Tokyo Weekender - January 2016
Looking back at the year that was. How to Stay True to Your Resolutions Snowboarding & Skiing in Honshu.
Looking back at the year that was. How to Stay True to Your Resolutions Snowboarding & Skiing in Honshu.
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PEOPLE, PARTIES, PLACES | SOCIETY | 29<br />
many other art lovers know.<br />
Norman and the Tolman Collection’s staff always come up with special<br />
exhibitions and interesting ideas to promote their special collection of<br />
paintings and prints by many of Japan’s best known artists.<br />
Toko will turn 103 next year, and I’m happy to see she’s still painting.<br />
To celebrate, Norman was able to get 102 paintings and prints of her work<br />
over the years and that, plus her huge famous mural that permanently<br />
hangs in the lobby of the Conrad Hilton, added up to 103. I had the privilege<br />
of attending the opening reception which was wall-to-wall international<br />
VIPs. Long time friends I hadn’t seen for a long time who were there<br />
included the film world’s Kaz and Fran Kuzui and Gabriel from event<br />
planners Black List.<br />
People I met for the first time, and really enjoyed talking to, included<br />
the famous doctor (at St. Luke’s Hospital) and author (of many medical<br />
and health books), Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara—he’s 104 and still very cool.<br />
Father Grimm of the Franciscan Chapel told me Japan has 60,000 people<br />
who are over 100 years old. Other VIPs at the opening included Mika Mori<br />
of Mori Trust Hotels and Resorts and her daughter Miwako Date who<br />
is President of Conrad Hilton. I stayed in their beautiful Westin Hotel in<br />
Sendai a week after the terrible Tohoku earthquake and tsunami when<br />
I was helping Bill and Matthew Ireton distribute baseball uniforms and<br />
other supplies to several schools that really suffered during that natural<br />
disaster. Back to the reception, I really enjoyed meeting the Conrad Hilton<br />
GM Heinrich Grafe and his super staff. Congratulations to all concerned<br />
on the tremendous success of the exhibition.<br />
SAUDI ARABIA RECEPTION – PALACE HOTEL<br />
It was Saudi Ambassador Ahmed Yonos S. Al Barrak’s first time to host<br />
a big National Day celebration. The occasion was his country’s 85th<br />
National Day and he chose the palatial, completely renovated Palace Hotel<br />
for the well attended, first class midday reception. The ambassador, his<br />
staff and many Saudi students there wore national costumes which really<br />
were perfect for the kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s special day.<br />
Guests included former sumo champ and great philanthropist<br />
Konishiki and his wonderful wife Chie. In just a few years she learned to<br />
speak, sing and dance Hawaiian, and the busy couple often do musical<br />
shows together. If you ever have the opportunity to see them perform,<br />
don’t miss it. They’re really good. It was also nice seeing popular<br />
politician Yukiko Koike there that day. She attended university in Cairo,<br />
speaks fluent Arabic, and is a real expert on Arab affairs.<br />
I was really surprised (and of course, happy) when two Saudi<br />
students I’ve known for a long time came over and gave me a set of CDs.<br />
They knew I had been a guest of the Shoboshi family when Ambassador<br />
Fawzi was posted here, and I was invited to the five-day culture festival<br />
in Jinadriyah near Riyadh several years ago. The festival was truly<br />
fantastic and the Saudi National Guard’s hospitality marvelous. My new<br />
CDs are a collection of the music of the festival over the years, and I<br />
listen to them almost every day. Talk about great memories of<br />
a travel experience I’ll never forget. The festival will be in<br />
February this year.<br />
SPECIAL PEOPLE<br />
So lucky to meet so many great people through the column and plan on<br />
writing more about them this year. My sincerest thanks to Director/Producer<br />
Karen Severns of Kismet Productions and her husband Koichi Mori<br />
for their help in helping me set up a screening of Tsukasa Shiga’s feature<br />
film “Boku ha Bousan” (“I Am a Monk”) at the Foreign Correspondents’<br />
Club. The film produced by Tsukasa Shiga was one of the many projects<br />
he did to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of his company, Ceremony. There<br />
are plans to show it with English subtitles. I’ll let you know when I know.<br />
Thanks as well to Gene Pele who once again donated all kinds of fun<br />
T-shirts for my annual boxes to unfortunate people in the Philippines<br />
at Christmas time. Thanks to so many of you who let me bring Swiss<br />
medical student Michel Bielecki to many of the events I was invited to.<br />
Michel, whose father is a famous doctor in Zurich, loves Japan and thanks<br />
to several friends in high places here I was able to get him into a special<br />
program at Keio for several months. He made a lot of friends, and worked<br />
hard while he was here. He also taught me quite a bit about operating my<br />
iPad, including setting up my blog. He returned to Europe mid-December,<br />
will complete his studies there, and hopes to come back here several times<br />
a year to work on a project on traditional Japanese handicrafts he’s set up.<br />
Another great happening because he was here was meeting and getting<br />
to know his super mom who was a top model in Europe at one time, and<br />
is still the epitome of chic, as well as being super cool. I’m so lucky with<br />
people. Thanks to Michel, I also met American photographer Anthony<br />
Wood, his wife Junko and son Kenji, who came to my house with lots of<br />
equipment and took some interesting photos. Anthony’s really good—I<br />
loved the photos and if you need any special pics, I strongly recommend<br />
you contact him. Tel: 080-2107-8690 or anthony@anthonywood.net.<br />
I really enjoyed a lunch at the Grand Hyatt’s Oakwood restaurant with<br />
two of my talented friends: the movie business’s Georgina Pope (she’s<br />
from Australia) and top British DJ Guy Perryman. They are both interesting<br />
and fun people who are both super busy, so I really enjoyed our<br />
time, and the delicious crab cake and New York cheesecake at the popular<br />
restaurant. Georgina had one of her films in the Venice Film Festival and<br />
has just finished shooting a short film with Elizabeth Moss from the TV<br />
series “Mad Men”—the popular actress was here last summer shooting<br />
a segment of TV’s highly rated “Girls.” Watch for Georgina’s specials on<br />
Japanese films on NHK. She gave me some interesting news about the<br />
entertainment industry and the NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) that<br />
actors, actresses, and others in the film business have to sign when they go<br />
to work on a new project.<br />
In addition to all his regular DJ gigs, Guy is very busy on a big project<br />
for Refugees International. The event will be held on the night of February<br />
5, on the 27th floor of the luxurious Shangri-La Hotel. This is the second<br />
year Guy’s done this. At last year’s “Night on Broadway,” we had a huge<br />
success and I’m sure this year’s “Night in Hollywood” will be as well.<br />
Delta Airlines is a big supporter of this worthwhile project. For<br />
information, call 03-3407-1145. A few months back, it was a<br />
busy night at National Azabu, where guests enjoyed the best<br />
in barbecued lamb, delicious hamburgers, great ham, and<br />
Bonito’s paella. There was a fine selection of wines for the<br />
adults and special desserts for the kids. Staff members of<br />
the popular store provided the great live jazz music.<br />
Big Pictures President Mark Fuoti and the US Embassy’s<br />
Lt. Col. Joe Sweeney at Hiroo Segafredo<br />
Boris and fashion guru John Bosworth<br />
at Hiroo Segafredo<br />
French wine dealer Philippe Sauzedde and friend<br />
at Hiroo Segafredo<br />
www.tokyoweekender.com JANUARY <strong>2016</strong>