iNTOUCH Nov 2012

TOKYO

AM

ERICAN

CLUB

i

NT

OU

CH

Issue 571 • Novem

ber 2012

毎月一回一日発行　

第四十七巻五七一号　

トウキョウアメリカンクラブ　

インタッチマガジン二〇一二年十一月一日発行　

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

iNTOUCHNovember 2012

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

From the TopGreetings and thoughts from

the Club’s new general manager

Two for One Fundraising sales combine for

a Club shopping spectacular

Global Tastings The Club hosts wineries from

Napa, Australia, Italy and Oregon

Club Member Dave Spector reflects on a career as Japan’s most recognizable

foreign face on TV

Tube Talk

Electoral ArithmeticAs Americans go to the polls this

month, writer Sasha Issenberg

explains how presidential campaign

teams are using data and number

crunching to predict voter behavior

and target their messages.

14

Small-Screen CelebrityArriving in Japan during the

country’s economic boom, Dave

Spector soon found himself a

regular on Japanese TV. Almost three

decades later, the Club Member

talks to iNTOUCH about surviving in

an industry where celebrity careers

can be fleeting and why he hates

Japanese television dramas.

28

library

feature

Step by StepA new class at the Club is helping

Members find their feet on the

dance floor while giving them the

confidence to head out for evenings

of tripping the light fantastic.

22recreation

Like Mother, Like DaughterThe seeds of Club Member Carole

Yoshida’s philanthropic efforts were

sown in postwar Japan, watching her

mother help wounded soldiers from

the Korean War and Japanese orphans.

40inside japan

iNTOUCHManagementTony CalaGeneral [email protected]

Lian ChangInformation Technology [email protected]

Darryl DudleyEngineering [email protected]

Brian MarcusFood & Beverage [email protected]

Shuji HirakawaHuman Resources [email protected]

Mutsuhiko KumanoFinance [email protected]

Scott YahiroRecreation [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

8 Board of Governors

9 Management

10 Food & Beverage

14 Library

18 DVD Library

20 Committees

22 Recreation

24 Women’s Group

28 Feature

34 Talking Heads

36 Frederick Harris Gallery

38 Member Services

40 Inside Japan

42 Out & About

44 Event Roundup

48 Back Words

Editor Nick Jones [email protected]

DesignersRyan Mundt Nagisa Mochizuki

Production AssistantYuko Shiroki

Assistant Editor Erika Woodward

Communications Manager Matthew Roberts

Cover photo of Dave Spector by Irwin Wong

2 November 2012 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]

Food & Beverage Office (03) 4588-0245 [email protected]

Foreign Traders’ Bar (03) [email protected]

Guest Studios (03) [email protected]

Human Resources (03) 4588-0679

Information Technology (03) 4588-0690

Library (03) [email protected]

Management Office (03) [email protected]

Membership Office (03) [email protected]

Member Services Desk (03) 4588-0670 [email protected]

Pool Office (03) [email protected]

Rainbow Café (03) [email protected]

Recreation Desk (03) [email protected]

Redevelopment Office (03) [email protected]

The Cellar (03) [email protected]

The Spa (03) [email protected]

Weddings (03) [email protected]

Women’s Group Office (03) [email protected]

Getting in Touch

Rob Goss is a freelance writer specializing in Japan-related features on everything from business and sustainability to society and travel. His work has appeared in publications around the world, including Time, National Geographic, Eurobiz Japan and Lexus magazines and Fodor’s, Rough Guides and Insight Guides guidebooks. His most recent project has seen him write a pair of Japan guides for Tuttle Publishing. Originally from Dartmoor in southwest England, Goss arrived in Japan in 1999 and currently lives in Tokyo with his wife and young, soccer-obsessed son. A frequent contributor to iNTOUCH, in this month’s cover story, “Small-Screen Celebrity,” he meets Club Member Dave Spector to find out the secret to his enduring success as a TV personality in Japan.

Rob Goss

contributors

Words from the editor 3

A child of diplomats, Chiara Terzuolo was brought up all across Europe—the catalyst for a lifelong love of travel, good food and adventure. After graduating from Lawrence University, she received a Fulbright fellowship to research koto and shamisen music at Kobe University, which led to a master’s degree in musical performance at the London School of Oriental and African Studies. Since escaping the world of academia, she has been working for a small consulting firm in Tokyo while freelancing as a writer and musician. She can usually be studying the koto, running with the Hash House Harriers or exploring Tokyo’s endless side streets. For this month’s Out & About section, she ventures beyond the city limits to the Nagano resort town of Karuizawa.

ChiaraTerzuolo

Flicking through channels of ramen-slurping celebrities and head-slapping comedians one Sunday evening in the late 1990s, I stopped on the channel of Japan’s public broadcaster NHK, intrigued by the curious sight of a foreigner, with slicked-back, streaked hair, in a glitzy jacket, co-presenting a music show in fluent Japanese.

The program, which featured an orchestra playing tunes from the easy-listening end of the musical spectrum, seemed all bow ties and cocktail dresses, with grand sets and a serving of schmaltz. But having not been in Japan very long, I was more mesmerized by the seemingly perfect language skills of the mysterious foreign host.

After discovering his name, I soon began to notice Dave Spector on more and more programs. Returning to live in Japan a few years later, I was surprised to see Spector, with the same dyed hairdo, still chattering away as an established denizen of Japan’s TV Land.

Although “Tokumeki Yume Sound” is no more (the music show was last broadcast on March 29, 1998), Spector’s career moved on, and he is now a fixture on a number of popular variety shows.

In this month’s cover story, “Small-Screen Celebrity,” the Club Member talks to iNTOUCH about how his unplanned career as a TV personality here came about and the challenges of remaining on-air in a famously fickle industry that frequently catapults wide-eyed comedians, spouting inane catchphrases, to meteoric stardom.

Agonizing over whether to return to the United States or not in an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 1989, the Chicagoan explained that the fame and fortune were too good to give up. “I’m famous all over Japan,” he said. “Everyone knows me. Children. Old people. Taxi drivers. It’s almost too exciting for a human being.”More than 20 years later, there’s no sign of that buzz abating. 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


What’s happening in November

Wednesday14

Meet the Author: Hugh Ashton Japan-based British writer Hugh Ashton explains how he found publishing success for his Sherlock Holmes mysteries. 7 p.m. Find out more on page 16.

Friday2

Leeuwin Estate Wine Dinner with Dennis HoganAhead of a mouthwatering dinner hosted by the founder of this award-winning Australian winery, discover what keeps the family-run vineyard on top on page 10. 7 p.m.

Tuesday6

Toddler TimeA fun half-hour session of engaging stories and activities await preschoolers at the Children's Library. 4 pm. Free. Continues November 13, 20 and 27.

Friday2

Library Book GroupThe Club’s band of literary lovers meet at Café Med to discuss Isabel Allende’s memoir, The Sum of Our

Days. 12 p.m. For details, contact the Library.

Saturday3

Napa Valley Vintners Association Wine DinnerLearn more about this not-to-be-missed evening of food and wine from the world-famous California winegrowing region on page 11. 7 p.m.

Thursday15

Chrysanthemum Festival and Ueno TourRediscover Ueno on this Women’s Group walking tour to Yushima Tenmangu Shrine, for the annual flower festival, a former black market district and more. Sign up at the Member Services Desk.

Tuesday20

Gallery ReceptionMaster craftsman Koho Yoshino launches his engaging exhibition of traditional Japanese dolls, called gosho ningyo. 6:30 p.m. Learn more on page 37.

Friday16

Sanyukai Charity DriveDonate gently worn men’s and teenage boys’ clothes, food and household items to this Tokyo men’s homeless shelter. 9–11:30 a.m. and 2–3:30 p.m. B1 Parking Lot.

Wednesday–Friday 21–23

Thanksgiving at DecanterEnjoy a four-course feast of your favorite holiday eats, paired with wines selected by the Club’s own wine expert, Kelley Michael Schaefer. ¥10,500. Reserve your table at 03-4588-0675 or [email protected].

Friday16

Domaine Serene Wine Dinner with Allan CarterFlip to page 10 to find out about the array of Oregon Pinot Noir and other varietals that will be sampled at a dinner with Allan Carter, the general manager of Domaine Serene. 7 p.m.

Tuesday20

Annual General Meeting & Recognition of Club LeadershipThe Club holds its Annual General Meeting and recognizes the hard work of its volunteer leaders. 6:30 p.m. For details, turn to page 8.

Wednesday–Thursday7–8

Hungarian NightCafé Med pays homage to Hungary with such traditional dishes as goulash and sauerkraut and pork. 5–8:30 p.m. Adults: ¥1,950; juniors (12–17 years): ¥1,650; children (7–11 years): ¥1,200; kids (4–6 years): ¥700; infants (3 and under): free. Continues 28 and 29.

Saturday10

Early Pregnancy and Birth PlanningParents-to-be prepare for the arrival of their bundles of joy during this Women’s Group class. 10 a.m. ¥7,000. Sign up at the Member Services Desk.

Wednesday–Thursday 7–8

International Bazaar and Asian Home Furnishings SalePreview what’s in store for the Club’s first-ever combined shopping extravaganza. Flip to page 24 for the rundown on this Women’s Group fundraiser. 10 a.m.

Saturday–Sunday 3–4

Birth Preparation for CouplesTwo invaluable days that will get you ready for labor, birth and beyond. 10 a.m.–4 p.m. ¥36,000. Sign up at the Member Services Desk.

Thursday22

Thanksgiving at the ClubThe Club celebrates this all-American holiday with a spread of traditional treats. Brunch: 11 a.m.– 3 p.m. Dinner: 5–9 p.m. Adults: ¥7,000; juniors (12–17 years): ¥3,250; children (7–11 years): ¥2,100; kids (4–6 years): ¥1,050; infants (3 and under): free. Reserve at 03-4588-0977.

Noteworthy dates for the month 5

EVENTS

Sunday11

ILBS Christmas Charity Fair The Tokyo-based International Ladies Benevolent Society hosts its holiday fundraiser at the Club. Read about the philanthropic endeavors of the Member in charge on page 40. 11 a.m.

Monday5

Mashiko Pottery Festival TourShop for ceramic pieces produced in kilns reconstructed after the March 11 earthquake in this famous pottery town in Tochigi Prefecture. 8:30 a.m. ¥4,600. Sign up for this Women’s Group tour at the Member Services Desk.

Saturday–Sunday3–4

Family Photos Ahead of the holiday season, professional photographer Ken Katsurayama takes beautifully composed family portraits. 9 a.m.–6 p.m. (5 p.m. on Sunday). ¥25,000. Sign up at the Member Services Desk.

Saturday–Sunday17–25

Thanksgiving Delivery Let the Club’s catering team take the stress out of Thanksgiving lunch or dinner. Call 03-4588-0307 for a holiday without strain.

Monday19

Ca’del Bosco Wine Dinner with Maurizio Zanella and Stefano Capelli The Italian winery’s owner and winemaker uncork a few bottles of their lauded Franciacorta sparkling wine, a well as other varietals. 7 p.m. More on page 11.

Friday–Sunday23–25

Thanksgiving Weekend FeastAmerican Bar & Grill and Traders’ Bar serve up a scrumptious holiday feast.

Saturday–Monday24–26

Thanksgiving BuffetRainbow Café hosts a final holiday hurrah. 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Adults: ¥2,500; juniors (12–17 years): ¥1,800; children (7–11 years): ¥1,500; kids (4–6 years): ¥1,000; infants (3 and under): free. Reserve at 03-4588-0705.

Monday26

Decanted! Pinot and Truffles Experience an unforgettable fiesta of flavors when Decanter’s Decanted! program brings together Pinot Noir, truffles and some mouthwatering cuisine. Reserve your table at 03-4588-0675 or [email protected].

Tuesday–Thursday 27–29

Family Christmas Dinner Show Featuring colorful characters, lively carol sing-alongs and a buffet of festive treats, this annual Club tradition is the perfect start to the yuletide season. 6 p.m. Details on page 6.

Friday–Sunday16–18

Tokyo Theatre for Children presents “Sharnoozle—It’s Magic!”This theatrical institution stages a family-oriented, whimsical romp through history. For details and ticket information, visit tokyotheatreforchildren.blogspot.jp. Supported by the Programs and Events Committee.

