Olympian Fumie Suguri Successfully Introduces Skating to Fifty

（27）
［English Edition］
VOICES From
THE NEW YORKERS
The GazettE and
BABYMETAL
Justin Tedaldi
Located
in the heart of
Times Square,
the PlayStation
Theater will
host two popular Japanese
rock acts later
this spring.
Making
their NYC debut April 29 are the
GazettE, a Kanagawa-based rock quintet that follows in the footsteps of other
Gotham-conquering visual kei acts like
X Japan and L’Arc~en~Ciel. Formed in
2002, the band has performed in Europe
multiple times since 2007, and will
headline its first shows in America this
spring in support of its latest album,
2015’s “Dogma.”
The band’s biggest world tour to
date kicks off in Mexico City April 15,
and will take them to a total of 11 countries outside of Japan, including stops in
Dallas, San Francisco, and Los Angeles
in the States. Still completely self-produced, the GazettE continue moving
forward, uncompromised in their artistic
and unique worldview at home and
abroad.
May 4 brings the return of
BABYMETAL, a trio of teenage girls
who perform a fusion of metal and idol
music dubbed kawaii (cute) metal. After
playing to a capacity crowd at
Hammerstein Ballroom in 2014, the
group returns to support its second
album “Metal Resistance,” which will
be released in Japan and several
English-speaking territories in April.
After playing venues like the Tokyo
Dome and Wembley Arena in London,
BABYMETAL is poised to become one
of the biggest (and widely known
abroad) musical acts in Japan today.
For more information, visit
www.playstationtheater.com.
(Justin has written about Japanese arts
and entertainment since 2005. For more
of
his
stories,
visit
http://exm.nr/1qXud3i.)
週刊NY生活　SHUKAN NEW YORK SEIKATSU
2016年（平成28年）3月12日（土）
NYクール日本
COOL JAPAN from New Yorkers’ Viewpoints
Olympian Fumie Suguri
Successfully Introduces
Skating to Fifty Children
Japanese Winter Olympian skater
Fumie Suguri conducted a skating
class at the Ice House in New Jersey
on February 27. Hosted by the New
York Seikatsu Press and LeadOff
Sports Marketing and sponsored by
IACE Travel Company, the event
attracted roughly 100 participants−
fifty of whom were six-and sevenyear-old elementary school students.
Those fifty children were divided
into three teams, each of which took
turns learning in groups techniques
like moving forward, moving backwards and spinning from Suguri and
assistant coaches.
The children also learned skills such
as how to skate with a correct posture,
use a pivot foot and glide comfortably
on ice. Suguri used a food analogy to
make a major point to her students as
at one point she asked the children,
“Have you had yakitori? Imagine how
you would stand with a skewer inserted from your head to your hip like
yakitori. Try to spin while keeping your
body upright.” That piece of advice
brought smiles to the faces of parents
observing their children trying to spin
and say “Yakitori” at the same time.
At the end of the class, Suguri signed
autographs and gave postcards to all the
participants, as well as took pictures
with all the children. On what was surely an unforgettable day, Suguri said,
“I’m very happy to meet children who
are working hard to adapt to life in a
foreign country. I want them to find
something that can be their passion. It
can be skating or something else.” The
figure skater added, “I am familiar with
New York as it was once my main
training location. I would like to live
here someday.”
The event was just one of many activ-
Momotaro Serves
as the Gateway to
Success for Hair
Stylists at the New
York Fashion Week
ities the New York Seikatsu Press has
planned for New York’s Japanese community. (Hazuki Ichinose/Translated by
A large number of Japanese hair
Etsuko Noda)
stylists come to New York for the
New York Fashion Week and one
stop on their itinerary is Momotaro.
Owned by Sammy Miyamoto, the
Japanese hair salon attracts prominent hair stylists such as Shin Hata
− the owner of a Tokyo hair salon
named Max Blonde who has participated in the event seven straight
years − who aim to popularize
Japanese beauty techniques in addition to providing outstanding service for customers. Momotaro also
serves as a rehearsal studio for the
event as for the third straight year,
Shogo Nikaido - president of the
Tokyo-based design planning company Augment - sent hair stylists
and managers to the salon to prepare for Fashion Week.
Miyamoto once stated, “Time
changes,
but the designer’ s skill is
Japanese Winter Olympian Fumie
always
paramount
in any era.”
Suguri in action at the Ice House
(Weinstein
Imai
Kinue/Translated
(Photo: Shigeru Hisamatsu)
by Chikako Iwasaki)
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