, presented as a neat patty within a buttery moat. Clock another reason for coming here: the prodigious use of butter. If only the same could be said of the late crustacean: nuggets of sweet corn and diced peppers were present, but the fragile meat seemed lost to budgeting, despite the ¥5,250 needed for this set.

My entrée came next, and so did Francophone’s steak. 300g for ¥3,000 is clearly the one to choose over the 200g they offer for ¥2,500, though there is 500g at just under double that if you have nothing planned for the weekend. The steak here is excellent, always cooked precisely to preference; in Francophone’s case

still lowing. It comes with a mountain of fries, Dijon mustard, and ketchup, and offers little reason to choose the Outback at the crossing instead. My starter was a more delicate affair, perfectly suited to the sum-mer vegetable theme of the menu. Two white coins of St. Jacques scallops perched like rotund herons in a watery meadow of basil sauce. Loll your tongue in freshly cut grass lightened with dill and try to forget the scallops a la carte also available are bathed in burnt butter. This is my usual choice when coming here, almost as good as those in Cuisine[s] Michel Troisgros you may remember my mentioning: you can re-read it while we wait for my main.

“Excuse me, I am ready for my main,” “Excuse me, I have finished now.” Just two attempts this time. When we first came last year, each would take it in turn to ask for their food; Oliver Twist would have been joined on the streets by the whole orphanage had they eaten here. But when it did arrive, so too did an explanation as to what, exactly, ‘Axoa’ is. This curious word appeared solo alongside thorough kanji on the menu, and with my Japanese worse than their French, I was left guessing until the plate arrived. Even Francophone could not translate.

My initial reaction proved wide of the mark. “Axolotl” I boldly declared. No other word seemed close,

but it seemed unlikely they would serve axles outside D e s i g n e r ’ s Night. It was Iberian pork, to my relief, indeed from

the same region of France as Francophone. Asked what I thought by the waitress, she prompted; “fatty?” before I had time to answer. Yes, as the pork tends to be here, but the sauce was fantastic—and fantastically inappropriate for a midsummer night. Marmalade-like peppers reduced within a hot nest of onions, garlic, and sultry tomatoes would make the perfect stew in winter, but here my brow brimmed. The meat was not as generous as my first glance noted but perfectly cooked and so tender. Easily the best course of the meal, so I hope they bring it back in a few months when I have cooled down.

By this time, Francophone had finished his steak without offering me a piece, now prodding luke-warm fries when my grapefruit gratin arrived. Bloody mounds cleaved the froth, if still too fluid for me, their crème brulee is far superior. Finally, Va-tout’s excellent coffee completed the meal, before the last dance of try-ing to receive the bill began. Va-tout is not as stylish as some restaurants, but it is always fashionably late.

How�would�you�choose�your�most�stylish�restaurant?

from�here�you�can�watch�pretty�girls�trotting�and�fast�cars�rolling;�it�also�has�excellent�variety�in�its�menu

Aug 15–Sep � 2008 Vol. 39 No. 16 13

Casual�elegance,�by�Marie�Teather

DINING

The French Kitchen

For reservations at Roti call 03-5�85-36�1 or see the website at www.rotico.com.

phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Rot

i

phot

os c

ourt

esy

of S

oho

Hos

pita

lity

Gro

up.

Barbeque Prawns with Tropical Mango SalsaRoti�chef,�Ian�Tozer,�teaches�us�a�barbeque�hit

Cooking the Prawns (Saute): Start with half the butter on a meduim heat, melt, and add the garlic. Swirl the pan and add the prawns in a flat layer, sprinkle them with half the spice and cook for 30 seconds. Turn the prawns over and add the remaining spice. As soon as the garlic and spice is golden brown and smells spicy add all the liquids, turn the heat up to high, and boil for one minute. Remove the pan from the heat and with a swirling motion add the remaining butter and coriander. Season with the salt and pep-per and you’re done!

(Barbeque): Melt the butter in advance and combine all the ingredients together in a bowl. You can omit the stock. Only marinate for a maximum of 30 minutes before grilling.

Tropical Mango SalsaNo cooking method. Simply dice, chop everything as you like, and mix together.

1 mango1/2 papaya1/8 pineapple1 tbsp red onion1 tbsp coriander1 lime, juiced1 fresh red chili, seeds removed

The Prawns (3-4 people):Use 12 shell-on, head-on, fresh or frozen large prawns; the larger the better. Cut along the back of the prawn and remove the veins if they have them. Wash in cold water.

The Sauce (or marinade if grilling)60 gm butter, melted2 tsp garlic chopped1 tsp Cajun spice (adjust as you like)1 lemon, juiced1 tsp Worcestershire sauce3 tbsp beer3 tbsp stock, shrimp or chicken will do (omit if cooking on the barbeque)3 tbsp chopped corianderPinch of saltPinch of black pepper

imag

es c

ourt

esy

of w

ww

.isto

ck/M

ique

lMun

ill.

imag

es c

ourt

esy

of w

ww

.isto

ck.c

om/P

LAIN

VIEW

.

photo courtesy of Roti.

Delicious cooked on the

barbeque or on

the oven.

This being the Style issue of Weekender, I was asked to turn in an appropriately stylish recipe and, as we are right in the middle of the red-hot Tokyo summer, I thought this barbeque prawn dish would fit the bill perfectly.

You can either grill the prawns on your barbeque or sauté them in a hot skillet in your kitchen. The salsa can be made in advance and is great in salads, on chicken, or simply with cheese if you have any leftovers. I would suggest drinking a very cold imported Pilsner beer with this or it’s equally good with your favorite summer white or rose wine. You can serve the shrimp simply with steamed rice or it is great with good grilled bread to mop up all the extra sauce. The salsa is served over the top and the fruit really balances the spiciness of the prawns.

There are few more stylish restaurants in Tokyo than that with a catwalk-like runway to strut up to the

kitchen and with a floor-to-ceiling glass wine cellar able to hold 3,000 bottles. This is, of course, the French Kitchen and despite the glamour and the special effects, this brass-ier still retains a certain casualness; I’ve gone back a few times and each time it becomes a little more homely.

It’s perhaps little surprise that the evening menu should be something as equally grand, and yet, with no frills. A buffet perhaps? But forget the mundaneness of a slow moving buffet line; the waiting as food meant to be served hot soon turns cold; the shuffling of feet as you move slowly down a long table of food; here we have the ‘interactive experience.’ There are food stations and with plate in hand you’ll flit from one station to the next, taking a little pate from this one, roast carving from the next, stop and chat with a chef as he cooks your eggs Florentine to your liking, grab a little seafood, and sit down again. This is busy eating.

The animated open kitchen serves as backdrop to the on goings up front and this, I should add, is one big open floor plan. Small coves and twists of the restaurant mean you are never too close to other diners and yet still able to enjoy the buzzing of waiters, the chefs, and

the hungry walking the runway and circling around the buffet center piece.

Each month the kitchen presents their seasonal offerings; for August it’s sole, served at their prime and in the form of Sole Meuniere, pan-fried with white wine. It’s delicious. Perhaps you’ll accompany this with hand-picked eggplant from Kanazawa, or maybe you’ll take the garlic asparagus—it’s your choice remember.

There will soon—and always it’s sooner than you planned—come a time when you can simply eat no more. Or so you thought, until you venture over to the dessert station and see the chocolate fountain with marshmal-lows, strawberries, and other fruits to be dipped in and whirled around. I don’t usually care for desserts but when finding a creation that seems to have been sent from Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, even I can’t resist.

All this walking and choosing, picking and eating, it could feel almost quite demanding. I’m not quite sure that this is really a way to relax after a long day, but there is always something else that I wish I had eaten; the food and the variety here really is that good. With that in mind, I’ll no doubt be back again soon.

Catwalk to the buffet.

phot

o co

urte

sy o

f the

Fre

nch

Kitc

hen.

For reservations call 03-�333-123� or see the website at www.tokyo.grand.hyatt.com

1� | Weekender—Style Issue�

Aug 15–Sep � 2008 Vol. 39 No. 16 15

Imagine�an�island�with�pristine�beaches�and�turquoise�waters,�where�the�pace�of�life�is�relaxed�and�unhurried.�Imagine�this�island�with�one�of�the�world’s�most�cutting�edge,�design-conscious�hotels,�and�con-temporary�art�museums.�Where�world-class�art�spills�out�of�the�mu-seum,�inhabiting�hotel�rooms,�the�surrounding�forests,�beaches,�and�cliffs.�Imagine�a�traditional�fishing�port�town,�regenerated�to�contain�the�200-year-old�renovated�houses�now�serving�as�contemporary�gal-leries�and�where�the�aging�local�village�folk�are�happy�to�assist�you.�Now�imagine�that�this�sleepy�secluded�art�island�is�less�than�four�hours�away�from�Tokyo,�nestled�in�the�Inland�Sea.