Monday5

Gallery ReceptionIsraeli artist Carmela Ben Shitrit launches her exhibition of unique Japanese sumi and kokuji paintings with a reception at the Frederick Harris Gallery. 6:30 p.m. Details on page 36.

Monday–Sunday5–18

Fall Truffle FairHead to American Bar & Grill and Traders’ Bar for scrumptious eats, paired with seasonal Italian truffles.

Saturday10

Open Mic Night Member Jiro Makino and his band host an evening of raw musical talent, guitars and your gumption at Traders’ Bar. 7:30 p.m. Free. Adults only. Sponsored by the Programs and Events Committee.

Saturday10

Hakkaisan Sake Brewery TourTake a rare, behind-the-scenes look at one of Niigata’s most renowned sake breweries, before sampling its acclaimed wares. 8:10 a.m. Turn to page 20 for more.

Monday12

Hana’s Suitcase with Fumiko IshiokaAt this luncheon, Fumiko Ishioka talks about how her search for the story behind an Auschwitz artifact captured the world’s attention and led to an inspiring educational program. 11:30 a.m. Turn to page 26 for more.

Monday–Sunday19–26

An American ThanksgivingAmerican Bar & Grill and Traders’ Bar offer holiday favorites until November 25, Café Med and Rainbow Café until November 26.


Family Christmas Dinner Show

Christmas Tole Painting Workshop During this nostalgic holiday craft session, participants will evoke Christmases past when they decorate keepsakes in a tradition that was begun in 18th-century New England.

Sunday, December 2

3–6 p.m.

Activity Room

¥3,990

Recommended for ages 14 and above

Sign up online or at the Recreation Desk

The Club kicks off the yuletide season with an evening of family entertainment, featuring a festive show, “I Believe in Santa,” by Tokyo International Players, lively carol sing-alongs and a buffet of seasonal treats.

November 27–29

6–8 p.m.

New York Ballroom

Adults: ¥5,800

Children: ¥2,600

Sign up online or at the Member Services Desk

For more information, contact Reina Collins at [email protected]

Coming up in December

Noteworthy dates for the month 7

EVENTS

Letters to Santa

Visit with Santa

Christmas at the Club

Since he’s making a list and checking it twice, be sure to get your wish list into Santa before he sets off on his round-the-world journey.

November 12–December 9

Santa’s Mailbox

¥525 (for a personal reply; letter templates available from November 12)

Ahead of his frenzied sleigh ride around the globe, Santa makes his annual trip to the Club to visit with holiday-enthused mini Members for sessions of yuletide jollity, whispered wish lists and photo keepsakes.

December 1 and 8

1–4 p.m.

Beate Sirota Gordon Classroom

¥1,050

All season long, head to the Club’s dining outlets with family and friends for tantalizing holiday-inspired eats.

American Bar & Grill, Traders’ Bar, Café Med and Rainbow Café December 17–25

FLATiRONDecember 21–25

Rainbow Café Christmas BuffetDecember 24

Decanter Christmas Special December 25

Christmas Grand Buffet December 25

For more information, visit the Club website.

Swan Song


PRESIDENT

by Lance E Lee

Board of GovernorsLance E Lee (2012)—President

Brian Nelson (2012)—Vice PresidentMary Saphin (2013)—Vice President

John Durkin (2012)—TreasurerDeb Wenig (2013)—Secretary

Kavin C Bloomer (2012), Norman J Green (2013), Paul Hoff (2013), Hiroyuki Kamano (2012), Per Knudsen (2012), Gregory Lyon (2012), Jeff McNeill (2013), Hiroshi Miyamasu (2013),

Edward Rogers (2012), Steve Romaine (2012), Dan Stakoe (2013), Ira Wolf (2013), Shizuo Daigoh—Statutory Auditor (2012), Ginger Griggs—Women’s Group President

I n reflection, my four years of the TAC presidency were truly filled with moments and encounters that made all of the time and energy invested worthwhile. From the outset,

I felt the pressures of my responsibilities in tackling a full range of management, governance, and operational issues and I immersed myself in the mission of facilitating the completion of various tasks while keeping the membership informed of TAC’s developments. The uncertainty we felt as we faced the financial downturn following the Lehman shock and the adaptation to the temporary facility as the new project embarked needed to be assuaged and the board, along with our committees, devoted ourselves to handling the issues. Our desires were in harmony, that it was imperative that TAC maintain its status as the premiere membership club in Tokyo.

The three goals that I had when I assumed the helm were - 1) to stimulate the membership by creating ways to increase members’ usage, interest, and time investment - 2) to increase club revenue through raising membership numbers, and - 3) to have the TAC management team facilitate goals 1 and 2. By the time our move to the new TAC came around, I felt confident that measures were taking place and we were receiving positive feedback regarding membership increase and their involvement in the club’s activities and events. Visibility of the president was crucial to me and I made it my mission to ensure accessibility 24/7. The anticipation and excitement of moving into the state-of-the-

art modernized building at Azabudai was at peak in December, as many of the governors completed the first tours of the new facility.

Still in the initial joy and reverie of experiencing the new TAC, the shock and bewilderment of 3.11 hit all of us intensely. I was affected emotionally just like everyone else and the daily tribulations at the club as I assumed my second term as president did not daunt my resolve to do everything in my power to steer our club into peaceful waters. It was in these months that all of us from staff to membership came together as a family and we made the commitment to contribute. We need the club as an anchor in troubled times. This is where we can congregate to interact without fear or reservation. We are here to thrive, and are much inspired by the spirit of its founders, who foresaw it as a first-class social and recreational club – a club owned by, governed by, and resonating with the passion of its members.

In conclusion, I would like to thank all of you who showed your magnanimous support during my presidency. Without the eyes that incisively caught what needed to be done, the hearts that appreciated the work and passion of the people that make our club what it is, and the strong voices that offered input and feedback to help make our club a better place, none of this could have been possible. I also congratulate you for sharing your talents and love for the TAC legacy. It is my absolute honor and joy to have served you. Thank you…and God bless!! o

MANAGEMENT

Executive remarks 9

Taking Up the Challengeby Tony Cala

Tony CalaGeneral Manager

A s your new general manager, I am honored and privileged to have been given this opportunity to be associated with such a historic club and you, our dedicated Members. I

would like to convey my thanks to the Board of Governors, and I accept my responsibilities with enthusiasm. I am incredibly proud to be a part of this team, and I look forward to ensuring the continued success of the Club.

Born and raised in Tokyo, I attended St Mary’s International School for 12 years and have lived in Tokyo for the past 34 years. I am married to my lovely wife, Harumi, and have one daughter, Emily, from a previous marriage.

For the past 25 years, I have held senior leadership positions in the hospitality, leisure and hotel industries, including a period at the Tama Hills Resort and Golf Course. In particular, I have extensive experience running food and beverage operations, bowling centers, golf courses, aero clubs, community centers, tour and travel offices, outdoor recreation centers, swimming pools and arts and craft centers.

Prior to stepping into the hospitality and recreation arena, I worked as a marketing specialist for a news agency. Given my personal journey and passions, serving people is one thing that gives me great pleasure and has enabled me to be successful.

In this latest challenge, I am passionate about helping the Club head in the right direction, and I’m looking forward to working with a group of dedicated staff and Members, not to mention

in a spectacular, state-of-the-art facility that industry-respected private club consultants McMahon Group recently described as “light years ahead of its U.S. counterparts” and “[as] quite possibly the finest private club facility in the world.” I am in total agreement, having left the Club in absolute awe after my first visit in July.

Furthermore, the executive leadership team is by far the finest group of individuals with whom I have had the pleasure of being associated. Their exceptional professionalism and devotion to improving the Club’s services and programs have been truly amazing to observe. As Members, you can be assured of our continuing dedication to providing quality in everything we do.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge Bob Sexton’s contribution to the Club as the interim general manager for the past year, and I wish him all the best. Bob will be remembered for his ability and passion to engage Members and ensure that they were always a valued part of this united community.

One of my aims is to continue Bob’s legacy by regularly listening and communicating with you all. In doing this, I hope that you will gain a clear understanding of our vision for the Club and what initiatives are being undertaken to reach our goals.

I appreciate your support thus far and look forward to continuing to improve the Club. I am confident our best years lie ahead of us and that together we can make the Club a vibrant home for all Members. o

Registered Voting Members are reminded to cast their ballots in this month’s Board of Governors election and at the Annual General Meeting. Under the Club’s new Articles of Association, failure to do so will result in the loss of voting rights for 13 months.

Voting Members are encouraged to review the voting information—some of which will be sent in the mail soon and some will be accessible on the Club website—before casting their votes. For the first time, Voting Members will be able to vote in the election online.

Those wishing to put policy questions to candidates before voting can find candidates’ e-mail details in their statements on the Club website.

Final date for voting: Friday, November 16

Official Notice of the Annual General Meeting for all Tokyo American Club MembersPursuant to Chapter V, Article 15.1 of the Articles of Association of Tokyo American Club, the Annual General Meeting will be held on:

Tuesday, November 206:30 p.m.Manhattan I and II

By order of the Board of GovernorsLance E Lee (President)Deborah Wenig (Secretary)

Board of Governors Election and Annual General Meeting

winedinner


Less is Moreby Wendi Onuki

I t’s a familiar story in the wine business: A family-run winery finds success and expands its operations until the quality of the wine that charmed fans and critics is lost. Australia’s Leeuwin Estate

has been careful to avoid that fate. In spite of its global repute, it judiciously keeps annual production at a manageable 60,000 cases —a miniscule fraction of the country’s total wine output.

“Leeuwin will always remain a low-volume, high-quality producer,” says founder Denis Hogan, 72. “We feel that we are at an appropriate size to be able to balance the high level of handcrafting [with demand for Leeuwin wines].”

Denis and his wife, Tricia, founded the winery in 1974, planting 100 acres of vines on a former cattle farm over the course of five years. That parcel of land has grown to 375 acres, carefully chosen to nurture spellbinding Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay grapes, in addition to other varieties for blending.

The late California wine legend Robert Mondavi, whose famous namesake label experienced its own growing pains over the past two decades, served as a consultant and mentor to the Hogans in the early phase of their business.

“When Robert Mondavi joined us in the establishment of Leeuwin Estate, he was really clear that the wine industry [was] tough and that the only way to survive was to excel, to be uncompromising in our commitment to quality and to only focus on producing wines that would rank with the best in the world,” says Hogan, who will wow dinner guests with an array of his handcrafted wines at the Club in November. “We have followed this advice, and it has served Leeuwin well.”

Leeuwin, situated in the celebrated Margaret River wine-growing region, released its inaugural vintage in 1978 to critical acclaim. Its iconic Art Series—featuring one-of-a-kind labels designed by prominent Australian artists—has been showered with accolades from around the globe. The approximately 200,000 visitors to the winery each year are drawn not only by the wines,

but also by the chance to browse the art gallery, feast at a world-class restaurant and attend concerts (the likes of Ray Charles, Diana Ross and James Taylor have all performed in the past).

Wine, though, remains at the heart of the winery, and Hogan says its focus is still on “quality rather than quantity.” As he and Tricia step back from the day-to-day operations, their children have aptly filled their shoes, ensuring that the winery remains very much a family affair and an enduring industry triumph.

Don’t miss the chance to discover for yourself why less is more during this month’s cozy Club tribute to Leeuwin’s prized annual harvest. o

Onuki is a Chicago-based freelance journalist.

Leeuwin Estate Wine Dinner with Dennis Hogan Friday, November 2

7 p.m.

New York Bridge

¥12,000


PeerlessPinot

Judging by the glut of glowing reviews and 90-plus scores Domaine Serene wines have picked up this year from the likes of wine critic Robert Parker and Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast magazines, the Oregon winery’s ability to craft stellar Pinot Noir (which makes up 90 percent of its output), Chardonnay and Syrah appears to be as strong as ever.

