intouch february 2014

Issue 586 • February 2014

February 2014

T O K Y O A M E R I C A N C L U B

NFL SpectacularA Super Bowl bash like no other

A Cut AboveMember David Rudlin talks diamonds and novels

All Steamed UpThe search for hidden hot-spring treasures

AwArd-winning women The Club honors Junko Koshino,

Norika Fujiwara and Junko Tabei with its Distinguished Achievement Award

BRAND NEW

For Rent

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Rent: ¥570,000~¥2,600,000/month2BR~4BR+Den (103.61sq.~327.08sq.)Lease type: Normal type contract, Lease term: 2yearsDeposit: 2 months, Keymoney: noneRenewal fee: 1-month new rentComprehensive insurance with tenant's liability endorsement is requiredMusical instruments: negotiablePet: negotiable Up to two small-size dog(s) or cat(s), additional 1-month deposit (special cleaning fee is charged additionally when on vacation).

10-minute walk (approx. 750m) from Tokyo American Club (west entrance)

Now available for visit 03-5413-56661-2-7, Nishiazabu, Minato-ku, TokyoForm of Transaction: Brokerage Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport (6)4372

iNTOUCHManagementTony CalaGeneral [email protected]

Lian ChangInformation Technology [email protected]

Darryl DudleyEngineering [email protected]

Brian MarcusFood & Beverage [email protected]

To advertise in iNTOUCH, contact Rie Hibino: [email protected] 03-4588-0976

For membership information, contact Mari Hori:[email protected] 03-4588-0687

Tokyo American Club2-1-2 Azabudai, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-8649

www.tokyoamericanclub.org

contents 2 Contacts

4 Events

6 Board of Governors

7 Management

8 Food & Beverage

12 Library

17 Committees

18 DVD Library

20 Recreation

24 Women’s Group

26 Feature

32 Talking Heads

34 Frederick Harris Gallery

35 Cultural Insight

36 Member Services

38 Inside Japan

40 Out & About

42 Event Roundup

48 Back Words

Editor Nick Jones [email protected]

DesignersShane BusatoAnna Ishizuka

Production AssistantYuko Shiroki

Assistant Editor Nick Narigon

Shuji HirakawaHuman Resources [email protected]

Naoto OkutsuFinance [email protected]

Scott YahiroRecreation [email protected]

Aron Kremer Marketing & Communications Director [email protected]

FEAturEHonoring DynamismFrom helping children in

disaster zones to summiting

Everest to pushing fashion’s

boundaries, the three

recipients of the Club’s

Distinguished Achievement

Award exemplify the successes

of Japanese women in not

only breaking down barriers,

but also changing the world.

20 rEcrEAtionFitter, Faster, StrongerA member of the Club’s band

of keen triathletes, Ernesto A’

de lima explains what it is that

attracts him to swimming,

cycling and running to the

point of exhaustion.

32 tAlking HEADStensions and tiesAmid continuing tensions

between Japan and its

Northeast Asian neighbors,

American academic and

Member Bruce Stronach

dissects regional relations.

24 WoMEn’S grouPcommunication coachNearly 40 years ago, Karen

Hill Anton was a young

mother adjusting to Japanese

culture. This month, she

explains what lessons she

learned in rural Shizuoka.

26

Cover photo of (l–r) Junko Koshino, Norika Fujiwara and Junko Tabei by Benjamin Parks

2 February 2014 iNTOUCH

Department/E-mail Phone

American Bar & Grill (03) [email protected]

Banquet Sales and Reservations (03) [email protected]

Beauty Salon (03) 4588-0685

Bowling Center (03) [email protected]

Café Med (03) [email protected]

Catering (03) [email protected]

Childcare Center (03) [email protected]

Communications (03) [email protected]

Decanter/FLATiRON (03) [email protected]

DVD Library (03) [email protected]

Engineering (03) [email protected]

Finance (03) 4588-0222 [email protected]

Fitness Center (03) 4588-0266 [email protected]

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Getting in Touch

Words from the editor 3

contributors

Chiaki Mukai didn’t think that being a woman was a barrier to becoming an astronaut. She just assumed that only pilots, Americans and Russians went into space.

When the heart surgeon learned that Japan’s space agency was looking for candidates with scientific experience, she jumped at the chance. She became the first Japanese woman in space, joining two space shuttle flights in the 1990s.

But in a 1999 interview, she rejected the idea that she was a pioneer for her sex. “Before men and women, we are human beings. That is common sense,” she said. “If you want to do something, go for it.”

Of course, life isn’t always so simple, particularly in a country where gender roles are more rigidly defined, which makes Mukai’s achievement even more extraordinary.

By definition, Mukai was a pioneer, as well as an inspiration to young men and, especially, women. There are a million reasons why people choose to pursue particular career paths, and the influence of role models is one.

Exemplars and heroes are one thing, but governments also need to establish an environment in which people are encouraged to chase their dreams. Japan is finally waking up to this.

In a speech last year in London, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe acknowledged the importance of women in rejuvenating the economy.

“The period in which men with uniform ways of thinking dominated Japan’s business community was too long. In contrast, women have been engaged in corporate management for much too short a time,” he said. “The mission that I have imposed upon myself is to thoroughly liberate the power that women possess. I am determined to encourage women to break through the glass ceiling, and, along with this, I will prepare the infrastructure to make that possible.”

It’s fitting then that the Club should honor three women with this year’s Distinguished Achievement Award. In this month’s cover story, “Honoring Dynamism,” Tim Hornyak talks to the three awardees—alpinist Junko Tabei, fashion designer Junko Koshino and actress Norika Fujiwara—about their inspiring lives.

If you have any comments about anything you read in iNTOUCH, please e-mail them to [email protected], putting “Letter to the Editor” in the subject title of the mail.

from theeditor

TimHornyak

Tokyo-based freelance journalist Tim Hornyak’s writings on Japanese culture, technology and history have appeared in the likes of Wired News, Scientific American and the Far Eastern Economic Review. The author of Loving the Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots, the native of Montreal, Canada, has been a contributor to CBS Interactive’s popular CNET News website and is now Tokyo correspondent for technology newswire IDG News. Having traveled to all 47 of Japan’s prefectures, he has coauthored Lonely Planet guidebooks on Tokyo and Japan. In this month’s cover story, “Honoring Dynamism,” Hornyak profiles this year’s Distinguished Achievement Award recipients, Junko Koshino, Norika Fujiwara and Junko Tabei, and seeks out hidden hot springs in Out & About.

Tim Hornyak

Tokyo-based photographer Benjamin Parks has a broad range of studio and location experience. Having worked for such clients as Facebook, Ferrari, Casio, United Colors of Benetton and DHL, he says he enjoys challenging projects and being involved in every detail of a shoot. Originally from Ottawa, Canada, he has lived in Japan for eight years. For this month’s cover story, “Honoring Dynamism,” Parks photographed Distinguished Achievement Award honorees Junko Koshino, Norika Fujiwara and Junko Tabei. “I frequently photograph famous people, but this shoot was unique since it was three prominent women, each talented in their own unique way,” he says of the project. “Together they represent three facets of Japan: fashion, beauty and adventure.”

Benjamin Parks


7First Friday: An Evening in OkinawaThis month’s get-together in the Winter Garden gives Members a chance to enjoy the balmy Okinawan islands, without ever leaving Tokyo. 6 p.m. ¥2,000. No sign-up necessary.

Wednesday –

Tuesday 5–11The Best of Ho Chi Minh TourExcursionists cruise the Mekong River, take in breathtaking colonial architecture and dine on local delicacies during this six-night, seven-day tour of the bustling Vietnamese metropolis.

What’s on in February

Monday

Wednesday

10

19

Cultural Insights with Karen Hill AntonJapan-based American writer Karen Hill Anton shares her experiences of raising a family in rural Japan and adjusting to a new way of life. 11:30 a.m. Find out more on page 24.

Toastmasters LuncheonOvercome stage fright and boost your leadership skills at this monthly event. 12 p.m. ¥2,650. Sign up online or at the Library.

Monday Wednesday 10 12Gallery Reception: Jiro SakaiThe Japanese artist kicks off an exhibition of his intricately detailed urushi works with a reception. 6:30 p.m. Learn more about Sakai and his art on page 34.

Girls’ Day DisplayIn celebration of Hina Matsuri on March 3, a collection of imperial court dolls from the Yoshitoku doll company will be on display at the Family Entrance (1F) until March 4.

Wednesday 5Toastmasters LuncheonStart losing your fear of public speaking and improve your leadership skills at this monthly event. 12 p.m. ¥2,650. Sign up online or at the Library.

Friday

9Grand Crab BuffetFeast on mouthwatering crab, crustaceans and other seafood at this culinary celebration of the sea. 11 a.m.–2 p.m. and 5–7 p.m. New York Ballroom. Details on the Club website.

Sunday

1–28Valentine’s Spa SpecialThe Spa marks Valentine’s Day with a whole month of couple pampering. Learn more on page 23.

1–28Tokyo Bay Distance Swim Plunge into the warmer waters of the Sky Pool to take up the challenge of swimming the length of Tokyo Bay. Check out the details on page 23.

Saturday–

Friday 2Bridal FairWhether you’re after a black-tie celebration or quirky affair, plan your picture-perfect wedding day at this all-day event. 11 a.m.– 7 p.m. New York Ballroom, Brooklyn rooms and Decanter. Free. Open to the public.

Sunday

Sunday 16SAT Test Prep ProgramThis eight-week program will prepare high school students to take the SAT college admission test on May 3. More information on page 23.

Thursday20Cool-Climate Wines of Melbourne: Chardonnay and Pinot Noir TastingSample some of the grapey gems from Australia’s cooler winemaking spots, such as Mornington Peninsula and the Yarra Valley. 7 p.m. Details on page 10.

Tuesday 25TAC vs Wako Badminton ClubSaitama’s Wako Badminton Club visit the Club for a friendly tournament. 6:30 p.m. Details on page 23.

3Super Bowl XLVIII at the ClubHead to the New York Ballroom for an atmosphere just as fun as the one at MetLife Stadium for the NFL’s supreme event. 7.30 a.m. Flip to page 17 for more.

MondaySaturday–

Friday

Monday24Coffee ConnectionsWhether you’re new to Tokyo or want to meet new people, drop by this relaxed Women’s Group gathering. Contact the Women’s Group Office to organize free childcare. 10:30 a.m. Free.

Saturday–

Sunday 15–16Book GiveawayPick up a free book or five and buy used DVDs at this clear-out event at the Beate Sirota Gordon Classroom on Saturday (9 a.m.–5 p.m.) and Sunday (9 a.m.–12 p.m.).

Wednesday Tuesday 2625New Member OrientationThe Club’s newest Members learn about the Club and have a chance to mingle. 6:30 p.m. Washington and Lincoln rooms. Contact the Membership Office to reserve your spot at least one week in advance.

Warabi Naked Festival TourGrown men and babies come together in one great, muddy spectacle during this annual farming rite in Chiba. For details, contact Member Services.

Noteworthy dates for the month 5

Thursday13Whisky TastingSample Scotland’s peaty export at this evening of single-malt whisky from the glens and even Japan. 8 p.m. Get your fill on page 11.

Friday7Mommy and Toddler TimeMeet fellow moms and toddlers while building your own support network at a fun, weekly get-together. 2 p.m. Free. Continues February 14, 21 and 28.

Coming up in March

MondayMonday 3“I Lost It at the Club” Weight-Loss ChallengeJump-start 2014 with a 10-week program designed to help you achieve your New Year’s weight-loss goals. Runs through April 14. Page 23 has more.

3Super Bowl XLVIII at Traders’ BarThose pining for their local sports bar this Super Bowl can catch all the live action in Traders’. 7:30 a.m. First come, first served.

Friday14Valentine’s at DecanterBe seduced by the tantalizing cuisine of Decanter this Valentine’s Day. More on page 19.

Saturday 15Carpet AuctionThe Women’s Group hosts a lively evening of bidding for exquisite carpets and rugs to support one luminous scholar in Japan. 5 p.m. Find out more on page 25.

Friday21Ultimate Disco PartyBoogie all night to the funky jams of the ’70’s and ’80s. 7 p.m. Sign up online or at Member Services.

