Konnichiwa everybody,
As some of my clients know already, I was in Tokyo last month for business. I had the chance to work with Airbnb to promote their new Experiences service: handcrafted activities designed and led by locals. Hired as a Japanese cultural expert, I helped them curate and co-host their promotional tour of Tokyo. I helped 24 lucky winners, invited by Airbnb and Vice Media, navigate through Japan’s cool subcultures. My favorite part was organizing a visit with a Japanese mangaka (漫画家 – manga artist) to learn about manga’s mainstream and underground history from the 70’s to today. Loved it!
FASHION ／ ファッション
Stella McCartney (ステラ・マッカートニー) released her fall 2017 ad campaign for her ready-to-wear and Adidas collections. Shot in Tokyo, it looks very cool! It features Japanese dancer/choreographer/model Sato Aya, who also did the dance choreography for the ad campaign video. Aya is the other half of the duo AyaBambi, one of Japan’s most popular dance units (ダンスユニット), who performed in a Madonna music video and tour in 2015. Despite their high-profile, AyaBambi is now believed to be split, even though they haven’t announced it officially. I’m still excited to see Aya perform, even when she’s solo.
The video director is Marie Schuller, a London-based filmmaker. What she said about Japan and “Tokyo’s efficiency” is interesting, so you should check out her interview on Stella McCartney’s website.
Schuller wanted to “capture the city’s energy and intensity,” so one location she shot was Shinjuku Golden Gai (新宿ゴールデン街), a nightlife area famous for its tiny old bars and narrow streets. Do you like it too?
SUSHI ／ お寿司
Last month, I came upon this article, which lists the best, most expensive sushi restaurants in the United States. For San Francisco, the author chose Roka Akor. I ate there a few years ago and although the food was pretty good, I personally wouldn’t nominate it as one of the best sushi places; to me, it felt more like Japanese fusion, rather than an authentic sushi restaurant. I myself have few favorite sushi restaurants in San Francisco, and one of them is Kusakabe. It’s an omakase sushi-ya in kaiseki style, and it’s just delicious! Their food presentation is always beautiful. For the East Bay, my favorite is Delage, another omakase-course restaurant that I had mentioned in a newsletter last year. I’ve few more that I like in San Francisco, but that’s for another newsletter. And for you, what’s favorite?
COOL TOKYO ／ クール東京
Another cool Tokyo pick here: DROP tokyo (ドロップトーキョー), an online media company that has been documenting Tokyo’s street fashion (ストリートファッション) and youth culture for the past 10 years, has just released a photo book “DROP tokyo by Droptokyo”. It features images from their debut to today, documenting Japanese fashion icons who created Tokyo’s hottest scene in the last decade, including model/DJ Mademoiselle Yulia, who is featured on the cover of their book (left).
I met Drop tokyo’s founder Yokota Daisuke (横田大介) many times at events when I was living in Tokyo and had the pleasure to write for his other media project, “The Fashion Post”. He is a very talented and visionary guy, so I cannot be happier for his achievement! I definitely want to get his book in my next trip. Omedeto gozaimasu おめでとうございます!
THE TRUMPS VISIT JAPAN ／ トランプ家の日本訪問
vanka Trump (イヴァンカ・トランプ) and her father just visited Japan—and that’s all that the media were talking about for the last few days. They were particularly interested in the Trump daughter’s fashion, treating her as an icon of elegance and grace. Ivanka came first, to attend the World Assembly of Women (国際女性会議), and her father arrived after she returned to the United States. Politics aside, the main thing I was personally interested in was how our Prime Minister Abe (安倍首相) welcomed them, showing what Japanese people are best at: omotenashi (おもてなし – hospitality). Abe had taken former president Obama to the now-famous sushi restaurant Sukiyabashi Jirou (すきやばし次郎). I was curious to see where he would take the Trumps, and also what he would give them as welcome gifts. If you are curious too, ask me about it during our session!
NEW TV SHOW ／ 新ドラマ
Japanese broadcaster NHK has just announced a new TV show that looks fun. “Sweet Home Tokyo” is about a Londoner beginning his new life in Tokyo as a stay-at-home husband with a Japanese wife. It is scheduled to start on November 19, so check it out!\
NEW WORDS ／ 新語
The most renown Japanese dictionary, Koujien (広辞苑), published by Iwanami Shoten (岩波書店), will be releasing their sixth edition in January 2018. The newest edition will include the addition of about 10,000 new words or new meanings of words. Here are some of them: charai (チャラい), sumaho (スマホ), yabai (やばい), moru (盛る), jidori (自撮り), konkatsu (婚活), hanii torappu (ハニートラップ), gattsuri (がっつり), kosupure (コスプレ), burakku kigyou (ブラック企業). How many do you know? If you wonder what they mean, don’t hesitate to ask me during our session.
That’s all for today—thank you for reading. Looking forward to seeing you soon at our next lesson!
最後まで読んでいただき、どうもありがとうございます。皆さまにまたお会いできるのを楽しみにしています。よろしくお願いいたします！
★MY PREVIOUS NEWSLETTER CAN BE SEEN HERE
★CALENDAR
■ Nov 3 ~ / Screening of “Blade of the Immortal” in SF and Berkeley (R rated)
■ Nov 8 / Screening of “My Neighbor Totoro” in Oakland
■ ~November 15 / “Something from Nothing” exhibit in SF
■ Nov 18 / Kitaro’s “Kojiki and The Universe Live” in SF
■ Dec 1 & 2 / Screening of “My Neighbor Totoro” in SF
■ ~March 31, 2018 / “Exclusion: The Presidio’s Role in World War II Japanese American Incaceration ” in SF