OCTOBER 2013 Japan’s number one English language magazine ALSO: The Sake Experience, Akita in Red, Momotaro’s Home Town, Movies, Events, and much more . OCTOBER 2013 CONTENTS 22 THE SAKE EXPERIENCE A journey across Japan learning about the history and chemistry of nihonshu 7 28 32 ART SPECIAL RED IS THE COLOR TRAVEL IN OKAYAMA Daniel Kelly tells us about a life lived Across the red spectrum, from a movie Castles, gardens, and the folkloric heart across cultures, and on the canvas monster rock to medal-winning beef of one of Japan’s favorite sons 8 Norman Tolman 18 Lexus: In the Driving Seat 40 People, Parties, Places Catching up with an art dealer, collector, Alberto Estévez’s advice from the roads of Saying goodbye to an ambassador and an and publisher before this month’s show Tokyo and the expat life old friend, and hello to the season’s festivals 10 Sumida Modern 21 Kagami Sisters 46 Movies Traditional crafts move into the Two sisters who have taken different A maligned classic from the 1980s gets a contemporary under SKYTREE’s shadow roads to the world of modeling new chance on the big screen 14 Living Design Center Ozone 28 Education Special 48 Agenda Five floors of home interior inspiration in A look at learning opportunities here and The Flaming Lips, KISS, the Tokyo the heart of Shinjuku abroad, and the benefits of polyglottism International Film Festival, and more Your Move. Our World. R EB AT L I E N Celebrating 15 years in Japan, Asian Tigers Mobility C G • FROM THE EDITOR S T 15 provides comprehensive relocation services to anywhere YEARS R • O N around the world, including within Japan. N A lthough autumn in Japan may not really begin G IN JAP OCTOBER 2013 Our services include home search and move management; until the vending machines start serving hot supporting every step of your new adventure. coffee instead of cold, we have to put some faith Publisher Bulbous Cell Media Group Chairman Ray Pedersen in our calendars too. So, as the mercury drops and Athe autumn leaves start to fall, we’d like to share some of the Executive Producer Asi Rinestine gifts that autumn brings to Japan. Editor Alec Jordan The reflective mood that this season often inspires is a Art Director Liam Ramshaw natural fit for art and design. We begin our tour of aesthetics Designer Camille Perry around Tokyo by sitting down with both Norman Tolman, the Illustrator Liam Akin world’s leading publisher of contemporary Japanese prints, Media Director Kotaro Toda and Kyoto-based artist Daniel Kelly, as they prepare for Account Executives Nobu (Nick) Nakazawa Kelly’s month-long retrospective show. Then we have a look Ohad Elbaz Masaya Okamoto around Sumida, a shitamachi city that has been revitalized by the SKYTREE project, and is breathing new life into Media Consultants Mary Rudow traditional crafts with Sumida Modern, and examine a local Marketing Ingrid Dubreuil interior design destination. Strategic Consultant Andy Maher Then, as we venture outside of Tokyo, we head out on the sake trail. Sake brewing season begins this month, and we Society Bill Hersey follow along with a Sami Kawahara, a young writer, as she Film Christopher O’Keeffe delves into the art, culture, and science of the world of sake, a journey that takes her from rice fields of Niigata to a vast Editorial Associates Vivian Morelli Matthew Hernon brewery in Hyogo. Henry Watts Next is a trip up north to Akita, where we have a look at Mace Bertumen the reds of this northern prefecture, in things as various as a Sami Kawahara Shinkansen with the soul of a sports car and masks worn by Communication Officer Mami Nohmura participants in seasonal festivals. After dropping in at one of Hakone’s most exquisite hotels, we finish up with a visit to IT Manager Nick Adams Development Manager Stephane Boudoux Okayama, the home of one of Japan’s most beloved folkloric Fondue Guru Paul Romelot figures, and we take in some of the sights—and tastes—of this Finance & Admin Sakura Arimura often overlooked city. DBA Iryna Sundutova And finally, I’d like to take up the baton. I’m honored to be a part of the Weekender team as we move into the future, EST. Corky Alexander, 1970 and I’m looking forward to getting to know you, our readers, both online and in print. Thank you. 