Saturday22Dine and Discover: Beyond the BubbleThere’s more to life than Moët. Explore some intriguing sparkling options at this festival of fizz. 7 p.m. For the full rundown, flip to page 8.

Sunday 23ACT Practice TestHigh school students have a chance to practice the ACT college admission test with advice and support from experienced tutors. 3 p.m. Sign up at the Recreation Desk.

8Father-Daughter Dinner DanceDads and their little princesses enjoy a magical evening of food, music and fun at this popular annual event. 5 p.m. Page 22 has all the details on this and a makeover beforehand.

Saturday

Thursday27Distinguished Achievement Award Presentation Ceremony The Club honors alpinist Junko Tabei, fashionista Junko Koshino and actress Norika Fujiwara at this annual event. 7 p.m. Find out more about these dynamic women on page 26.

11Woodward Canyon Wine Dinner with Rick Small

Friday–

Sunday 7–23Sochi Winter OlympicsTraders’ Bar hosts daily coverage of figure skating, hockey, skiing and other thrilling winter events from Russia. Sip on Olympic-themed cocktails, enjoy trivia games and cheer on your national heroes.

Saturday8New Member OrientationThe Club’s newest Members learn about the Club and have a chance to mingle. 10 a.m. Washington and Lincoln rooms. Contact the Membership Office to reserve your spot at least one week in advance.

Wednesday –

Thursday12–13Vietnamese BuffetFrom fresh mint and spring rolls to lemongrass and pho, all elements of Vietnamese cuisine are on offer at this feast at Rainbow Café. Continues February 19–20.

Thursday27Caymus Vineyards Wine Dinner with Chuck WagnerThe patriarch of this family-owned winery, renowned for making spectacular, highly coveted Cabernets, hosts his first-ever dinner in Tokyo. 7 p.m. Page 8 has more on this Napa trailblazer.

Tuesday 4Self-Defense for WomenLearn to defend yourself in any situation while improving your fitness, confidence and self-awareness. Sign up online or at the Recreation Desk. Runs through March 18.

Tuesday 4Toddler TimeA fun, 30-minute session of engaging stories and activities awaits preschoolers at the Children’s Library. 4 p.m. Free. Continues February 11, 18 and 25.

7First Friday: Saint Patrick’s Day

14Club Sports Awards

19South American Wine Tasting

EVENTS


I received a Facebook message from a college friend a few weeks ago (e-mail, it seems, has become formal and old-

fashioned). Toward the end of his message, he asked whether I was ever moving back to the United States. Most people living overseas probably get this question often. If I lived in New York City, I would probably never be asked when or whether I was going to leave.

On the one hand, I understand the question because—even in 2014—it is still relatively rare to live overseas for an extended period. I moved to Japan in 1997 and was in Nagano for the bobsledding at the 1998 Winter Olympics. At that time, I never expected to be in Japan for soccer’s 2002 World Cup, co-hosted by Japan and

BOARD OF GOVERNORS

South Korea. If I knew then that I’d still be in Japan 17 years later, I would have been shocked.

On the other hand, and at the risk of sounding like an unmitigated Japanophile, I cannot see why I would leave Japan. It is difficult to believe the change in sentiment about Japan over the last three years. We are all familiar with the positive aspects of living in Japan and eventually most foreign residents look beyond the shortcomings here, as they realize that no country is perfect.

This change in sentiment is not lost at the Club. Not surprisingly, we seem to be moving in concert with the positive momentum in Japan. Our membership numbers are steadily returning to pre-global financial crisis levels and are in line with our TAC 20/20 financial plan goals. With this momentum and reestablished baseline, we can now focus on kaizen, or change for the best.

The Club’s management has proven to be both responsive to Members’ needs and proactive. With strong support from the committees and Board, TAC is rediscovering itself as a true club, with a vibrant calendar of regular events, including bowling get-togethers, ski trips, tours, wine dinners, open mic nights, fitness challenges and this month’s Father-Daughter Dinner Dance.

It is difficult to think of a more important relationship than that of the United States and Japan. The recent appointment of Caroline Kennedy, the Club’s honorary president, as ambassador to Japan underscores the importance of this relationship. While we do not think of it every day, the Club certainly plays a key part in enhancing this bond.

After being in Nagano for the Winter Games, I’m looking forward to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. I lived in Madrid in the 1990s and as much as I enjoyed my time in Spain, Tokyo was by far the most deserving candidate city.

The city’s selection was clearly a vote of confidence in Japan’s ability to put together another flawless, globally significant event. It is also an affirmation of the country’s prominent role in the world today, and one that should be celebrated by all residents of Japan. While a few years away, I’m looking forward to seeing you all at the Club to watch the opening ceremony. o

Board of GovernorsJohn Durkin (2014)—Representative Governor, Mary Saphin (2013)—First Vice President, Gregory Lyon (2014) —Second Vice President, Brenda Bohn (2014)—Secretary, Hiroshi Miyamasu (2013)—Treasurer, Norman J Green (2013), Ginger Griggs (2013), Paul Hoff (2013), Per Knudsen (2014), Lance E Lee (2014), Jeffrey McNeill (2013), Machi Nemoto (2014), Jerry Rosenberg (2014), Mark Henry Saft (2014), Dan Stakoe (2013), Sadashi Suzuki (2014), Ira Wolf (2013), Kazuakira Nakajima—Statutory Auditor (2014)

Reasons forOptimism

by Greg Lyon

Executive remarks 7

MANAGEMENT

I can already tell that 2014 is going to be a great year. In fact, the Club’s first-quarter results have outperformed

the TAC 20/20 financial plan. While this clearly shows that the improvements we have introduced have met Members’ needs and expectations, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t more to do.

In last month’s column, I talked about some of the new services and programs, such as the Grab & Go takeout counter, Traders’ Bar and Winter Garden upgrades and Rainbow Café improvements. On top of all this, we are making some strategic changes to improve Member value, improve efficiency and make the most of our areas of competence. I look forward to revealing these exciting developments in due course,

March 3–48:45 a.m.–3 p.m. (Monday–Tuesday)

Club Members: ¥20,000Non-Club Members: ¥23,500

Cost includes course materials, breakfast, light refreshments and lunch. Childcare is available for an additional charge.

Sign up online or at Member Services.

Whether you’ve lived here for three months or three years, join this expert-led, two-day seminar on a range of topics, including food, education, travel, culture and shopping.

including through our redeveloped website, which is due to be launched in the spring.

Among the many issues we will be looking at over the coming months will be the Club’s guest policy and dress code, behavior and conduct at the Club and Member security and safety. As we prepare to introduce changes in these areas, we will also enhance the way we inform and educate Members. This will include new orientation programs for spouses and children.

in the best interests of our Members. The Club leadership’s ultimate goal is to put us on the path to becoming the premier private membership club in Asia.

Our confidence is rooted in the fact that even before we began the restructuring process we had the foresight to put into place several building blocks for the Club’s long-term success. We will continue to experiment with fresh and innovative ways to improve and meet the expectations of Members.

For nearly 86 years, the Club has fostered a proud tradition of serving not only the Membership, but also our employees and the communities that we call home. We have looked to provide innovative services and programs while taking advantage of the best economic opportunities to ensure unique and memorable experiences at the Club.

We believe these basic business principles must go hand in hand with an ironclad set of values and responsibilities. It is the continued adherence to these principles and values that points the way forward to a brighter future for the Club.

We thank our Members for having shared our incredible journey thus far. The Club’s success would not be possible without the contribution of stakeholders. We appreciate the ongoing support and pledge to continue in our efforts to exceed expectations. o

A Year of Improvements

by Tony CalaGeneral Manager

We will continue to

experiment with fresh and

innovative ways to improve

and meet the expectations

of Members.”

“

Since we understand the importance of timely communication, we are striving to streamline the way we inform Members. The new website will help us achieve this goal. Members will enjoy an easier and more personalized user experience that is based on set preferences and previous visits to the site.

While restructuring our guest and security policies will require us to make some painful decisions, I believe that it will leave us in a stronger position and be

At age 19, shortly after graduating from high school, Chuck Wagner received an ultimatum from his parents: join them in

establishing a winery on their ranch in California’s Napa Valley or see the land sold and his parents move halfway across the world.

“I was unsure what to do at my young age. The idea of making wine and selling it commercially sounded interesting to me,” says Wagner, now 62. “[Also,] I love my home and did not want to see it sold.”

The Wagner family bottled their first vintage—240 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon—in 1972. The Caymus Vineyards label has since become renowned for its spectacular, highly coveted Cabernets. In fact, Caymus Special Selection is the only wine ever to win two Wine Spectator wine of the year awards, for the 1984 and 1990 vintages.

Club Members will have the opportunity to sample a selection of toothsome vintages when Wagner makes his first voyage to Tokyo this month.

Along with its myriad accolades, the

winedinner

Caymus Vineyards Wine Dinner with Chuck Wagner Thursday, February 27 7 p.m. Manhattan I¥15,000Sign up online or at Member Services

by Wendi Onuki Crafting Champion Cab

family-owned winery has expanded its footprint over the years. That growth spurt, however, has not been without its setbacks. Last summer, Caymus agreed to pay $1 million to Napa County for allegedly exceeding production limits at its Rutherford winery in 2008.

The production cap is part of a strategy to preserve the area’s agricultural land and protect the region from potentially detrimental development and tourism.

“I have to admit that I was surprised by Napa County’s aggressive nature towards us,” says Wagner. “I was unclear about the regulations and paid a dear price. I hope the changes will not hurt our business and that one day we can look back on this as one of life’s hurdles.”

Those changes include plans to construct a 19-million-liter production facility in Solano County, just inland from Napa but sharing the same maritime climate, to scale back output in Rutherford. Caymus plans to craft about a third of its wine and eventually bottle everything at the new facility. The winery will also begin experimenting

with vineyard plantings on the new land this year.

Solano may not be a household name yet, but the county boasts a flourishing wine sector. With its viticulture roots reaching back to the 1860s, the area churns out rustic, fruit-centric wines, including Cabernets and Syrahs.

“I believe that you will hear more about Solano County in the future,” Wagner says. “Solano is the quiet neighbor to Napa, and a dark horse at this point in time. We will implement our standards of viticulture and see what the future holds.”

If the past is any indication, Caymus’ prospects appear bright. o

Onuki is a Michigan-based freelance journalist.

(l–r) Charlie, Jenny, Joseph and Chuck Wagner

Steven Freeman


FOOD & BEVERAGE

bottletalk

2005 Jonata El Alma de Jonata Cabernet Franc, Santa Ynez Valley, CaliforniaFrom the owners of Napa cult classic Screaming Eagle, Jonata is a relatively young upstart that has been grabbing attention for its unforgettable wines. Winemaker Matt Dees hosted a dinner at the Club last year, and we hope to see him again soon. This red offers an explosive aromatic attack of dark chocolate, tobacco leaf, black raspberry, Asian spice and toasty oak that leads to a rich, round mid-palate of sweet black fruit, vanilla, pencil shavings and herbal notes.

¥18,500 a bottle at Decanter.

Kelley’s Cellar Selection

by Kelley Michael Schaefer

Back to Wine School

The wine world can be a confusing one. At my local wine shop, I often see people staring blankly at a wall of labels, emblazoned with names

like Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Sagrantino di Montefalco, Côte de Beaune-Villages and Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese.

The glazed looks are understandable—that’s a lot of syllables. So I’m delighted to now have the opportunity to help Members

interpret wine labels and decipher the contents of bottles through wine courses.

In December, the Club became an approved program provider of the London-based Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET), the world’s foremost body in the field of wine and spirit education.

The WSET, which was started 45 years ago, not only offers courses and qualifications for industry professionals,

but increasingly for enthusiasts as well. It does this through a network of more than 400 organizations, or providers, in over 50 countries around the world.

After a rigorous application process (including an inspection of the facilities and an intensive educator workshop in Hong Kong for me), the Club joined an exclusive group of just three other providers in Tokyo at the end of last year. We are now able to conduct WSET courses and certify successful candidates.

Our first step will be to take staff through a structured WSET training curriculum, which will allow them to provide even better service to Members. We will also soon launch courses for Members for them to expand their wine and spirit knowledge and appreciation.