Twenty-five years ago Naoshima was known only for a copper smelting plant. However, two deter-

mined men came together to draw up a plan to regen-erate this aging island. The founding fathers were Tet-suhiko Fukutake, President of the Benesse Foundation and Chikatsugu Miyake, a previous mayor of Naoshi-ma. The former had a dream to create a place where young people from all over the world could gather on an island in the inland sea, while the latter dreamt to develop Naoshima as an educational and cultural area. In 1985 the two men made a promise to each other to realize their dreams.

Having paid a billion yen for the southern side of the island, Fukutake, owner of Berlitz Language Schools, began the steady creation of this unique environment. The island is now home to Benesse House, a museum and hotel complex; the Chichu Art Museum, opened in 2004 to worldwide criti-cal acclaim; and the Art House Project, traditional houses and temples converted into galleries for spe-cially commissioned artists from around the world. Unique environmentIt’s the architecture of these buildings that creates Naoshima’s unique environment. Designed by the world famous Pritzker Prize winning Tadao Ando—also behind the controversial redevelopment of Omotesando Hills in Tokyo—these buildings blend into the environment without disturbing the natural order and traditional way of life. Furthermore, despite being a commercial enterprise, the museums and hotels have maintained a conservative advertising policy, relying instead on reputation and word of mouth to draw visitors. This means it is free of the tour buses and crowds that plague so many of Japan’s other great scenic spots.

The Benesse House original museum building was designed with lodgings attached. The idea was to allow visitors to enjoy the art at their own speed, in keeping with the gentle pace of the Inland Sea. In fact, those staying in the hotel can wander the museum in

Japan’s Art IslandNaoshima—where� only� style� resides� for� those� in� the� know,� by� Denis� Leaker�

relative isolation until 11pm. It is a strange and surreal feeling to wander, without a guard in sight, amongst priceless works of art. It is as though walking through an art collector’s house in the middle of the night. Furthermore, there is a commissioned work of art in every room of the hotel, making the transition between museum and hotel delightfully seamless. Artworks present in the museum and hotel include those by Andy Warhol, Bruce Nauman, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Richard Long, and James Turrell to name a few. SuprisesBenesse House contains four separate lodging areas each with their own unique style, called Museum, Park, Beach, and Oval. Arguably the highlight of these accommodations is the Oval. This building is reached via a monorail which is connected to the museum. The monorail slowly transports guests up to the top of the hill overlooking the bay. Here guests must walk through a glass corridor crossing a trickling stream to enter a large oval atrium buried into the top of the hill. An oval water fountain reflects the doors to the six guest rooms which look out over the Inland Sea. When first entering your room, it is tempting to think you won’t leave for the duration of your stay. If you can’t get a room here, then try the cocktail bar adjacent to the rooms, which has a perfect vantage point to view the sun setting over the Inland Sea.

Not only are the museums designed to be har-monious with nature; they are also designed to be in harmony with the art they contain. Some spaces are designed specifically for the art, whilst some of the art is designed specifically for the spaces. For some instal-lations, artist and architect have worked together for their creations. This is site specific art, which cannot be viewed anywhere else in the world.

Despite all this, you don’t have to appreciate contemporary art to enjoy this island. Naoshima is a beautiful destination regardless of the regeneration it has undergone and for visitors it’s worth a trip just to

...arguably�the�most�contemporary,�modernist,�and�stylishly�traditional�island,�in�the�world...

Imagine�an�island�with�pristine�beaches�and�turquoise�waters,�where�the�pace�of�life�is�relaxed�and�unhurried.�Imagine�this�island�with�one�of�the�world’s�most�cutting�edge,�design-conscious�hotels,�and�con-temporary�art�museums.�Where�world-class�art�spills�out�of�the�mu-seum,�inhabiting�hotel�rooms,�the�surrounding�forests,�beaches,�and�cliffs.�Imagine�a�traditional�fishing�port�town,�regenerated�to�contain�the�200-year-old�renovated�houses�now�serving�as�contemporary�gal-leries�and�where�the�aging�local�village�folk�are�happy�to�assist�you.�Now�imagine�that�this�sleepy�secluded�art�island�is�less�than�four�hours�away�from�Tokyo,�nestled�in�the�Inland�Sea.

Aug 15–Sep � 2008 Vol. 39 No. 16 1�

TRAVEL

Getting There From Tokyo:By Air: One hour and ten minutes from Haneda to Takamatsu Airport, 35 minutes by bus from the airport to Takamatsu Station, and final-ly, it is a pleasant 50-minute journey from the ferry terminal to Naoshima Island by Shikoku Kisen Ferry. By Rail: Three hours and twenty minutes from Tokyo to Okayama Station by JR Rokaido-Sanyo. By Shinkansen: On the Sanyo Shinkansen lne take the Nozomi for three and a half hours to Okayama Stataion, then take the JR Uno Line for 50 minutes, (or alternatively a taxi for the same amount of time to Uno Port). It’s 20 minutes from the port to Naoshima Island by ferry.From the Port: From the SANAA designed ferry port, the Benesse House hospitality bus will pick you up. Staying at Naoshima: With four different options for lodging (Park, Beach, Museum, and Oval), prices vary dramatically. Basic twins and double rooms are available as well as double and family suites. Expect to pay from ¥30,030 for one person staying in a Park twin room, up to ¥69,300 for a suite in the Oval. Booking several months in advance is necessary.

Contact: For more information on Naoshima and lodging, see www.naoshima-is.co.jp.

phot

os c

ourt

esy

of fl

ickr

.com

/yoh

eiya

mas

hita

, flic

kr.c

om/

nick

yfer

n, fl

ickr

/Ms.

Pre

side

nt

A sculpture that moves in the wind. (Three Squares Vertical Diagonal, by George Rickey.)

HIGHLIGHTS:Chichu Art MuseumIn 2004, the Tadao Ando designed Chichu Art Museum opened to worldwide critical acclaim. So as to not change the natural landscape, the three-floored-museum is completely buried underground, yet it utilizes only natural light to exhibit the art works by Claude Monet, James Turrell, and Walter De Maria. The building is phenomenal and even a trip to the toilet is an experience in architectural style. If visiting during a weekend, make sure you reserve a viewing of James Turrell’s Open Sky night program. This installation is a tall room with a large square opening in the roof which serves to frame the sky. On Friday and Saturdays, the night program occurs during sunset. As the color of the sky changes, the walls of the room are lit with varying colors, the effect being to turn the color of the framed sky into varying shades of green, blue, red, purple, pink, and orange. The Art House Project (Minamiyoura)This building designed by Tadao Ando contains James Turrell’s Back Side of the Moon. James Turrell is an artist who explores the perception of light, often working with optical illusions. The building is entered via a snak-ing corridor designed to block out all light. Once inside you are blinded and disorientated by the darkness. As you wait for your eyes to adapt, a blurred blue square of light will slowly emerge and draw you forwards to touch it. This is art that is experienced viscerally rather than passively.

Designed by Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang, this is an out-door herb infused hot tub, surrounded by 36 huge volcanic rocks imported from China. These rocks have been moulded by nat-ural forces into breathtaking forms and are arranged according to the principals of Feng Shui. To experience the bath, reserva-tions must be made in advance, and bathing suits must be worn!

sample the calming life of the inland sea and to view the beau-tiful panoramic vistas the island affords. Furthermore, the hotel is a stylish retreat for any weekend get-away with top class restaurants and a cocktail bar. For the indulgent, a visit to the Benesse House Spa, complete with aromatherapy, thalassotherapy, stone therapy, and other holistic treatment is sure to invigorate.

Visiting Naoshima is satisfying just for know-ing it exists. It could be seen as elitist to hide away such prized artworks in the middle of the Inland Sea, only for the dedicated (and wealthy) to see them, however, it is a small price to pay for arguably the most contemporary, modernist, and stylishly tradi-tional island, in the world. While Tokyo is undoubt-edly at the forefront of style, the grandparents of the Inland Sea are quietly plotting a coup.

Cultural Melting Bath

...arguably�the�most�contemporary,�modernist,�and�stylishly�traditional�island,�in�the�world...

Aug 15–Sep � 2008 Vol. 39 No. 16 19


BUSINESS INTERVIEW

From�Hollywood�to�restaurant�entrepreneur,�by�Rob�Goss

The Flair of a Certain Restauranteur

Where to start with Tableaux? We could begin by talking about Tableaux being something of an

expat institution, widely known for its selection of Cuban cigars, award-winning wine list, and the live jazz that fills its lounge each night. Then there is the decor, characterized by classical European elegance, rich tones, and seductive lighting, all of which add touches of opulence to your night out.

