Onward Kashiyama`s Women`s Apparel Debut

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［English Edition］
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VOICES From
THE NEW YORKERS
Studio Ghibli’s Latest
Comes to New York
Justin Tedaldi
Released
in conjunction
with the New
Y o r k
International
Children’s
Film Festival,
“From Up on
Poppy Hill,”
the newest
work from
Studio Ghibli, is scheduled to run for
one week at the IFC Center and The
Film Society of Lincoln Center beginning March 15.
Founded in 1985, the name
Studio Ghibli (pronounced ji-blee)
is based on the Arabic name for
the sirocco, or Mediterranean
wind, the idea being the studio
would represent a new wind blowing through the industry. Today it
is recognized as Japan’s most celebrated animation film studio
thanks to the works of its cofounder Hayao Miyazaki, whose
own “Spirited Away” is the highest-grossing film in Japanese history and the Academy Award winner for Best Animated Feature in
2003. (A recent poll conducted in
Japan revealed the nation’s
favorite Ghibli film to be 1988’s
“My Neighbor Totoro,” claiming
24.3 percent of the vote.)
Cowritten by Miyazaki and
directed by his son Goro, “From
Up on Poppy Hill” is a period
piece that takes place in
Yokohama 50 years ago, focusing
on an innocent romance that blossoms between Umi and Shun, two
high school kids caught up in the
changing times. Produced in North
America by GKIDS, the Englishlanguage edition features the voice
talents of stars like Gillian
Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ron
Howard, and many more. For
showtimes and tickets for “From
Up on Poppy Hill,” visit
www.gkids.tv/poppyhill.
(Justin has written about Japanese
music and performing arts since
2005. For more of his stories, visit
http://www.examiner.com/user/18
61736/articles.)
2013年（平成25年）3月16日（土）
COOL JAPAN from New Yorkers’ Viewpoints
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C
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Onward Kashiyama’s
“Kyoshiro Nemuri”
Samurai DVD Series
Comes to U.S.
“Nemuri Kyoshiro,” the popular 1960s samurai film series,
has recently been made available in the U.S. On February 12,
AnimEigo released the last
installment of the three consecutive DVD box sets (12 films
total, four per each box set). The
samurai fan’s must-see series
features Raizo Ichikawa, one of
Japan’s greatest actors, as the
anti-hero character Kyoshiro
Nemuri. Highlights include topnotch directors’ creative staging, author Renzaburo Shibata’s
incredible plots, temptation
from beautiful women, and
engetsu sappo (special sword
technique) scenes.
Notably, Kadokawa Pictures
restored the original beautiful
footage at a significant cost. The
twelfth film was the last featuring Ichikawa. The films were
originally released from 1967 to
1969. The DVD set (No. 9-12,
total 329 minutes), titled
“Sleepy Eyes of Death
Collector’s Set Vol. 3” with
English subtitles, is available at
AnimEigo.com and
amazon.com.
(Yukishige Takesue; Translated
by Kazuya Machida)
Women’s Apparel Debut
On February 11, Onward Kashiyama’s
women’s apparel brand, ICB, had its first runway show at New York Fashion Week. Despite
the coming blizzard, the Studio at Lincoln
Center was filled with over 550 visitors, where
30 pieces from the Fall/Winter 2013 collection
was presented. Last year, Prabal Gurung was
appointed Chief Designer for ICB to expand
their presence in U.S. retail stores by quadrupling to 70 stores, mainly in leading department
stores. They hope to expand in the European
market in the future.
Mr. Gurung, who was raised in Nepal, started
his designing career in New Delhi, graduated
from Parsons The New School for Design in
New York, and worked for Donna Karan and
Cynthia Rowley. After five years at Bill
Blass as Artistic Director, he launched his own
PRABAL GURUNG brand. ICB set up their
studio for Mr. Gurung in New York, where he is
based, and also moved their product development team from Tokyo to New York to respond
to the U.S. market on a timely basis.
Onward owns not only ICB but also J Press,
the long-established American men’s apparel
brand. They have introduced a line for young
people called York Street. They will further
strengthen their presence in the U.S. by opening
Chacott, a dance apparel and equipment store,
and pet fashion Creative Yoko flagship shop in
Manhattan.
“We aim double or even more sales by 2015
in the U.S. group-wide,” said President Akinori
Baba.
(Kinue Imai Weinstein; Translated by Mari
Kawaguchi)
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