Since 1970 FREE Vol.41 No.11 June 18th–July 1st, 2010 www.weekenderjapan.com Including Japan’s largest online classifieds The Art of Tea Japan’s Dying Trade June’s Blockbuster Releases A New Kind of Recycle Shop Summer Break with Kids Slate Consulting K.K. specializes in the recruitment and placement of executives across a wide range of industries and regions. While our scope is broad, our application is detailed and personalized. We are meticulous in our eorts to ensure that clients and candidates receive the attention, care and professionalism they expect from a leader in the human capital eld. Because of our reputation, we are able to recruit the best people to help your business grow. Minami Aoyama Office, 03-5785-4613 • Akasaka Office, 03-5414-2505 [email protected] / www.slateglobal.com Build your nancial security through Japan property purchases by calling "Mr. Yen Loans", Richard Henderson and his team, on 03-3241-8923 or email UK YenLoans@nabasia. com For more information visit us at Australia www.nabasia.co.jp New Zealand 2010/2 (OR&C 2010/39) CONTENTS Volume 41 Number 11 June 18th–July 1st, 2010 4 Up My Street 12 5-8 Arts & Entertainment 9 Weekender Promotion: Illy Issimo 10-11 Tokyo Tables 12-13 Fashion 14-15 Business 16-19 Feature: The Art of Tea 16 20-21 Weekender Bulletin Board 22-23 Real Estate 24-27 Parties, People & Places 28-29 Families 30-31 Products 32 32-33 Healthy & Responsible Living 34 Back in the Day PUBLISHER Ray Pedersen CONTRIBUTORS Kevin Jungnitsch, Cecelia Martinez, EDITOR Kelly Wetherille Christopher Jones, Jacques Bernard, Ian de Stains OBE, DESIGNER R. Paul Seymour Danielle Rippingale, Aimee Weinstein, Luke Poliszcuk WEB DEVELOPER Ricardo Costa MEDIA MANAGER Tomas Castro EST. Corky Alexander and Susan Scully, 1970 MEDIA CONSULTANTS Alex Brooke, Mary Rudow, Pia von Waldau, Maria Arteaga OFFICE Weekender Magazine, 5th floor, Regency Shinsaka Building, RESEARCHERS Rene Angelo Pascua 8-5-8 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0052 DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Stephen Young Tel. 03-6846-5615 Fax: 03-6846-5616 Email: [email protected] CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Owen Schaefer (Arts), Bill Hersey (Society), Stephen Parker (Products), Elisabeth Lambert (Health & Cover photo by Charles Chan Eco), Darrell Nelson (Sustainable Business) Opinions expressed by Weekender contributors are not necessarily www.weekenderjapan.com those of the publisher. 3 WEEKENDER Up My Street A small residential neighborhood not far from Shibuya, Shinjuku and Yoyogi, Up My Street visits this quiet area offers a variety of outdoor activities, as well as places to shop and eat. At first glance the locality may not look like much, but dig deeper and you will see a handful of diverse eateries and hip fashion houses. Sendagaya is home to major landmarks such as the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium and Sports Complex and the National Noh Theater. The close proximity to Shibuya and Harajuku, along with relatively low rent, has also led many local fashion by Kevin Jungnitsch brands to set up offices (and sometimes shops) here as well. Sendagaya is easily accessible on both the JR line to Sendagaya station and the Oedo line to Kokuritsu-kyogijo station. Hato no Mori Hachiman Himalaya Bazar / Himalaya Tokyo Metropolitan Shrine Curry Gymnasium and Sports Complex 1-1-24 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku 3-25-5 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku 1-17-1 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku Tel: 03-3401-1284 Tel: 03-5941-8227 Tel: 03-3401-0312 www.hatonomori-shrine.or.jp www.tef.or.jp/tmg Sendagaya is already surprisingly calm given In a quiet corner building in Sendagaya is A historic icon among Tokyo’s athletic venues, that it neighbors two of Tokyo’s biggest and a small shop that looks like it could have this stadium has hosted several major sports busiest areas. However, for those looking been transported to Tokyo direct from from events, including the 1954 World Wrestling for a place with absolute Zen and quiet the Himalayas. Outside the building proudly Championship and part of the 1964 Tokyo sans the tourists (like the throngs at Meiji stands a Nepalese flag, and inside shoppers Olympics. Today the futuristic facility, rebuilt shrine), Hato no Mori Hachiman shrine fits will find handicrafts and curios reminiscent in the early 90s, hosts numerous sporting the bill. The shrine is home to pine trees over of a local Himalayan market. From clothing events, as well as musical concerts. The three centuries old, and seems to exist is a and jewelry to bags and scarves, the