WHERE IS THE LOVE? The Story behind Japan’s Frozen Population Growth TAKING NOTE Global Perspectives and New Designs in Education COVER STAR Songstress May J Breaks Through with “Let It Go” ALSO: A Chocolate Movement Comes to Tokyo, Valentine’s Gift Guide, Art around Town, Agenda, Movies,www.tokyoweekender.com and more... FEBRUARY 2015 Your Move. Our World. C M Y CM MY CY Full Relocation CMY K Services anywhere in the world. Asian Tigers Mobility provides a comprehensive end-to-end mobility service tailored to your needs. Move Management – office, households, Tenancy Management pets, vehicles Family programs Orientation and Cross-cultural programs Departure services Visa and Immigration Storage services Temporary accommodation Home and School search Asian Tigers goes to great lengths to ensure the highest quality service. To us, every move is unique. Please visit www.asiantigers-japan.com or contact us at [email protected] Customer Hotline: 03-6402-2371 FEBRUARY 2015 www.tokyoweekender.com Your Move. Our World. FEBRUARY 2015 CONTENTS 10 C MAY J. M How letting go and learning to love the Y cover song rekindled a music career CM MY CY Full Relocation 7 14 18 CMY K Services anywhere in the world. Asian Tigers Mobility provides a comprehensive end-to-end mobility service tailored to your needs. Move Management – office, households, Tenancy Management LEXUS TEST DRIVE TOKYOFIT BEAN-TO-BAR CHOCOLATE pets, vehicles Family programs Pernod Ricard Japan CEO Tim Paech takes Getting in touch with your inner child— Bringing a chocolate revolution to Tokyo, Orientation and Cross-cultural programs Departure services the LS600h F SPORT for a spin and getting him or her into shape one delicious bean at a time Visa and Immigration Storage services Temporary accommodation Home and School search 12 Reebok CrossFit 20 Tokyo Gallery Guide 30 People, Parties, Places Running with the official brand supplier Centuries of daily life on the canvas, a love 17th annual orphans party and ukulele of the worldwide fitness phenomenon affair with light, and “The Best of the Best” madness courtesy of New Zealand Asian Tigers goes to great lengths to ensure the highest quality service. 16 Where Is the Love? 22 The Miracle Boat 34 Movies To us, every move is unique. The roots—and possible solutions—to How a small boat that drifted across the The American Sniper takes aim, Anastasia Japan’s shrinking population crisis Pacific brought two continents together Steele gets tied up, and TMNT kicks it 19 Valentine’s Gift Guide 23 British School in Tokyo 36 Agenda Please visit www.asiantigers-japan.com or Roses are red, violets are blue; Skip out Teaming up with United World Schools to One Direction finds their way to Saitama, contact us at [email protected] on a present? Bad luck for you! build schools in Cambodia plums come to Setagaya, and much more Customer Hotline: 03-6402-2371 www.tokyoweekender.com FEBRUARY 2015 THIS MONTH IN THE WEEKENDER may do this by establishing ties with schools in poorer nations. Others might FEBRUARY 2015 do it by engaging more closely with the Japanese community around the school itself, while others look to inspire kids to approach problems—be they coding challenges or societal concerns—with a creative mindset. However, as one of our cover WHERE Publisher BC Media Group IS THE stories points out, Japan may be facing Chairman Ray Pedersen LOVE? a considerable difficulty in filling its The Story behind Japan’s Frozen schools if a worrying dynamic continues Executive Producer Asi Rinestine Population Growth unabated. Marriage rates, and with them, the number of new children born every Editor Alec Jordan TAKING NOTE year, have been declining steadily over Art Director Liam Ramshaw Global Perspectives and New Designs in Education the past decades, and policy makers, Media Director Kotaro Toda pundits and prognosticators can’t seem COVER STAR Account Executives Nobu (Nick) Nakazawa Songstress May J Breaks Through with “Let It Go” to agree on just how to reverse the trend. Ohad Elbaz Our look into the matter suggests that ALSO: A Chocolate Movement Comes to Tokyo, Valentine’s Gift Guide, Art around Town, Agenda, Movies,www.tokyoweekender.com and more... FEBRUARY 2015 Media Consultants Mary Rudow there are a lot of questions to confront, Sophia Bai but not as many answers as we’d like. Marketing Ingrid Dubreuil ven if you chalk it up as And finally, this is the month when mere coincidence, the fact a certain four-letter word is around town Society Bill Hersey E that a small boat from a and on everyone’s lips, but don’t let that Tohoku high school, swept Editorial Associates Matthew Hernon lead you to believe that there isn’t time Vivian Morelli away by the 2011 tsunami, could wash enough for love during