Next would be the diverse menu put together by Chef Koji Teshima, a man who has previously honed his skills in Thailand, Vietnam, California, and Paris, besides some of the finest restaurants in Tokyo. And no conversation about Tableaux would be complete without mentioning Maitre’d Eddie Quinlan, who has been greeting and entertaining Tableaux’s guests since the restaurant first opened its doors 12 years ago in the fittingly plush sur-rounds of Daikanyama.

During those 12 years Eddie says “Tableaux has been just about the best place in town,” and few neutrals would argue the point. Rob Goss spoke to Eddie to find out what makes Tableaux special.

First of all, why did you get into the restau-rant business?I spent 23 years as a television actor in Hollywood. Every actor works in the res-taurant business. I did quite well guest star-ing on many top shows but I hated LA and realized that my true stage was in a restaurant. I then met Global Dining CEO, Kozo Hasegawa, who convinced me to change my life and move to Tokyo to establish his flagship restaurant, Tableaux. What is the concept behind Tableaux?Tableaux’s concept is quite simple: value for money. Guests will experience great food, great wine, an amaz-ing atmosphere, and smiles galore from our staff.

Do you have a typical kind of guest?Our guests are like the decor, the music, and the menu: eclectic. For example, Thursday night is ‘trader’s night,’ so all the guys come because they can stroll across the patio to our lounge and have a Cuban cigar. We also love our family nights on Sundays and national holidays and we offer a special kiddies menu. During the week, children aged over seven years old are no problem.

How do you manage to satisfy the variety of people that come to Tableaux?Tableaux’s menu is so diversified as to satisfy both foreign and Japanese palates. We have the best Caesar salad in town and Black Angus steaks. As I said before, it is eclectic. All service is with a smile, starting with the red carpet greeting at street level. As you descend the stairs your name is known by the reception desk team and your waiter. The staff are all so professional and charming. We have 16 on the floor and 16 in the kitchen. Two are foreign and the rest are Japanese. Every staff member speaks English and of course the menu is in English with Japanese sub-titles. I’m so proud of our staff, they constantly amaze me.

Can you tell us more about the menu?At Tableaux we’ve taken great care to prepare a menu that allows you to relax and enjoy the natural flavours, textures, and seasonal charm of the ingredi-ents that we handpick to ensure the finest quality. As for wine, Wine Spectator has given us a special award for our outstanding wine list. We offer cheap and cheerful as well as rare Bordeaux. You obviously love what you do, but what is the most rewarding aspect of being a part of Tableaux?For 12 years our restaurant has always been good and reliable, but now for me I can only say it’s thrilling. My greatest joy is to see a first date, then a proposal, and then a wedding party in Tableaux, then see pregnancy and watch the child grow. We have a file of every wedding and to celebrate an anniversary we give a ten percent discount and special personal-ized dessert plate complete with candles for however many years. Final question: who has been your biggest influence?Biggest influence on how we run Tableaux? Our amazing staff and Kozo Hasegawa.

Reservations are essential and dress code is smart casual, with shorts allowed only on the patio. For reservations, contact Eddie directly at: [email protected], or call: 03-5489-2201. Tableaux is open seven days a week, 5:30pm to 1am, last orders at 11pm.

Maitre’d Eddie Quinlan in the elegant Tableaux surrondings.

phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Tab

leau

x.

Aug 15–Sep � 2008 Vol. 39 No. 16 21

BUSINESS

WebSoftTT�keeps�you�afloat,�by�Nick�Vroman

Is Your Company Ahead of Web Marketing?

To find out more about BlackBerry, ISP email contact and Research In Motion see www.rim.com for more detials.

WebSoftTT helps everyone.

For more infomation on WebsoftTT call 03-3�96-8131 or see www.mailtt.com/week.

Blackberry�Internet�Service�to�be�launched�in�Japan�in�August,�by�Nick�Vroman

The World Wide Web in Your Pocket

In the office, out of the office.

Scheduled for August, Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) will launch the BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) in

Japan. RIM Japan Senior Manager, Nalin Gunasekera is excited at this new prospect; “This service has been available elsewhere in the world for several years and in the past few years showed the most growth for RIM, with respects to services that it offers.” Realizing that there’s a high bar of consumer expectation in the Japa-nese telephone communications market, he’s certain that once individuals and companies start using the BlackBerry, they will see it’s benefits.

BIS offers many things that your average Japanese cell phone services probably never will. A highlight is the integration of ISP email, using push technology (Gmail, AOL, and Yahoo!). You’ll be able to integrate up to 10 standard POP/IMAP email accounts (Japanese included) on one device. You can use any number of global instant messaging services, such as Google Talk. And, BlackBerry itself has its own messenger client allowing for instant communication between you and other BlackBerry users. Famously, the Blackberry offers an amazing array of organizing features. Calendar and appointment logs, address book, task lists, notes, an alarm clock, and a password keeper are at the tip of your fingers—securely and easily accessible. Plus, of course, telephone and browsing applications are clear and simple.

The BIS service was originally developed to provide the BlackBerry experience to prosumer users (doctors, lawyers, real estate agents, and small businesses) in North America and Europe, but has evolved into a more consumer orientated service over the years. RIM’s

strategy in Japan is to initially target companies (host-ed IMAP / POP mailboxes) and individuals (ISP email accounts) that use email as a core communication tool to conduct business. It’s expected that many foreigners may just buy this service for family members and for personal use. Gunasekera adds: “For example, I have a Gmail account for my business, a Yahoo! account for newsletter subscriptions, an AOL account for my wife and family, and another Gmail account for my friends—and I can receive it all in one unit.”

The expectation is to have the same BlackBerry addictiveness within the foreign community here in Japan as they’ve seen elsewhere in the world. Says Gunasekera, “Japan has yet to feel and experience the true BlackBerry buzz. We are learning a lot from the Japanese market and we are striving to feed this back into our products and services.”

WebSoftTT is in the business of email marketing management. The brave new world of email

marketing has been growing by leaps and bounds over the years and WebSoftTT has been at the forefront of web 2.0 since opening their doors in 2002. With an in-tuitive ASP platform, WebSoftTT allows the user to cre-ate, manage, and do in-depth analysis of any number of email-based marketing campaigns. Chatting with Annisea Wong, Marketing Manager for WebSoftTT, we talked about products, initiatives, and new enhance-ments that are keeping the company competitive and lively in an ever-changing marketplace.

Track & Trace, WebSoftTT’s main product/applica-tion is a bilingual Japanese/English email delivery and readership tracking platform. Its powerful functional-ity enables users to create, modify, and manage email distribution from a simple web interface. It gives the user powerful tools to track readership and click-rates from any email marketing campaign. The online data-base can manage information for tens of thousands of subscribers. This ability brings profound changes to the way businesses can execute and monitor everything from marketing campaigns, to newsletters, to the pro-cessing of transactions. Through this, one can do some serious data-mining of mailing lists—slicing, dicing, and individualizing marketing tactics—and tracking the effectiveness of marketing campaigns to identify individual sales prospects for follow-up, all the while easing administration labor and costs. And because Track & Trace is an ASP platform with servers and databases offsite, everything is ready to run from the moment of login, with nothing to install on the user’s computer, and no need for dedicated IT support staff.

Wong noted that along with its already easy-to-use and fully functional management, tracking, and analytic functions, WebSoftTT is adding several more enhancements that will be sure to get the attention of any savvy marketer. Among them are a new event registration system—noting that they are working on trigger messages that can automate responses to event invitations and calls-to-action, a new survey and cam-paign tool, and a CRM system that can integrate with other databases and systems via API. All in all, it’s a full package of constantly improving offerings, including personalized email marketing templates that can keep your company at the cutting edge of web marketing.

Wong added, “WebSoftTT’s industry-leading all-in-one online marketing suite offers a comprehensive and integrated set of tools, combining campaign management, data segmentation, reporting, analysis, and performance for top enterprises in the Asia-Pacific market.”

phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Res

earc

h in

Mot

ion.

imag

e co

urte

sy o

f Web

Soft

TT.


phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Jag

uar

and

Land

Rov

er Ja

pan.

Coming�back�from�going�nowhere,�by�Norman�Monroe

Jaguar Still on the Prowl in Japan

Jaguar is on the prowl once again, these days seeking to spearhead a re-birth in the somewhat stressed out

luxury car market in Japan. This quintessentially British car maker, albeit owned, these days, by the Indian con-glomerate, Tata Group (a bit of colonization in reverse, if you will!), seems bent on re-capturing its glory days, after going through one of its latest rough patches, be-ing sold recently, by US manufacturers, Ford.

A change of ownership, a re-invention of itself highlighted by a bold and aggressive publicity/brand reinforcement campaign and, critically, a slate of superbly designed new models, headed by the new, highly acclaimed Jaguar XF that has wowed both the pundits and custom-ers alike, seems to have provided all the right ingredients for the near-85 year old marque to re-establish itself, not that it had really gone anywhere!