While we will offer two qualification levels, Members will be especially interested in the Level 2 Award in Wines and Spirits, which covers the major grape varieties and where they are grown around the world. Students are also taught how to taste wine professionally using the WSET method.

Stay tuned for details on our WSET courses. I’m looking forward to guiding Members through the world of wine and spirits on behalf of the most respected authority in the business. o

Schaefer is the Club’s wine program manager.

Club wining and dining 9

Cool-Climate Wines of Melbourne: Chardonnay and Pinot Noir TastingThursday, February 207 p.m. Washington and Lincoln rooms¥11,000Sign up online or at Member Services

It’s been touted as the world’s most livable city for the last three years by the Economist Intelligence Unit, but it’s also ranked the fifth most

expensive city on the planet. With a population of more than 4

million, Melbourne is Australia’s second biggest city and the country’s fastest growing metropolis. Sophisticated, with a wonderful nightlife and elegant restaurants, this capital of the state of Victoria sits on the northernmost point of Port Philip Bay. Not surprisingly, the wine industry around Melbourne is flourishing and producing world-class wines.

For the first time, this month’s wine tasting will feature some sublime examples of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir

From the Vines of Victoriaby Craig Saphin

winetasting

from such winegrowing areas as the Mornington Peninsula (Melbourne’s Karuizawa), the Yarra Valley (home to around 300 vineyards) and Geelong.

Melbourne has a moderate oceanic climate and is known for its changeable weather due to its location on the boundary of Australia’s hot interior and the cold Southern Ocean. This temperature difference is most pronounced in the spring and summer when powerful cold fronts bring gales, severe thunderstorms, hail, plummeting temperatures and heavy rain.

Melbourne is colder than other mainland state capitals during the winter. While the lowest temperature on record is around minus 3 degrees

From the hottest concerts to sumo tournaments, the Club’s TAC-tix service is your gateway to Tokyo’s exciting entertainment scene.

Check out the latest event tickets and deals by visiting the TAC-tix page of the Club website or Member Services.

Member Services Daily: 7:30 a.m.–10 p.m. | Tel: 03-4588-0670 | E-mail: [email protected]

Celsius, snow is rare. Frosts and fog are more common.

These conditions are perfect for producing cool-climate wines, and local winemakers have become adept at coaxing the best from the land. Taste the results this month. o

Saphin is a member of the Wine Committee.

TarraWarra Estate, Yarra Valley


For every ¥250,000 you spend on an eligible party or meeting, we’ll reward you with a ¥10,000 voucher for use at any of the Club restaurants or on a future event.

DINNER’S ON US

OR ANY OTHER MEAL YOU CHOOSE TO ENJOY FOR HOLDING YOUR NEXT EVENT AT THE CLUB BETWEEN JANUARY 2 AND FEBRUARY 28.

or e-mailing [email protected].

Book now by calling 03-4588-0308

E V E N T I N C E N T I V E C A M P A I G N

FOOD & BEVERAGE

whiskytasting

A Taste of the Glensby Steve Romaine and Arthur Ozeki

Switching libation, the Wine Committee presents an evening of “usquebaugh.” This old Scottish and

Irish Gaelic word, which means aqua vitae in Latin, or water of life, in appreciation of its supposed medicinal properties, morphed into “usky” then “whisky.”

Members will sample several superb expressions of single-malt whisky that will illustrate the distinctive characteristics of various Scottish areas. To highlight the spectrum of whisky flavors, attendees will also try two acclaimed Japanese whiskies toward the end.

Distilled from the barley that grows in abundance in Scotland, Scotch is made with another bountiful local resource: peat. The decomposed plant matter is used to germinate, or “malt,” the barley for fermenting and is sometimes added to the fire during the drying process to add a smoky flavor.

In much the same way that wine is influenced by local terroir, Scotch takes on the characteristics of the region in which it is made. The skills of the distiller, like the winemaker, are crucial, too.

Although Scotch can be paired with some foods, we will treat it as an after-dinner drink and serve only a light snack, so please eat beforehand. We particularly recommend the special dinner course at American Bar & Grill. o

Romaine and Ozeki are members of the Wine Committee.

Whisky TastingThursday, February 138 p.m.Washington and Lincoln rooms¥5,000Sign up online or at Member Services

Club wining and dining 11

David Rudlin

Irwin W

ong


A Gem of a StoryClub Member David Rudlin explains how he switched from dealing in diamonds to writing novels about them.

LIBRARY

Like most people who read a lot of books, I always wanted to see whether I could write one. I was arrogant enough to think I had the necessary technical skills, but there was one problem: I had absolutely no idea what to write about.

Then I spent a decade with the diamond firm De Beers as director of international markets, a job that took me to the core of what is still a very secretive industry. It introduced me to heads of state, gorgeous celebrities from half a dozen countries and places I knew nothing about but liked the sound of.

The job also put me on planes. A lot. When I wasn’t squeezing my aging body into an airline seat I swear was smaller than me, I was lying awake wondering why we could invent a hot soup vending machine but couldn’t find a cure for jet lag. It was during one of those sleepless nights that the seed of an idea took root in my brain:

“In the basement vaults lie more than $8 billion worth of rough, uncut diamonds. Above, the most advanced security system in all of Europe. Yet somehow two men manage to break into the London headquarters of Delacroix—the most powerful diamond company the world has ever known—without being seen.

Only one of them leaves. The other is found lying dead in a pool of blood, the sole clue to his identity a piece of paper with the words “REMEMBER GABORONE.”

After leaving De Beers in 2012, I began putting this idea on paper. Perhaps because I had spent so many nights thinking about it, the words flowed as fast as I could type them. In just a few weeks, I had produced Diamonds to Die For, a fast-paced thriller I was certain the whole world would love.

It was 11 pages long.It was then I realized I had spent my entire professional life

making things shorter: complex business decisions reduced to one-page memos; finely crafted presentations, comprised of minimalist bullet points and pretty pictures; and short e-mails typed with fat thumbs on an uncooperative Blackberry. And now, instead of taking things out, I had to put something in—the color that makes a novel a novel.

So I started reading more than ever, sometimes four or five books a week. I tried to pay as much attention as possible to technique. When I wasn’t reading, I was writing. And rewriting. I endured beautifully phrased feedback from my editor, together with downright nasty criticism from a friend I chose as a reader because I knew she was unable to pull her punches.

After what seemed like an eternity, I passed the 60,000-word mark that is considered the entry point for novels. I was happy, my editor was happy and my friend was…less vicious. It was time to publish.

My book—my baby—left my hands forever. Now it belonged to the readers, many of who sent me selfies as they read

Diamonds to Die For in strange places and strange ways. Next were the reviews. Most people said it was an entertaining, highly addictive read, complaining they couldn’t sleep until they finished it. But my favorite was: “I like your book. The type is big enough I can read it without my glasses.”

I received a lot of questions, but not the one I was expecting: Is it true? In fact, I feared some evildoer might assume that as a former De Beers exec I know everything there is to know about diamond security (I don’t) and treat the book as a how-to guide for stealing diamonds. Instead, most of the questions were about whether the diamond information is accurate (it is) and whether there would be a sequel (there is).

Set in Mumbai, my second book, Diamond Blues, is about the theft of a $65 million blue diamond from an Indian billionaire who thinks he’s the reincarnation of the Maharaja of Patiala. The third book, Shooting Stars, will be out this year.

Both books are available in the Library, but for those who buy a paperback or e-book edition, I’d be more than happy to sign just about anything—provided it isn’t a Traders’ Bar bill. o

Diamonds to Die For and Diamond Blues are available at the Library.

Rudlin is a Tokyo-based writer and Club Member.

Literary gems at the Library 13

off theshelf

African Voices

If we leave our gods and follow your god,” asked another man, “who will protect us from the anger of our neglected gods

and ancestors?” “Your gods are not alive and cannot do you any harm,” replied the white man. “They are pieces of wood and stone.” (Things Fall Apart, 1958)

Last year, the literary world lost one of modern Africa’s most important voices, when Chinua Achebe died in Boston at age 82. In 1958, Achebe took the world by surprise when Things Fall Apart, his groundbreaking novel about the cultural conflicts between Nigeria’s traditional African culture and its white colonial government, exposed the hypocrisy of the colonialists and erroneous stereotypes of African primitivism. Published in more than 40 languages, with more than 10 million copies distributed worldwide, Achebe exposed the foibles and lost hopes of post-colonial Africa over his 50-year career.

Achebe’s literary crusade has encouraged a new generation of Afropolitan authors. One is NoViolet Bulawayo, who was born in Zimbabwe in 1981 and educated in the United States. Her novel We Need New Names was short-listed for last year’s Man Booker Prize.

Sugiyama Ski & Snowsports School

The mountain speaks one language. We speak two.Learn to ski or snowboard with confidence from our experienced team of English-speaking instructors at the top Nagano ski resort of Shiga Kogen.

Tel: 0269-34-2551 Fax: 0269-34-2553 | E-mail: [email protected] | www.sugiyamaskischool.com Private and group lessons | Guided tours | Kids’ ski school and parkSugiyama Ski & Snowsports School

by Judith Ann Herd

While Achebe’s voice is critical and strident, Bulawayo’s is playful and acerbic. She takes us on a journey from the slums of Paradise in Zimbabwe, where 10-year-old Darling and her rowdy friends pilfer guavas and NGO volunteers patronize their poverty with useless gifts. When Darling’s father returns from South Africa with the “sickness,” she is sent to the US to live with her aunt in Destroyedmichigan, where Darling discovers life is a series of struggles, no matter where you are.

Born in Nigeria in 1944, Buchi Emecheta takes a novel approach to racism in The New Tribe (2000). Abandoned by his Nigerian mother, Victor struggles as a black child

adopted by white English parents. With his adopted mother’s help, he leaves his pristine English village for Nigeria in search of his cultural identity, only to return to his true “home” in England and his racially and culturally mixed family.

A vast continent with a rich and complicated history, Africa’s contemporary writers are revealing the cultures of their homelands through fascinating storytelling. o

Herd is a member of the Library Committee.

Things Fall Apart, We Need New Names and The New Tribe are available at the Library.

Chinua Achebe


new

Member: Reuben FuchsTitle: Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

What’s the book about?Stephanie uncovers a secret and finds that the world isn’t what it seems to be and that there are people and things that the rest of the world doesn’t know about. She soon gets herself involved in a war that she has to fight in.

What did you like about it?How everything adds up at the end and how it gives the characters a choice, which makes you want to read on.

Why did you choose it?Because it kept me intrigued and made me not want to put it down.

What other books would you recommend?Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire by Derek Landy, Young Samurai by Chris Bradford andA Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz.

reads

LIBRARY

member’s choice

The Circle by Dave Eggers Mae can’t believe her luck when she gets her dream job with The Circle, the world’s most powerful company. The devoted employees, with universal access to the digital universe, embrace the corporation’s utopian dreams but ignore its sinister, dystopian side that threatens privacy, democracy and personal security. JAH

Giada’s Feel Good Food by Giada de Laurentis Giada keeps her promises. Along with scrumptious recipes for dishes like noodle paella and turkey, kale and brown rice soup, she includes a chart for a month of nutritious meals and snacks, as well as recipes for smoothies and juices and tips on exercise, skin care and eating out. JAH

A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn America’s most cantankerous historian wrote this alternative history for children to illustrate a side of the United States’ past rarely discussed in school texts. “Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation Without Freedom” and “A People’s War?” are two samples of the thought-provoking chapters in Zinn’s best-selling book. JAH

The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh After a near-fatal accident, Jack’s father sends him to a mysterious New York doctor. Based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, Jack meets Euri who shows him the secrets of the city’s Underworld, where he searches for his late mother’s spirit. An Edgar Award winner for best juvenile mystery. JAH

Stones for My Father by Trilby KentCorlie finds solace in Africa, despite her hard life as the daughter of Boer farmers in the Transvaal, South Africa. When her father dies and the British invaders drive the Boers from their land, she is sent to an internment camp, where she discovers undiscovered inner resources. A Sakura Medal winner. JAH

The Gravity of Birds by Tracy GuzemanIn her debut novel, Guzeman weaves loss and rediscovery into a book equal parts mystery, tragedy and love story. One turbulent summer changes everything between two sisters, and compels an artist to look into the mystery surrounding the events that shattered their relationship. FK

Library & Children’s Library Daily: 9 a.m.–8 p.m. Tel: 03-4588-0678 E-mail: [email protected] compiled by Library Committee member Judith Ann Herd and librarian Finn Kanegae.

w

Literary gems at the Library 15

The Art of Travel, the Club’s new travel service, is your personalized portal to the wonders of Japan and beyond.

