Volume 39, Number 01
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It is, as I'm sure you know, our first issue of the New Year. I'd like to start out by saying that I hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year. I also hope that 2008, the Year of the Rat, will be a good year for everyone.
As for me, I took off for Hawaii on Dec. 16. After ten laid-back days there I headed back to Tokyo to prepare and then emcee the New Year's party at the New Lex. I then took it easy while the traditional Japanese New Year's celebrations took place.
The last few weeks have been super busy for me, with a wide variety of happenings and all kinds of interesting people visiting Tokyo. In the entertainment scene, I loved the concert by the Indian Ocean Fusion band, which was part of the Festival of India. Now I'm spending a lot of my playtime listening to their mellow CDs.
Once again Min-on brought the truly amazing China National Acrobatic Troupe back to Japan. With nearly two hours of unbelievable acrobatics, juggling and contortions, these really nice, very talented people gave the audience a preview of some of the spectacular things we'll see in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics. The audience wildly applauded after every act.
Another superstar Nicolas Cage and super producer Jerry Bruckheimer were here for Walt Disney Studios Japan to promote National Treasure: A Book of Secrets. As you can imagine, they had a very busy schedule as well.
There were lots of National Day celebrations in December, including those of the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Bahrain and Qatar. Big holiday happenings included U.S. Ambassador Thomas and Susanne Schieffer's annual Christmas party, Pirelli Tires and Christian Dior holiday events and The Peninsula Hotel's official opening party.
Going on my travels meant missing some very important events. Thus, I couldn't be here for Qatar Ambassador Reyad Ali Al-Ansari and his wife Muna's National Day celebration at The New Otani on Dec. 17. The Ambassador, who is also Dean of the Arab Corps, and his wife Muna are a very popular couple, so I'm sure that their reception was something special.
As one of the many special events to celebrate the fifty years of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and Japan, on Dec. 18 Malaysian Ambassador H.E. Dato Mohd Radzi Abdul Rahman and his wife Datin Tazliza hosted the opening ceremony of a photo exhibition as well as a buffet luncheon at their beautiful residence.
I'd like to start out the New Year with something beautiful, and the very worthwhile project Dance 4 AIDS Orphans Africa, organized by ballet dancer/ teacher Lynne R. Charles, was certainly that. Lynne used her international connections and many friendships to bring some of the world's leading dancers here to participate in this charity gala. It was an evening of first-class entertainment—East met West in a wellbalanced program of classic and contemporary dance at it's best. It was a lot of hard work for a needy and worthwhile cause. Kudos to Lynne, the dancers, and the people who supported her. Hopefully, she'll be able to do it again this year, with even more people who could and should get involved.
German Ambassador Hans-Joachim Daerr and his wife Alexa threw a truly monumental happening to celebrate the 18th anniversary of German reunification. Guests entered through the chancery and proceeded up the hill to the beautiful home and garden. Interesting, informative exhibitions of German products ranging from cars and sporting goods to food was set up everywhere. The garden—with its teahouse, temple, stone lanterns and huge bell—was tastefully illuminated, and there were tents and booths set up to serve delicious German culinary favorites. I loved the German breads, and the variety that evening was endless.
Special guests that evening included Minister of the Free State of Saxony Georg Milbradt and his wife Angelika as well as three-time Olympic Champion in Ski-Jumping Jens Weibflog.
The program included singing of the Japanese and German national anthems, as well as German folksongs buy the Heinrich Schutz Choir and a mandolin concert by Anne Wolfe. Food that evening included many delicacies prepared by Michelin Star Chef Mario Pattis and the Dresden Christmas Stollen Association.
I saw many of the students I know from the German School helping that evening. “This is supposed to be a holiday and we're working,” one of them jokingly told me. It didn't seem to be a problem, though, as it was obvious that he and the other students were enjoying the spectacular evening as much as the many guests there.