Englishman David Blume, a veteran of the motor vehicle industry, who first came to Japan over 25 years ago, is the managing director of Jaguar Land Rover Japan. Speaking with the Weekender at his company’s well-appointed offices in Toranomon, he described the Jaguar brand as being “in a period of revival”, seeking to re-invent itself, under the mantra ‘New Fashioned Luxury,’ following its break with Ford, which had owned it for almost 20 years.

Jaguar, he said, benefited tremendously from Ford, in terms of “being able to build cars with the best pro-cesses, with the best CAD/CAM [computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing] on the best facili-ties money can buy, with parts from the best suppliers in the world [which] makes a hell of a difference to the quality and reliability of your car.” Tata, he adds, seems prepared to continue in that vein, supporting its new subsidiary company to do what it does best; designing and building quality vehicles.

Jaguar in JapanIn Japan, Jaguar competes in the luxury car market with ‘the usual suspects’ like Mercedes Benz and Audi, as well as with domestic high-end models like Lexus. Jaguar cars dealerships have been in Japan since 1977 and it is there-fore, a well-established brand in the market. Over the last 10 years Jaguar Japan has been operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the UK-based Jaguar Cars Ltd.

Jaguar’s new XF sports sedan model released in May, has forced the executives at its Coventry works to have to make quite a bit of space in its trophy cabinet for the awards and accolades it has racked up. By all accounts a magnificent vehicle, the car combines all the qualities that has long been a hallmark of the marque since its establishment: superb craftsmanship, exemplary perfor-mance, and impeccable styling, all of which conspired to snare, among other such prizes, the prestigious Car of the Year Award 2008 from UK. publication, What Car? magazine.

All of the cars in the Jaguar line, inclusive of the XK, XJ, XF, and X-Type models and the wide range of sub-variations ranging from sports coupes to estate cars to convertibles to über-luxury/executive models are avail-able locally from its franchised dealer network of some 70-odd locations scattered across the country. In Tokyo,

the company’s two superb showrooms are located in Setagaya and Aoyama.

“We wholesale the cars to dealers and they retail them to customers. And they [the dealers] provide the after sales service...Our role as importers is to obviously, order, and import the cars, prepare the cars for delivery to the dealers, make sure the cars are legal, and create demand together with the dealers. Build the brand through brand marketing and generate traffic,” Blume said. “...We have a 97–98 percent what we call ‘first pick’. If you order a part, there’s a 98 percent chance that it’s already in the market ready for delivery. The

kind of stuff that isn’t [in the system] is generally the stuff that there isn’t much demand for.

Most of the models, that is, with the exception of the X-Type, are available in either right or left hand drive configurations and in fact, left-hand drive cars account for 10 percent of their total sales. And although available in other markets, no diesel-powered vehicles are sold in Japan so the Japanese lineup comprises all gasoline-powered cars, that are also all available fully-loaded with automatic transmission, unless a manual gear-shift is requested.

ServiceThe company, through its dealers, prides itself on its capacity to offer detailed, smooth, and speedy ser-vice, before, during, and after sales and the expatriate English-speaking community can access quite a bit of information about the company, the steps required to acquire a car and the services that linguistically-chal-lenged customers can be afforded, from its informative Buyers Guide on the company’s website. These services, available to all customers, can include everything up to and including registering the vehicle and assistance with identifying a parking space, should that be necessary.

While English-language assistance may not neces-sarily be readily available from the average dealer, Special Sales Manager Masahisa Kanoh, who can be contacted at Jaguar Japan’s head office, is fully bilin-gual, and is more than willing to ‘hand-hold’ customers through the entire process, or help to identify someone who can.

Jaguar, since its founding in 1922 by William Lyons has always sought to remain true to its motto of “build-ing beautiful fast cars desired the world over.” Despite its ups and downs the marque has remained true to that ideal and has consistently produced cars that have re-defined performance standards, both on the road as well as on the track in races like the Le Mans 24-hour endurance marathons, while setting standards in class and elegance. It seems about to embark on another

For more information see Jaguar Japan’s website at: www.jaguar.co.jp (click on English Buyers Guide).

The 2008 Jaguar XF sports sedan at Jaguar’s showroom in Setagaya Ward.

the�new,�highly�acclaimed�Jaguar�XF�that�has�wowed�both�the�pundits�and�customers�alike

The Aoyama showroom.

Aug 15–Sep � 2008 Vol. 39 No. 16 23

MOTORING PROFILES

Beyond�being�just�a�car,�by�Alena�Eckelmann

BMW—Your Status Symbol?

For more information on Abe BMW call on 03-3582-3281, or see www.abembw.co.jp.

Ryota Abe at the showroom in Minato-ku

Early morning, a sleek BMW is making its way out of town. The sunrise is visible from the back and an

empty motorway lies ahead, this is a perfect start to the weekend. Pushing the speed limit just a little bit, the car is confidently escaping the onset of another hot day in Tokyo. Does this sound good to you?

The key to becoming the proud driver of this car is held at Abe BMW, an authorised dealer of BMW Japan Corp. Ryota Abe has been Managing Director of Abe BMW for three years now, following in the footsteps of his father, who is president. Their involvement with BMW reaches back 25 years but the car dealership business was set up much earlier by Abe’s grandfather; in 1966. Previously in IT sales, Abe followed his call to continue the business. “Selling computer servers was not as interesting” he comments, smiling, “BMW cars, on the other hand, are special. They are not just a product.” Abe drives a 323i, a compact sports sedan and knows how to kindle a driver’s passion.

This long tradition of authorised car dealership has earned Abe BMW the trust of their Japanese cus-tomers. “There are many private car dealers now,” Abe says, “but Japanese consumers generally prefer autho-rised dealers. They are considered to be more reliable. They do not overcharge and consistently offer a high standard of service that satisfies the demanding Japanese clientele.”

ChangesAbe’s customers have changed somewhat over the years. Ten years ago, is was mainly Japanese men in their forties or fifties who would go to the showroom. Now customers are as young as twenty years of age, there are more women, and increasingly more foreign-ers. According to Abe, “the range of rich people has expanded. There is now more ‘new money.’ BMW has a young and challenging brand image and is therefore attractive to the young rich and the newly rich.”

“A BMW is a status symbol in Japan,” Abe says, “Japanese customers firstly buy status when they buy a BMW, then they trust the functional reliability and the luxurious design of the German car brand.” He adds that although speed restrictions do not allow drivers in Japan to drive free like the Germans who know no speed limit, even at the allowed speed here one can appreciate how stable the BMW lays on the street and its fast acceleration.

The rise of the oil price is not affecting sales much. “The BMW engine is one of the most efficient petrol engines,” Abe explains. “If one drives 10,000 kilometres per year at a petrol consumption of eight kilometers per liter then this would be a total of 1,250 liters per year. With the current petrol price rise at ¥30 per liter, this results in Y37,500 more to the petrol bill, a fairly small amount considering the cost of a BMW car. BMW is one of the strongest high-class car brands in the world that continuously attracts customers who can afford it.”

Catering to the needs of international customers is one of Abe BMW’s unique points. Located conveniently in Minato-ku near Tokyo Tower, their showroom is easily accessible by Tokyo’s expatriate community. International clientele, at present, account for only ten percent of total customers but the trend is promising. New customers who are non-Japanese are about 30 to 40 percent and increasing. The percentage of expatriates living and working in downtown Tokyo is high, which constantly brings new customers to the showroom. Often they drove a BMW in their home countries and

want the same driving experience in Japan but require English-language support to make it happen.

International SupportAbe BMW International Sales Program is a unique ser-vice to cater to this need. A dedicated team of eight, which includes two English-language speakers and Abe himself, are able to offer professional consultation in English at the showroom or, upon appointment, at a place convenient to the customer. They take the trouble out of purchasing a BMW in Japan and car registration and financing are handled by the dealer. Catering to the specific needs of expatriates, Abe BMW cooperates with companies’ corporate car programs and offers spe-cial financing packages. After sales hospitality ensures happy customers who can also benefit from the Abe Premium Service maintenance program.

Customised English-language car navigation is another unique point of BMW Japan. While other makers’ systems have English-language menu and voice guidance, the map is still in Japanese, making it impos-sible to understand for non-Japanese speakers. BMW’s navigation system, on the other hand, is completely in English, including the map. This allows foreigners to drive as comfortably in Japan as in their home countries without the threat of getting lost in Tokyo’s jungle or worried about a trip to Japan’s countryside.