Visit the travel desk for advice on trips and tours or to book tickets and make reservations. The world awaits.

Monday–Wednesday and Friday–Saturday: 9 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Thursday: 5:30–8 p.m. The Cellar (B1)

Tel: 03-4588-0516/076-221-1586 • E-mail: [email protected]

Countless destinations.

Infinite possibilities.

w w w. t h e a r t o f t r a v e l . n e t

Image courtesy of Hoshinoya Karuizawa

COMMITTEES

Monday MorningFootball

While spectators at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium are freezing their tails off during the first outdoor, cold-weather Super Bowl, Members can catch all the

scintillating action of NFL’s showcase event from the warm confines of the New York Ballroom.

Cheer on your team on the big-screen TVs and feast on breakfast fare at this annual football festival that will also feature prizes, betting pools and a whole lot of excitement.

The Club’s home of sports, Traders’ Bar, will host its own event, serving up an enhanced menu of breakfast favorites and abundant libations.

Be sure to book your tickets for the best Super Bowl bash in Tokyo. o

Super Bowl XLVIII at the ClubMonday, February 3

7:30 a.m.–12 p.m. (kickoff: 8:30 a.m.)

New York Ballroom and Brooklyn rooms

End Zone (includes reserved seating, breakfast buffet and welcome drink)

Members: ¥8,000 (guests: ¥12,000)

General seating (includes breakfast buffet and welcome drink)

Members: ¥5,000 (guests: ¥8,000)

Ages 18 and above

Sign up online or at Member Services

Sponsored by the Culture, Community and Entertainment Committee

Tipple Tour

Set at the foot of rugged Mount Hakkai, in Niigata Prefecture, Hakkaisan Sake Brewery has used pristine local spring water to produce its lovingly crafted sake ever since Koichi

Nagumo made his first batch in 1922.More than 90 years on, Hakkaisan is one of Japan’s premier

labels and is becoming the sake of choice in cities like New York and Toronto. American sake guru John Gauntner called Hakkaisan “a Niigata classic,” while sake professional Richard Auffrey described Hakkaisan’s junmai ginjo as “a superb sake, very smooth and refreshing.”

Normally closed to the public, Hakkaisan will open to Members during an exclusive tour next month. Participants will see how sake is made before sampling the drink with a lunch of local fare.

The second half of this cultural tour includes a visit to the 480-year-old Saifuku Temple, whose main hall’s highly ornate ceiling was carved by the Edo-period artist Ishikawa Uncho. o

Hakkaisan Sake Brewery Tour Saturday, March 8

8:10 a.m.–6 p.m.

¥17,500 (includes transport, lunch, drinks and temple admission)

Adults only

Sign up online or at Member Services

Sponsored by the Culture, Community and Entertainment Committee

Compensation Mark MillerCulture, Community & Entertainment Barbara Hancock (Lance Lee)

SubcommitteesFrederick Harris Gallery Yumiko SaiMen's Group Vincenzo Lufino

Finance Rodney Nussbaum(Hiroshi Miyamasu) Food & Beverage Michael Alfant (Jerome Rosenberg)

SubcommitteeWine Stephen Romaine

House Jesse Green (Gregory Lyon) SubcommitteeFacilities Management GroupTomio Fukuda

Human Resources Jon Sparks (Per Knudsen)Membership Alok Rakyan (Machi Nemoto)

Nominating Steve GreenbergRecreation Samuel Rogan(Mark Miller)

SubcommitteesBowling Crystal GoodflieshDVD Abigail RadmilovichFitness Samuel RoganGolf John BreenLibrary Alaine LeeLogan Room Christa Rutter

Squash Martin FluckSwim Alexander Jampel Youth Activities Narissara March

Joining a Committee

The Art of Travel, the Club’s new travel service, is your personalized portal to the wonders of Japan and beyond.

Visit the travel desk for advice on trips and tours or to book tickets and make reservations. The world awaits.

Monday–Wednesday and Friday–Saturday: 9 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Thursday: 5:30–8 p.m. The Cellar (B1)

Tel: 03-4588-0516/076-221-1586 • E-mail: [email protected]

Countless destinations.

Infinite possibilities.

w w w. t h e a r t o f t r a v e l . n e t

Image courtesy of Hoshinoya Karuizawa

Cornerstone of the Club 17

DVD LIBRARY

flick

T here is no bigger date night than February 14, and the shelves of the DVD Library are filled with

new titles that will hit the right buttons. Whether you are looking for a sappy romance or a romantic comedy, there are plenty of options from last year’s smorgasbord of Hollywood flicks.

For pure romance, try Safe Haven, Love Is All You Need, About Time or the more alluring Amour. For something more lighthearted, there’s Failure to Launch or No Strings Attached. You could also try Hollywood stalwarts Robert DeNiro and Diane Keaton in The Big Wedding or catch Leonardo DiCaprio’s take on The Great Gatsby, the most anticipated remake of 2013.

Upside Down and Warm Bodies offer a different twist on the love story genre for fans of sci-fi and paranormal movies, while Beautiful Creatures follows star-crossed lovers through a fantastical tale.

Before Midnight is the third installment of director Richard Linklater’s romantic trilogy that includes Before Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset (2004). The latest versions of Shakespeare’s Much Ado about

Nothing and Romeo and Juliet are also worth exploring.

When in doubt, you can always turns to classics like Casablanca, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, An Affair to Remember, Gone With the Wind, Pretty Woman and, of course, Love Story.

For more ideas, visit the DVD Library or its online catalog, before curling up with a movie and bottle of wine (see below) for an enchanting evening in. o

Olsen is a member of the DVD Library Committee.

pick

DVD Library Daily: 9 a.m.–8 p.m. Tel: 03-4588-0686 E-mail: [email protected] Reviews compiled by Nick Narigon.

by Gayle Olsen

newmovies

AC TIONAll Is LostAfter a collision at sea, a resourceful sailor (Robert Redford) battles for survival while facing his mortality. With almost no dialogue, the film features a tour-de-force performance from the legendary actor.

COMEDYAbout TimeIn this British rom-com, Tim (Domhnall Gleeson), after discovering he can travel in time, uses his ability to pursue a lost love (Rachel McAdams) and try to make things right with the world.

Escape PlanWhen a structural engineer (Sylvester Stallone) is set up and incarcerated in the world’s most secret and secure prison, a fellow inmate (Arnold Schwarzenegger) helps him in a daring escape.

Dallas Buyers ClubThe biographical story of a Dallas electrician and rodeo cowboy (Matthew McConaughey) who, in 1985, is diagnosed with AIDS and fights the system to help other patients receive the medication they need.

SCI -F IEnder’s GameAn unusually gifted child (Asa Butterfield) is recruited by a colonel in the International Fleet (Harrison Ford) to battle the Formics, a genocidal alien race bent on human annihilation. Also starring Ben Kingsley.

DRAMANebraskaBruce Dern gives a performance for the ages as a booze-addled father who embarks on a road trip with his estranged son (Will Forte) to claim a million-dollar sweepstakes prize.

Did you know? If you don’t watch enough DVDs to commit to a monthly fee, à la carte membership allows you to rent movies for ¥400 a movie, or ¥200 for a short feature.

Valentine’s Viewing

A Valentine’s

MatchRent any DVD during the month of

February and enjoy 20 percent off a bottle of Duval-Leroy Paris Design NV Champagne, 2012 Jolie-Pitt & Perrin Miraval Rosé or 2010 Calera de Villiers

Pinot Noir.

Visit the DVD Library to find out more about this package

de l’amour.


LOVERAWA LT H O U G H W E R E C O M M E N D M E D I U M R A R E

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14¥10,000 (wine pairing: + ¥5,000)Reserve your table at 03-4588-0675 or [email protected]

Let Decanter seduceyou this Valentine’s

Irwin W

ongErnesto A’ de lima


RECREATION

Ernesto A’ de lima could never be accused of easing his way into middle age. Just last year, he played a 90-minute soccer

game, swam 1,500 meters in the ocean with his 14-year-old son and, in August, completed the Hokkaido Ironman (a 3.9-kilometer swim followed by a 180-kilometer bike and then a full marathon) in less than 13 hours.

“I am back to the same weight I was when I was 18 or 19,” says A’ de lima, who turned 53 in October. “And I am probably fitter now, at least in terms of long distance.”

The Mexico City native owes his reclaimed youth to triathlon training and his participation in the Tri Club at the Club. Rail thin with an easy smile, A’ de lima was an avid soccer player as a youth and a competitive cyclist until moving to Japan seven years ago, at which time he began training for triathlons.

“The main reason I took up triathlons is to be able to really balance my life,” says A’ de lima. “My type of business is very stressful—very stressful and very dynamic, so you have to have balance. Being a triathlete allows you to do that.”

Since he travels with his job in the hospitality industry for about 150 days a year, he says it was difficult to continue cycling. With his newer passion, though, he says he trains in one of the three disciplines according to his whereabouts and the weather.

Staying fit and living healthy, A’ de lima says, allows him to remain energetic during long meetings and recover quickly from long-haul f lights. His lifestyle

One passionate triathlete found camaraderie and training tips through a group of like-minded Members at the Club.by Nick Narigon

Fitter, Faster, Stronger

means he can enjoy activities with his two active teenage sons as well.

“Living in Tokyo, there are some amazing opportunities to spend time with my kids: playing soccer, running races—things that take kids away from TV, from video games,” he says. “I want to be able to ski with my family, be able to run 10 [kilometers] with them and keep up.”

A’ de lima’s first Olympic-distance triathlon was on the Okinawan island of Ishigaki in 2007. He swam 1.5 kilometers, cycled 40 kilometers and ran 10 kilometers in 4 hours, 40 minutes. “I was extremely proud that I finished,” he says. “I was so happy but also exhausted. It was a great learning experience.”

Leading up to the triathlon, A’ de lima trained with Club swim coach Masa Hamanaka four days a week. The

time in the Sky Pool paid dividends, as today his swimming ability, which was a weakness, is nearly on par with his cycling and running.

“Masa is an amazing coach. Swimming is so technical. You want to use minimum energy and make sure you get out of the water fresh,” he says. “Masa taught the proper techniques and balanced the training well.”

Hamanaka also encourages members of the Tri Club to swim off the Chiba coast in race conditions, which is organized once a month during the warmer months.

When the Tri Club started last year, A’ de lima jumped at the opportunity to train with fellow triathletes and he now organizes the group’s cycling training schedule. Other volunteers help with association and race applications, most of which are in Japanese, and locating rental bikes. They’ve even ferried bikes to the Izu island of Oshima for a competition.

Sky Pool manager Haldane Henry says that if the group continues to grow, he would like to organize seminars with expert triathletes and introduce more experienced trainers.

“A lot of triathletes try to train by themselves, but if you can train with a group, you can draw collectively on the other person’s experience,” Henry says. “We have specialists in fitness training and we are able to pair novices with experienced triathletes like Ernesto to help build confidence and give that added push to help members reach their full potential.”

Tri Club members plan on competing together in three or four triathlons this year, including a race in Yokohama in May, and an overseas event is being considered as well.

As for A’ de lima, who takes part in at least six triathlons and four marathons a year, he keeps getting better. He has sliced 90 minutes off his triathlon time and he finished last year’s Chicago Marathon in a personal best 3 hours, 37 minutes. He’s now contemplating another Ironman.

“Training with the [Tri Club] members at the Club here, when we train, it doesn’t matter what level you are. Every member gets quality instruction time and a customized lesson,” he says. “That’s nice, especially for people who love sport and for people who find themselves too busy to plan their own training schedule.” o

For more information on the Tri Club, which restarts next month, visit the Sky Pool Office.

Fitness and well-being 21

Party PrepAhead of the Father-Daughter Dinner Dance, all girls are invited for a professional makeover.