the other eleven Sarah Custen up two years later on the shores of months of the year. If there’s anything Northern California has something to that recent events have shown us, it’s Film Christopher O’Keeffe tell us about how connected we are on that the world could use more of it— this planet. And the fact that students in IT Manager Nick Adams not necessarily the star-crossed variety, DBA Iryna Sundutova a small Northern California town chose or the stuff of grand gestures, but a to restore that boat and give it back to willingness to keep an open heart, care, Takata High School has something to and act, even when it hurts. tell us about how to build connections across borders. It’s a hopeful thing, then, that Tokyo’s varied international schools seem to be renewing their efforts of instilling their students with a global EST. Corky Alexander, 1970 perspective. As we see, one school Editor Published monthly at the Regency Shinsaka Building, 5th floor 8-5-8 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0052 (03) 6666-4924 / (03) 6432-9229 (fax) [email protected] To subscribe to the Tokyo Weekender, please call (03) 6666-4924 or email: [email protected] For ad sales inquiries, please call (03) 6666-4924 or email: [email protected] www.tokyoweekender.com Opinions expressed by Weekender contributors are not necessarily those of the publisher JOIN THE CONVERSATION JOIN THE CLUB. BECOME AN INSIDER. Published by BC For more information: Media Group WWW.TOKYOWEEKENDER.COM/WEEKENDERINSIDERS www.bulbouscell.com JANUARY 2015 www.tokyoweekender.com You are invited to a night of sake, geisha, and jazz at one of Hakone’s premier onsen ryokan Hakone Ginyu, a luxury onsen ryokan located in the heart of nearby Hakone, will be offering a night of Japanese hospitality, fine food, and unique entertainment. Check in and relax during the afternoon in your own private onsen, or in one of Ginyu’s exquisite public hot spring baths before the festivities begin. Start off with a sumptuous multicourse dinner, and then sit back and relax to watch a traditional Japanese dance performance by six local geisha. Following the taste of old Japan comes the change in tempo, as the per- formers step over to their instruments and deliver a captivating jazz performance. Throughout the night, a variety of Japan’s finest sakes will be poured for the tasting. Spaces for this unforgettable evening are expected to sell out quickly, so make your reservations soon. Tuesday, April 7, 2015 Room rates for the event start at ¥37,000 per person, which includes dinner and breakfast. For more information about Hakone Ginyu, and to see a video of last year’s event, please visit www.hakoneginyu.co.jp Email: [email protected] Over 20 years helping corporate Japan and Asia generate answers to communication issues emerging in the globalizing world Empowering global communicators – from new grads to CEO’s 3 Competencies: Coaching, Consulting, Training 15 Business Skill Seminars Providing training in 11 countries in Asia 50+ Fortune 500 clients Contact us www.globusjapan.com [email protected] FEBRUARY 2015 www.tokyoweekender.com TEST DRIVE TOKYO WITH LEXUS The new CEO of Pernod Ricard Japan takes a spin through the heart of the city in Lexus’s flagship sedan www.tokyoweekender.com FEBRUARY 2015 im Paech, CEO of Pernod Ricard The golden leaves of the ginkgo trees in IN THE DRIVING SEAT Japan, is a man who is clear about Jingu Gaien had mostly fallen from the trees what he likes, and what he doesn’t on the cool, clear December morning when like. A globetrotting, 25-year career Paech got behind the wheel of the F SPORT Twith one of the world’s largest spirits and and closed the driver’s side door. Bringing the wine groups has taken Paech from his native 445 horses of the powerunit to life with the Australia to France, the US, Taiwan, and touch of a button, he pulled out into traffic and several months ago, Tokyo, and is probably headed out on a long loop towards Roppongi one of the factors behind his unique sense of Crossing. After taking several turns through style—he has already been interviewed and light traffic in the whisper-quiet interior of featured in a Japanese men’s magazine spread the sedan, several things became quite clear: Name: Tim Paech on executive fashion. So, whether Paech is “You’ve got a lot of space, and you feel like Job: CEO, Pernod Ricard Japan helping to fine-tune the launch of a new prod- you’ve got a bit of status on the road. It’s got Nationality: Australian uct, or choosing the vehicle that will get him a tremendous amount of power—the steering Interests: Golf, Australian Football, from one point to another, high quality and wheel feels tight and responsive—but the car attention to detail are always on his mind.