What’s more, the English-language navigation truly helps to see the Japanese environment in a new way. “With a Japanese map, one does not know what is along the way,” Abe comments, “however, on the English map one can make out every single land-mark be it a convenience store, hotel, restaurant,

museum, golf range, etc. Plus, a search function provides a list of similar landmarks in any given area.” Abe quotes a cus-tomer who told him recently: “Thanks to the BMW English-language navigation I have dis-

covered my home’s surroundings and have found out many things about Tokyo. This was a huge learning experience.”

Abe’s vision for the future is to offer the same level of top-class service to both their Japanese customers and to Tokyo’s expatriate community by supporting their ‘car life.’ This means servicing them well from the moment they come through the door of the showroom for a test drive to their first car purchase and through-out their whole ‘car life’ with a BMW car. Offering test-driving of the latest models is another unique point of Abe BMW. Currently, the spacious showroom proudly presents four models including the X6 and the M3, BMW’s hottest car at the moment. “We can explain all about a new car in functional terms,” Abe says, “but once you have driven it, you will ‘experience’ it. We have confidence in that. Come and have a test drive!”

BMW� has� a� young� and� challenging�brand�image�and�is�therefore�attractive�to�the�young�rich�and�the�newly�rich.

2� | Weekender—Style Issue�

Learning and sharing knowledge, inside the classroom and out.

Summer Enrichment—Year Round Global�Kids�Academy’s�impressive�line�up,�by�Danielle�Tate-Stratton

SCHOOL’S IN

To find out more, call 03-5�19-82�� or visit the website at www.globalkidsacademy.com, email: [email protected].

Being� bilingual� herself,�Mika� says� she� is� aware�of� both� the� benefits� and�challenges�of�being�bilingual.

Speaking with Mika Fukutomi, founder of Global Kids Academy (GKA), I was

struck by a real desire to actually go back to grade school. Believe me, this doesn’t happen often, but the programs Mika described sounded fun, educational in an interesting way, and unique—several things my elementary career didn’t nec-essarily feature!

While GKA is an after school pro-gram during the year, over the course of the summer, full-day week-long camps—each related to a different theme—have been opening the eyes of foreign and Japanese students alike to a variety of historical and contemporary topics. Each week of the camp has been based around a theme, with lessons and activi-ties culminating in a guest speaker or a field trip. For instance, a themed week on responsible forestry, agriculture, and ecology saw the owner of a tree farm come to the school to discuss respon-sible forestry practices, how his tree farm replaces the trees it logs, and how he is practicing sustainable agriculture. To visually highlight his talk, he brought in a three-year-old sapling, a great way to illustrate just how long it takes for trees to reach a mature enough stage to become lumber.

Another week included a historical study of Commodore Perry, who was instrumental to opening Japan’s shores to foreign-ers, and culminated in a visit to the Japanese Diet, allowing the students to see the political process in its current form as well.

Year RoundDuring the school year, GKA continues focusing stud-ies on a theme and students spend part of each day at the school learning about the current topic. While the students, who range in age from approximately 4–14, all study the same theme, they do so at age appropriate levels—the youngest children may be filling in work-sheets and writing basic sentences, while the older students will be carrying out much more in-depth research and writing complex essays. Mika comments that many parents have remarked to her just how impressed they are with the enthusiasm their children show in studying a topic in depth.

The school is open to students from 2:30–6:30, Monday–Friday, as well as 10am–noon on Saturdays and offers immersion programs in both English and Japanese. There are separate Japanese-language classes available to those in the English stream as well. Being bilingual herself, Mika says she is aware of both the benefits and challenges of being bilingual and there-fore is committed to, as it says in GKA’s mission state-ment, “provid[ing] a rich and nurturing environment for language acquisition and development, so that our children have the tools to make a difference in tomorrow’s world.”

Although the number of hours a child spends at the school can vary widely—some are there for just one afternoon a week while some spend up to 20

hours a week and consider it a second home—each day’s schedule remains consistent and typically starts out with the youngest students working on reading and writing exercises as well as early literacy games

and skills-building activities. Once the older children arrive, the day continues with a circle time featuring the ever-popular show-and-tell and time spent on theme-studies, school homework, Japanese lessons, board games, playtime, and more.

Team EthicIn conjunction with their regular programs,

the school also offers private and semi-private Japanese lessons, math and essay-writing workshops, and SSAT prep. The SSAT is similar to the SAT test, but for high schools, and Mika proudly points out that all of the students who applied were accepted to their first-choice boarding school. GKA believes strongly in the team teaching approach and to that end, Mika has put together a trusted team of teachers, each of whom has international school experience (as a student or teacher) and is bilingual—at least.

This team will help guide GKA into the future; especially over the next year as founder Mika takes a one-year sabbatical, though not one of rest! She will be heading to Harvard University to complete a master’s degree in School Leadership (in the school devel-oper strand) at the Graduate School of Education. She hopes to use this in-depth knowledge to both further the goals of GKA, and after a few years of studying the ‘best practices’ carried out by international and prepa-ratory schools with strong international programs, she will perhaps open a high school here in Tokyo.

In the meantime, GKA’s current program is sure to offer an ideal enrichment program for your child in conjunction with their current schooling.

Aug 15–Sep � 2008 Vol. 39 No. 16 25

It’s a raspberry pink, patent-looking, polyester trenchcoat, with shiny gold plastic buttons and

signature Burberry leather covered buckles at the cuffs. Inside, it is part-lined in what the sales per-son describes as the “autumn winter season grey check coat.” She and I agree, it is every little girl’s dream coat, and although it won’t keep her very warm this winter, it costs ¥58,000. Alongside Burberry, at Yokohama’s Sogo department store, other major international brands represented are Celine, Polo Ralph Lauren, and Sonia Rikyel. As

The market leader, synonymous with high-end Japanese children’s fash-ion is Miki House. The company’s stated aim is to “support children reaching for their dreams with a sparkle in their eyes.” Their style is sim-ple yet colorful, using a lot of fresh gingham, chambray cotton, denim, and their signature bold primary colors.

These are well-made simply-styled clothes for children up to the age of five. Alongside is Hysteric Glamour. Mainly a brand for adults, their chil-dren’s line is kitsch and full of vibrant colors, though nonetheless prop-erly constructed clothes that last. And of course, there’s the Narumiya family of brands: Pom Ponette for babies, Blue Cross for boys, and Angel Blue for girls to name but three of their brands: there’s no shortage of detailing here, with buckles, zips, and distressed hems a-plenty in the Blue Cross range. If you have ever looked at a tangerine colored girl’s t-shirt covered in chains, rainbow ribbons, and nonsensical English slogans and wondered where the inspiration for it all came from, Angel Blue is your answer. All of these brands and many more are to be found in mostly any Japanese department store.

Out on the street, international brands fight for a slice of the children’s retail clothes market: Zara, Gap, and luxury French brand Cyrillus are just three that I spotted on an afternoon in the thrumming Kichijoji area. Also in Kichijoji is a department store sized Muji with a whole floor given over to children’s clothes, although a decent selection can be found in most Muji branches across the country. Created as a backlash to the brand-obsessed throwaway culture of the day, Muji has since turned a neat full-circle, with its iconic style-of-no-style simplicity and reasonable price tags. Then there’s UNIQLO. Founded in 1984 in Hiroshima, today the chain has grown to over 760 stores worldwide. Aiming to “provide people every-where with the piece [of clothing] they need to create their own style,” UNIQLO has long been a fashion standby for many a parent. For younger children and babies, try the excellent and warmly recommended Akachan Hompo, on the fifth floor of the TOC building in Gotanda. There’s a free shuttle bus to get you there from the underground station, and if you read Japanese, their website address is www.akachan.jp.

However, sometimes a parent just doesn’t have the energy to publicly and strenuously negotiate with a stylistically-other child about what is suitable wear and what isn’t, at which point the internet becomes a wonder as from above. If you know the brand you’ll like the very comprehensive Dashin Fashion site, which represents online children’s clothing selections from 22 countries from Bolivia to the Netherlands: www.dashinfashion.com. Another excellent online resource, for children (and adults), is La Redoute (www.redoute.com), which will ship to anywhere in the world and on whose website you can shop in English, French, German, and Japanese. A household name in France, their children’s clothes are as stylish, practical, and excellent value as you’d expect, and they also stock many major brands such as Converse, American Vintage, and Roxy. Also from France is the up-market Cyrillus website, www.cyrillus.com, for adorable and sought-after French style, while from the UK comes Boden (www.boden.co.uk), whose children’s range is fresh, funky, well made, and ethically sourced.