Daddy’s Little Girl MakeoverSaturday, February 81–5 p.m. (four sessions)Annex I and IIHair styling, makeup and manicure: ¥3,675Hair styling and makeup: ¥3,150Makeup and manicure: ¥2,520Manicure: ¥1,470Sign up at the Recreation Desk

YOUTH E VENTS

Dads and their little princesses, ages 5 to 13, enjoy a magical evening of mouthwatering food, music, dancing,

gifts and photo keepsakes. o

Father-Daughter Dinner DanceSaturday, February 85–8:30 p.m. New York Ballroom¥8,925Sign up online or at the Recreation Desk

An Evening for Dads and Daughters

Combine the fun of tennis with a calorie-burning workout for a dynamic way to stay in shape.

Tennis pro Tracy John Fenelon leads 70-minute sessions of high-intensity exercises and ball-hitting drills for all ages and abilities.

Tuesdays: 9:45 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Saturdays: 12:10 p.m.

KAMIYOGA TENNIS CLUB

3-9-21 Kamiyoga, Setagaya-ku, TokyoTel: 03-6804-4456 (weekdays: 9 a.m.–5 p.m.)E-mail: [email protected]

GET TENNIS FIT!

www.kamiyoga-tc.com/cardio-tennis-lesson


RECREATION

Getting Set for CollegeThis eight-week program will prime high school students for the SAT college admission test on May 3. Classes will be limited to 12 students to ensure a good learning environment.

SAT Test Prep ProgramFebruary 16–April 20 (except March 23 and 30)Every Sunday4–7 p.m.Beate Sirota Gordon Classroom¥100,000 Sign up online or at the Recreation Desk

Weight-Loss ChallengeJump-start the year with a 10-week program designed to help you achieve your 2014 weight-loss goals. Compete with yourself and others to shed those extra pounds.

“I Lost It at the Club” Weight-Loss ChallengeFebruary 3–April 14 ¥77,700Ages 16 and aboveFor more information, contact the Fitness Center at 03-4588-0266 or [email protected]

Badminton Battle The Wako Badminton Club, in Saitama Prefecture, returns to take on the Club’s band of talented shuttlers in a friendly tournament.

TAC vs Wako Badminton ClubTuesday, February 256:30–9:30 p.m.Gymnasium¥525Contact the Recreation Desk for details

Valentine’s Special

The Spa proudly uses products by

YOUTH E VENTSF I T N E S S

To book your next pampering session, contact The Spa at 03-4588-0714 or [email protected].

In celebration of Saint Valentine and this month of amour, The Spa is offering a couple’s cupid-inspired package for all of February.

Two-for-One Valentine Special60-minute Deep-Tissue Massage with Blended Essential Oils + 30-minute Head Massage for two* (¥30,240)

(* Couples can be treated in the same room or in separate rooms.)

Going the Distance Swim the length of Tokyo Bay—from the comfort of the Sky Pool.

Without having to battle freezing waters, currents and oil tankers, participants have four weeks to complete 73 kilometers—the equivalent of swimming from the tip of the Miura Peninsula to Tsukiji. Swimmers can also aim for closer targets like Yokosuka (20 kilometers) or Yokohama (42 kilometers).

All participants will receive a T-shirt. Winners in the men’s and women’s categories will be awarded prizes.

Tokyo Bay Distance SwimFebruary 1–28¥1,785Sign up at the Sky Pool Office

E D U C AT I O N

Fitness and well-being 23

Benjamin Parks

by Nick Narigon

Karen Hill Anton

Communication Coach

Ahead of her appearance at the Club this month, longtime Japan resident Karen Hill Anton talks about the cultural challenges of putting down roots here.


W hile living in a rural Shizuoka farmhouse some 30-odd years ago, Karen Hill Anton lit a

fire every night to heat up water for the evening bath. She didn’t have a flush toilet and her running water flowed from a bamboo spout.

“A lot of people would say, ‘Why do you live there?’ And I would say, ‘If you could see where we live, you would know why,’” says Anton, sitting cross-legged on a concrete bench in Ikedayama Park in Tokyo. “You walk out the door and there is this beautiful sky, rice fields, mountains. There was this spectacular view, and that was just opening the front door.”

A native of New York City, Anton has raised her family in bucolic Japan for 38 years. That experience led to a popular column, “Crossing Cultures,” in The Japan Times and a number of collections and anthologies of her writing.

Anton moved to Japan in 1975 with her husband and 5-year-old daughter. Her husband came on a one-year program to study at a martial arts dojo, which is where they lived, practicing yoga as a family, adhering to a strict macrobiotic diet and following the somewhat austere regimen.

“You get used to it, but looking back now, it was a bit too strict,” says Anton. After the program ended, they decided to stay in Japan a little longer to explore the country. “A little longer turned into almost 40 years,” she says.

They moved to the farmhouse outside of Hamamatsu, where her husband had secured a university position. They had three more children and, in 1980, Anton began writing about her new cross-cultural experiences for The Japan Times.

“When we first came in 1975, there were a lot [fewer] foreigners in Japan, in general. Where we lived, there were absolutely none,” she says. “In the countryside, all our neighbors were farmers. There wasn’t anyone there who wasn’t a farmer. While I wouldn’t say that our showing up there was a shock, certainly we stood out for being very different. But once they got used to us, they could see we did pretty much the same things they did: hanging out the laundry, making obento [lunchboxes]. We looked different, but weren’t anything particularly strange.”

Life wasn’t entirely easy, though. Hailing from the East Coast, Anton had a no-nonsense communication style. She says she felt frustrated with her Japanese friends who were more indirect and didn’t always openly share information.

“I would tell friends, ‘Why didn’t you just tell that to me straight?’ Then you realize there are some lessons in there too about paying attention and being observant and being aware. Being verbal isn’t always the best communication style,” she says. “This is what we were always taught, but it’s not the only way.”

In order to adjust, she says she learned to accept the differences. Calligraphy helped, too. “When I am with my [calligraphy] teacher, I don’t walk in the room and have the all-American thing going on,” says Anton. “The tone of my voice changes, my body language. I can see what the situation is and what’s expected. I’m not trying to change my teacher or their style. I can be in the student role and be fine with it.”

After 15 years, she and her husband gained permanent residence status, and Anton says she realized they had created a home in Japan. They built a house 30 minutes from their first farmhouse. The new house has indoor plumbing and when she wants a hot bath she can “push a button like everybody else.”

A cross-cultural trainer, Anton works with multinational and Japanese companies to help them improve the diversity of their workforces, empower female staff and prevent harassment. She also trains executives in how to communicate assertively and effectively.

Most of the lessons she teaches, she says, were gleaned from her own experiences in a foreign country. “When I meet with companies, I will tell them, I understand this is the Japanese communication style, but we are working in a global environment,” she says. “There are different ways of living, interacting and communicating with each other. Let’s do what’s effective.” o

WOMEN’S GROUP

Cultural Insights with Karen Hill AntonMonday, February 1011:30 a.m.Manhattan IWomen’s Group members: ¥3,150Non-Women’s Group members: ¥4,200Adults onlySign up online or at Members Services

Bidding for Handwoven Beauty

T he Women’s Group stages its annual auction of exquisite, handcrafted carpets and rugs from

Asia and the Middle East this month. It is also an evening of entertainment, complete with a complimentary buffet and an opportunity to learn the ins and outs of carpets at a casual class.

Hosted by Singapore-based A Shukor and Edmund L Rajendra of Eastern Carpets, the auction features handwoven pieces from all the major weaving regions, including Iran, Pakistan, India, Russia, Turkey and Afghanistan, as well as the three key categories of Persian carpet (tribal, village and city).

The proceeds of the auction are used to support a non-Japanese female graduate student studying in Japan through a CWAJ (College Women’s Association of Japan)-Women’s Group scholarship. o

Carpet Auction Saturday, February 155–11 p.m. Carpet preview and registration: 5 p.m. Carpet appreciation class: 5:30 p.m. Light buffet and complimentary glass of wine: 6 p.m. Live auction: 7–11 p.m.Manhattan I and II and Brooklyn Suite Free Adults only Sign up online or at Member Services

Bill and Karen Hill Anton

An interactive community 25

The Club established its Distinguished Achievement Award in 1995 to recognize individuals who have made significant contributions to society and who have promoted intercultural exchange.

A broad range of exceptional talent from a multitude of fields has been honored over the years, including academics Donald Keene (1995) and Edward Seidensticker (2001), Japanese astronaut Mamoru Mohri (1998), former UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata (1999) and public health expert Dr Kiyoshi Kurokawa (2013).

This month, the Club will present awards to three dynamic women: Junko Tabei, the first woman to summit Mount Everest, world-renowned fashion designer Junko Koshino and actress and goodwill ambassador Norika Fujiwara.

“The Distinguished Achievement Award honors outstanding individuals who have contributed to society and helped promote the interchange of culture among countries,” says Jeff McNeill, a member of the Culture, Community and Entertainment Committee that selected the recipients. “The three women selected this year have all demonstrated great accomplishments.”

by Tim Hornyak

Honoring DynamismHonoring Dynamism


All the World’s A stAgeA model And Actress, norikA FujiwArA hAs used her celebrity stAtus in jApAn to shine A spotlight on the plight oF mAny children worldwide.

Unless you’re a fan of Japanese gravure idols or TV dramas, Norika Fujiwara might not

be a familiar name. But the native of Nishinomiya, in Hyogo Prefecture, has turned heads ever since she was named Miss Japan Grand Prix 1992.

Now a prominent model and actress, 42-year-old Fujiwara recently starred in “Umi no Ue no Shinryojo” (Clinic on the Sea) about a medical ship serving communities in the Seto Inland Sea. Her acting credits include everything from Hong Kong action flick China Strike Force (2000) to Princess Fiona in the Japanese version of Shrek 2 to TV mini-series like crime thriller “Onna to Otoko no Nettai” (The Passionate Zone between Women and Men). She has also displayed an aptitude for the theater, playing burlesque performer Sally Bowles in the Japanese version of the hit Broadway musical “Cabaret.”

But Fujiwara is more than just a pretty face. She has a significant track record in social activism and charity work. Currently a goodwill ambassador for the Japanese Red Cross Society, she has visited such countries as Afghanistan, East Timor, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam and Kenya. In 2002, she was appointed as a Japanese-Korean friendship ambassador by the Japanese Foreign Ministry, and she has visited a number of government-backed development projects in places like Mozambique and Sri Lanka.

“In every country I visit, the children give me power and hope through their looks and their actions—they’re living the best they can and have a dream to go to

trees of Onagawa had been destroyed, they would recover, just like the town, and that yellow was the color of hope.”

Fujiwara’s experiences in the Tohoku region recalled the devastation visited upon her hometown by the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, which killed more than 6,400 people. But it also sparked an idea: Fujiwara worked with the Japanese Red Cross to invite children from Tohoku to Kobe to take part in Kobe Luminarie, a festival of lights that is held each December as a symbol of hope and recovery.

“I cried so many tears when I first saw those lights 19 years ago,” she says. “It had been a time of darkness, but we finally felt that it was OK to enjoy ourselves again and laugh when we saw the lights between the collapsed buildings. We got over the tragedy and watched Kobe recover. I was pleased to be able to share the joy and energy of Kobe with Tohoku children.”

Unlike some celebrities in Japan, Fujiwara doesn’t see any real walls between her work as an actress and model and her charity work.

“Receiving this Distinguished Achievement Award [from Tokyo American Club] is a great honor, but I want to continue,” she says. “I would like to participate in lots of cultural exchanges in Japan and internationally, and continue to encourage people everywhere.” o

school and a hope for the future,” Fujiwara says between interviews and photo shoots at a hotel in Tokyo. “For instance, in Afghanistan in 2002, I was stunned to see how they had to walk for hours along only a 2-meter-wide road through minefields to collect water. And yet they would share this precious water with me and offer me chai tea because I was a guest.”

One of the results of Fujiwara’s many trips was “Smile Please,” an exhibition of some of the 1,500 photos she took of children in Afghanistan. The collection was exhibited in various cities in Japan, as well as at the UN headquarters in New York, and the show’s title also became the name of a nonprofit organization Fujiwara set up in 2010 to help young victims of wars and disasters.