small sports complex has grown to include many world of its own, away from the sometimes selection nonetheless has a bit of everything. amenities permanently open to the public. choking metropolis. On weekdays you might Adjoining the store is a kitchen, where Nepali These include an Olympic-sized swimming spot a few businessmen hoping for a serene chefs cook up a selection of mouth-watering pool and an indoor ice skating rink, perfect for getaway during lunch breaks, and weekends curries for takeout, which are great for those hot summer days. To use the gymna- see a handful of local visitors and revelers. eating at one of the many nearby green areas sium is only ¥600 for up to two hours, and the on a summer day. skating rink is ¥1,300 for a full day. A ll p ho What’s your to s b favorite rainy day y K activity in Tokyo? e v i n 3 J u n g 1. Yuto, a student in the UK: n i t s c “I like to have a relaxing day at home with h Word 1 friends or catch up on all the TV series.” 2. Matthijs, a student from Holland: “I watch on the movies and spend time with my dog.” 3. Isabella, a designer from Germany: Street... “I love to go out to eat yakiniku with my friends.” 2 / For more write-ups on Tokyo neighborhoods, go to 4 WEEKENDER www.weekenderjapan.com and click on Lifestyle, then Up My Street :// Arts & Entertainment Graz, 1997 Graz, 2001 Wildon, 1981 Wien, 1983 East Berlin, 1986 Re-reading Furuya’s Photographic Mémoires by Owen Schaefer cally begins to work within the confines of same pose. Which one came first is unclear, events that can no longer be captured on film. and you are left equally wondering which is The painful details of Austria-based pho- What inevitably ignites a fascination with more genuine. Was the laugh the result of a tographer Seiichi Furuya’s life are not only Furuya’s photos is, of course, the knowledge joke cracked during a serious moment? Or public, but practically requisite knowledge of their tragic narrative. Christine’s death, was the scowl a pretension for the camera? for viewing his work. Furuya met his wife- and the tumultuous life the couple led to- The images both reveal and hide the emo- to-be Christine Gössler in 1978 while visiting gether, informs the reading of every image. tional reality, and we are left to accept both Austria. The couple were married in less In the “Christine” section of the show, we as equally genuine, or accept nothing. than a year, had a son named Komyo in see an early image from the couple’s first 1981, and then in the autumn of 1985, Chris- year together: Christine in a mirror, a long The section devoted to Furuya’s son is an tine jumped from their apartment window, crack running unevenly across her face. It is equally curious one. Much of it could be the killing herself. She had been struggling a clichéd image of inner struggle, and faced kind of snapshots anyone would take, but for many years with severe depression. with what is to come, it seems innocently there are surprisingly few. In two particularly pretentious. We see Christine later on, lying unusual images, light has bled into the film, Prior to Christine’s death, Furuya’s work in the grass with a large bunch of flowers nearly wiping out the image of his wife and had been based on documenting the lives above her, looking like a landlocked Cordelia; son in a park. These are the kind of shots that of Europeans, particularly those divided by then Christine in East Berlin sitting alone at a most photographers would have thrown away. borders and political-cultural divisions of all distance, a car and broken concrete the only So what is it that makes these two images so kinds. But Christine’s death turned him down things around. The images seem prescient, precious that Furuya includes them, damaged an intensely personal path, and he began a but of course they are not—a realization which as they are? Is it the pure scarcity of images slow and painstaking process of developing, leads one to ponder what tragic images might of the two of them together that makes them editing and organizing the many photos of her be found in any collection of personal photos. seem golden? Or is it the light flare itself that he had taken over those few years, even up he cherishes—its harsh reminder of the fra- to the days around her death. As a result, he But what makes Furuya’s work particularly gility of memory and moments captured, so began to create a complex and ever-changing effective is that he has never been a pho- easily lost to a tiny crack in the camera case? image of Christine, which he felt, at least tographer who attempted to beautify his It is a question that remains unanswered. in some sense, kept her alive.