So now you have dressed your child, where to take him or her for a hair cut? At Zusso Kids, who have branches nationwide, your child can sit in a miniature sized car (choose from New Beetle or Mercedes SLK) and have their hair cut facing a Mickey Mouse shaped mirror whilst watching a Disney film. Their Japanese website is http://zus-sokids.1755.net. Meanwhile, back in Sogo Yokohama, the Hello Kitty Studio Wonder can cut your child’s hair on a Kitty seat, whilst watch-ing either Thomas the Tank Engine puffing in and out of tunnels or Kitty herself on DVD. They use Kerastase products and the price of a shampoo, haircut, and blow-dry is ¥5,250. I ask the lead stylist if English is a problem. “No, it should be no problem,” she smiles. Their website address is www.wonder-int.com.

well as home grown children’s design brands, this is a typical selection of what to expect on the children’s floor of a large department store, plus, of course, a shoe section, a large and well-stocked toy area with a whole lot of toys available to play with, and a reclining area for exhausted adults.

Whereas designers like Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto have made Japanese fashion synonymous with farsighted, eclectic design, what can we expect of Japanese children’s cloth-ing brands?

HIGH STREET

ONLINE

HIGH END

HAIR

SCHOOL’S IN SCHOOL’S OUT

Phot

os c

ourt

esy

of is

tock

.com

/ m

indu

ndal

k.

Catwalk KidsWhere�to�shop�to�please�them�and�you,�by�Elise�Mori

Phot

os c

ourt

esy

of is

tock

.com

/ B5

2pho

togr

aphy

.Ph

otos

cou

rtes

y of

isto

ck.c

om/

min

dund

alk.

Phot

os c

ourt

esy

of is

tock

.com

/kat

e_se

pt2

00�.


SPORTS

Way of the Hula

A middle-aged businessman friend of mine spends Sunday afternoon doing virtual yoga with his

mother on her Nintendo Wii Game System. Last month, the New York Times featured an article

about a weight-loss group made up of a mayor and town-officials in the Mie prefecture who call them-selves “The Seven Metabo Samurai,” and who parade around town advocating fitness. (Until one member was killed “in action:” heart attack while jogging.)

Has this country gone madder than ever? Perhaps it is a matter of opinion. This is all actually part of a massive craze that has recently swept Japan, stem-ming from the government initiated “Anti-Metabo” campaign. Metabo is the new Japanese lingo for obe-sity and has quickly become part of the country’s vernacular. Influenced heavily by the media, people have become obsessively keen on trimming or keeping their waistlines small enough to fit into the belt loop of government determined weight limits.

Those affected most by the metabo craze are the middle-aged. Forty-four percent of the country’s population will run through the gauntlet this year when their waists are measured as part of their regu-lar health checks.

Yet at 40 plus, it becomes perhaps a little more difficult to engage in cardiovascular sports such as basketball, soccer, or baseball. So when I learned about the Hawaii Aloha Academy and the popularity of hula dancing in Japan, I suspected it was a good alternative to really demanding sports for the increasingly health conscious masses.

Culture First That the original founder of the school is well-known ex-sumo wrestler Konishiki, who has become some-what of a celebrity entertainer since retirement, only served to add to my preconceived notions of hula in Tokyo as a kitschy sport. But I soon discovered that I couldn’t have been more wrong. First, it turns out that most Japanese partaking tend to be pas-sionate about and dedicated to Hawaiian culture, not just looking for the latest fitness craze. Hawaii Aloha Academy’s Director and Head Teacher Kalani Poòmaihealani tells me that in the 35 years that he has been teaching hula in Japan it has never had a shortage of devoted followers.

If there is anything in vogue about the hula dance these days, ironically, it is about embracing the past. Say instructors Ku’umaka’ou Kanai and Kahiapookalaua’e Ikeda: “It is a very current concern

in Hawaii to preserve its unique culture and traditions and hula is very closely tied into this. The language spoken in songs of hula is mostly native Hawaiian, which right now is being taught again to the young.” I am also told that hula’s origins lie in old forms of story telling, like oral tradition, so it serves to keep history alive through dance. I recall reading an article where one writer eloquently defined hula as “the soul of Hawaii expressed in motion.”

Upon my visit to the academy, I was given the opportunity to take part in a class. I’ve never been to Hawaii and it was my first time doing anything this close to experiencing its culture, apart from eating macadamia nut chocolates. I was less nervous than totally lost. First there was a traditional chant before entering the dance studio. The music began, ukulele and all, and I attempted to move my hips as closely in the form of the instructor as I could.

Floating and SwayingThen something strange happened. At some point in time, between the ocean wave hand movements and sensual hip sways, I was transported somewhere else. I really did feel as if I could be floating on a serene blue sea. I felt some kind of peace. Kanai-san is right; it is only when you do hula that you can realize its true meaning. This is not some empty or passing fad. Hula is about things that transcend time and space.

The experience made me understand the impor-tance of learning hula the correct way, in the safe hands of the academy, where there are passionate, dedicated

teachers committed to provid-ing authentic experiences. How far removed it is really from some silly weight loss craze I had naively assumed it was tied to! For Poòmaihealani, the Hawaii Aloha Academy has an even greater aspiration. He explains that hula is actually one and the same as the Hawaiian concept of aloha, an all embracing way of life that “creates a tight bond between people.” He says, “In aloha, life is never about you, nor is it ever about me. In the Hawaiian mentality it is always

about us.” Thus, Poòmaihealani hopes that hula can become something meaningful in peoples’ lives, an extension of life, “not just at dance time but principles that are practiced everyday.”

“Aloha�is�an�all�embracing�way�of�life.�Hula�is�Aloha.�The�two�cannot�be�separated.”—Kalani�

Poòmaihealani�

A—Akahai�=�modest,�gentle,�unassuming.L—Lokahi�=�unity,�unison,�harmony,�accord.O—Oluòlu�=�gracious,�pleasant,�happy,�contented.H—Haàhaà�=�humble,�lowly,�meek.A—Ahonui�=�patience,�patient,�enduring.

For more information on the Hawaii Aloha Academy call 03-5619-�550 or see www.hawaii_aloha_academy.

Imagine the waves.

Phot

os c

ourt

osy

of U

lara

Nak

agaw

a.

More�than�a�fitness�craze,�by�Ulara�Nakagawa

Learning culture whilst getting fit.

Phot

os c

ourt

osy

of U

lara

Nak

agaw

a.

Aug 15–Sep � 2008 Vol. 39 No. 16 2�

Italian National Day/Bova Sayonara Reception

PARTYLINE WITH BILL HERSEY

Polish Ambassador Marcin Rybicki, his wife Adrianna, and Armani’s Giorgio Fornari.

Panamanian Ambassador Alfredo Martiz Fuentes, his wife Carla, and former politician—now professor—Kyoko Kusakabe.

Tamayo Odano, the hostess Anna Cenerini Bova, and Takako Shimazu.

Kyoko Spector, US Ambassador Thomas Schief-fer, and Dja Dja Carriedo.

Slovakian Ambassador Peter Vrsansky, his wife Eleonora, Bulgarian Ambassador Blaqovest Sendov, and his wife Ana.

GEOX President Lino de Santis, Fiat’s Tiziana Alamprese, and Roberto Cavalli President Mar-co Scardigli.

Alexa Daerr, Portuguese Ambassador Joao Pedro Zanatti and German Ambassador Hans-Joachim Daerr.

Saudi Ambassador Faisal Trad congratulates the Bovas.

Outgoing Italian Ambassador Mario Bova and Spanish Ambassador Miquel Carriedo Mompin.

Enit Italian State Tourist Board Director Japan, Asia, and Oceania En-rico Martini, Archbishop Alberto Bottari de Castello (Vatican), Italian Counselor Elena Sgarbi, and Jordanian Ambassador Samir Naouri.

Roberto Bianchi, Raffaele Palmieri, Ahilo Sorti, Marco Brera, and three rep-resentatives of the Catholic Church.

Our jet-set issue sure brought back a lot of great mem-ories and this issue on style is doing the same.

For my first twenty years in Japan I really kept busy in all kinds of fashion activities. These included modeling, fashion show production and direction, ten years as a fashion editor for two major Japanese men’s magazines, (seven with one, three with the other), and fashion reporting for about six publications including Weekender and the Japan Times. For two years I had a boutique in a small wooden two-storey plus attic building on Aoyama Dori where the Peacock super-market stands now. I also designed my own line of menswear. It was manufactured by Jazz Co, and had Bill Hersey corners in five major department stores.