The organization helped raise ¥78 million for the Japanese Red Cross following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated large swaths of coastal Tohoku in northeastern Japan. Fujiwara visited the region several times to meet with children who had been afflicted by the catastrophe.

“One boy who lost his home drew a large cherry blossom tree for me,” she recalls of a trip to Onagawa, in Miyagi Prefecture. “But the petals were not pink as one would expect, but yellow. I asked him why. He told me that although the cherry

FEATUREBenjam

in ParksNorika Fujiwara

Honoring Dynamism 27

Benjamin ParksJunko Koshino


FEATURE

FAshion iconFAshion pioneer junko koshino’s AvAnt-gArde creAtions hAve become A symbol oF innovAtive jApAnese design.

With her bob cut and pouting, crimson lips, Junko Koshino looks like she could have

just stepped out of the Roaring ’20s. She’s decked out in a clingy, minimalist red dress, with flowing V-shaped sleeves that are at once a nod to long-sleeved, furisode kimono and a touch vampish, à la Morticia Addams. Her smile turns into a steely glare before the camera lens in her Minami Aoyama studio.

Thoroughly contemporary, Koshino is a designer who seems impossible to pin down. Her long career has taken her all over the world. She has designed haute-couture pieces for the Paris runway, costumes for musicals and other performances and even sports uniforms for Formula One and soccer teams. Meanwhile, she has served as a cultural ambassador for Japan, staging fashion shows at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, and working to promote Japan as an international travel destination.

Born in Osaka in 1939, Koshino grew up in a family of designers. Her mother, Ayako, ran a kimono shop in the city and raised Junko and her sisters, Hiroko and Michiko, who are also prominent designers. Their mother’s formative years were portrayed in a fairly recent TV drama by the state broadcaster, NHK.

“I never had the intention of going into fashion,” says Koshino. “It was the environment I was raised in. I didn’t long to be a fashion designer, and I was more interested in painting. But design turned out to be my destiny.”

While studying at Tokyo’s Bunka Fashion College, Koshino’s promise was recognized with a prestigious Soen Award. She opened her own shop in Tokyo’s upmarket Aoyama district in 1969 and debuted at Paris Fashion Week in 1978. She has since exhibited her avant-garde designs everywhere from New York to Cuba to China. In 2004, her costume designs for the Broadway show “Pacific Overtures” earned her a Tony Award nomination.

Last year, an NHK travel show followed Koshino to Brazil, as she set about designing costumes for a samba carnival team from the São Paulo working-class neighborhood of Jabaquara. She created long, lampshade-like sleeves for the dancers and joined in the revelry of the annual festival, a replay of her younger days dancing in Osaka’s famous Kishiwada Danjiri Festival.

young people struggle with the Japanese language and face meager job prospects in Japan. She has urged the government to improve their access to education and social services.

Meanwhile, she continues to craft stunning designs for the fashion and entertainment worlds, even imagining bold displays for the Ryukyu Kaiensai fireworks show in Okinawa, set to the music of composers like Mozart and Bizet.

One of her latest creations is 20th-anniversary uniforms for the Kyushu-based drumming troupe Tao, which she has worked with for five years. Founded in 1993, Tao has toured around the world and its members sport Koshino’s martial arts-style uniforms in one of their latest performances, “Seventeen Samurai.” Koshino calls the look “Japan contemporary.”

At first glance, Koshino’s inspiration

Not restricting herself to catwalks, Koshino designed the national uniforms of the Myanmar team for its hosting of last year’s Southeast Asian Games. She also produced new costumes for a taiko drumming group from Ishinomaki, in Miyagi Prefecture, that had lost much of its equipment in the tsunami three years ago.

“My thinking changed after the disaster,” says Koshino. “One cannot live alone. It’s best to live for other people and to make them happy. I really wanted to help others somehow.”

In addition to her work in Tohoku, Koshino has spoken out on behalf of Japanese-Brazilians in Japan. While visiting communities in Gunma Prefecture, she learned about how many

for the uniforms appears to have been Japan’s rich military history, but it’s a little more complex than that. “Japanese style or wa has an inherent structure to it, like the kata, or forms, in kendo, but I break that down to make my own style,” she says.

“I make my own inspiration from things that strike me. These can be large or small, but I can do this because I live in Japan, which is not quite the East or the West,” she continues. “Those differences are really interesting, and I can gain an understanding of either East or West by looking at it from the standpoint of the other. When I distance myself from one, I can understand it, balance it with the other and incorporate it in my designs. That’s how I create things.” o


The petite, gray-haired figure standing in a park in Ichigaya, central Tokyo, has bright eyes and a radiant smile that

give way to a glowing sense of strength and determination in her face. These are the features of the first woman to climb Mount Everest.

Junko Tabei, a spry 74 years old, is one of Japan’s—and the world’s—great alpinists. She has scaled the highest peak on every continent in the world, a feat no other woman had achieved, and has been honored with the Japanese prime

water and it was cold at the top, even in summer. This wasn’t something I had learned about in school. It was something I could experience directly, physically by walking and seeing it with my own eyes. It was really intense and I wanted more of it. That was the starting point for me and I still feel it at 74.”

Few Japanese were mountaineering in the aftermath of World War II, when Tabei took to the slopes. Aside from her teacher, her eldest brother also brought her climbing around Fukushima. While attending Showa Women’s University

in Tokyo, she organized climbing expeditions to the Japan Alps, the vast range that stretches down the center of Honshu. In her 20s, she established one of Japan’s first female clubs for mountaineering (previously the preserve of male climbers and ascetics) and gained ice- and rock-climbing experience.

In 1971, inspired by the pioneering ascent of Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, as well as Japan’s Naomi Uemura, the first person to reach the North Pole solo, Tabei set the Himalayas as her next goal. She organized an all-female climbers’ effort to scale

Everest, which, at 8,848 meters, is more than twice as high as Mount Fuji. It was named the Japanese Women’s Everest Expedition.

Aside from bureaucratic obstacles (planning took three years), Tabei and her colleagues had practical problems. Not only were the climbing tools of the day, such as ice axes and oxygen tanks, at least three times heavier than present-day equipment, alpine wear for women didn’t exist. Tabei had to cut men’s pants and gloves to her size.

Sponsored by Japanese media, the 15 women began their assault on Everest in the spring of 1975. Following the Hillary-

Norgay route from 1953, the group was decimated by altitude sickness and were camping at 6,300 meters when an avalanche hit. Buried in the snow, Tabei lost consciousness before her Sherpa guide pulled her out. Most people would have headed back down the mountain, but Tabei persevered, finally unfurling Japan’s Hinomaru flag on the summit on May 16, 1975.

“The final ascent was a step-by-step struggle, but when I arrived I didn’t have an overwhelming sense of achievement—it was more like relief. I couldn’t believe the climb was finally over and I had to go down instead of up,” says Tabei, holding a weighty wooden ice ax from her climb. “The precious thing about that moment was, beyond being the first woman there, the summit of Everest was utterly beautiful, without a single manmade object in sight.”

Last year was the 60th anniversary of man’s first conquest of Everest, and since then thousands of people have climbed or attempted to climb the mountain, leaving behind tons of waste and hundreds of corpses. Motivated by this problem, Tabei acts as chair of the Himalayan Adventure Trust of Japan, a nonprofit dedicated to cleaning up mountain environments.

After decades of climbing (she has also written nine books about her high-altitude exploits), Tabei shows no signs of slowing down. While she became the first woman to complete the Seven Summits (climbing the highest mountain on all seven continents) in 1992, she has now scaled the highest peaks of more than 60 countries and continues to travel abroad about six times a year.

“I’d like to inspire people to have many experiences in nature, not with computers, but feeling the wind, the coolness, the smells of the earth with their five senses,” she says. “We humans are the only creatures who walk upright on two legs, and it’s a shame if we spend all our lives sitting down and not using them.” o

PeAk PAssionA school trip proved the trigger For A cAreer on top oF the world For pioneering mountAineer junko tAbei.

minister’s award. Yet, in conversation in her office near Kojimachi, she comes across as down-to-earth, even grandmotherly.

Born into a family of seven children in the castle town of Miharu, Fukushima Prefecture, in 1939, Tabei’s introduction to climbing was at the tender age of 10. Her primary school teacher would lead trips to mountains in the Tohoku region, including a 1,900-meter volcano in a mountain range in Tochigi Prefecture.

“I’d never seen such scenery of sand and rocks and strange smells. Even though it was a mountain, it had no greenery,” she says. “There was a stream of hot

Distinguished Achievement Award Presentation CeremonyThursday, February 277–8:30 p.m.Washington and Lincoln roomsAdults: ¥1,500 (includes one drink)Ages 13–19: ¥500 (includes one drink)Sign up online or at Member ServicesSponsored by the Culture, Community and Entertainment Committee


FEATUREBenjam

in ParksJunko Tabei


In Japan’s on-again, off-again relationship with its East Asian neighbors, ties have remained in the “off ” zone for more than a year.

While Japan’s relations with Korea and China have been in and out of the deep freeze for decades over territorial disputes and the lingering specter of World War II, the Senkaku islands—known as Diaoyu in China—in the East China Sea have become the source of particular tension between the world’s second- and third-largest economies.

The Japanese government’s announcement in 2012 that it would nationalize the privately owned islands sparked protests in more than a dozen Chinese cities, and Chinese vessels continue to enter Japanese waters around the uninhabited islands southwest of Okinawa.

Regional relations were further strained in November when China announced a new air-defense identification zone that covers the disputed islets. A month later,

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Yasukuni Shrine, regarded by China and Korea as a symbol of Japan’s military past.

Bruce Stronach (pictured) is dean of Temple University, Japan campus. iNTOUCH’s Nick Jones sat down with the Club Member to talk about regional relations. Excerpts:

iNTOUCH: Why did Prime Minister Abe visit Yasukuni Shrine in December and risk further damaging ties with China and Korea?

Stronach: I think the very simple answer is there is no risk to ties with their neighbors. They are already [bad], so what are you going to do? That’s number one. And number two: to make his conservative supporters happy. You can look at Yasukuni in terms of the nationalism aspect, but you can also look at it in terms of leadership: this is a decisive guy.

iNTOUCH: Do you think he expected Washington to express disappointment with the visit?

Stronach: Let me put it this way, his advisers would have been doing him a wrong if they had not listed that on the demerits before he went. There’s any number of layers of complexity here.

Tensions and Ties


Why did [Abe] do it? He wanted China to get angry at him. That’s a positive. He’s standing up to China. So what is the United States going to do? “We are removing our military; we are so upset at you.” No, of course not.

iNTOUCH: Are the Yasukuni Shrine visit, overtures to overhaul Article 9 [the so-called peace clause] of the constitution and the increase in the defense budget elements of the same strategy?

Stronach: I think that they are obviously components of a policy platform. So what he’s saying is Japan has the right to be a “normal” state. So strengthening the military, revising the constitution, focusing on territorial issues, they’re all part of that platform of Japan as a normal nation. If you are going to say Japan should not revise its constitution, Japan should not give ultimate legitimacy to its military [and] Japan should not have the

ability to actively defend itself…then I do think you have to answer the normalcy question. Why can the United States do those things and Japan can’t?

iNTOUCH: To what degree is World War II a stumbling block for improved relations in the region?

Stronach: Honestly speaking, I can’t give you an answer as to the impact of the war itself. It’s certainly still strong. Obviously, in the greater scheme of things, 70 years, 80 years in China, Korea and Japan is a short period of time. They’re still talking about things 2,000 years ago.

iNTOUCH: Are we witnessing a particular low point in relations between these three countries?

Stronach: While I don’t think it is a particular low point, I think it’s a cyclical low point [and] no deeper than previous low points. I think we can see that there will be at some point in the future a warming and relations will become more positive. I would say, particularly in Northeast Asia, there is still a relatively macho perception of international relations: characterizations of strong and weak. I am assuming in the Abe government, in this region, at this point in time, you have to proceed from a perception of strength in order to get done what you need to do.

The other thing, particularly in Japanese-Korean relations, is that China is the dominant force in the region. Why was the Unites States reprimanding Japan [over Yasukuni]? Because they were looking at Korea. It’s in the United States’ best interest to keep Japanese-Korean relations as positive as possible because it needs both of them, and they both need the United States.

iNTOUCH: Is China finding its boundaries in the region?