Starting out with a parcel of recently logged land in the Dundee Hills less than 25 years ago, Ken and Grace Evenstad now oversee the production of 25,000 cases of wine a year in the Willamette Valley, including “some of the most remarkable Pinot Noirs in the US,” according to Food & Wine magazine’s 2012

F&W Wine Guide. Members will have the opportunity to discover

exactly how remarkable, when the winery’s general manager, Allan Carter, uncorks a selection of vintages at the Club this month. o

Domaine Serene Wine Dinner with Allan CarterFriday, November 167 p.m.New York Bridge¥15,000Sign up online or at the Member Services Desk

by Nick Jones

Denis Horgan

Club wining and dining 11

FOOD & BEVERAGE

winedinner

C omplete this sentence: Champagne is to France as ______ is to Italy. If you opted for Prosecco or Asti, you may be among the unfortunate quaffers who have never experienced a crisp,

effervescent glass of Franciacorta.The sparkling wine, which is produced using France’s méthode

champenoise, is a somewhat modern addition to Italy’s storied roster of blockbuster wines. It was introduced to the picturesque Lombardy region in the 1960s by a young enologist named Franco Ziliani, who rightly thought the area was well suited for bubbly.

“Champagne took 300 years to be known,” Maurizio Zanella, owner of the much-praised winery Ca’del Bosco, told Food & Wine magazine in 2003. “I hope that Franciacorta will take only 50.”

By many measures, it appears to have succeeded. The sparkling wines of Franciacorta have become synonymous with the region and a favorite among critics and bubbly aficionados. The bimonthly publication International Wine Cellar has concluded, for example, that Ca’del Bosco’s Cuvée Annamaria Clementi is “usually Italy’s greatest sparkling wine” and “can stand up to the best of Champagne.”

More than 100 local wineries currently produce Franciacorta, but it was Zanella who, following an enlightening trip to Champagne, single-handedly shaped it into a desirable product modeled after its French competitor. Although it often draws favorable comparisons to Champagne, he says there are inherent differences between the two.

For one, Zanella says, Franciacorta cuvée is made from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Blanc, while the primary grapes used in Champagne are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The

latitude of the terroir is also different from the Champagne region. A fraction of the size of Champagne, Franciacorta is nestled

among the foothills of the Italian Alps, along the breezy shores of Lake Iseo. The area achieved the Vino a Denominazione di Origine Controllata, or DOC, label as a well-defined wine-producing region in 1967 and the stricter DOCG status—Italy’s highest level of wine classification—in 1995.

“The production process is one of the main distinctive aspects of Franciacorta” in comparison with Italy’s other sparklers, says Zanella, who will co-host, together with Stefano Capelli, Ca’del Bosco’s chief winemaker, a fizz-filled dinner at the Club this month.

The grapes are harvested by hand and the final product is kept for at least two years at a constant 12 degrees Celsius. It is somewhere in between these two stages, Zanella says, that the wine “becomes sparkling and definitively Franciacorta.” o

Onuki is a Chicago-based freelance journalist.

Italy’s Champagne

by Wendi Onuki

As the winemaker at the Napa Valley winery Chateau Montelena during the 1970s, Mike Grgich earned international recognition when his 1973 Chardonnay was included in a lineup of California and French wines at a blind tasting.

The now famous 1976 Paris Wine Tasting saw the American upstarts humble their illustrious hosts and led to a new-found respect for wines from California and, in particular, Napa Valley.

The following year, Grgich co-founded his own winery, Grgich Hills, whose export sales manager, Maryanne Wedner, will co-host a special Napa Valley dinner this month, together with Marc Cohen, the owner of Howell at the Moon Vineyards and Winery,

Ravi Mehta, the president of Metaphora Wines, and Craig Becker, the director of winemaking and viticulture at Somerston Wine.

The evening of fine food and wine promises to be a celebration of this lush pocket of California, now regarded as one of the world’s best winegrowing regions. o

ValleyVintners

Napa Valley Vintners Association Wine Dinner Saturday, November 37 p.m. American Bar & Grill¥11,000Sign up online or at the Member Services Desk

by Nick Jones

Maurizio Zanella

Ca’del Bosco Wine Dinner with Maurizio Zanella

and Stefano Capelli

Monday, November 19

7 p.m.

American Bar & Grill

¥11,000

Sign up online or at the Member Services DeskStefano Capelli

For as long as I can remember, the old adage for pairing wine and food has been white wine with fish and

red wine with meat. This is down to some basic science.

Since white wine is generally higher in acidity and fish is rich with flavorful oils, the acid in the wine cuts through the oil, refreshing the palate in the process. (This is an alternative approach to the customary squeezing of a lemon or lime on seafood.)

With red wine, the mouth-puckering tannins, derived from the grape skins, are tempered by protein and fat, hence the classic steak and red wine combo.

But it’s high time for a paradigm shift. In fact, when it comes to food and wine pairing, there are no rules. Whatever you like works, and there’s certainly no accounting for taste. That said, there are some guidelines that may to lead to food that tastes better because of the wine and vice versa—the holy grail for sommeliers.

For me, it’s about focusing on the region. When enjoying a Münster cheese soufflé or choucroute garie, for example, a glass of Alsace Gewürztraminer or Riesling never fails. Tucking into a risotto with fresh shaved Piedmontese truffles? You can’t go wrong with any of Piedmont’s blockbuster red wines, such as Barolo or Barbaresco. Likewise, a big, brawny Malbec, from Mendoza, is the ideal partner for an Argentine-style mixed grill.

During a visit to Valencia, in Spain, I ordered paella mixta with the local accoutrements of langoustine, rabbit, longaniza sausage and saffron. At first glance, the food presented a pairing challenge, but the answer soon became obvious: a dry, fresh, cheap and cheerful Rosé from the area. It worked magically.

Other winning strategies include matching color (red wine with tomato sauce, white with cream sauce), balancing

weight (rich, marbled barbecued rib eye with a full-bodied Aussie Shiraz, or fresh oysters with a crisp, dry Chablis) and supporting flavors (herb-infused chicken and a savory Côtes du Rhône red, or the exotic Gewürztraminer grape for a spicy Indian curry).

Contrasting flavors can also inspire some classic combinations, such as Stilton cheese, with its salty pungency, and sweet Port, or the rich, fatty decadence of foie gras with a glass of sweet Sauternes.

If you do want to enjoy red wine with fish, try a lighter red, with minimal tannin, and meatier types of fish. One of my all-time favorites is Oregon Pinot Noir with grilled peppered salmon or tuna.

Whatever the coupling, enjoy the process of discovery and don’t be afraid to experiment. Better yet, trust your sommelier. Bon appétit! o

Schaefer is the Club’s wine program manager.

bottletalk


2004 Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair, Clos de Vougeot, Côtes de NuitsBurgundy, France

This is poetry in a bottle. From the illustrious Côtes de Nuits Grand Cru of Clos de Vougeot, here is an expression of Pinot Noir that is definitively Burgundian. An amalgamation of red fruits, earthy forest floor and mushrooms, savory herbs and delicate silky tannins, this wine is both sensual and ethereal. The concentration and power is tempered by elegance and finesse. Accept no substitutes.

¥16,000 per bottle at Decanter.

Kelley’s Wine Selection

Uniting Flavorsby Kelley Michael Schaefer


ElectoralArithmetic

Ahead of this month’s US presidential election, the author of The Victory Lab:

The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns, Sasha Issenberg, explains how campaign

teams have smartened up.

T he first presidential campaign I was lucky enough to cover was in 2000. For much of the year, the contest

between Al Gore and George W Bush seemed an underwhelming one: a low-stakes choice in a moment of unusual peace and prosperity, with few urgent differences to separate the candidates.

The 36 days of post-election scrambling in Florida offered an unexpectedly thrilling and dramatic conclusion to the race, even if it was one that seemed to impart few lessons about how to run a winning campaign in the new century. The election had, after all, been decided by lawyers and judges, not political strategists.

It took nearly a decade for me to

Literary gems at the Library 15

LIBRARY

realize how influential that election had been. I spent those years writing largely about politics—with a considerable detour into the fish business for my first book, The Sushi Economy—and I did so by watching candidates give speeches and shake hands, monitoring the ads they placed and talking with their spokespeople and pollsters about the strategic contours of their campaigns. What I missed was a whole generation of geeks, baptized in the shadow of Florida, who were bringing new tools into politics to measure small things.

In my new book, The Victory Lab, I introduce readers to Matthew Dowd, Bush’s chief polling adviser, who began writing a memo looking ahead to his boss’s reelection strategy even before the Supreme Court had ruled in Bush v. Gore. Dowd made a prescient observation about the American electorate at the turn of the century: it had become unusually hardened across partisan lines.

Whereas one-quarter of voters in 1984 had cast a ballot that included both a Democrat and a Republican at different levels, by 2000 that figure had fallen to 7 percent. Political strategists may have spent the previous generation trying to persuade centrist swing voters, but Dowd saw that there were no longer enough of them to assume they would always control the balance of power. Instead, he said Bush would have to approach 2004 as a “motivation election,” with a focus on finding those who already identified with the Republican cause.

Luckily, two tools newly available to political operatives would make that

challenge easier. In 1998, two Yale political scientists hit the streets of New Haven, Connecticut, to test the effectiveness of direct-mail brochures, phone calls and doorstep visits from canvassers (the three dominant methods campaigns used for mobilizing their supporters) on actually getting out the vote. To measure each mode’s relative impact on voters, the academics randomized their delivery and held out a control sample that received no contact. This was the same method that pharmaceutical companies used to test their drugs, only this time voters were the guinea pigs and they were being assigned doses of political communication.

At the same time, many of the same campaign analysts started looking to massive databases that had been developed by commercial firms supplying consumer information to credit-rating agencies and direct-mail marketers. By 2002, it had become possible to link up these databases to voter-registration records, so that instead of having the dozens of data points available to campaigns in the 1990s (a voter’s age, gender, party registration, elections voted in), analysts began the new century with hundreds (now thousands), including information on hunting licenses, veterans’ benefits applied for and even cruises taken.

Campaigns now deploy statistical modeling algorithms to trawl through all that data to generate predictions about the political behavior of every adult in the United States. These “microtargeting” models generate what amounts to the political world’s version of credit scores. But rather than assessing the probability

of a borrower defaulting or paying off a bill on time, they predict the likelihood of a voter turning out on election day, being pro-choice or supporting Barack Obama.

These statistical models and randomized control experiments—increasingly informed by insights from behavioral psychology—have made it possible for campaigns to target voters at the individual level and assess the best ways to approach and interact with each of them. After only a few hundred votes separated two presidential candidates in Florida, their successors began to make big investments in trying to unlock the secrets of making their campaigns just one or two percentage points smarter.

“Many strategists had been believers that ‘big things are all that matter in campaigns’—the big events, the big TV spots, the debates, the convention and the VP pick,” Adrian Gray, who worked in the Bush White House and on both his campaigns, told me. “After 2000, for the first time, a lot of people who shared that sentiment started to believe that there is a lot that can be done on the margins.”

My book is the story of the innovation that has changed how campaigns are waged at those margins, and none of us will be surprised to see control of the White House during this election decided there. o

Issenberg is an author, columnist for Slate magazine and the Washington correspondent for Monocle magazine.

The Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns is available at the Library.


off theshelf

I love books. I love to read. And I always have a book with me, or at least one close by. That is one of the reasons why I love paperbacks. Since they are lighter than hardbacks, it’s so much

easier to stuff two of them into a purse. In fact, my first criterion when buying a purse is not the color but whether it’s large enough to hold my Kindle e-reader or a paperback.

Many of my favorite authors are only published in paperback, the hardback’s ubiquitous and cheap cousin. You will find them overflowing the fiction section of bookstores and libraries. Only when a fiction writer becomes famous will the publishing company release his or her title in hardcover first.

While I’m excited for an author when that happens, I want to cry, because it is near impossible to read a hardcover standing in a packed subway car. Many of my friends simply advise me to wait for my favorite trashy read to be released in paperback, but are you kidding? Wait for six months to a year for a writer’s newest work? No way. I’ll simply read the weighty version at home and carry another book with me on the subway.

While the summer, with its perfect paperback weather, has gone, fall and the upcoming holiday season hold plenty of opportunities

by Erica Kawamura

In Honorof the Paperback

Sherlock Success

Japan-based British writer Hugh Ashton explains how he found publishing success for his Sherlock Holmes mysteries through Facebook.

His self-published Tales from the Deed Box of John H. Watson MD series of books, which continue to be best sellers on Amazon, have been lauded for their Arthur Conan Doyle-like language and style. o

Meet the Author: Hugh AshtonWednesday, November 14

7–8 p.m.