Back then, there weren’t many foreign modeling agencies (a couple compared to well over 100 today) and I really kept busy modeling—not only for fashion but commercials as well. These included fantastic trips to locations all over Japan for Pan Am TV commercials and a huge poster in all the trains and subways pro-moting Billy Graham’s religious crusade here. Looking back, one of the funniest was when I was told we’d be shooting at the Hilton Hotel (which was in Akasaka then) and to bring jeans and a baseball cap. After I changed into those, the sponsors took me to the back entrance of the hotel and brought out this big sort-of-vacuum cleaner made to suck up fallen leaves, etc. and clean up the road. I had just gotten into writing my social column and was sure an ambassador or big business VIP would pull up to park and see me with my cleaning machine. I kept pulling the bill of my baseball cap down over my face and the cameraman

kept saying: “put the cap further back, we can’t see your face.” Funny how time changes one’s attitude; now I couldn’t care less! (See the picture in ‘In and Around’ on page 29.) Another time I was on the ramp for about for about 15 minutes greeting and escorting the women models as they came out at an interna-tional wool show in Osaka. The other models were cracking up when I finally walked off stage. The prob-lem was that I had forgotten to zip up my fly. Once again—nowadays I couldn’t care less!

As fashion editor for Heibon Punch, and later Shukan Myojo, I was responsible for six color pages of photos a week. My duties included coordinating the fashion, choosing the models, and coming up with an idea to shoot in a studio or some interesting location in this old world of ours. Believe me, I took advantage of that. We drove all over Europe several times, photograph-ing in every major country there, shot on location in Lebanon, Turkey, Israel, Tunisia, Egypt, and Morocco, as well as Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. On two occa-sions I drove across the USA and filmed from Florida to New York, New Orleans, Texas, Las Vegas and on to San Diego, with so many places in between.

Another time we headed south from Phoenix Arizona and had a great time driving and filming all over Mexico (Guadelajara, San Blas for surfing fash-ion, Mexico City, Taxco, Acapulco, Cancun, and Vera Cruz.) It was great. Closer to Japan, we worked on loca-tion in Hawaii, Guam, Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Taiwan.

My magazine work also took me to Koln, Germany for the big Herrenmode (men’s wear) Fair seven years


El Salvador’s Gougie Paredes Art Exhibit

Masako Morita, Yumiko Harada, Gougie Pa-rades, Martha’s Mom Elvia Cantellano, Mar-tha Ruiz Cabanas, and Mikako Mori.

Norma Polski and wife of the Dean of the Corps El Salvador Ambassa-dor Gouguie Parades.

A public school visiting the exhibition.

At the Muscle Musical Premiere

Junko Koshino, who designed some of the show’s fabulous cos-tumes and her hair stylist Yuichi Matsumura of Fumio Kawshima’s Peekaboo Chain.

Fashion guru Francoise More-chand and Office Otake President Sayumi Otake.

Me—as I look today—with fellow comedian Nanbu Torata.

Francoise and Junko.

in a row—that gave me the opportunity to meet most of the world’s top menswear designers at that time. These included Savini Brioni, the epitome of all good things Italian. He was really like my godfather—in a good sense of the word. I not only produced and mod-eled in his shows here in Japan, but in Hong Kong and the Philippines as well.

I was also able to produce and direct Italian model/actress Elsa Martinelli’s first, and I think last, collec-tion here, in Hong Kong, and one in Bangkok. Elsa was great, but designed for her own tall, slim body and we had problems finding models. Finally, I had to include two tall Patpong Road transvestites. The show was in the garden of the legendary Oriental Hotel and people there included diplomats, their wives, and the cream of Thai society. The two boys were OK in their first dresses, but got a bit campy in their second appear-ance. I saw some confused and a few not-amused faces in the audience. I felt a little uneasy about this, but the Gods were kind that night—one of those sudden Thai tropical rainstorms hit and as the show was on a stage in the hotel garden, it had to stop. I had to pre-tend I was sorry even though I was pretty happy about Mother Nature’s help.

As you can see, fashion has played a big part in my life and I really do have so much to be thankful for.

I liked our editor Marie’s idea of asking each of the fashion personalities she met with to make a comment on their concept of style. Consequently, I decided in closing the opening of this issue’s Party Line to make my own comment. For me, fashion should be fun and really be what you like and enjoy wearing. If you like to follow the trends—fine, if you want to be an indi-vidual—fine. Like with your life, you should be able to do and wear what you want as long as it doesn’t hurt or offend others.

Italian National DayFor me, Italian fashion is the best so this style issue is perfect to cover the huge mid-day reception at the Italian Embassy. In addition to celebrating Italy’s National Day, the hosting couple, Ambassador Mario and Anna Cenerini Bova had the opportunity to say sayonara to lots of the many friends they made during their five-year posting in Japan.

The weather was nice that day and in addition to all the main venues in the residence being filled

to capacity, many of the guests had moved out into the Embassy’s huge garden—one of Tokyo’s most beautiful. Most of my Italian friends who hang out at Segafredo in Hiroo were there and that’s a good group of mostly guys. I was also happy to have the opportu-nity to say sayonara to Giorgio Fornari, who I got to know through his work with Armani here. Giorgio, a good friend, has been transferred to India where he’ll play an important part in Armani’s operations there. I introduced him to two more friends, Polish Ambassador Marcin Rybicki and his wife Adrianna, who I was sorry to hear will be leaving Japan soon as well. Talk about coincidence, the Rybickis were both wearing Armani that day. Check out the photo.

As at any of Mario and Anna’s events, there was a huge variety of Italian food. The risotto and tiramisu, as they say, were to die for. The Bova’s have left by now and our best wishes for them back home.

RaybanStill on style, Mirari Japan, whose fashion lines include the world renown Rayban sunglasses hosted an excit-ing evening at the Liquid Room in Ebisu. The occa-sion was to introduce their new colorized “wayfarer” series. The look, which is very popular, is similar to the glasses from the film The Blues Brothers. Both floors of the venue were wall-to-wall Tokyo trendies enjoying the food, the hip hop show, and a performance by pop singer Anna. It was a great evening with lots of famil-iar faces from showbiz, fashion, and the arts.

Cultural MusicI’ve been in Japan for a long time and am still amazed at the awesome variety of Japanese and international cultural events offered here. In just the last month or so, you could have literally traveled around the world in Tokyo. Musical presentations included a group of Karaja Indians from the Amazon Rain Forest and tra-ditional Taureg music from the Sahara.

The Sharmila Biswas Classsic Indian Dance Group did the official opening performance of the India-Japan Cultural Exchange 2008. Mrinalini Singh, wife of the Indian Ambassador, told me that like last year they have many special events coming up. We’ll keep you posted on this. There was lots of music, dance, and color at both the Jamaican and Indonesian Festivals at Yoyogi Park, as well as the dynamic Colombian

Aug 15–Sep � 2008 Vol. 39 No. 16 29

Wayne Shaw, Alef Saraie, Aldo La Cavera, Mitsuko Moritake (the birthday girl), Dino Dalle Carbonare, and Daniel Gardh.

Kristen Foley, Kim Vickrey, and Nicole Cribbins. Andrea Paola, her mom Carla (wife of the Panamanian Am-bassador), her two-year-old sister Fiorella, and her friend Victoria Skiei from Norway.

Segafredo Zanetti Espressowww.segafredo.jp��www.segafredo.it

PARTYLINE WITH BILL HERSEY

In and Around

Noted fashion designer Jun Ashida, Shizuko Naouri, Mrs. Ashida, and Jordanian Ambas-sador Samir Naouri—at Jun’s latest collection showing—at the Grand Hyatt.

The Ashidas with two more of our citys chicest ladies—Charo Ireton and her daughter Ro-berta.

At Rayban’s Super Party

Aldo La Cavera, Fabio La Cavera, and Fran-cesco Gala.

Aldo with Mika and Kyoko Kano. Rayban top executive Alessio Ferraresso with both the Japanese and Korean Miss Universe finalists.

Tasty Rayban cakes. Alef Saraie. Carabinieri Security’s Raffaele Palmieri and Randy Alford.

Festival at Hibiya Park. More on that later. Kudos to Colombian Ambassador Patricia Cardenas

and her staff on the occasion of the Centennial Celebration of the diplomatic relation between Japan and Colombia. They’ve organized a full calendar of Colombian cultural events through December 21. Colombia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fernando Araujo Perdoma was here for the opening, preview, and reception of the Exhibition Kin-Zipanqu and El Dorado Land of Gold at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno Park.

The Min-on Concert Association continues to bring in some unbelievable cultural shows from China. After seeing several of these I can really visualize what the opening ceremony at the Olympics had to be—super special in every way.

The many young Japanese athletes who make up the cast of the show Muscle Musical in Shibuya are really talented and the show, which runs through mid-September, is well worth seeing. In addition to all that, there’s a full schedule of festivals, not only here in Tokyo, but all over Japan. Here are a few dates

to remember: August 30—Join the huge crowd at the Asakusa Festival. This year’s happenings include performances by members of the most colorful event of the Barranquilla Carnival of the Colombian Caribbean. September 13 and 14—our Sri Lankan friends will be showing the colorful and exciting diversity of their beautiful country and culture at ‘Sri Lanka—The Paradise Island’ Festival at Yoyogi Park. Over 100 trade booths will display and sell Ceylon tea, spices, exotic fruits, semi-precious stones, cos-tume jewelry, organic and herbal products, batiks, and handicrafts. Sri Lankan dance troupes and musi-cians will fly in to perform and there will be many stalls serving a variety of delicious Sri Lankan foods. See you there!