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) 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 We Define Moving OCTOBER 2013 Email: [email protected] Japan’s number one English language magazine Follow Tokyo Weekender on Twitter: Tel: 03-6402-2371 @weekenderjapan www.asiantigers-japan.com Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/tokyo.weekender Fried Sushi by Liam Akin. To see more of Liam’s work check out www.friedsushi.net ALSO: The Sake Experience, Akita in Red, Momotaro’s Home Town, Movies, Events, and much more . Awarded APAC Destination Services Provider of the Year at the FEM Expatriate Management & Mobility Awards 2012 ART & DESIGN | FEATURE | 7 degree in the subject) and music. As he explains, “my ideas come from every- AN ARTIST where: things I read, images I see. But I like working with mental images. I start with an idea and then search for images FOR ALL SEASONS to build the idea, like photos or making sketches. Most of my works in the studio The Weekender talks with Daniel Kelly on the eve of are not of things that exist.” Of course, bringing those images to life is never his October retrospective show easy: “I live with an image. We battle and we communicate. I hate to lose. In the his year, you could feel it after page), to talk with us about his work, and middle it is always the worst.” the last typhoon passed through, we started on the subject of art as a way His two preferred media are prints and the heavy weight of sum- of looking into the past. As he explained, and paintings. One reason his prints mer’s heat and humidity dropped whether it’s cave paintings or American stand out is the type of paper he uses— Toff our shoulders. It’s not as simple as a abstract art from the 80s, art opens a win- often heavier Thai or Nepalese paper, switch, because we still have some hot days dow into another time, and the way people which has a rougher appearance and to come. But it’s in the air: autumn is upon lived, thought, and saw during that time. yields prints that differ, even in the us. The turning of the seasons brings new Going further, he says, “I don’t same edition. As for the un- colors to the leaves, frost to our breath, and think we care to look back so pretentious nature—and sometimes, more reflective thoughts to our much as being contempo- I live cost—of prints, Kelly’s minds. With the beauty of our rary is the one thing we teacher Tokuriki told changing environment and cannot avoid. We leave with an image. him something that weather that can get us a little record of our We battle and we he has never forgot- thinking, some of us time.” ten: during the Edo also turn to something The year 1978 communicate. I hate period, a woodblock that can outlast the found Kelly in San to lose. In the middle print fetched the changing seasons: art. Francisco, where he same price as a We caught up was making sculpture it is always the bowl of soba. This with Daniel Kelly, at Fort Mason Center. On reminder of printing’s who has a retro- what he thought was short worst humble background spective this visit to Kyoto, Kelly visited the has kept him from taking month (see studio of Tomikichiro Tokuriki, a an elitist attitude towards his next twelfth generation woodblock printer. He work, particularly when it comes to had seen Tokuriki’s work in a book of prints printmaking. that he’d picked up as a student, and one of In keeping with his early background his teachers, Mort Levin, recommended that in sculpture, Kelly’s paintings are not lim- he check him out. What he wasn’t expect- ited to flat canvases. He paints on panels ing on his visit was for Tokuriki to ask him that are bent into undulating forms, and to be his student. Most of the printmaker’s he often makes collages of heavy paper, students lived full-time at the studio, but bamboo and tatami mats, and other Kelly supported himself at first by teaching found objects on top of these panels. It is English in Osaka and commuting to Kyoto over this chaotic substrate that he paints, when he could. He even made himself a creating works that must be seen in per- small watercolor set from a makeup kit so son. One example is the massive piece, he could paint on his commutes between Futsu (Local Train), which is based on Osaka and Kyoto. one of those tiny watercolor sketches that Studying with Tokuriki gave Kelly a Kelly used to make on his Osaka-Kyoto chance to broaden his technique, but it commutes, over 30 years before.