Japan's Powder Paradise
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
tokyo FEBRUARY 2012 weekenderJapan’s premier English language magazine Since 1970 HOKKAIDO JAPAN’S POWDER PARADISE LOVE IS IN THE AIR TWELVE DATE TIPS FOR 2012 VALENTINE’S RESTAURANT GUIDE EDUCATION SPECIAL CAN JAPAN EMBRACE THE 4 F’S? A PIONEERING INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL AGENDA INTERVIEW PLUS! All The Biggest Live Weekender Q&A with WIN Great Prizes with Shows this Month German Ambassador our Readers Survey IN THIS ISSUE: The Latest APAC news from the Asia Daily Wire, People Parties & Places, Hit the Ice in Tokyo and much more... FEBRUARY, 2012 CONTENTS ON PISTE IN HOKKAIDO Weekender heads north to Hokkaido’s winter wonderland. VALENTINE’S DAY PEOPLE, PARTIES, PLACES AGENDA Twelve date ideas for 2012 and Tokyo’s longest running society columnist The best live shows coming up a gorgeous Grand Marnier recipe. hangs out with the Jacksons. in Tokyo this month. 11 Asia Daily Wire 22 Hoshino Resort Tomamu 36 American Apparel A roundup of all the top APAC news of the Exploring one of Hokkaido’s most After a great 2011, the LA based fashion past month. luxurious ski resorts. basics brand is expanding in Japan. 12 German Ambassador Interview 31 Education Special 38 Bill Hersey Q&A with Volker Stanzel, Ambassador of Weekender asks, can Japan embrace the Tokyo’s Longest Running Society Column the Federal Republic of Germany. 4 F’s instead of the 3 R’s? Printed in Weekender For 42 Years! 16 Tokyo Restaurant Guide 32 ISAK 43 Win a Skincare Set Worth ¥30,000 Special guide to Tokyo’s top restaurants An international school with a difference. Weekender teams up with ARIPARIS this Valentine’s Day. for Valentine’s Day. weekendertokyo FEBRUARY 2012 Publisher Bulbouscell Media Group Chairman Ray Pedersen General Manager Asi Rinestine Media Director Tomas Castro Editor Stephen Parker Sales Executive Nobu (Nick) Nakazawa Art Director Liam Ramshaw Media Consultants Mary Rudow Matthew Hernon Contributing Editors Bill Hersey Annamarie Sasagawa Editorial Associates Vivian Morelli Ayako Fujiwara IT Manager Nick Adams Development Manager Stephane Boudoux, Finance & Admin Vika Maslyuk Web Development Amit Raj Baral DBA Iryna Sundutova Telemarketing Olivier Queneutte EST. Corky Alexander and Susan Scully, 1970 Published by Bulbous Cell Media Group www.bulbouscell.com Published monthly at the Regency Shinsaka Building, 5th floor 8-5-8 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0052 (03) 6846-5615 / (03) 6846-5616 (fax) [email protected] To have Tokyo Weekender delivered to you, please call (03) 6846-5615 or email: [email protected] For ad sales inquiries, please call (03) 6846-5615 or email: [email protected] www.tokyoweekender.com Opinions expressed by Weekender contributors are not necessarily those of the publisher tokyo FEBRUARY 2012 weekenderJapan’s premier English language magazine Since 1970 On the cover: Niseko Grand Hirafu, Hokkaido, Japan HOKKAIDO Follow Tokyo Weekender on Twitter: JAPAN’S POWDER PARADISE LOVE IS IN THE AIR @weekenderjapan TWELVE DATE TIPS FOR 2012 TOKYO RESTAURANT GUIDE EDUCATION SPECIAL CAN JAPAN EMBRACE THE 4 F’S? INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL GUIDE Like us on Facebook: AGENDA INTERVIEW PLUS! www.facebook.com/tokyo.weekender All The Biggest Live German Ambassador WIN Great Prizes with Shows this Month Q&A with Weekender our Readers Survey IN THIS ISSUE: The Latest APAC news from the Asia Daily Wire, People Parties & Places, Hit the Ice in Tokyo and much more... FEBRUARY 2012 www.tokyoweekender.com WEEKENDER NEWS 11 ASIA DAILY WIRE YOUR gO-TO place FOR APAC NEWS ewly launched Asia Daily Wire is your go-to place for all the latest news from across provide the international community with the Asia Pacific region. Covering business, culture, entertainment, sports and breaking more information about Japan’s diplomatic Nnews, Asia Daily Wire is updated round the clock in real time and picks and chooses the activities. best headlines from sources across Asia—doing all the hard work for you. Here is a roundup of At this rate, we might even see foreigners in some of the most interesting headlines of the past month... Japanese politics one day soon! Darvish, Texas agree to $60-million, Japan posts first annual trade deficit Consumer Appliance Shipments Log 6-year deadline deal since 1980 1st Fall In 10 Yrs ARLINGTON, Texas -- Japan’s best pitcher Yu Japan reported its first annual trade deficit Domestic shipments of consumer appliances Darvish and major league team the Texas since 1980 as it imported expensive energy fell for the first time in a decade in 2011, Rangers agreed before the Jan. 18 deadline to to offset shortfalls caused by the devastating sliding 27.8% on the year to 2.81 trillion a $60 million (about 4.6 billion