tokyo JULY 2012 weekenderJapan’s premier English language magazine Since 1970 PLUS HERE COMES KARUIZAWA MOUNTAIN ESCAPE THE SUMMER OF THE STARS WHERE ARE you HEADING? LONDON CALLING CELEBRATING THE UK, OLYMPIC STYLE BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS SHARP MINDS AND MBAS INTERVIEWS Top UK Designers AGENDA M O V I E S Sir Paul Smith and Cath Kidston talk to All the biggest shows Previews of the best movies Weekender & events in July coming up this month ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: The Latest APAC news from the Asia Daily Wire, People Parties & Places with Bill Hersey and much more... ilan_baski_tokyo.pdf 1 6/26/12 11:33 AM Europe’s Best Airline FLY WITH TURKISH AIRLINES TO MORE THAN 200 DESTINATIONS VIA ISTANBUL C M Y CM MY CY CMY K turkishairlines.com ilan_baski_tokyo.pdf 1 6/26/12 11:33 AM Europe’s Best Airline FLY WITH TURKISH AIRLINES TO MORE THAN 200 DESTINATIONS VIA ISTANBUL C M Y CM MY CY CMY K turkishairlines.com JULY 2012 CONTENTS 22 HOT HOT SUMMER A few tips on how to make the most of the scorching months to come. 12 18 24 PAUL SMITH Interview CATH KIDSTON KARUIZAWA This super-cool British designer is as We spoke to he Queen of floral print about John Lennon loved it, the Emperor stays down to earth as they come. her new cafe in Kanagawa. there... what more do you need? 11 Asia Daily Wire 20 Served to Perfection 44 Agenda A roundup of all the top APAC news of the The spirit of omotenashi and why service in Fuji Rock Festival and all the best Tokyo past month. Japan always seems so perfect. events this month. 14 Kohei Uchimura 32 MBA Special 47 Screen He’s going for London gold but, could he Educating business minds of the future The Dark Knight Rises, The Lady, Brave be the best gymnast of all time? and asking them tough questions. and United. 16 Olympic Sponsorship 38 Yotsuya Medical Cube 49 Back in the Day What does it take to support the Games? Medical advances you can rely on, in the A snapshot of Weekender from 1982. Putting a business slant on the Olympics. heart of Tokyo. JULY 2012 Publisher Bulbous Cell Media Group Chairman Ray Pedersen Executive Producer Asi Rinestine Media Director Tomas Castro Editor Matthew Holmes Business Development Director Kotaro Toda Art Director Liam Ramshaw Senior Sales Executive Nobu (Nick) Nakazawa Media Consultants Mary Rudow Matthew Hernon Society Bill Hersey Editorial Associates Annamarie Sasagawa, Vivian Morelli, Ayako Fujiwara, Christopher O’Keeffe, Mace Bertumen IT Manager Nick Adams Development Manager Stephane Boudoux Finance & Admin Vika Maslyuk Web Development Amit Raj Baral DBA Iryna Sundutova EST. Corky Alexander and Susan Scully, 1970 Published by Bulbous Cell Media Group FREE 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] SPACE 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 On the cover: Image courtesy of Lexus Follow Tokyo Weekender on Twitter: @weekenderjapan Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/tokyo.weekender Apology: Tokyo Weekender wishes to apologise to Wipro for including certain information in an article that appeared in our June magazine (p. 40) that could potentially have been misconstrued to imply meanings other than those originally intended by our journalist. 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For more information or to make a reservation, please call +81-3-3505-1111 or visit anaintercontinental-tokyo.jp In over 170 locations across the globe including HONG KONG • LONDON • NEW YORK • PARIS ANA InterContinental Tokyo ASIA DAILY WIRE | NEWS | 11 Coca-Cola to invest in Myanmar ASIA DAILY Coca-Cola is planning to open business operations in Myanmar, and will make “significant” WIRE investments in the country over the next five years, reports the Financial Times. Despite escalating sectarian violence and mixed signals from the Obama administration, who have not given any official indications on business as yet, Coke – along with General Electric and Caterpillar – saw the new government’s liberalization efforts as a go signal. Singapore bans unemployed from casinos Singapore will ban its citizens, particularly low- income and unemployed people, from casinos YOUR GO-TO place FOR APAC NEWS in an effort to curb gambling and its impact on sia Daily Wire is your go-to place for all the latest news from across society. The Singaporean government already bans people who have declared bankruptcy the Asia Pacific region. Covering business, culture, entertainment, and