Yukiko Maki and Toko Shinoda classrooms

¥1,575

Recommended for teenagers and older

Sign up online or at the Library

for lazing around with a good read. Light enough to hold for hours on end, the paperback is the ideal travel companion and doesn’t take up too much space in a suitcase (trust me, I know exactly how many will fit in a suitcase). And although it isn’t as effective as a hardback for providing adequate “snooze cover” for your face, it can still be used as a nice little headrest. o

Kawamura is a librarian at the Hal Roberts Library.

new

Literary gems at the Library 17

Member: Daniel HerlihyTitle: Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China

by Paul French

What’s the book about?It’s the true story of a brutal murder of a British teenage girl in 1937 Peking,

just before the Japanese occupation. Although there were many suspects,

both foreign and Chinese, the murder was never solved.

What did you like about it?The British author opens this cold case 75 years later. He recounts many of the theories investigated by

the police in 1937 and then proposes the most likely theory of what happened.

Why did you choose it?I was curious about the lives of Western expats in 1930s China.

What other books would you recommend?People Who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Parry.

reads

LIBRARY

member’s choice

The Lower Riverby Paul TherouxEllis Hock, a small-town businessman, is at a crossroads in

his life. Deciding to return to Malawi, where he volunteered

with the Peace Corps more than four decades before,

Hock discovers that things have changed—and not for

the better. Soon, survival becomes more important than

rediscovering his self-worth.

The Garden of Evening Mistsby Tan Twan Eng Set against the backdrop of the guerilla war in 1950s

Malaya, this beautifully written and evocative book’s

protagonists are a Malay judge and survivor of a brutal

Japanese prison camp and a former gardener to the

Japanese emperor, whom she approaches to design a

memorial garden.

Narcopolisby Jeet ThayilIn this debut novel set across three decades in Bombay,

musician and songwriter Thayil paints a quirky portrait

of this once great Indian city, its heaving, squalid

underbelly populated by a colorful cast of characters

with whom we journey.

Bring Up the Bodiesby Hilary MantelSet in Tudor times, this brilliant Booker Prize-winning

sequel to Wolf Hall continues the story of Thomas

Cromwell, chief minister to Henry VIII. With the trial

and execution of Anne Boleyn as its central theme, this

novel evokes the fear and poisonous atmosphere of

the royal court.

Man with a Blue Scarf: On Sitting for a Portrait by Lucian Freud by Martin GayfordA fascinating insight into the world of the hugely

successful artist Freud, who spent seven months painting

the portrait of the art critic author. As Freud creates his

image, so Gayford paints his own portrait of a notoriously

private artist through a recounting of their conversations.

Reviews compiled by Library Committee member Genia Lifschitz.

Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937–1948by Madeleine Albright The former US secretary of state discovered her Jewish

ancestry late in life, and this book, drawing on the stories

of Albright’s family and their contemporaries, takes us

from Prague to the desolate prison ghetto of Terezín.


Kung Fu Fighting

critics’corner

Best martial arts flick: Enter the DragonClub critic: Dave Fujii

Best martial arts flick: Crouching Tiger, Hidden DragonClub critic: Alaine Lee

Best martial arts flick: The Karate KidClub critic: Diane Harris

All titles mentioned are either available at the DVD Library or on order.

“‘Wax on, wax off.’ The classic line from 1984’s The Karate Kid still resonates today. A new kid at high school is bullied, but how do you deal with a bully who happens to be a karate black belt? Daniel (Ralph Macchio) becomes friends with Mr Miyagi (Noriyuki ‘Pat’ Morita), who begins teaching Daniel karate in an unorthodox way: painting fences, sanding wooden floors and waxing cars. A great soundtrack that includes ‘Eye of the Tiger’ and ‘You’re the Best’ frames out the intensely memorable finale. Through the wisdom of Mr Miyagi, this movie teaches about relationships, honor, respect and the balance of the mind and body, so grab the DVD, pop some popcorn and gather your kids to watch this classic.”

“Winner of the 2001 Academy Award for best foreign language film, Ang Lee’s visual masterpiece is an outstanding Asian interpretation of the Hollywood martial arts movie. This epic fable features magical swords, romance, flying warriors and gravity-defying fight scenes, all choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping. Filmed throughout China and featuring an international ethnic Chinese cast, this exciting action movie, enhanced by Tan Dun’s beautiful musical score, is a feast for the eyes.”

“Enter the Dragon is to martial arts films what The Godfather is to mafia movies. It seems strange to call a martial arts movie a classic, but it’s really a great movie that made Bruce Lee an international superstar and spawned a worldwide boom in martial arts. The epic fight scenes (in the days before computer graphics and wire harness acrobatics) were majestically choreographed by Lee and show his unmatched raw emotion. In particular, the underground fight scene, which features a young Jackie Chan, is a classic. It’s been 40 years since its release, but Enter the Dragon remains unparalleled among martial arts films.”

Having methodically kicked and punched one thug after another on the silver screen, it goes without

saying that he singlehandedly rendered all his opponents helpless.

Ever the consummate winner of his movie-perfect martial arts mêlées, Bruce Lee flexed his muscles and uttered his ear-piercing screeches for a world of adoring fans—and long before the era of wires and CGI.

After watching the San Francisco-born breakout celebrity stack up bodies in 1972’s Return of the Dragon, American film critic

Roger Ebert said Lee’s genius as an actor lay in the fact that he didn’t take himself as seriously as his craft.

“This sort of stuff is magnificently silly, and Lee, to give him credit, never tried to rise above it,” Ebert said. “If a movie like this were directed seriously, it would be a disaster.”

Instead, the last film Lee starred in before he died, aged 32, was a box office smash and continues to be heralded as one of the top martial arts flicks of all time. Now, our Club critics share their picks for the best martial arts movie ever made. o

smokin’give it a goabort

The AvengersIf you can get past the mildly disappointing graphics of the characters (especially Hulk’s), you’ll be glued to your seat for this slick, action-packed piece of entertainment. The performances are terrific and the characters combine well to make it a gripping story from beginning to end. •••

Take this WaltzWith a striking performance by Michelle Williams (from a strong cast), this good, character-driven film manages to capture what life is really like, celebrating its joys and leaving the audience to sympathize with the characters. Although the movie’s pace is erratic at times, it draws you in. •••

Total RecallThe key to enjoying this is to not compare it with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1990 original. The cast is brilliant, and Colin Farrell and Kate Beckinsale’s action sequences are mind-blowing. With compelling suspense and a solid script, this movie might leave you wondering what’s real. •••Prometheus Although not quite a 2012 version of Alien, this is quite a spectacular sci-fi film and definitely worth watching. With excellent performances from the cast and vibrant, memorable scenes throughout the movie, you’ll find yourself immersed in this world of half humans and half aliens. ••

Rekall can turn your dreams into memories, and it’s exactly what factory worker Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) wants. That is until the procedure goes wrong and he finds himself on the run, trying to figure out his true identity. This movie might appeal to those who haven’t seen the original. ••After a team of space explorers discover clues to the origin of mankind, they find themselves battling for the survival of the human species. While it is an alien-themed flick, some of the scenes are unnecessarily gross and could have been left to the imagination. Michael Fassbender delivers an excellent performance.••Great performances from Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen, but this film about a happily married woman who falls for her neighbor, is another boring love-triangle flick. And Williams’ role is similar to the part she played in Blue Valentine. •

Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) brings together an incredible team of superheroes to save the planet. This movie might have little depth or story, but how can you not enjoy this superhero extravaganza? The cast must have had a blast making it. •••

TV and film selections 19

DVD LIBRARY

HE SAYS, SHE SAYS

All movies reviewed are either available at the DVD Library or on order.

other new titles...Savages Growing some of the best pot ever produced, Californian entrepreneurs Ben (Aaron Johnson) and Chon (Taylor Kitsch) have been bullied into doing business with a Mexican drug cartel. Now, they’re teaming up with a dirty DEA agent to wage war. Directed by Oliver Stone.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire HunterDiscovering that vampires have joined the Confederate forces and that they have a duplicitous plan to take over the United States, the 16th president personally hunts down the treasonous fangers. Stars Benjamin Walker as Abraham Lincoln.

Touch: Season 1 A widower struggling to connect with his emotionally challenged son, Jake, Martin Bloom (Kiefer Sutherland) discovers that the boy has psychic abilities that could change the course of the world and their relationship, too.

CO

MED

Y

SafeBeing pursued by Chinese and Russian gangsters and even crooked cops, a young girl, who has memorized an invaluable code, has to rely on an ex-cage fighter (Jason Statham), looking to settle an old score with the same thugs chasing her.

The Five-Year EngagementHaving gotten engaged a year after meeting, Tom (Jason Segel) and Violet (Emily Blunt) face one unbelievable obstacle after another as they attempt to finally tie the knot. Directed by Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall).

A Christmas Story 2In this sequel to one of the best-loved Christmas stories of all time, Ralphie is now a teenager wishing for a car, not a BB gun, and his family is as eccentric as ever. Expect slapstick comedy, but not much else. Stars Daniel Stern and Braeden Lemasters.

THR

ILLE

R T

V

HO

RR

OR

He is Club President Lance E Lee. She is Yuko Akisato, manager of the DVD Library.


Snow Country Sake Sojournby Nick Jones

Cornerstone of the Club 21

COMMITTEES

Members interested in joining one of the committees listed should contact its chair or inquire at the Management Office. Names in parentheses denote Board liaisons.

Compensation Brian Nelson

Finance Gregory Davis (John Durkin)

Food & Beverage Joe Purcell (Mary Saphin)Food & Beverage SubcommitteeWine Mark Baxter

House Jesse Green (Gregory Lyon) House SubcommitteeFacilities Management Group Elaine Williams

Human Resources Jon Sparks (Steve Romaine)

Membership Craig Saphin (Deb Wenig) Membership SubcommitteeBranding TBD

Nominating Nick Masee

Programs & Events Barbara HancockPrograms & Events SubcommitteeFrederick Harris Gallery Yumiko Sai

Recreation Tim Griffen (Ira Wolf ) Recreation SubcommitteesBowling Crystal GoodflieshDVD Abby RadmilovichFitness Sam RoganGolf Steven Thomas Library Melanie ChetleyLogan Room Diane Dooley Squash Martin FluckSwim Jesse Green & Alexander Jampel Youth Activities Narissara March

Joining a Committee

Hakkaisan Sake Brewery TourSaturday, November 10

8:10 a.m.–6:30 p.m.

¥17,500 (includes transportation and lunch)

Adults only (limited to two guests per membership)


Sponsored by the Programs and Events Committee

W hen Koichi Nagumo, the founder of Hakkaisan Sake Brewery, in Niigata Prefecture, produced his first batch of fermented rice wine in 1922, he

could never have imagined that his efforts would lead to international recognition.

But Hakkaisan sake is now savored by drinkers at restaurants as far afield as New York and reviewed by gourmands like American blogger and licensed sake professional Richard Auffrey, who described Hakkaisan junmai ginjo as “a superb sake, very smooth and refreshing.”

This month, Members will have the opportunity to tour the brewery, which is typically closed to the public, and learn how Hakkaisan crafts its premium sake from a combination of superior-quality local rice and pristine groundwater. Participants will also sample a selection of exquisite sake and enjoy a lunch of Niigata cuisine.

The second part of the day will take in Untoan Temple, the largest Zen sanctuary in the prefecture. Set amid slender cedar trees, the tranquil temple was used as a backdrop for a samurai TV drama in 2009. o


Step by Step

Junko and Ronny Harris

H e’s not leading, I’m leading,” Anne Bille says with a laugh, looking at her husband, Per

Knudsen, seated across from her on a large lounge chair in Traders’ Bar on a Wednesday evening in September. “You’re supposed to lead,” she adds.

“But it’s hard to lead when you don’t even know the steps,” a smiling Knudsen replies. It’s this good humor that powers the couple through their weekly Social Dance class at the Club, where dancers of all levels and ages learn to rumba, salsa and more.

“Your style doesn’t need to be like ballroom, like this,” says Bille, assuming a classic ballroom dance pose with her upper body. “You can have your own

style. As long as you find it, it’s good.”And she has it. While Knudsen gave

up social dance in his youth to pursue winter and water sports, Bille performed at fashion shows in small Danish towns to help pay her way through medical school.

“I’m probably a better skier and a better sailor,” Knudsen says, “And she’s a better dancer.”