Stronach: Looking at international history, without being too simplistic, that’s what rising powers do. So it’s natural that China is trying it on, so to speak. These kinds of tensions are always going to exist in the world because power shifts.

iNTOUCH: How is this region going to look a few years from now?

Stronach: You may have a few boats bumping into each other or something like that, but I don’t think there will be conflict. If I had to make a prediction, I would say there is going to be an undercurrent of waxing and waning, waxing and waning tensions, not unlike between the US and the Soviet Union. China is going to keep pushing the boundaries. The more they push, the less a Japanese government is going to be in a position domestically to give in. o

TALKING HEADS

Member insights on Japan 33


All exhibits in the Frederick Harris Gallery are for sale and can be purchased by Membership card at the Member Services Desk. Sales of works begin at 6 p.m. on the first day of the exhibition.

by Nick Narigon

Artist Jiro Sakai revived the dry lacquer technique of urushi for his gold-emblazoned sculptures, with his most striking work a maneki neko, or traditional good fortune cat.

During the Tenpyo period (710–784), Japanese artists painstakingly sculpted Buddha statues out of wood or clay and applied layers of linen fabric, hardened by urushi resin.

“As the technique has [the] ability to express more delicacy and gracefulness in the work than wood carving, many masterpieces were created during that period,” Sakai says.

The technique, though, required a great deal of time, labor and urushi, the second-most expensive material after gold, so many artists switched to wood carving. Of the few urushi statues that remain in Japan, most are national treasures.

“[Urushi] has outstanding durability,” Sakai says. “In fact, in Fukui Prefecture, an article made of urushi was found from the Jomon period, 6,500 years ago, proving its everlasting qualities.”

In 2006, after 13 years as an award-winning designer for Japan’s largest advertising firm, Sakai decided to devote himself to expressing his artistic vision through this almost forgotten art form.

First sculpting his figures out of wood, he then applies gold and silver powder to drawings composed from urushi, a technique called makie. He finishes the work with kinpaku—gold leaf made by beating and stretching the gold to its thinnest limit.

“Since ancient times, urushi is said to have the power of purging evil spirits,” says Sakai. “Then I use kinpaku and makie to symbolize the eternity and good fortune of the maneki neko.”

ExhibitionFebruary 10–March 2

Gallery ReceptionMonday, February 106:30–8 p.m.Frederick Harris Gallery (B1 Formal Lobby)FreeOpen to invitees and Members only

Jiro Sakai

FREDERICK HARRIS GALLERY

CULTURAL INSIGHT

C ome February 3, many parents throughout Japan will don demon masks and allow their children to

pelt them with dried soybeans. Strange, perhaps, but this is just one of the many customs of Setsubun.

According to the traditional Japanese lunar calendar, the first day of spring is recognized on February 4, and the previous day, the last day of winter, is observed through this annual tradition. “It is always celebrated on February 3, even if it is snowing,” says Member Tina Nishida with a laugh.

Setsubun, which means seasonal change, also marks the conclusion of the year’s cycle of seasons. The first day of spring is the start of a new year.

Because of its symbolic importance, there are various rituals to expel bad luck and welcome health, good fortune and prosperity for the coming year. Most common is the practice of mame maki or bean throwing. Typically, children throw dry-roasted soybeans, or irimame, while chanting, “Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi” (Demons out, good fortune in).

Large ceremonies are held at temples and shrines, where local business leaders and celebrities often throw beans and other goodies to the amassed crowd. Zojo Temple near Tokyo Tower hosts a particularly lively celebration. Nishida joins the event every year.

“We have been afforded the opportunity to walk out on a platform that they build in

Saying Sayonara to WinterThough it may not feel like it outside, the lunar calendar says winter is over and it’s time to celebrate the arrival of spring. by Efrot Weiss

front of the temple and throw toys, towels, snacks, bags of soybeans and good luck ¥5 coins to templegoers,” she says.

Other Setsubun customs include eating the same number of soybeans, plus one extra, as your age and feasting on special eho maki sushi rolls. Containing seven auspicious ingredients to represent each of the seven lucky gods, the rolls are eaten in silence while facing the year’s lucky direction (this year’s is east-northeast).

Unlike standard sushi rolls, eho maki are uncut to symbolize whole, untainted good luck. Once eaten only in the Osaka area, these delicacies are now consumed across Japan.

While less popular, some people even hang a holly tree branch and dried sardine heads at the entrance to their house. This is meant to ward off evil spirits and is believed to be the inspiration for the Japanese saying “Even the head of a sardine can be a charm against evil if you believe in it.” o

Weiss is a Member of the Club.

Services and benefits for Members 35

D I N E A N D D I S C O V E RF e b r u a r y : B e y o n d t h e B u b b l e

Move beyond the ordinary and delve into the extraordinary. Experience a perfect collision of the world’s best sparkling wines with the energy of FLATiRON.

Saturday, February 22 • 7 p.m.New York Bridge, Decanter • ¥21,000A d u l t s o n l y · R e s e r v e y o u r s e a t a t 0 3 - 4 5 8 8 - 0 6 7 5 o r d e c a n t e r @ t a c - c l u b . o r g

Reiji & Machiko OhtakiJapan—Office Climate Co., Ltd.

Masaki & Maiko Kuboi Japan—Peace Dining Corp.

Yuji Kimura Japan—Polaris Capital Group

Genri & Sanae Goto Japan—Kenko.com, Inc.

Donald & Carol Kelley United States—Dow Chemical Japan Ltd.

Joshua Teperman Australia—Icon Partners K.K.

Kazuhide Tanaka & Tomoko Hirai Canada—Rabobank Nederland

Austin AugerUnited States—Chicago Bridge & Iron Company

Garth RamseyAustralia—Aruba Networks K.K.

Anthony Plant & January Geisert United Kingdom—McCann Erickson Japan, Inc.

Kosuke KatoJapan—Edwards Lifesciences Ltd.

Hitoshi Matsumoto Japan—Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu LLC

Janine Small & Jeremy Brown United Kingdom—Pfizer Japan, Inc.

David DacusUnited States—Land Rush Group

Leisa & Stephen NagyAustralia—Merrill Lynch Japan Securities Co., Ltd.

Makoto & Miyu IshiwataJapan—Language Teaching Revolutions

Stuart & Kylie RobertsonAustralia—Coach Japan, Inc.

Gregory & Kacie LevitonUnited States—The Ingenium Group, Inc.

Jumpei EnamiJapan—Zenyaku Kogyo Co., Ltd.

Robert & Kimberly MorrisseyUnited States—Raytheon International, Inc.

Paul & Karin MilesUnited States—Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.

Steve & Jeanette SnellUnited Kingdom—AIG Japan Holdings K.K.

Tai-Zhong Jiang & Yukimi ShoChina—S-TYKK Asset Management

Young-Jin Ju & Sayaka NagatomoSouth Korea—Kawaguchi Kogyo General Hospital

David CermakUnited States—Vanguard Investments Japan

Roy & Rie GlantzYukio OnoAgneta RiberDai & Melanie Chetley

Kerry & Joanne PurcellOzlem BattalBrendan & Tracey O’DeaTimothy & Deborah Reck Ely

Hiromichi Toriba & Yasuko YoshiiReed & Beth MittelstaedtXavier & Francoise DurandMelissa & Michael Morrison

sayonara

Stacks of Services at the Club

André Bernard Beauty SalonHair care for adults and kids, manicure, pedicure, waxing and more.Tel: 03-4588-0685 Family Area (B1)Tue–Sun9 a.m.–6 p.m.

Spica The Club’s professional shoe repair and polishing service. Tel: 03-4588-0670The Cellar (B1)Sat: 1–4:30 p.m. Sun: 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m.Weekday drop-off: Member Services Desk

The Art of TravelDiscover Japan and beyond with help from the Club’s travel desk consultants. The Cellar (B1)Monday–Wednesday and Friday–Saturday: 9 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Thursday: 5:30–8 p.m. Tel: 076-221-1586E-mail: [email protected]

FedExTo find out more about the range of services and Member discounts, visit the FedEx counter. The Cellar (B1)Mon–Fri: 1–5 p.m. (closed Sun and national holidays)Sat: 12 p.m. (pickup only)

yokoso


A s an adept junior high school-age pianist, Shiho Matsubara headed to Vienna to hone her musical

talent. A cultural hub for centuries, the Austrian capital has given the world an abundance of musical brilliance through the works of such composers as Franz Schubert and Johann Strauss.

With such pedigree, the city attracts accomplished musicians from all over the world. Matsubara found it an intimidating environment. “When I was in Japan I thought I could become a professional, but then I went to Vienna and met geniuses,” she says. “I wasn’t a genius and was so scared. I didn’t want to compete with other

people because I didn’t want to have a negative feeling about the piano.”

Although she realized her musical limitations during her six months in Vienna, the experience didn’t diminish her love for an instrument she has played since the age of 3.

Now working as a senior concierge with the Club’s Member Services team, Matsubara, 26, says that her years at the keyboard have helped her language skills. “[Studying music] probably helped me to listen to people and pronounce in English,” she says.

Barely able to speak English when she joined the Club in 2009 after college, she says she learned from her coworkers.

“I tried to listen to my colleagues communicating with Members and I would copy their pronunciation and how they spoke,” she explains.

While the Chofu native studied to be a flight attendant at college in Tokyo, she had other career ideas by the time she graduated. “I found more possibilities in hospitality,” she says.

A self-confessed “fan of Japan,” Matsubara says she enjoys traveling to various tourist spots around the country in her free time and using her knowledge to help Members explore their new home. “Being at Member Services,” she says, “it’s like being an ambassador of Japan.” o

MEMBER SERVICES

Why did you decide to join the Club?“This is our second time in Japan and our second time to join the Club. There is no other place in Japan where people of diverse backgrounds and cultures get together as a family, enjoy activities and explore the beauty of this magical place called Japan. TAC has been part of our lives—a place where we enjoy activities, laugh together, meet new friends and where we feel at home.”

(l–r) Francisco, Ana Lucia, Anabel and Maritza Ascencion

Why did you decide to join the Club?“When we visited the Club for the first time, we were impressed by the friendly staff and outstanding facilities. We wanted to join a club with a good family atmosphere. It’s important for us to provide our children with a place where they can make friends and integrate into the community. The Club provides a venue where we can all be together or enjoy activities individually. The diverse range of options offered at the Club appeals to all of us.”

(l–r) Sofia, Lopenzo, Maximillian and Justin Keyes

New Member ProfileFrancisco Ascencion & Anabel ValeroMexico—Medtronic Japan., Ltd.

New Member ProfileJustin & Sofia KeyesCanada—Barclays Capital

employeeof the month

Shiho Matsubura

by Nick Jones

Services and benefits for Members 37


Joanne Wise takes in the service counter, large windows and cozy, sun-drenched seating nooks in the Women’s Group Office. There’s a

look of disbelief on her face. When she was the Women’s Group

president, about 35 years ago, she could never have imagined a workspace like this.

“The Women’s Group office literally looked like a closet,” she says. “The room was probably 10 [feet] by 10 [feet], and it had one desk and too much stuff all over the floor. So to go to the Women’s Group Office this week, I couldn’t believe my eyes.”

Sitting in the Winter Garden a few days after her first look around the new Club, the visiting American, on holiday with her husband, says she counts the group’s B1 headquarters as one of the Club’s most impressive features. “I think the office elevates the importance of what the

Women’s Group was and is doing,” she says.It isn’t just the fittings and facilities that

have changed since Wise, 70, called the Club home. The culture has transformed, too.

When she first arrived in Japan in 1978, a male-dominated culture welcomed her. The United States may have been experiencing the so-called second wave of feminism, with women encouraged to become more assertive at home and in the workplace, but across the Pacific traditional gender roles reigned.

The Club was no exception. At that time, aside from cramped accommodations, the Women’s Group didn’t have a representative member on the Board of Governors. Wise and others fought to change that.

“One of the things that I really wanted to be sure of when I was president was that the Women’s Group had a voice at the table with the governors, and I don’t think that the prior presidents could’ve cared,” she says. “I wanted to have a say in what was going on at the Club.”