yen), six-year tsunami and manufacturers shifted yen, the Japan Electronics and Information contract. production overseas to avoid the damage Technology Industries Association reported But will his dad be allowed in to the U.S. to inflicted by the strong yen. Tuesday. watch the games? Don’t panic just yet Tokyo - Analysts agree It looks like everyone has finally switched that Japan still recovered better then their TV to digital. Japan Aims To Attract 9mn Foreign expected last year. Tourists In 2012 Foreign Visitors To Japan Drop Record Japan’s tourism minister Takeshi Maeda said Flu Spreading In Japan, Doubling 27.8% In ‘11 Tuesday that the government aims to attract Number Of Cases Per Hospital The number of foreigners who visited Japan over 9 million foreign visitors to Japan in 2012, An influenza epidemic is spreading in Japan, in 2011 shrank a record 27.8% on the year exceeding the past record of 8,611,000 in 2010. doubling the number of cases per hospital, to 6.21 million, the Japan National Tourism And Hitachi aims to sell another one million according to data compiled through Tuesday Organization reported Friday. finger print readers to the immigration by the National Institute of Infectious Global media hype 1, Japan 0 bureau! Diseases. First victim was already claimed by the NTT DoCoMo No. 1 in cellphone Japan to reduce oil imports from Iran nasty virus here at Weekender, even subscriptions in line with U.S. sanctions though he is the most hygiene conscious NTT DoCoMo Inc. overtook Softbank Mobile Japan’s finance minister pledged after talks among us - O-Daiji ni Nick! Corp. in December as the largest Japanese with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner mobile phone operator in terms of net growth on Jan. 12 to steadily reduce oil imports from Japan to release Australian anti- in subscriptions. Iran in support of U.S. sanctions on Tehran whaling protesters SoftBank had the iPhone and iPad over its disputed nuclear program. SYDNEY -- Three Australian anti-whaling advantage- but we guess bad customer No oil, no nuclear power - looks like we are protesters detained after boarding a Japanese service and poor reception cost them the heading for a hot summer! vessel in the Indian Ocean will be released lead. to an Australian customs ship in a high-seas transfer and will not face any charges, Prime Foreign Ministry hires interpreters Minister Julia Gillard said on Jan. 10. for media Weekender welcomes the move - it’s about Foreign Minister Koichiro Genba starts For all the big news of 2012 updated live, time Japan scrapped the old habit which providing simultaneous interpretation in visit: www.asiadailywire.com has alienated it from most of the world. English at his weekly news conferences to www.tokyoweekender.com FEBRUARY 2012 12 INTERVIEW GERMAN AMB no longer than 2030. What happened after 3.11 is that we decided to speed up the process by eight years. Chancellor Merkel said this is directly because of Fukushima. Not because of the scale of the incident, it is a very different type of situation to Chernobyl for example, but it is based on the realization that even with perfect technology there is still a risk. If a country like Japan cannot avoid problems, then it is very hard to imagine that any other country could. Can you tell us a little about the current status of the German community in Tokyo today? As far as the business community, it seems that many companies who haven’t looked at Japan for many years are now starting to focus their attention more on Japan. Today, the German chamber of commerce has more members than a year ago but if you look at people who represent these companies it’s mainly expats without kids. In the German schools we have fewer children than before too. But it is still difficult to say exact numbers, as we don’t require citizens to register with gERMAN AMBASSADOR Q&A the embassy. Are you concerned at all about food safety After the 3.11 earthquake Germany was one of the most active countries in the international after 3.11? aid effort. Tokyo Weekender sat down with Volker Stanzel, Ambassador of the Federal No. We still have our nuclear expert here and Republic of Germany in Japan to discuss his embassy’s plans for 2012 and the continuing we constantly keep in touch with our French 150th anniversary celebrations of Germany-Japan diplomatic relations. and British colleagues—and we put all the data on our website. Those who left Tokyo for Last year when people were fleeing Japan, How has the disaster changed your Western Japan or returned home to Germany did you ever consider leaving the country? embassy’s role in Japan? acted rationally but once you realize there No. Not at all. And we never recommended Our role in Japan hasn’t changed but our is no danger, there is no reason to stay away German people to leave Japan either.