“Revenge,” says Bille, before letting out another laugh.

Marrying and relocating to Tokyo after meeting at a high school reunion about 12 years ago, Knudsen and Bille decided to revisit their formative dance days—this time as a couple—when Social Dance launched in May at the Club.

“Yeah, it was like I couldn’t remember a thing, seriously,” says Knudsen. “I couldn’t remember even the most basic steps. But Anne, at least, she remembered. I think for her it’s like bicycling.”

“I love dancing,” she says.Considering his steeper learning

curve, Knudsen says he enjoys the easygoing manner of the Club’s Social Dance instructor, Ronny Harris, a former professional bodybuilder turned champion ballroom dancer.

“He puts emphasis on having fun,” Knudsen says. “Dancing is all about enjoying yourself and he doesn’t criticize people.”

Teaching the 70-minute classes that

Even the rhythmically challenged possessors of two left feet can

become dance-floor denizens at the Club’s Social Dance class.

by Erika WoodwardPhotos by Kayo Yamawaki

RECREATION

Fitness and well-being 23

Anne Bille and Per Knudsen

his wife, Junko, attends weekly, Harris says his approach seems the most natural one. “Why would you study [dance] with stress, if you can enjoy [it] and be just as good?” he says.

After a friend recommended ballroom dancing about 10 years ago, the 56-year-old Missouri native decided to take it up. “People would make jokes about it and I would say, ‘I’m healthy and everything works, so why not?’” he laughs.

Eventually winning competitions across the United States, and meeting Junko along the way, Harris moved to Japan about eight years ago. He joined the Club initially as an aqua aerobics instructor, but in his new role he says he

wants to help Members gain confidence dancing outside of the classroom as well.

“My goal is when there’s a dance or there’s a party, when [Members] look on and say, ‘I want to do that. I wish I could do that,’ they can do it!” he says, emphasizing his point with a few salsa moves and a snap of his fingers.

With charity balls and soirées a major part of expat life, Knudsen says that having the chutzpah to hit the dance floor at such events makes them much more fun. “If you know the rhythm and you know how to do it, you enjoy it more,” he says, “rather than standing there like a sack of potatoes.”

The social side to the classes, which

Members can choose to take once or twice a week, is another attraction, he says. “You meet some people, chat for a bit,” he says. “You know, you get a network of friends, and people actually don’t care if you make a few missteps.”

Making a habit of sharing dinner together at American Bar & Grill after each class, Knudsen and Bille say that social dance is a workout in itself. “It’s also a good exercise activity,” says Bille. “I’m sweating a lot.” o

Social Dance runs every Tuesday (12:50–1:50 p.m.) and Wednesday (7–8 p.m.). Visit the Health & Recreation section of the Club website or the Recreation Desk to sign up.


monthlyprogram

WOMEN’S GROUP

An interactive community 25

I n a Club first, the annual International Bazaar and Asian Home Furnishings Sale are combining for an unforgettable

day of shopping. This two-in-one Women’s Group charity

fundraiser is packed with opportunities to get ahead on your Christmas shopping or pick up some unique mementos of Japan.

“I do a lot of my Christmas shopping for family and friends at this wonderful bazaar,” says Christine Morris, the sale’s vendor relations manager. “I now even get requests from them to buy more—obviously a success!”

The two-day event brings together a mind-boggling array of vendors, from

purveyors of furniture and artwork to antique dealers and interior specialists.

“Every lady I saw in all the years I have done this was happy to find items that were different [and] not found in the typical shops in Tokyo,” says Ginny Orchard, the sale’s longtime food and beverage manager.

The social aspect of the sale, with its café and chances to volunteer, is also a big draw. “I always enjoy volunteering to work at the International Bazaar,” says Women’s Group President Ginger Griggs. “There’s a great buzz in the Club on those two days and it’s a great opportunity to meet new people and make new friends.” o

Shop ’tilYou Drop

International Bazaar and Asian Home Furnishings SaleWednesday, November 7, 10 a.m.–8 p.m. Thursday, November 8, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.New York Ballroom and Brooklyn roomsOpen to the publicThose interested in volunteering should e-mail [email protected].

When Fumiko Ishioka took a job as an office worker at the newly created Tokyo Holocaust

Center in 1997, she never dreamed that a relic from Auschwitz, the notorious Nazi concentration camp, would launch her into an international hunt for its owner.

Looking for ways to engage the student visitors, Ishioka wrote letters to all the major Jewish and Holocaust museums around the world. She wanted an object that Japanese children could see and touch to help the center educate them about the Holocaust. Unsurprisingly, museums were reluctant to donate precious items to a one-room center in Japan. But the rejections fueled Ishioka’s resolve.

In 1999, she traveled to Auschwitz in Poland. After being granted five minutes with the assistant director of the site’s museum, Ishioka tried to convince her to donate something that she could use as a teaching tool. She received a noncommittal response.

Several months later, a package arrived in Tokyo from Auschwitz. It contained a child’s sock and shoe, a child’s sweater, an empty Zyklon B poison gas canister and a suitcase. Crudely painted on the outside of the plain, brown suitcase were the words “Hanna Brady, 625, May 16, 1931, Waisenkind [orphan].”

The suitcase intrigued the children who saw it, and they were eager to learn more about its former owner. After a year of

research, letter writing, travel and several strokes of luck, Ishioka managed to piece together the story of Hana Brady, her brother, George, and the rest of her family.

After Karen Levine, a Canadian radio producer, read about Hana’s story, she felt inspired to make a radio documentary about it and later published a book, Hana’s Suitcase: A True Story. The story of Ishioka’s journey to find Hana and her family, intertwined with the heart-wrenching tale of their ultimate fate, became an international best seller. Since then, the book has been translated into dozens of languages and adapted for the stage and screen.

Ishioka, 42, who will share Hana’s story with Members this month, says that she uses the suitcase to teach tolerance and the dangers of discrimination. “As we still see prejudice, discrimination and hatred around us both in Japan and in the world, our goal is not just increasing the knowledge of the Holocaust among students, but also encouraging them to think about what each one of them can do to overcome such weaknesses we humans all have,” she says.

The center’s suitcase, which has traveled to more than 800 schools, was later discovered to be a duplicate. The original was destroyed in an arson attack on an exhibition in London, where it was being displayed.

Continuing to find new ways of sharing her message of tolerance, Ishioka has produced educational materials that relate

George’s story. She has a traveling exhibition on Jewish refugees who came to Japan to escape persecution and has started a project about several people who, at great risk to themselves, saved the lives of thousands of Jewish families. o

Cannell is a member of the Women’s Group.


monthlyprogram

Hana’s Suitcase with Fumiko IshiokaMonday, November 12Doors open: 11:30 a.m.Program begins: 12 p.m.Manhattan IWomen’s Group members: ¥3,150Non-Women’s Group members: ¥4,200Sign up online or at the Member Services Desk

SuitcaseMessengerby Emily Cannell

Fumiko Ishioka Irwin

Won

g

Money raised over the past year through Women’s Group sales and April’s Programs and Events Committee-organized Still Jammin’ for Japan musical event helped

give 80 children from Fukushima a summer to remember. The kids from 11 schools attended Nanbo Discovery Camp in

Chiba and Northstar Lodge in Nagano. “I fully enjoyed playing tennis, Frisbee and many fun games, in addition to [having] some new experiences at the beach, which I’ve never had before,” says 11-year-old Sakura Yoshinari from Oomori Elementary School.

The outdoor camps provided a welcome reprieve for youngsters who spend the majority of their time indoors because of radiation contamination from last year’s nuclear disaster. “I really enjoyed [camp], because I would not have been allowed to play satisfactorily outside in my hometown,” says Daiki Funayama, an 11-year-old student at Moriai Elementary School.

Barbara Hancock, Women’s Group member and chair of the Programs and Events Committee, says she’s happy to have had a hand in making a difference. “We wanted to see that [the children] had some outdoor experiences during the summer,” she says.

As the singular outside sponsor, the Club launched the summer camp initiative as part of a larger government project to send 3,200 students to camps throughout Japan. Miki Ohyama, vice president of the Women’s Group, worked extensively with Shunichiro Sato of the Fukushima board of education and camp directors to coordinate the four- and six-day camps.

“When I was asked if we would be willing to accept campers from Fukushima, we didn’t take long to realize what a wonderful opportunity we were being given...for our campers and our staff to have the chance [to] interact with these boys and girls and adult chaperones from Tohoku,” says Nanbo Camp founder David Green. “What an incredible opportunity for discovery!”

Hiking and playing on the beach proved particularly popular with the Fukushima campers, as did eating fresh vegetables,

which have been in limited supply since last March. “Small things matter,” says Daniel Junker, a camp counselor at Northstar Lodge. “We went to eat ice cream together, and you know what kids really were excited about? The vegetables that were being sold. They ate cucumbers with miso because veggies were hard to come by.”

“The thing [that] I would like to continue [is] to mentor the children, [so] that [they have] a sense of gratitude in any situation, rather than a mind of the victims,” Sato says.

When it comes to encouragement, drawing on happy memories of camp is a good place to start. “I am not able to express my huge appreciation directly to TAC,” says 12-year-old Akie Toda from Fukushima Daisan Elementary School. “But please remember I will never forget that you gave me such a great memory and experience in the summer.” o

Wenig is a Club governor and member of the Women’s Group.

WOMEN’S GROUP

An interactive community 27

fundraisingupdate

Happy Campers by Deb Wenig


Dave Spector

FEATURE

Small-Screen Celebrity 29

Irwin

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by Rob Goss

Small-Screen CelebrityA Japanese television mainstay for almost 30 years, Club Member Dave Spector explains the secret of his success.

D ave Spector stands in front of a wall covered with framed photographs of him with dozens of Hollywood A-list celebrities and music stars.

Action heroes Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone are there. So, too, are Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt.

The gregarious Chicago native, immaculately turned out in a dark, pin-striped suit and pink and purple tie, points to different snapshots and offers abridged accounts of his encounters. Paris Hilton was “a real bubblehead, but great” and Justin Bieber “a nice kid,” while Victoria Beckham was “a good sport,” according to Spector. Fight Club star Pitt, though, didn’t take too kindly to being told that his 2008 flick, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, was a dud.

“I told Brad the film was ridiculous,” he says. “You know, Benjamin starting as an old man and then becoming a child. He said I shouldn’t do interviews about movies if I had no imagination.” Spector shrugs and smiles, before moving on to a recent picture taken with singer Lady Gaga.

This gallery of glitterati in his office in Kioicho reflects one side of a career that has seen Spector become one of the country’s most recognizable and respected foreign personalities. A fixture in the studios of Japan’s broadcasters for nearly three decades, he reports and opines on a number of TV shows each week.

Spector’s regular appearances include the Fuji TV morning show “Tokudane!” on which he introduces a segment each Wednesday on entertainment and paparazzi news: two of his favorite topics for unleashing his particular brand of rapid-fire commentary. On the Sunday morning TBS panel show “Sunday Japon,” which Spector describes as his “most wild” program, he mixes serious insight on Japanese and international current affairs with a smattering of his now trademark corny gags.

On recent editions, that’s meant explaining how the sex offender registry in the United States works, as well as offering his thoughts on topless images of Britain’s future queen. Spector also appears regularly on the variety shows “Miyaneya” on NTV and “Wide Scramble” on TV Asahi and NHK World’s English-language music program “J-Melo.”

But when a twentysomething Spector first arrived in Japan in 1983, TV stardom was the last thing on his mind. Already fluent in Japanese and married to Kyoko, an essayist and TV coordinator he met while she was working at a hotel in LA, Spector initially visited Tokyo as a segment producer for the American show “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” His brief was to dig up interesting Japanese TV clips.

“I wasn’t planning on being here very long,” he says. “I wanted to be back in LA producing shows there. But whenever I thought I was about to go back, ABC told me to stay a few more weeks. I spent years like that, living out of hotels here and going back and forth to LA, trying to write scripts, sending TV shows back to the US, and doing lots of other things. I wasn’t sure what I was doing or wanted.”

Spector admits that his local TV debut was “just for a lark” after a Japanese producer approached him. “It all snowballed from there,” he says. Regular appearances as

the clownish stereotypical foreigner on the lunchtime variety show “Waratte Iitomo!” followed.

