COOL JAPAN from New Yorkers` Viewpoints

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［English Edition］
週刊NY生活　SHUKAN NEW YORK SEIKATSU
Ryoma Sakamoto and Kaishu Katsu
Descendents to Visit America
Open Lecture in N.Y. on October 14
On Friday, October 14, New
York Seikatsu Press, Inc. (publisher of Shukan NY Seikatsu) is
excited to invite the descendents
of Ryoma Sakamoto and Kaishu
Katsu to present “Why Ryoma
Now?” Descendents of Ryoma
and Kaishu will speak alongside
three high school students. This
talk show format open lecture
will center on Sakamoto Ryoma,
the famed leader of resistance
against the Tokugawa Shogunate.
The event is co-hosted by the
Sakamoto Ryoma Memorial
Museum of Kochi Prefecture and
JaNet (NPO), and supported by
the Consulate General of Japan in
New York.
The event will be chaired by
Kenshiro Mori (Ryoma Memorial
Museum director) and museum
curator Yukie Maeda. Noboru
Sakamoto, Minako Takayama,
and Junji Kitashiro (John Manjiro
researcher), and three high school
students from Kochi Prefecture
will speak on liberty, equality,
and the importance of life, the
foundation of Ryoma’s ideas. The
exhibit “Bakumatsu (last days of
the Tokugawa Shogunate)
Patriots and Their Hats” will also
be on display. The discussion of
Ryoma will be preceded by a
two-part musical performance,
first by composer and synthesizer
player Naoki Nishimura and then
by the popular guitar duo
Ichimujin.
The event will be held at JaNet
hall (2 W 47th St., between Fifth
NYクール日本
COOL JAPAN from New Yorkers’ Viewpoints
Opening Smiling
Umbrellas
and Sixth Aves.) and attendance
will be free (80 spots available).
Registration is from September
17 to October 13.
Attendees will be chosen by lottery. Contact 212-921-8788 or
info@japanesenetwork.org.
(Ryoichi Miura; Translated by
Chiaki Yoshida)
Fashion Designer
Tadashi Shoji Finds
Inspiration in Tulips
At 2 p.m. on the first day of
Fashion Week, the runway show
Demonstrational Sales for Matsue Sweets and Izumo Soba
From October 5 to 8, the
Shimane Food Fair will appear at
Sunrise Mart, Daido, Katagiri, and
Soba Nippon with demonstrations
of Izumo Soba and new Matsue
wagashi sweets, known for being
delicious and calming. Matsue
sweets artisans and Shigeru Honda
from a long-established Izumo
Soba shop will give the demonstration at each location.
Demonstrations will be held at
Sunrise Mart Midtown (12 E 41st
St.) on Oct. 5 at 11 a.m. (soba)
2011年（平成23年）9月24日（土）
and 3 p.m. (sweets); at Katagiri
Grocery Store (224 E 59th St.) on
Oct. 6 at 11 a.m. (soba) and 4 p.m.
(sweets); at Daido White Plains
(522 Mamaroneck Ave.) on Oct. 7
at 11 a.m. (sweets) and Oct. 8 at
11 a.m. (soba); at Sunrise Mart
Soho (494 Broome St.) on Oct. 7
at 3:30 p.m. (soba).
Additionally, there will be a
Matsue sweets demonstration at
Soba Nippon (19 W 52nd St.) on
Thursday, October 6. At each
demonstration, three Warigo soba
On September 9 and 10, 50
umbrellas with printed smiling
faces were opened for the 10th
anniversary of 9/11 in New York.
Koji Mizutani directed the Merry
Project to deliver these smiling
messages of peace and hope from
around the world. The project
started in 1999.
Beginning with the Beijing
Olympics Opening Ceremony,
Mizutani’s smiling umbrellas
were seen mainly in disaster areas
such as Indonesia’s tsunami
stricken area and at the 65th
anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
At the height of his career,
Mizutani realized he had worn
himself out physically and emotionally, and decided to do somefor Japanese designer Tadashi
Shoji’s brand Tadashi was held at
Lincoln Center. The venue
accommodates up to 900 people,
but with over 1,000 ticket
requests, the staff had no choice
but to close registration. The
room was packed, and the phobowls will be given for Izumo
Soba purchases of $20 or more
while supplies last. For more
information, call 718-729-8966.
(Kazuo Akane; Translated by Mari
Kawaguchi)
thing to benefit our society and
culture. Mizutani had an inspiration for this project when looking
at a photo of a smiling young
American girl. He then took photos of more than 30,000 smiling
faces from 26 different countries.
Mizutani chose the word
“merry” because it is broader and
vaguer than happy. As public art,
umbrellas enable participants to
create their own space by doing
something routine and ordinary.
Mizutani emphasizes that con-
cepts and stories are more important than the design itself. “I don’t
know how long I will continue,
but I do feel this is my mission,”
says Mizutani. The popular art
director just celebrated his 60th
birthday. Mizutani is taking photos of smiling faces, surrounded
by smiling people, and giving
many heartfelt smiles himself.
(Kaoru Komi; Photo by Ryoichi
Miura; Translated by Tomoko
Isshiki)
tographers’ area was
overflowing.
Mr. Shoji’s spring
and summer 2012
theme is tulips.
Inspired by the photographs of Ron van
Dongen, he tried to
reflect their fascinating beauty in his
dresses. Mr. Shoji
showed 36 designs
using light flowery
materials such as silk
linen, lace, and tulle.
The short skirts were
cut to look like tulips,
and some of his signature evening gowns
resemble something a
Greek goddess might
wear.
The Tadashi brand is
sold in 40 countries
worldwide. In Japan it is
sold at the Mitsukoshi
department
store.
Despite not selling on
consignment (Shoji’s
personal business practice), which is unusual
for Japan, Tadashi is
successful.
When
Shukan NY Seikatsu
asked what advice he
gave Japanese customers, Mr. Shoji
answered, “I want you
to wear with confidence.
Do that and anyone can
be beautiful.”
(Kinue Imai Weinstein;
Translated by Zac
Heyman)
NY COOL JAPAN is the English Edition of SHUKAN NY SEIKATSU
NEW YORK SEIKATSU PRESS, INC., 18 E 41 St., Suite 1202, New York, NY 10017
Editor in chief: Ryoichi Miura, Associate Editor: Paul Benson, Editor: Emiko Tada
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