Ryuzo Nakata Private Salon Party @Tokyo

Went to Ryuzo Nakata's private salon party the other day.
He's a famous designer in Paris, not too commercialized in Japan but has lots of fan who is crazy about his clothes.
Only his friends or his friend's friend can go to this event so there was lots of clothes that can not buy at the store, with very good discount.
I wasn't planning to by any clothes (cause I need to save money for holidays), but I finally bought 2 dresses... it was too adorable. His clothes are amazing cause any age can wear (20-60 yld) and is sexy, cute, feminine, sensitive, elegant... has all the concept that all women want to be. Or I would say it has the style how men want women to be. Has men's collection too.

He features embroidery, swarovski design attached to jeans, jacket, dress etc. He was saying in one interview that he puts the embroidery where he wants to touch on womens body. He design the clothes imagining how elegant it will look when undressing the dress. wow... that is so romantic...Every single clothes are made one by one, by hand so there are no other person wearing that clothes. It is very special.

I met him directly, drank wine together until late at night :) I got the image that he is very friendly, energetic, creative, wine and women lover.

One more thing that was so interesting were the people who came. Wine freak, president of one company teaching women "how to get married" or "how to get a better man and not losing", lives in Paris, wife of a doctor who's crazy about his clothes (she bought 12 clothes!) etc. Everyone was energetic and positive so I got lots of energy from them. ( I'm kinda stressful at work these days...)

Went there around 6pm, stayed there until 12am... trying all kinds of dresses, drinking wine & champagne, chatting with all kinds of people. I had such a wonderful time!

Thanks to my friend who invited me to this party!

Ryuzo Nakata Exclusive Paris

http://www.ryuzonakata.fr/

Hanami with Prime Minister

I went to the event which was called "Hanami with Fukuda prime minister" @ Shinjyuku Gyoen Park.

It was very very interesting. I was invited from a friend's friend who has some connection with the goverment, you need to have the invitation from prime minister, or I guess LDP is the host . The whole park was reserved for this and there were so many people from all kinds of world; politicians, ambassadors, soilders, TV stars etc. Many people I see on TV news!
Since my friend is dealing with in the middle eastern countries, I met many ambassadors from Africa and Middle-East. I remember Eygpt ambassador was a very nice guy.
The second picture below, who's drinking sake is the prime minister, Fukuda Yasuo. Since many flowers were already fallen, someone expressed that "Fukuda government is almost over like the cherry blossom here..." haha, quite a harsh comment.

Family Party

I went to my dad's family party yesterday. It was held in Takanawa Prince Hotel in Tokyo, very nice place. There were about 3,000 people attending, everyone was chatting, drinking, eating, singing all kind of things.

I was introduced to many of my father's staff and everyone told me that my father is a hard worker, very strict person. He did a speach at the end and it was fantastic. I think it moved many people's heart and I even saw some tears in his eyes. It was a very hard year for my father and all of the staff but finally it succeded. I had few people telling me that they quit the former company and came to this company because of my dad. "Without him, I wouldn't be here.", one said.
Everyone respected him and I was very proud of being his daughter.

Happy Halloween!!!

This weekend was a Halloween party!

I thought I was too old to dress up but hell no! There were so many people (young and old, japanese and foreigners) in the street dresse up in costumes that we wanted to wear something also.
We were planning to go home but bought this dress at 12am midnight and went out partying.
I can't believe I walked down the street in a China dress! but since surroundings were much more crazy it wasn't embarrassing at all.

Happy Halloween everyone (^^)

Here comes this season again, Luminarie

Kobe Luminarie ( http://www.kobe-luminarie.jp/ ) just started~!
This is the big Christmas event in Kobe where lots and lots of people come to visit. even there is a tour for this from around Japan.

This illumination started in 1995, after the Big Hanshin Earthquake, to encourage and to give hope to the victims after the disaster. Since then, it's held every year for the memorial of the earthquake and fund raising but it's most likely for lovers and couples to you know, be "love-love".

Each year it has a differnet design, different theme. This year's theme is "L'Incanto Del Cielo" which means incantation or the enchantment of the sky. Designed by an Italian living in Kobe.

I really love this illumination. So beautiful, so breath-taking. With the gospel music and billions of lights in gorgeous designs, it is soooo romantic. You will forget the freezing air, the crowd (you can't imagine how many people there are), and bad things happened to you that day.

I see this every every year, and I'm glad that I could see this year again.

When I see this, makes me think that winter is here, Christmas is here and it's almost end of the year. 20 days left to go guys!