I had the privilege of knowing Ukrainian Ambassador Mykola Kulinich and his wife Olena when they were in Japan years ago. It was really nice to see them again at The New Otani Hotel on Sept. 18, to celebrate both the 16th anniversary of Ukrainian independence and 15th anniversary of diplomatic relations with Japan. It was a laid-back evening of interesting people, delicious Ukrainian food and warm ambience.
On Sep. 4 Malaysian Ambassador Dato and his wife Datin Jazlisa hosted an exciting, colorful gala evening at The New Otani. The celebration was two-fold—to celebrate Malaysia's 50th anniversary of independence, as well as their 50 years of diplomatic relations with Japan. 2007 was “Visit Malaysia Year” and, in addition to the country's always- full schedule of festivals, sporting and cultural events, there were many special 50th anniversary happenings.
For the party, the Malaysian Tourism Board and Malaysian Airlines flew in a group of traditional dancers from Sabah. There were also several Malaysian chefs who prepared Malaysian cuisine including squid curry, rending (spicy beef) and Malaysian desserts for the buffet.
At the end of the evening, the staff of the Embassy surprised Mohd and Tazliza with a huge birthday cake. The couple had just celebrated both of their birthdays.
Glad I was able to get over to the U.S. Embassy for Ambassador Thomas and Susanne Schieffer's reception to meet the new embassy staff members and their wives. It was, as expected, an evening of interesting people, delicious food and the Schieffer's great Texas-style hospitality.
I had the opportunity to meet the principals and teachers of many international schools, and I enjoyed getting to know them all. It was also nice to see longtime friend Kathy Wilson who I got to know when she was working at the Irish embassy. Kathy is now Assistant Residence Manager at the U.S. Embassy Residence.
It was also nice to see former Tokyoite Jose Luiz Viana de Cunha when he dropped by the New Lex recently. Luiz headed Varig Airlines operations here for several years. He's now living in Brasilia where he's Director of Leisure and Incentive Tourism. More on this interesting guy to follow later.
I'd like to offer my congratulations to Glenn L. Boothe, whose son Robert recently signed on to play with the L.A. Dodgers. I'm sure you'll be hearing a lot about him in the future. (I'll have a photo in the next column.) Congratulations as well to Simone Ugolini, who has spent three years in Japan as General Manager of Valentino Japan Ltd. Simone's now in Milan for a new and challenging assignment at Valentino Global Headquarters. We'll miss him here in Tokyo and wish him all the best back home.
Congratulations to Dr. Hans J.A. van Ginkel, professor and former rector of the United Nations University who received the Grand Cordon of the order of the Rising Sun on Nov. 20.
In the last year or so, there were a lot of changes made among the big film distributors here. Major happenings included William Ireton's promotion to President and Representative Director of Warner Brothers Entertainment Japan. Since his promotion he's enlarged and upgraded the WB offices here. Over at Sony, Senior Vice President of Film Distribution Dick Sano and his staff are very happy in their new offices at Toranomon Towers. Toho-Towa President Hisanori Hiranuma and Managing Director Hiro Matsuoka signed a contract with Universal to distribute their films here in Japan.
United International Pictures has, like in other countries, closed their offices here in Japan. I would like to wish UIP all the best in their future endeavors.
In other news, Paramount Pictures Japan has just opened their new offices. Some of my good friends there include Ichiro Okazaki, who left his job as Vice President of Sales at Buena Vista International to be the President of Paramount, and UIP's Marketing Director Hisamichi Kinomoto, formerly the Marketing Director of UIP, who will be Head of Marketing for Paramount. Hideo Suzuki, head of Buena Vista Japan has been super busy as well.
In addition to completely renovating their offices, they've changed the name of their company to Walt Disney Studio Pictures Japan. As many of you know, Gaga Communications joined Usen and they now have beautiful offices high in the sky in Midtown Tower. There have been a lot of changes at Twentieth Century Fox as well. Jesse Lee, who did a super job in Seoul for the company is now General Manager of their offices here.