“When I first started on ‘Waratte Iitomo!’ there was a gaijin boom on TV, but even at that time gaijin were still more of a novelty or a token,” he explains. “They were there to be a break from the Japanese guests, and, although things sometimes got out of hand, it was never a case of the gaijin being inferior. We were just being goofballs.”

In a 1989 interview with the Los Angeles Times, he confessed to being torn between staying in Japan, earning “too much money,” and returning to his career in the US.

“A lot of the Americans who come here really didn’t do anything back home at all. Nothing. They worked at a Fava shoe store if they were lucky,” he said. “But I was trailblazing away at the very moment I was sent over here. I had no intention of rooting myself here. I was totally set on making it in Los Angeles, in the television industry. That’s why it’s a dilemma for me. Here, I’m successful only because I happen to speak Japanese the way that I do, and because I have the aggressiveness of an American.”

Slowly, though, Spector began doing more serious programs and the so-called “wide” variety shows. “Then I got to do more interviews and started to write columns,” he says. “There were more opportunities to be serious and opinionated. Now, I don’t even think I’m on television because I’m a gaijin any more, but because I know the Japanese and overseas entertainment industry so well. In some cases, I’m even among the longest-serving people on certain shows.”

In an industry where both foreign and Japanese tarento can come and go in a heartbeat—one minute ubiquitous, the next relegated to gigs at town halls in Gunma—Spector’s longevity as a TV personality sets him apart.

It’s something longtime observer of Japan’s media and entertainment world, Philip Brasor, who writes The Japan Times’ Media Mix column, puts down to Spector’s ability to be both entertaining and enlightening. “He’s kind of the only foreigner that’s survived from the group that was always on TV in the 1990s, and he’s lasted because he has managed to extend his brand beyond the whole goofy gaijin thing,” he says.

“For as long as I can remember, he’s been the go-to guy for foreign opinions—and he actually has opinions. He obviously does his research and knows what he’s talking about, and he can get his views across very well,” Brasor adds. “Yet he’s also cool with the idea that sometimes you have to make a fool of yourself on Japanese television, which perhaps other foreign tarento feel less comfortable with.”

Spector, who joined the Club in 1995, attributes his enduring presence on Japanese TV to hard work. He says he spends at least 10 hours a day staying abreast of current affairs and celebrity news. The bank of 15 screens that form the backdrop for the studio in his office allow him to keep an eye on all the major international and Japanese news channels.

He maintains a wide network of sources, too, and


FEATURE



FEATURE


as he speaks there is a steady buzzing from his three cell phones. He even has Britain’s tabloid newspapers (his best source of celebrity gossip) send him pre-press copies of their dailies, and he receives weekly shipments of American magazines and other media, many of which end up as props during his TV spots.

“I guess the Japanese work ethic has rubbed off on me,” he says. “I would be up and working 24 hours a day, if possible. Even when I go some place on vacation, it winds up not being a vacation. I went back to Chicago last year and Tom Cruise’s daughter was in the news because of a new toy she had bought, so I wound up going to the store and shooting a segment on it, you know, because it’s ‘mottainai’ [a waste] not to.”

Elsewhere in the office are mementos of his other, quirkier work, including a giant plastic fork from a series of TV commercials for a popular brand of instant noodles, a life-size cutout of US President Barack Obama, which serves as a reminder of Spector’s coverage of the 2008 presidential election, and a video game poster of Spector as an imperial general from the movie Star Wars.

“The Star Wars commercials were great to be involved with,” he says. “I loved those original films. I tell a bad pun in one and get Force-choked by Darth Vader. And we actually had to get permission from George Lucas to do them, too, because we used original footage.”

Barely pausing to draw breath and occasionally veering off on a tangent, Spector moves slickly from one anecdote to the next. Amid the stories, he inadvertently slips in the odd word or two of Japanese, then stops to translate. At one point, he uses the loanword hai tenshon

(high tension) to describe himself, before finding a suitable English translation.

“Hyper, that’s it,” he says. “I’ve always been hyper, but especially when I’m in the studio. I get so excited on set, I run around like a hamster on crystal meth.”

But in Spector’s case, hyper doesn’t mean unfocused. His Twitter activity, for example, reveals just how purposeful he can be. Over the past few years, he has built up a following of some 430,000 for his Japanese-language account, where he rolls out a steady stream of often corny and topical one-liners. He’s even published a book of his funniest tweets.

“I started out on Twitter with very specific guidelines for myself. I didn’t want it to be a blog, so none of my tweets are personal; it’s all low-key jokes, one-liners or political comments,” he explains. “I don’t think I would have this many followers if I tweeted about myself, because who’s interested in what I’m having for lunch?”

Preparing his tweets offline first, Spector says he adjusts his posts according to the time of the day. “The lunchtime jokes are designed to appeal more to office

ladies, the afternoon jokes are more business related and political, and at night I go a bit bizarre and off the cuff,” he says.

For those unacquainted with Japanese TV, the abundance of food and quiz shows, featuring the same stable of minor celebrities, and major sporting events presented by effete boy band members can be bewildering.

Spector, though, says that the local programming is more complex and sophisticated than many realize. Compared with American television, he points out, there are more live broadcasts in Japan and programs are more spontaneous.

“In America, much of it is recorded months in advance and syndicated. In Japan, there’s much more competition, with the five major channels all producing competing live-to-air shows. They always have to try and outdo each other and things move very quickly and unexpectedly,” he says. “A good example is when I was on ‘Sunday Japon,’ checking my phone off-camera, and I found out Whitney Houston had passed away. I told the producer to get any photos or footage he could, and in less than 10 minutes we were covering that. For me, that’s what makes it much more exciting to be involved with.”

In the US, it’s common for actors or television celebrities to be contracted to a single network and to stick to just one vocation, according to Spector. In Japan, there is more freedom to do different types of work with multiple employers—a good thing, he says, as fees for TV appearances are considerably lower than those in the States.

But when the subject changes to Japanese television dramas, the accolades abruptly dry up. “The dramas are just the worst. The acting is bad, the scripts are bad, the directing is bad and you have an audience that mostly doesn’t understand what they are missing,” he says. “You know, when they

watch US dramas, they are looking at the subtitles or it’s dubbed, so they can’t really appreciate how much better the acting is. They miss the subtleties.”

Following the success of a number of Korean dramas here in recent years, Spector is full of praise for Japan’s neighbor. “I think that’s because the market in Korea is much smaller and they don’t have any room for bad actors. The actors mostly go through rigorous training at university and academies, and they actually go through auditions to get parts, too,” he says. “In Japan, it’s almost entirely driven by the production company they are with and talent is of absolutely no importance, none whatsoever. It’s just awful.”

While Spector seems set to continue entertaining viewers across Japan, just don’t expect him to add television acting to his list of accomplishments anytime soon. o

Goss is a Tokyo-based freelance journalist.

Spector Communicationswww.spector.co.jp

“I would be up and working 24 hours a day, if possible. Even when I go some place on vacation, it winds up not being a vacation.”

Irwin

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Balance of Power


After months of anti-nuclear protests by a growing portion of Japan’s traditionally politically passive public, the government released its energy plan for the coming decades in September.

The policy includes phasing out nuclear

power, which accounted for around 30 percent of Japan’s energy supply before the Tohoku disaster, by 2040. It also calls for an increase in the country’s reliance on liquefied natural gas (LNG), oil and coal while significantly expanding the use of

renewable energy sources.Steve Del Regno is Asia managing

director for Chevron International Gas. iNTOUCH’s Nick Jones met the Club Member to discuss Japan’s energy future. Excerpts:

iNTOUCH: How realistic is the government’s recent energy plan?

Del Regno: The price Japan is going to pay if it goes to no nuclear is importing energy at global market prices. I think it’s unrealistic to say Japan will go to zero nuclear power. Maybe it’s an admirable target to have, but I think it’s unrealistic. Interestingly, the government hasn’t talked about decommissioning nuclear plants; they’ve talked about just not restarting them.

iNTOUCH: Was the nuclear target politically motivated?

Del Regno: I think a lot of it is responding to what is perceived to be the views of the population. I think industry prefers to see some nuclear power because they know it’s going to mean lower electricity costs and more stable supply and so on. But, ultimately, the nuclear issue really comes down to local decisions. Tokyo Electric’s nuclear plants, for example, are all in the less-populated

Tohoku region. The people in that area made economic decisions and you can’t blame them for that. So it’s understandable that some of those areas are ambivalent about the nuclear phaseout plan. Current industry chatter is speculating we’ll see probably a dozen or so reactors started up around Japan by next summer.

iNTOUCH: Those in the anti-nuclear energy camp say that since Japan has been through two summers without nuclear energy, the country can manage without them. Is that a fair assumption?

Del Regno: Japanese consumers were able to reduce electricity consumption by 15 to 20 percent in the wake of the Fukushima crisis. I don’t know of any country where you would see that extent of demand-side reduction just out of patriotism or concern for the common good. But industry remains concerned that they’re not going to have reliable power at reasonable prices. They’re afraid the prices are going to go up to cover the fuel costs from

LNG, and that will lead to a reduction in industrial production and a further hollowing out of the industrial base in Japan.

iNTOUCH: These costs from the import of additional fossil fuels will have to be passed on to customers. Are people willing to accept a hike in the price of electricity?

Del Regno: I looked at this once during the Korean financial crisis in the late ’90s. Essentially, the cost of imported fuel doubled on a won basis, and that price was passed on to consumers. Normally, according to price elasticity theory, people respond to these price increases by reducing demand, but there are other factors that may limit this response, such as when your electricity bill is a relatively small portion of your total monthly spending and you may not necessarily reduce your consumption very much. But industry will probably feel the biggest burden of these price increases.

iNTOUCH: Has Japan’s focus on nuclear

TALKING HEADS

Member insights on Japan 35

Steve Del Regno

power been to the detriment of the development of renewable energy sources?

Del Regno: The share of electricity produced from renewable energy in Germany has grown from 6 percent of the national total in 2000 to about 25 percent now, but there were huge government subsidies to make that happen. When I look at Japan’s target of 20 to 25 percent renewables, even if it’s by 2030, this just seems unrealistic to me. If you look at solar, Japan is limited by space for solar farms and has a lack of continuous sunshine. Also, renewable energy has a problem of intermittency, so it cannot provide the continuous baseload power that Japan needs.

iNTOUCH: What is the potential of geothermal power?

Del Regno: Despite significant potential, development of geothermal power in Japan has been limited by restrictions on drilling in national parks, where most of the geothermal

fields are, and concern about the potential impact on the onsen [hot springs] industry. Recently, there’s been a relaxation of some of those drilling restrictions, but, from what I’ve seen of geological surveys, even if all of these prospects were successfully developed, the contribution of geothermal power to the overall power supply in Japan wouldn’t be significant.

iNTOUCH: With Japan burning more fossil fuels, where does this leave the country’s carbon dioxide emissions target of 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020?

Del Regno: Japan was planning on using nuclear power to meet those targets, so, based on the changes within the energy sector in Japan, it will face challenges in meeting those targets.

iNTOUCH: Since the Fukushima nuclear crisis, there has been more scrutiny of the way in which Japan’s 10 power companies control both the generation and transmission

of electricity. What would you like to see change in this system of monopolies?

Del Regno: Right now, most of the independent power consists of “inside-the-fence” generation at industrial facilities. They generate power for their industrial needs, but when they have excess power, they sell it over the fence to the utilities. Having independent power producers generating power and then selling it to the utilities as purchased power is a more likely outcome of this current discussion of liberalization.

iNTOUCH: How important is energy efficiency in buildings, for example, as a way to reduce power usage?

Del Regno: Japan seems to lag behind other developed countries in building well-insulated homes and commercial buildings. I think newer and higher-end construction is good and improving, and I think that’s another area that could contribute greatly to addressing the energy concerns in Japan. o


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 Erika Woodward

For some people, retirement is about taking up leisurely pursuits, but for Carmela Ben Shitrit, it has been about getting down to the business of practicing a passion she once sidelined.

First picking up painting about 20 years ago in Israel, the former cultural foundation CEO and travel agent didn’t pursue art earnestly until more recently, after leaving the workforce at 55 and relocating to Japan as the wife of the Israeli ambassador in 2007.

“Upon coming to Japan, I got inspired by Japanese art, especially traditional sumie togei, kokuji and calligraphy,” she says, referring to the ink-and-wash painting technique and Chinese-style wood engraving.