またまたルミナリエの季節がやってきました！
本当に綺麗！！！何回見ても飽きない。ルミナリエはアメリカにいた時以外、毎年見てるけど、
これを見るたびに冬の到来、クリスマス、そして1年の終わりをしみじみと感じる。

来年は誰と見るんだろう。。。？

Halloween Party☆

Happy Halloween guys!!!

ハッピー　ハロウィン☆

from devil Mayu & Eri

結婚式。Wedding

今週初めて友達の結婚式へ行ってきました！

親戚のは行ったことあるけど、友達は初めてだったから「もうそんな歳のなったんだなぁ～。」ってしみじみ思います。。すごく素晴らしい結婚式でした☆神戸の結構式場で、もう超ゴージャス＆ラブリー☆
その友達はディズニー好きなので、曲や映像とかDisneyで揃えてたり、演出もシンデレラ♪ 驚いたのは最後のデザートビュッフェ。すごい種類のケーキやデザートが並んでて、どれも超おいしそうだし、シェフはどんどんお皿にのせていくし。もうおなかが破裂しそうだった。あと、感動したのは最後に新婦が歌った歌。彼女はオペラをやってて、ジャズクラブとかで歌ってるほど上手やねんけど、一番好きな歌の歌詞を自作の母に向けた感謝の気持ちに替えて歌って・・思わず目が潤んでしまった。感動ました。ありがとう。

結婚。
私は早く結婚したいっていうよりは、この人と一生一緒にいたい！と思った人が出来たときに結婚したい。だから今すぐでもいいし、10年後でもいい。If there's the right person. 私だけの王子様が現れればね☆ でもその王子様が今、どこで何してるのかは気になる。もう出会ってるのかなぁとか。年頃の女の子なら誰もが気になるところよね？

っていっても、やっぱ結婚式に出席すると、「いいなぁ、私も結婚したいなぁ」って気分になる。永遠の愛の誓いに華やかな衣装と披露宴。私そういうの大好きだから、早くしたくなっちゃう。
チャペルや教会で真っ白のウエディングドレスもいいけど和装もいいかもと思った。それまでは絶対ドレスと思ってたけど、日本人だし英語で話す牧師さんにちょっと違和感を感じたから。日本人しかいないのに、何故に英語！？と思わずつっこんでしまったもん。でも牧師が日本人でも変だしね。う～ん。。まぁ実際結婚するときに考えたらいいか。

でも華やかな衣装の裏には厳しい現実や問題があるのも事実。結婚式2日前に友達に会っていろいろ話聞いたけど、人生ってうまくいかないなぁとしみじみ。その日どんだけのろけられるのだろうと思ってたら、実際はいろいろ大変そうで。。家族やお金も絡んでくるしね。あと、もう一つ思ったのは、人生何が起こるか本当にわからないということ。結婚しないと思っていても、いつどこで出会って、いつ結婚するかわからないよ。その友達も超意外だったしね。うん、びっくり。

とまぁいろんな感情がごちゃごちゃ渦巻いた一週間でした。でも結婚式は本当に本当に良かった！！
Congratulations, Rie♪　お幸せにね♡

I went to my friend's wedding for the first time!!

I've been to my family's wedding but never friend's. It was a beautiful beautiful wedding.
It was held at a gorgeous wedding hall, Christian style. It's very popular to have a christian wedding in Japan. Yes, even though you're not christian. Priest, chapel, carol, white wedding dress... etc. My friend is a big fan of Disney so all the music and entertainment was Disney♪and at the end, the bride sang an Opera. She sings opera at jazz bar sometimes so she's very good but this time she made her song to her mom, putting her appreciation into her own words. wow, her song moved me into tears. It was just beautiful.

Marrige.
A lot of women when they get into their late 20s, they feel in a rush. (I'm still 23, btw) Especially in Japan, I think.　There's a famous ironic phrase for 25 yld women, I forgot though... :(
Anyway, I don't care what age I get married. I want to get married when found a guy that I want to get married. If I felt I want to be with him forever, that's the time. So it can be right now or 10 years later. If there's my prince:) But I do wanna know where's my prince right now?? Have I already met? What's he like? I'm sure all the girls are wondering about this.