recipients of long-term government sports and breaking news, Asia Daily Wire is updated round the clock financial aid. There has been widespread in real time and picks and chooses the best headlines from sources gambling addiction in the country but this Aacross Asia—doing all the hard work for you. Here is a roundup of some of the move has its opponents, particularly those ADW Editor’s picks from the past month... who feel it is simply ignoring the problem and not getting at its roots. Fukushima China further seafood back isolates Tibet N. Korea on market China has threatens attacks Octopus and decided to ban on S. Korean whelk were foreigners from news among the traveling to Tibet. North Korea has first seafood sold in the market after China sent troops to Lhasa to maintain warned that artillery being tested for radioactive cesium order and prevent further protests of any is aimed at the specific coordinates of a on at market on June 24, while others, form from taking place. A US government number of South Korean news agencies and such as flounder and sea bass are not report on human rights stated that there that it would readily attack if media insults yet approved for sale. The government were “extrajudicial killings, torture, continue, an official statement reported by is presently testing for cesium and arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial detentions, the Korean Central News Agency said. They radioactive iodine in crabs and other and house arrests” in Tibet last year. are accusations of a children’s festival being kinds of fish, hoping to get the fishing Meanwhile, The Dalai Lama has claimed no more than a political show. industry moving again. Surprisingly for that the Chinese government was plotting some, the fish sold out by 3 p.m. to assassinate him. Taiwan Clears China Whale meat Pakistan “a Landmines demand bigger threat China-friendly drops in than Iran” Taiwan President Japan The West’s Ma Ying-jeou has The Institute “obsession” with expressed plans to boost ties with China of Cetacean Iran’s nuclear through removing, over the next six months, Research, which is responsible for the program could leave more room for landmines that served as barriers against organization of Japan’s whaling, sold only Pakistan to get away with its own, the Wall Chinese communist forces, AFP reports. 25% of 1,200 tons of whale meat last year, Street Journal is reporting. The West’s Two Taiwan-controlled islands off the the rest failing to find a buyer at auction, pursuit of Tehran’s nuclear program southeastern coast of Xiamen province have AFP reports. Traders are blaming anti- leaves Pakistan’s increasing production been out-of-bounds due to the landmines whaling activists for the “disappointing” of nuclear weapons and technology, since the 1950s, after the Chinese Civil War auction results, saying that consumers which it supplies to North Korea, that separated Taiwan from the mainland. are intimidated into avoiding the Libya and Iran itself, unchecked. The cetacean meat. Anti-whaling activists Journal reported that the West may be again accuse Japan of masking their concentrating on Iran exactly because commercial whaling operation behind Tehran’s nuclear program is in its infancy For all the big news of 2012 updated live, the guise of scientific research. and can still be stopped. visit: www.asiadailywire.com Photo by Alan Aboud business and spends almost three quarters of the year traveling the world, promoting his brand and looking for new ideas and projects. One of his most recent has been designing stamps for the London Olympics. In a specially designed book made to commemorate their release, he writes, “Of course, the Olympics are always special but this year, exceptionally so as they are in my home city of London.” Sport is close to CUTS A DASH Sir Paul’s heart, he says, “as a teenager, my dream was to be a professional cyclist.” Weekender chats with the British design icon in Tokyo The stamps “sold like crazy” at his shops around the world. He enjoyed doing it but by Matthew Hernon money and then going home as quickly admits it was a “big challenge, particularly as possible. We approached it a little trying to please the serious collectors.” e has designed clothes more humbly than that, really embracing for some of the world’s the culture and I think that is why it has Stepping out of his comfort zone, though, is biggest stars, received a worked so well for us.” something he clearly relishes.