Currently studying with renowned sumie and kokuji masters Kisa Matsushita and Tousen Usuda, Ben Shitrit is now an award-winning artist and this month marks her second appearance at the Frederick Harris Gallery.

The mother of three, who has also studied graphic design, painting and stone carving at the Israel Museum, says she finds her muse in the diversity and “joy” of Mother Nature. Marrying disparate cultures to create artistic harmony, she often incorporates both Hebrew and kanji characters with the same meaning in a single artwork.

“I have my own ‘language’ in expressing the different motives I am painting,” she explains.

Having exhibited her creations from Jerusalem to Japan, the cultural attaché says she would like her work to reflect art’s ability to “bridge the gap between countries, nations and all kinds of differences.”

ExhibitionNovember 5–18

Gallery ReceptionMonday, November 56:30–8 p.m.Frederick Harris Gallery (B1 Formal Lobby)FreeOpen to invitees and Members only

Carmela Ben Shitrit

Exhibitions of Art 37

FREDERICK HARRIS GALLERY

by Erika Woodward

About 300 years ago, when visiting the Imperial Palace in Kyoto, the shogun and feudal lords would present the emperor with beautifully dressed dolls. Signifying happiness and good fortune, these gosho ningyo continue to be made today by the likes of master craftsman Koho Yoshino.

“My wish is to make family heirlooms to hand down from mother to daughter and from daughter to her children, continuing the warm feeling represented by my dolls from generation to generation,” he says of the figures he carves from wood and covers in crushed oyster shells.

Emulating the classical costumes of the original dolls, the 66-year-old artist, who first studied carving and doll making more than 40 years ago, creates the signature faces in his own style.

“As very young children have pure hearts, I want to convey these feelings to all who see my dolls, especially the look of the faces,” he says, “and I hope this will invoke these feelings from memories of their own childhood.”

Inheriting the coveted title of the fifth master of Edo Mokumekomi about 20 years ago, Yoshino has shared his knowledge with aspiring artists through lectures and has exhibited his work in premier galleries from Japan to Germany. He brings his gosho ningyo to the Frederick Harris Gallery this month, with hopes that his artwork will help to promote Japanese customs.

“It is my dream that Japanese people, as well as foreigners, learn and appreciate the wonderful ways of my culture and traditions,” he says. “Every day, I put a big effort into making my dolls so that I can pass this on to many people.”

ExhibitionNovember 20–December 2

Gallery ReceptionTuesday, November 20

6:30–8 p.m.Frederick Harris Gallery (B1 Formal Lobby)

FreeOpen to invitees and Members only

Koho Yoshino


sayonara

yokoso

Razmik A & Anush BalianUnited Kingdom—Asahi Glass Co., Ltd.

Klaus Beck & Janet Valverde-BeckUnited States—Amgen Development K.K.

Todd & Maureen KrugmanUnited States—Ogilvy & Mather Japan GK

Jonathan & Taryn LewisUnited Kingdom—Nomura International plc

Ayako Sugaya & Nicolas RigoisJapan—Merrill Lynch Japan Securities Co., Ltd.

Su Su & Bin Mi China—Hi-Chance Japan Co., Ltd.

Erwan & Tricia PerhirinUnited States—American Airlines

Arturo Romanin & Suse Marie HesseItaly—Volkswagen Financial Services Japan Ltd.

Richard Arthur & Elizabeth ButlerUnited States—MetLife Alico Life Insurance K.K.

Koichi & Michiko Mimura Japan—Sumitomo 3M Ltd.

Nicholas & Nina MorrisonUnited Kingdom—PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata

Luca & Katia Laurenzi NardiItaly—Janssen Pharmaceutical K.K.

Dan & Nobuko UsherUnited States—CP Kelco Japan

Yuji & Yukiko WakiyaJapan—Wakiya Corporation

Michele EatonUnited Kingdom—GlaxoSmithKline K.K.

Michael Weening & Narda EllsmereCanada—Salesforce.com Co., Ltd.

Claudine Ota-Peretti & Masakazu OtaSwitzerland—Model Language Studio

Eddie Lo & Pui Shan AuHong Kong—Merrill Lynch Securities Japan Ltd.

Anjana Pursnani & Avanish MishraUnited States—Anjana Pursnani LLC

Abhijit Mukhopadhyay & Jaya MukherjeeUnited States—PricewaterhouseCoopers Co., Ltd.

Paul Pannell & Madeleine PorteousUnited Kingdom—PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata

David & Clare ByrneIreland—Chartis Far East Holdings K.K.

Tracey & Kentaro HyakunoUnited Kingdom

Laurent & Natalie BoissartFrance—Philip Morris Japan K.K.

Rajesh & Rujuta ParadkarIndia—Citibank Japan Ltd.

Bryan & Vinita BusseUnited States—Salesforce.com Co., Ltd.

Imran & Eriko SharifUnited States—UNIQA K.K.

Carol & Keith AllenCraig & Maria BromleyAnuratna & ChadhaMichihiro ChikubuTarek & Doreen DaoudGerasimos & Faika DorizasGraham & Katie ElliottDennis & Jill ErbIan & Elizabeth Gillies

Christian Andreas Hassing & April TaylorSukeo & Yoshiko KanabayashiAnders Land & Asae Takahashi-LandPeter & Victoria LeaTimothy Ian & Florence MarshallOlga Notkina & Mark PareWakako OharaKazuki & Reiko OkadaYoshimi & Keiko Okuda

Jac & Cindy PriceMichael & Sally RobertsTakashi & Junko ShigezakiDongmin Shin & Myung A LeeGiovanni Bernard StagnoCarlo Trabattoni & Stefania De RobertoThomas & Karen WhiteVernon Willis & Allison Jordan-WillisC Todd & Judith Withers

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

JTB Sunrise ToursEnjoy a 5 percent discount on all package tours and start making unforgettable memories. Tel: 03-5796-5454 (9:30 a.m.–8 p.m.)E-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)

Services and benefits for Members 39

MEMBER SERVICES

Elizabeth & William CottamUnited States—Chartis Companies

Ajit & Gouri GokhaleUnited States—National Instruments

Paris & Marie-Claire PanayiotopoulosGreece—Merck Serono Co., Ltd.

Alexander & Melanie BorisoffUnited States—Milbank, Tweed and McCloy LLP

Gus Garita & Karin JagerNetherlands—Royal Netherlands Embassy

Mark Fecteau & Lori SlonimUnited States—Westinghouse Electric Japan

Jorgen & Annette HarlingDenmark—AP Moller-Maersk A/S

Javier Bernal & Tania MonroyColombia—Philip Morris Japan K.K.

Myles Mantle & Nadiia OlefirUnited Kingdom—Ashurst Horitsu Jimusho Gaikokuho Kyodo Jigyo

Why did you decide to join the Club?“We were transferred from Cleveland, Ohio, to Tokyo in August of this year for our first international assignment. We were looking to maintain a ‘slice of home’ to help balance all of our expected new experiences. TAC had something for everyone in our family, and we are already enjoying its many amenities. My wife is excited to be joining the Women’s Group and is looking forward to participating in their upcoming outings. We’ve been very impressed with the Members we’ve already had the good fortune to meet and look forward to expanding our circle of friends.”

(l–r) Rob, Aline, Amanda and Ryan Shick

Why did you decide to join the Club?“We are thrilled to be part of the TAC community. As the parents of four active children, we chose to join the Club because it provides a wonderfully stimulating yet safe place for them to play and explore in the middle of the city. But TAC also has so much for adults as well: classes, restaurants, sports and social interaction. It really has something for everyone, and we are looking forward to taking advantage of all that TAC has to offer.”

(l–r) Anna, Kristin, Teddy, Warren, Ian and Elisabeth

New Member ProfileRob & Aline ShickUnited States—Sumitomo Bakelite Co., Ltd.

New Member ProfileWarren & Kristin ValdmanisCanada—Bain Capital

Welcome to the ClubThere is now an easier way for Members to settle their monthly bills.

From November 1, successful applicants for a Silver or Premium Diners Club credit card will be able to use it to settle their Membership accounts while enjoying the Diners Club world of access and upgrades.

As part of this exclusive offer, successful

applicants will have their first year of annual card fees waived.

To avoid the hurdles that applying for a credit card in Japan can entail, visit one of the two information booths at the Club—either outside The Cellar (B1) or in the Membership Office (B1).


Carole Yoshida

Like Mother, Like Daughter

by Erika Woodward

One Club Member explains how her sense of philanthropic duty grew out of experiences in postwar Japan.

Kayo

Yam

awak

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INSIDE JAPAN

A look at culture and society 41

A s a young child, watching her mother prepare care packages for wounded soldiers at Yokohama’s US Army hospital at the height

of the Korean War, Carole Yoshida wanted to be just like her.

“My mother and a group of ladies would go in and take them magazines, whatever they needed, and I think it started there with her,” says the Club Member of her lifelong passion for helping others.

Yoshida’s father first arrived in Japan as a member of General Douglas MacArthur’s staff after the war. Later establishing the office of an American insurance company in Tokyo, he was joined by his family, including Yoshida and her two elder siblings, who moved from Minnesota to Kamakura in the 1950s.

Growing up in postwar Japan, Yoshida recalls her mother’s charitable efforts as a member of the Yokohama International Women’s Club. More than 60 years later, Yoshida, as a longtime member of the Tokyo-based International Ladies Benevolent Society (ILBS), is doing what she can for those in need. Founded in the 1920s, the group will host its annual fundraising Christmas Fair at the Club this month.

“What inspires me and motivates me is just watching my mother all those years being very active with charity,” says Yoshida, who is chair of the Christmas event, sitting in the Family Lobby one weekday afternoon in September.

Dedicating herself to raising funds for scholarships for orphaned children after the war ended, Yoshida’s mother brought her to a children’s shelter for the first time one Christmastime.

“I think my mom purposely took me there. I really felt personally, ‘Wow, I am really privileged to live my life,’” she says, recalling how her father’s high-powered job afforded his family a fortunate lifestyle. “I’ll never forget that day when I saw orphans for the first time.”

The visit proved particularly eye-opening for a girl who had lived in a 22-room, European-style home in an exclusive community in Kamakura and then in a custom-built home in Yokohama. “I just imagined everybody lived like that,” she says.

One day, Yoshida discovered an album of letters in the drawer of her mother’s dresser. They were notes from children, thanking her for their education. “That really made a huge impression on me,” Yoshida says. “I thought someday I would like to do the same thing.”

That opportunity would come years later. After graduating from Tokyo’s Sophia University and working for a French cosmetics company, Yoshida met her husband, Soichiro, who was the CEO and president of his family’s business. For the next few years, she focused on raising their two children at their home in Tokyo.

Then, in the 1990s, with her husband having been asked to serve as the acting bid chair for the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, their second home, Yoshida took on another full-time commitment. “I said [to him], ‘Are you out of your mind?’ she says with a laugh. “Because we were so busy already traveling to Europe, the United States, I said, ‘How can you fit this into your schedule?’”

Yoshida, who joined the Club in 1987, relented and joined her husband as they traveled around the world, drumming up support for Nagano. The striking fluent Japanese speaker made quite an impression. “It’s funny [that] our biggest rival was Salt Lake City, and they all thought I was the biggest traitor because I’m an American,” she says.

After Nagano won the right to host the Olympics, Yoshida’s husband was appointed honorary consul for the Nordic countries, which meant hosting duties for the American of Norwegian descent. “It was a very exciting time for me,” she says, “because one night I had the king of Sweden at a sit-down dinner at my house. Another night, I had the crown prince of Norway on my left side and the president of Finland on my right side.”

Witnessing first-hand how the Winter Games helped to reinvigorate a declining rural prefecture, Yoshida says she was reminded of the way in which the 1964 Tokyo Olympics transformed the war-ravaged city of her childhood into the modern metropolis that is bidding to bring the Summer Games back to Japan in 2020.

“These two major events contributed to some of the great growth in the economy and lifestyle of the Japanese,” she says.

But Yoshida never forgot the charitable pledge to herself. So when a friend invited her to join the ILBS, she seized the opportunity. “Due to being blessed with an exceptional, privileged life,” she says, “through ILBS, my goal and mission is to continue to reach out to those who deserve to be assisted as long as the need exists.”