One event the Women’s Group did have a say in was the Tokyo: Here & Now orientation program, which has helped thousands of newcomers to Japan establish a network of friends and settle into life here quickly. The program continues today and will next welcome Members in March for a two-day seminar.

Returning HomeOne former Women’s Group president tours the new Club and reflects on her time in Tokyo.by Erika Woodward

Joanne Wise

INSIDE JAPAN

While there were few resources for expatriates living in Japan in the late ’70s and early ’80s, Wise recalls being equally honored and overwhelmed by the throngs of people who attended. “At that time it was huge,” she says. “It was like a convention room full of people.”

Relaxing in a chair opposite his wife, Doug Wise says he’s impressed with how the Club now offers an ever-evolving array of programs to support families and changing lifestyles.

“Back then, the driving force of the Club was an economic one to build the relationship between [foreigners] and [Japanese],” he says. “Today, it seems to be more social. It’s not that the business side of the equation has gone away, but family engagement and social interaction is more important than it was.”

There’s little doubt of the influence of the Women’s Group on Club culture. Addressing the Membership at the Annual General Meeting in November, Club President John Durkin thanked the organization for its ongoing contribution.

“I have so much admiration and respect for the Women’s Group, which is one of the major benefits of membership in TAC,” he said. “In the future, building a close relationship between the Board and Women’s Group will be a priority.”

Wise says she couldn’t be more proud of how far the Women’s Group has progressed. “You know,” she says, “it’s just so professionally done.” o

Woodward is the Club’s former assistant editor.

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Secluded SoaksJapan’s seismic nature provides the perfect, steaming antidote to the blasts of frigid air during winter. by Tim Hornyak

I ’ll never forget my first experience at a Japanese hot spring. A friend picked me up in a BMW and soon we were shooting out of the metropolis and

into the mountains of Gunma, northwest of Tokyo. A few hours later, we pulled into a dead-end road leading down a valley below Mikuni Pass. The road ended at a majestic wooden inn straddling an alpine brook. Apart from the gurgling stream, it was utterly quiet. We seemed to have arrived in another world.

This was how I first came to know the hot spring Hoshi Onsen and its excellent inn, Chojukan. We were soon welcomed into its lustrous wooden interior, with a puffing iron kettle over the irori hearth and sliding doors giving way to our tatami-mat room. According to legend, the inn’s spring was discovered by the Buddhist monk Kobo Daishi and Japanese have sought its soothing waters for centuries. Chojukan, though, was built in the 1870s.

I was ushered into the beautifully aged

wooden heart of this inn, a chamber of stout cedar logs and arched lattice windows, topped by a grand cathedral ceiling. In the middle was a large sunken bath in which bathers were approaching nirvana with each waft of steam. I shed my clothes without a thought and joined in this communion with yu, the deliciously hot lifeblood of Japan.

This temple to bathing has been celebrated in the verse of such poets as Akiko Yosano and Yasunari Kawabata, as well as in ads for the former Japanese National Railways. While it added a meticulously crafted outdoor bath in recent years, the onsen has remained faithful to its heritage. The main bath, or Hoshi no Yu, is still mixed at certain times of the day, so men and women can enjoy it at the same time, just as they did before Western prudery changed public bathing habits in Japan from the 19th century.

Chojukan, with its 37 guest rooms and rambling wings of various ages, is a member

of the Japan Association of Secluded Hot Spring Inns (Nihon Hitou wo Mamoru Kai) and represents the best of that tradition. Formed in 1975, the association is a great resource for serious bathers seeking an old-fashioned onsen experience, sometimes in a remote rural setting.

Although hitou literally means “secret spring,” take that with a large grain of salt, as some of these inns are quite famous, and justly so. The association’s website has English pages introducing 194 member inns; it also sells a Japanese-language guidebook for ¥850. Its best feature, though, is the stamp booklet. Just collect 10 stamps by staying at member inns within three years and earn a free night’s stay. The inns vary in their degree of luxury and prices range from roughly ¥10,000 to ¥35,000 per person, per night, including dinner and breakfast.

While Hitou features traditional inns from Hokkaido to Kagoshima, there’s only one in all of Tokyo that has been included: Janoyu Onsen Takaraso. I’d

Hoshi Onsen


Minami Aki River Gorge

OUT & ABOUT

TOKYO

HOsHI Onsen

JanOYu Onsen TaKarasO

sHIraneKan

Hoshi Onsen

☛ Hoshi Onsen www.houshi-onsen.jp

☛ Janoyu Onsen Takaraso http://homepage2.nifty.com/janoyu-takarasou

☛ Shiranekan www.nukuyu.com/shiranekan (Japanese only)

☛ Japan Association of Secluded Hot Spring Inns www.hitou.or.jp

known about this inn for years from my hikes in the Okutama region of western Tokyo. Run by the Kobayashi family for generations, it centers on a magnificent, 300-year-old, thatched-roof farmhouse along a mountain road in Hinohara village, south of Lake Okutama.

The five guestrooms are in an adjacent modern building, and the indoor baths are modest affairs, overlooking the leafy Minami Aki River Gorge. The cuisine, however, is exquisite: juwari soba noodles, prepared by the 13th-generation innkeeper, are the highlight of a multicourse kaiseki feast, with grilled river fish, sukiyaki and mountain greens like fuki (butterbur) and warabi (bracken).

Located in Kazuma, the final stop in a one-hour bus ride from JR Musashi Itsukaichi Station, Takaraso faces a charming old schoolhouse that closed in 1999; open weekends, its preserved classrooms and photos are remnants of a once-thriving mountain hamlet. Up the

road are more thatched-roof farmhouses and Tomin no Mura, a woodworking and forestry center, with a free shuttle bus in spring, summer and fall.

Another of my Hitou favorites within striking distance of Tokyo is Shiranekan in Yamanashi Prefecture. Nestled in the Akaishi Mountains, aka the Southern

Alps, this secluded inn along the Haya River is built of Japanese cypress logs and draws upon “seven mysterious springs” for its baths. The highlight here is the two outdoor rotenburo baths, which are especially relaxing and atmospheric at night when they’re lit by lanterns. In the distance is Lake Narada, created by a dam, but there are plenty of more natural hiking options nearby, including a trek along a mountain stream that takes in some gorgeous waterfalls.

If you have a yen for old-school soaks, check out Hitou’s website, but remember that not all inns in the group will be as traditional or secluded as you might hope, so check their Japanese websites carefully before booking. Other good resources include Japan’s Hidden Hot Springs by Robert Neff and Margaret Price’s Classic Japanese Inns and Country Getaways. Go find your favorite onsen oasis, get wet, relax and don’t forget to wash behind your ears. o

Hornyak is a Tokyo-based freelance journalist.

Explorations beyond the Club 41

For more photos from some events displayed in these pages,visit the Event Image Gallery (under News & Info) on the Club website.

Holiday Cheer and ChampagneDecember 9

The Women’s Group wrapped up the year with a fun-

packed luncheon of bubbly, a demonstration of the

art of slicing off the top of a Champagne bottle with

a sword (sabrage) by wine expert and Member Bill

Campbell, seasonal songs and even a visit from Santa.

Photos by Yuuki Ide

1. Helen Siedel and Linda Border 2. Clara Yonemoto 3. Bill Campbell

1


EVENT ROUNDUP

3

2

Snapshots from Club occasions 43


TAC Eagles in ActionDecember 14

The Club’s newly formed youth basketball squad, the

TAC Eagles, took to the Gymnasium for a Saturday

afternoon of practice games.

Photos by Yuuki Ide

1. (l–r) Timothy Fortin, Kai Goldstein, Todor Radmilovich and

Mark Halverson 2. (l–r) Marissa Hamilton, Rumi Kawamura, Aina

Zuravljov, Yuma Tomita, Miki Kawamura, Yuriko Kitazawa and

Sophia Fu

21


EVENT ROUNDUP

2

3

1

4

5

Mudsharks End-of-Season Awards Party

December 15

The Mudsharks, the Club’s swim team, closed out the

season and the year with their annual party of food,

fun and awards.

Photos by Yuuki Ide

1. (l–r) Emily and Tom Busby, Maggie Hadley and Renee Steiner

2. (l–r) Timo Bierer, Won Kim, Hugh McGuire, Makoto Steiner,

Kaisei Smith and Leon Miller 3. Mudsharks coach Simon Hadlow

and Sabrina Satterwhite 4. (l–r) Charles and Hana Smith and Sky

Pool manager Haldane Henry 5. (l–r) Mudsharks coach Simon

Hadlow, Roxsanna Lindell and Yumiko Uehara



Christmas at the ClubDecember 25

The Hello Knights quartet kicked off the Christmas Day

celebrations with some seasonal classics and carols in the

Winter Garden, while families and friends filled the New York

Ballroom for spreads of traditional turkey and all the trimmings.

Photos by Ken Katsurayama

2


EVENT ROUNDUPEVENT ROUNDUP

Seven Lucky Gods Walking Tour

January 4

In the hope of amassing good luck for the year, a group

of Members visited the temples of the seven lucky

gods in the Tokyo district of Yanaka.

Photos by Miki Ohyama

Shuzenji Historical Village and Winery Tour

December 5

A band of Members visited the storied onsen town of

Shuzenji, in Shizuoka Prefecture, for a cultural day out

that included a wine tasting at Naka Izu Winery Hills.

Photos by Sandy Isaka

1. (l–r) Elizabeth Butler, Kim Colibert, Christine Klanac, Louann

White, Coleen Curley-Ostrower and Christa Rutter

1

1

1. Front row (l–r): Reiko Oshima, Miki Ohyama, Isabelle Maury,

Therese Cowled and Asha and Mark Saft

Back row (l–r): Kazumasa Ohyama, Yoichi Oshima, Hideko and

Fusataro Oshima, Nancy Davis, Maud Maury, François Maury and

Jade and Kanya Saft



At a recent speaking event, my fellow Club Members Jesper Koll and Bill Hall and I were asked which number came to mind when we thought of Japan. An answer immediately

popped into my head: 49.3. That’s the exact median age of the country: 49 years and 3 months.

Maybe it’s because I am now past that median age, but I think that number represents a huge opportunity. I have never understood the pessimism over Japan’s aging and shrinking population. Being the first country to go through this shift gives Japan an advantage.

Yes, I understand the possible problems surrounding the health and pension systems for future generations, but aging is a problem the world over. All the indicators show that the 21st century will be the oldest century ever, with life expectancy growing in most places and the number of babies being born shrinking. Japan may be at the leading edge of this issue, but isn’t Japan at the forefront of so much?

BACK WORDS Whatever the story, anecdote, fictitious tale, rant, cultural observation or Club commentary, now’s your chance to take it to the world…well, Membership, anyway. E-mail your submission (no more than 700 words) to [email protected].

by Dave McCaughan

Living Long and Large

Unlike the aging population of most countries, Japan’s golden generation is comparatively wealthy and protected by pensions. Most of them are in their 50s or 60s, meaning they have an average 30 to 40 years to go, enjoying the next two decades in pretty good health.

So when the likes of Italy and China are trying to figure out how to deal with their own graying-population problems, Japan will already have found solutions. And while so much of this conversation is about younger generations having to pay for their elders, Japan’s older generation can support themselves and are willing to spend.

Over the last two decades, the way we age has changed. Retirement used to be something of a last gasp. If you made it that far, retirement was about resting and waiting for the inevitable. Now we think nothing of reaching 90.

Retirees nowadays are about enjoying life and trying new things, whether it’s a class, hobby or sport. This was perfectly illustrated in 2007, when the first of the baby boomers started to retire. Which product experienced the fastest sales growth in Japan? The electric guitar.

The fact is those of us older than 49.3 refuse to lie down and stop being young at heart. So what does 49.3 mean? More than half of your life still to enjoy. What a fantastic opportunity. o

Club Member McCaughan is managing director with the advertising

agency McCann Worldgroup Hong Kong.

毎月一回一日発行　

第四十七巻五八六号　

トウキョウアメリカンクラブ

インタッチマガジン二〇一四年二月一日発行　

平成三年十二月二十日第三種郵便物許可定価八００円

本体七七七円

intouch february 2014

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