On a sad note, I would like to close by giving my condolences to all those who knew Sister Ruth Sheehy who passed away on July 26. Sister Sheehy served her mission for 48 years in Tokyo and was headmistress of the International School of the Sacred Heart for 18 years. Her life was devoted to education and helping others and she will be sadly missed.

Back a bit—Bill Hersey doing “one of his most prestigious modeling jobs.”

Going back a bit:

Chris Peppler.


Perhaps media art is simply no longer fashionable. That is certainly the impression one could get

from the NTT Inter Communications Center—which is strange, since it was founded as a space devoted to electronic art.

The ICC opened in 1990 as a project to commemo-rate 100 years of telephone service in Japan and quickly developed something of a reputation. Up to three years ago, it seemed that the center was out to prove that media art was more than just a blip on our collective computer screens. Exhibitions were cutting-edge; artists as diverse as Bill Viola, Laurie Anderson, and Dumb Type have all held shows there, and group exhibitions like the 2003 E.A.T. show practically made media-art history.

So what happened? In 2006, the ICC closed its doors, ostensibly for remodelling. And when they reopened, the interior was the most superficial of the changes. The truth is that as early as 2005, NTT East—citing a need for “greater operating efficiency”—had been contemplating closing the facility entirely.

However, after a long closure the space did reopen. Unfortunately, the trade-off for whatever deal was bro-kered behind closed doors wasn’t pretty. The majority of exhibition space had been commandeered for a sin-gle year-long exhibit titled Open Space, pushing special events and thematic exhibitions firmly into the mar-gins. With plenty of vague explanations, a new category titled Emergencies! was created, which would feature up-and-coming artists that could be tucked neatly into a back room, and changed periodically, without fuss.

Last year’s Open Space gave the ICC all the atmo-sphere of a local science center—it was kid-friendly, cute, and had a high “neat-o” factor. But it still featured enough works of merit that year to keep me hoping that the oversights were simply bugs that would be worked out come 2008. But this year’s Open Space falls down on so many levels that it almost seems preferable that the ICC had closed back in 2006. Those bugs look more like a virus.

A number of the works now on display have been recycled from last year, including the Gainer Kaidan, which once caused ghostly, echoing footsteps to fol-low you up the stairs and has now been hacked to play

Open Space 2008 (to Mar 8, 2009) & Transform Yourself! (to Aug 31) NTT InterCommunication Center. Hatsudai Station (Keio Line). Free. 10am–6pm. Closed Mon. Tel. 0120-1��-199. www.ntticc.or.jp

ARTS WITH OWEN SCHAEFER

Aoyama Daiichi Mansions, Ritz Carlton Aoyama TELL, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Sin Den, Kinokuniya, Samrat Azabudai H&R Consultants/ReloJapan, Suji’s, Cosmo PR, Tokyo Lease Corporation Azabujuban Magellan, Nissin World Delicatessen, Oakwood Residences, Temple University, UFJ Bank, Paris Miki, Right Brain Research, Chofu American School in Japan Ebisu Happy

Days Preschool, My Lebanon, Samrat, Segafredo, The Footnik, The Westin, What the Dickens, Va Tout, Good Day Books Ginza Ash Hair-Essensuals, Nissan Hanzomon British Embassy Hiroo Across Travel, Kato Gallery Frame Store, Meidiya, National Azabu Supermarket, Samrat, Segafredo, Tokyo Lawn Tennis Club, Priya, Tokyo Physio, International School of Sacred HeartJingumae

Gold’s Gym, Boudoir, The King Clinic Kamiyacho American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, Hotel Okura, Town Cryer, Asian Tigers, Atago Green Hills Residence, 911 (Mad Mulligans) Meguro Party Palace, The Tavern Minami Aoyama Samrat Minami Azabu Hiroo International Clinic, The New Sanno Mita Australian Embassy, English Studio Moto-Azabu Global Kids Academy, Gymboree,

Nishimachi Intl School, Zen Healing Nihonbashi National Australia Bank Nishi Azabu Nottinghill Cakes, PAL International School, Samrat Odaiba Daily Yomuiri Omotesando Fujimama’s Roppongi, 5�, Aoyama Book Center, Azabu Dai Ichi Mansions, Bernd’s Bar, Bourbon Street, Grand Hyatt, Hotel Ibis, Nakashima Dental, Oakwood Roppongi T-Cube, Paddy Foley’s, Roppongi Hills Club,

Roppongi Hills Residence C&D, Roti, Roy’s, Samrat, Tipness, International Clinic, Tokyo Midtown Clinic, Tokyo Skin Clinic, Zest, Va Tout, Devi Fusion Setagaya Sakura International School, Seta International Preschool, Seisen International School, Boarding Kennel Hinatya, Shiba Nakai Immigration Services Shibakoen Tokyo Gifted Academy & Rivendale, Tokyo Surgical & Medical

Clinic, Shibaura Japan Times Shibuya Beacon, No.1 Travel, Tower Records, HMV, Tableaux, British School Shinagawa TY Harbor Brewery, Embassy of Columbia Shinjuku Hilton Tokyo, No.1 Travel, Grand Hyatt, Park Hyatt, Samrat, Dubliners, Virgin Megastor, YMCA Suginami Aoba International School Takanawa Samrat, Tokyo American Club, Crown Relocations Toranomon

Tokyo Orientations Uchisaiwaicho Imperial Hotel Yokohama Saint Maur International School, Yokohama International School, Yokohama Country and Athletic Club Yoyogiuehara Childs Play Yurakucho Press Club Outside of Tokyo: Atsugi Nissan Chiba BMW Ibaraki Windsor Park Golf & Country Club Nagoya Lease Japan Shizuoka Gotemba Kogen Resort Yokosuka Fleet & Family Support

WEEKENDER PICK-UP POINTS

CROSSWORD #33Across

3. The Devil’s favorite

designer? (5)

7. Clothing (6)

8. Riches (6)

9. Small problems (5)

12. Senior (5)

14. Place (5)

15. Vacancy sign (4,2,3)

16. Tart tasting stem used

as a pie fruit (7)

17. More appetizing (7)

19. One of distinctive and

superior quality (1,5,3)

22. Fashion (5)

23. Deserves (5)

24. Sides (5)

26. Up to date (6)

27. Create (6)

28. From Zurich? (5)

Down

1. Paul McCartney’s designer

daughter (6)

2. Champion (6)

3. Tame animals (4)

4. Small hole piercers (4)

5. Nureyev’s genre (6)

6. Figurine (6)

10. Famous label (4,5)

11. Fashion sense (4,5)

13. Love affair (7)

14. Italian designer Gianni (7)

18. Daze (6)

19. Friends (6)

20. Chinese religion (6)

21. Verve (6)

24. Ages (4)

25. Soapy bubbles (4)

When the Center for Media Art Can’t Hold

an obsequious timeline of ICC history. Add to that an entire room devoted to Yamaha’s Tenori-on music device and you can practically hear the marketing department singing “Design is the new black!”

There are bright spots. After trying to pass off the facility’s empty anechoic room as an exhibit on its own last year, the center has once again put it to good use. Carsten Nikolai’s Invertone is a white-noise generator, with two speakers facing one another—each playing a reversed waveform of the same sound. The wall of noise is so intense that it takes some nerve to stand directly between the speakers. But when you do, the sound all but vanishes. As the noise focuses down to a tiny point inside your head, the resultant experience is more phys-ical than aural, by turns unsettling and meditative.

Martin Riches Interactive Field questions the cause and effect that we’ve come to expect in our interac-tions with machines. Seiko Mikami and Sota Ichikawa’s Gravicells makes light of gravity on its surface, but also draws visual attention to our proximity to others—our own individual bubbles of influence. And Keiko Kimoto’s Ambiguous Forest is a work that wears its tech-nical and mathematical aspects on its sleeve, though it may have fared better with a less utilitarian display.

Until the end of August, the ICC Kids Program is featuring Transform Yourself: a further indication of the science-center approach the facility seems to be taking. The exhibits for kids are all interactive and entertaining, and even include Masahiko Sato and Takashi Kiriyama’s Arithmetik Garden, which appeared at last year’s Roppongi Crossing exhibition. But as a sign of things to come, the ICC’s Open Space is ringing pretty hollow.

Aug 15–Sep � 2008 Vol. 39 No. 16 31

established 1970 by corky alexander vol. 39 no. 16 aug … · the hula fitness craze or cultural...

Documents