Decades after that first inspirational visit to a local orphanage, Yoshida continues to visit children’s shelters, doing her part to help raise money for everything from facility repairs to skills training. “Seeing those young people struggling,” she says, “I think how lucky we all are.” o

ILBS Christmas Charity FairSunday, November 11

11 a.m.–3 p.m.

New York Ballroom

Entry: ¥500

Supported by the Programs and Events Committee


by Chiara Terzuolo

Enduring Historical Escape

With its invigorating mountain air and laid-back appeal, the resort town of Karuizawa has been a popular spot for weekend getaways since the late 1800s.

E ver since the Canadian missionary Alexander Croft Shaw “discovered” Karuizawa in 1886, the charming, breezy town has been attracting visitors from across Japan and beyond. Located

at the foot of Mount Asama, a volcano in southeastern Nagano Prefecture, the popular verdant retreat is an hour away by bullet train from Tokyo. The atmosphere, however, feels a world away.

Stepping out of the station, you are welcomed by mountain views and clean air. The local culture is on full display along the Ginza, a long street lined with antique dealers, restaurants and stores selling delicacies like mocha ice cream and veggie-filled oyaki dumplings. There are also several shops specializing in Karuizawa bori, a type of woodcraft that is characterized by intricate stippled cherry blossom designs.

Taking a left off the Ginza will take you toward the forest and the town’s tree-shaded churches and summer homes. There are bike rental shops all around town, and the avenues are perfect for a leisurely two-wheeled tour.

The cool mists that roll down the flanks of nearby Mount Asama allow Karuizawa’s iconic moss landscapes to flourish, even in the hottest months of summer, while this leafy landscape throws on a cloak of gold and rusty red during the fall months.

After a pleasant walk or bike ride along the famous avenue of larch trees, followed by a peek inside the wood-built St Paul’s Catholic

Church, a cheese fondue lunch at the Italian restaurant Adagio beckons. The salad is plentiful and fresh, and the sheer quantity of cheese would easily constitute three portions back in Tokyo. If you’d prefer something a little more local in flavor, Oiboshi, housed in an extraordinary adobe structure, has a menu entirely made of ayu sweetfish dishes.

For those with a car or bags of energy to hike or cycle, a trip to Shiraito Falls and the Meiji-era Mikasa Hotel, which is now a museum, is in order. Those seeking a more sedate experience can catch a bus to the mountain pass between Nagano and Gunma prefectures, where the scent of the trees, carried by the cool wind, is almost intoxicating. From this point (considered a “power spot” by some), the mountains, as if dipped in ink, stretch out in a stunning ombré effect.

Another option for nature lovers is Karuizawa Taliesin, a park with Lake Shiozawa at its center and several museums that were once the summer houses of some of Karuizawa’s most famous residents. In particular, Meiji Yonjyuyonenkan Mansion and Suikyuso are interesting European-style villas.

The park offers stunning views of Mount Asama for those taking a stroll or navigating the lake in one of the boats for hire. Tennis enthusiasts can take advantage of the courts, where rackets can be rented, and kids will enjoy the self-propelled monorail, go-karts and archery.

As for lodgings in Karuizawa, history and music buffs will feel

Explorations beyond the Club 43

OUT & ABOUT

TOKYO

KARUIZAWA

Sixty-two minutes by bullet train from Tokyo Station to Karuizawa Station.

Mampei Hotelhttp://mampei.co.jp (Japanese only)

Hoshinoya Hotelwww.hoshinoyakaruizawa.com

Prince Hotelwww.princehotels.co.jp/karuizawa-area/

Oiboshihttp://oiboshi.com (Japanese only)

Kagimotoyawww.kagimotoya.co.jp

Karuizawa Taliesinwww.karuizawataliesin.com

St Paul’s Catholic Churchwww.karuizawa-stpaul.org (Japanese only)

Karuizawa Prince Shopping Plazawww.karuizawa-psp.jp

at home at the Mampei Hotel, where former Beatle John Lennon and Yoko Ono famously spent several summers. The Prince Hotel is perfect for golfers (it boasts six courses) and its free bus service to Karuizawa spots makes it popular with sightseers.

Those looking to relax at a Japanese ryokan inn should head to Hoshinoya, whose luxurious, modern rooms and villas overlook a tranquil lake.

A trip to Karuizawa also requires a short ride on the Shinano Line to Naka Karuizawa, home to some of Nagano’s best soba noodles. Kagimotoya was famous before the railway stretched to Karuizawa and its soba, chewy and earthy in the right proportions, is something else.

Mornings can only really start after a caffeine-packed pick-me-up at Maruyama Coffee, which has branches in both Karuizawa and Naka

Karuizawa. With beans from all over the world, the owners are dead serious about their coffee, and their cappuccino is a cup of heaven. The especially relaxing Harunire Terrace branch, near Hoshinoya, is surrounded by trees and a whispering stream and features several options for breakfast and lunch.

If a dose of serious shopping seems too much to resist, the Prince Shopping Plaza, an outlet mall with a plethora of European and US brands, is right next to the station. Make sure to pick a few pots of local Sawaya jam. Flavors vary from the immensely popular Nagano apple and blueberry to more esoteric tastes like cherry blossom and even milk. Then you’ll be able to enjoy a little taste of Karuizawa at home. o

Terzuolo is a Tokyo-based freelance writer.

Karuizawa Forestwww.karuizawa-forest.com

Go! Naganowww.go-nagano.net

Karuizawa Townwww.town.karuizawa.nagano.jp


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

Welcome Back Wine TastingSeptember 10

Following the long summer break, almost 30 Members

enjoyed an engaging and intimate lesson in wine from the

Club’s wine program manager, Kelley Michael Schaefer,

together with some musical entertainment from talented

American flutist Andrea Fisher, aka Fluterscooter.

Photos by Irwin Wong

1. Women’s Group President Ginger Griggs 2. Mary Moore-Aida

3. Kelley Schaefer 4. Primoz Klemencic 5. Andrea Fisher

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2

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4 5

Snapshots from Club occasions 45

EVENT ROUNDUP

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TAC All-Comers Swim Meet September 23

Cheered on by around 40 spectators, almost 100

swimmers battled it out for Club honors in 22 events at

this inaugural meet. The Sky Pool action was followed by

an awards ceremony and buffet.

Photos by Yuuki Ide

1. (l–r) Michael Chu, Phoebe Fortin, Esther Lin and James Hathaway

2. (l–r) Mariko Lee, Maya Kushner and Waris Mills 3. (l–r) Kai

McGuire, Mattias Lindell and Alec Fujii 4. Naomi LeDell 5. (l–r) Moka

Gagnon, Nicola Lindell and Diya Asrani 6. (l–r) Hugh McGuire,

Ken Onuma and Jonathan March


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

Italian Epicurean ExperienceSeptember 30

The Club collaborated with the Michelin-starred Bulgari

Il Ristorante in Tokyo for an evening of fine cuisine

from northeastern Italy, prepared by Bulgari’s executive

chef, Club Member Luca Fantin, and rare Italian wines,

introduced by sommelier Lucio Artico and Club Member

Tiziano Russolo.

Photos by Yuuki Ide

6

1. (l–r) Nancy and Brian Davis and Bulgari General Manager Troy

Clarry 2. (l–r) Ed Gilbert, Linda Semlitz and Giovanni Odaglia

3. Tiziano Russolo and Steve Romaine 4. John and Ayako Irvine

5. Bulgari chef sommelier Lucio Artico 6. (l–r) Kaya Ozeki, Tiziano

Russolo and Arthur Ozeki

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Snapshots from Club occasions 47

EVENT ROUNDUP

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Fuji Day Hike September 6

A band of Women’s Group trekkers headed to Mount Fuji

for a half-day hike while taking in the natural splendor of

Japan’s iconic volcano.

Wet ’n’ Wild Mitake Valley River Rafting Tour

September 19

Venturing to the mountainous outskirts of Tokyo, 22

Women’s Group members enjoyed a day of white-water

rafting thrills on the Tama River.

1. Back row (l–r): Sonia Gill, Elaine Williams, Nancy Brown, Primoz

Klemencic, Ali Watson, Jill Solomon, Yumiko Murakami, Laurie

Nelson, Holly Schwartz, Sheryl LaScala, Nicole Hudson and Isolda

Perez-Martinez

Front row (l–r): Jill Kupeski, Nancy Davis, Beth Mittelstaedt, Kay Hotta,

Dalia Gold, Vickie Patterson, Cheryl Lachowicz and Michiko Adams

2. (l–r) Sheryl LaScala, Holly Schwartz, Laurie Nelson and Jill Solomon

1. Back row (l–r): Whitney Helwick, Diane McGee, Debbie Ely, Sally

Butters, Beth Mittelstaedt, Annette Beiderwieden, Ali Watson,

Cathy Noyes, Jennifer George, Jill Solomon and Elaine Williams

Front row (l–r): Eileen Wilson, Simmi Mehra, Allison Susser,

Sharon Fuller, Christy Ramos, Nicole Hudson, Heidi Sanford, Maki

Engen, Diana Bohm, Priti Parwal and Kim Graham

2. Taro Ando, Maki Engen, Ali Watson, Annette Beiderwieden, Priti

Parwal and Diana Bohm


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].

Shopping for Tipsby Dave McCaughan

A couple of years ago, I was surprised to see lots of statistics suggesting that Japan, with all its history of early technology adoption and advanced mobile options,

wasn’t online shopping, or e-shopping, as much as many other countries, including the United States.

I knew Japanese shoppers were reticent about moving away from cash, but I also saw lots of evidence of people using shopping and product-sharing websites. That’s when my colleagues and I began to explore the difference between “shopping,” as the process of looking around, seeing what is available and weighing up options, and “purchasing,” which is an act of commitment.

More recently, I read about Microsoft’s global study on how mobile technology is changing the nature of grocery shopping. While it highlighted many marked cultural differences between countries, the report reiterated the obvious: increasing numbers of people are using their smartphones to enhance their shopping experiences.

While in most of the countries surveyed home computers are still the most commonly used technology for online shopping, smartphones are more often being used everywhere to find better deals, browse reviews and search for product suggestions.

That study noted that Japanese mothers still treat online shopping with caution, as they believe being seen to shop in a grocery store plays to cultural norms of being a “good mom,” who diligently pursues the best-quality and best-value items each day.

And yet if you walk through a Tokyo supermarket or department store, you’ll notice plenty of shoppers constantly looking at their phones. While some people are just calculating

prices, others are using QR (quick response) codes on products to search for offers and information. Over the last 18 months, in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear crisis, shoppers in Japan have used QR codes to check the origin of food as well.

Our own study on moms, however, revealed that an awful lot of that screen time is spent comparing prices and products and checking social media sites for recommendations, particularly now that receiving and offering advice is an increasingly important part of the social economy in which we play. The trading of tips has become the currency of credibility.

Take the Japanese website @Cosme, for example. Depending on whom you ask, it’s the world’s largest social media network devoted to beauty. Its nearly 2 million members, who each visit the site an average three times a month, leave almost 10 million comments while reading the 300 million pages of primarily peer product reviews, product use suggestions and tips on where they can be found at the best prices.

Simply, the website is a detailed shopping guide. Yes, it can direct people to purchase sites, but the real role of so much online shopping is not so much the act of paying for something as it is virtual window shopping with thousands of “friends,” all willing to share their thoughts.

Since March last year, when people searched online for hard-to-find items in bulk like water, online shopping has risen sharply. But Japan remains perhaps the world’s biggest market where the real exchange while e-shopping is advice rather than cash. o

Club Member McCaughan is director of strategic planning with the

advertising agency McCann Worldgroup Asia-Pacific.

TOKYO

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Issue 571 • Novem

ber 2012

毎月一回一日発行　

第四十七巻五七一号　

トウキョウアメリカンクラブ　

インタッチマガジン二〇一二年十一月一日発行　

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

iNTOUCHNovember 2012

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

From the TopGreetings and thoughts from

the Club’s new general manager

Two for One Fundraising sales combine for

a Club shopping spectacular

Global Tastings The Club hosts wineries from

Napa, Australia, Italy and Oregon

Club Member Dave Spector reflects on a career as Japan’s most recognizable

foreign face on TV

Tube Talk

Documents

iNTOUCH Nov 2012