But if you attend a wedding, it makes you feel you wanna get married, you know? vow for the eternal love, gorgeous wedding dress and party...etc. I love all those lovely, sweet things. I kinda felt "Japanese traditional style" wedding is good too. with white, gorgeous kimono and hakama for the groom, sake, shrine etc. I felt a little wired at the chapel cause priest was speaking English even we were all Japanese, singing and saying "amen" even though we're not Christian. Isn't this wired? But you know, we're Japanese. Japanese love fancy things. same for Christmas.
Anyway, one thing I thought is that even people look very happy, you never know what's underneath that fancy dress. I met the bride 2 days before wedding. I was prepared to hear this all love-love story but...there was the reality. She had problems and was not 100% happy about the marrige. Life doen't go that well, I guess. One more thing I thought is that you never know when you meet your partner, when you get married. Anything can happen in your life! My friend was the example. I was so surprised of her marrige and of him too. He was totally different from her type.

Ok, I wrote enough. well, I had many feeling going through my mind this week.
But I just wanna say that it was a wonderful wedding!!

Congratulations Rie and may you be happy forever!!!

Hanabi festival~!

I went to this private beach party held in Ashiya city.
It was the day when there were hanabi(fireworks) festival so we could see the fireworks right in front of us and it was nice:) Only the invited people can go and my friend had the pass so I could go with him:)
The host was the company who owns clubs, organise party and event. Lots of people from different business field, many beautiful girls, nice food and drinks for free... wow, it was gorgeous. we got there a bit late so most of the entertainment was over though...:(



It's been raining terribly all over Japan. about 15 people died because of the heavy rain and landslide. and still raining... Unbelievable.

where is the summer??

海遊館 Osaka Aquarium!!

wow, I haven't written this for a long time... more than a month. it's already March!? I can't believe it... I've been busy working, meeting friends & planning for my last 1 month vacation before I start working in April.

Anyways, last week I went to this aquarium in Osaka called Kaiyukan. It was quite big.
I haven't been to an aquarium in a long time but it was very nice! There's this special atmosphere when you're in the aquarium. Fish swimming elegantly in a huge tank made me feel like I was swimming with them in the ocean like a marmaid! I felt the time stop. I felt relaxed and comfortable.

Enjoy the pictures I took!!

久しぶりにﾌﾞﾛｸﾞを書くわ～最近はバイトや人と会ったり、3月の旅行計画などで忙しかったかな。

先週、久しぶりに水族館に行った。大阪の海遊館へ。ほんと久しぶりに水族館に行ったけど、水族館っていい！魚たちが優雅に泳いでいるのを見て、私も一緒に海の中を泳いでいるような気がしてすごく落ちつく。ぼぉ～っといつまででも見ておける感じ。



my favorite, Jelly fish / Mambo!! it was huge...

Kimono Pics~!

I wore kimono the other day! It's a tradition to wear kimonos in New Year in Japan. or I would say it used to be. Not many people wear kimono these days but I love wearing kimono and since I have some, I try to wear them as much as I can. Many people say it is so tight and too tiring to wear kimonos but I don't mind at all.




My sister and I wore kimono together and we went to visit our grand parent's place. We were a little embarresed on the way cause many people looked at us in kimono. My dad looked pretty happy this day. I was happy too:) My mom was tired putting kimonos on us and my sis looked exhausted wearing the kimono. She wanted to take it off as soon as possible.

神戸ルミナリエ開催♪Kobe Luminarie

ついに今年も神戸ルミナリエスタート！今年で11年目。阪神大震災の復興と被災者の希望を込めて1995年から始まった行事。毎年行ってたんだけど、去年は留学でいなくて行けなかったから今年は行かなきゃ☆本物を見るのが楽しみ。人が多くて嫌って言う人もいるけど、あれは絶対見る価値あるよ～平日にいけばまだましだし。神戸に住んでてよかった～って思う事の一つ。週末はもうギュウギュウ詰めで小さい子がいる人とかは絶対行かない方がいい。押しつぶされてみててかわいそうになる。そんでもって母親が無理やり引っ張ってるんよね。。ということで、来週行く予定です♪
Kobe "Luminarie" started☆☆ Those of you who don't know about this, this is a illimination festival held in Kobe to courage people who suffered from the Hanshin Big Earthquake happened in 1995. It is held every winter since this earthquake and this is the 11th year. (Every year they have a different design!) I used to go see this every year except last year(cause I was in Seattle) so I am soooo excited that I can see this year☆ The illuminations are lightened up along 1 big street and leads to the park. and in the park, you can get into the center of the wall made out of　millions of lights. 360°surrounded by illiminations!!! So beatiful and breathtaking. Some people say that it's too crowded so they don't wanna go but it's worth it. If you avoid going there on the weekends, it's not that bad. But DO NOT take little kids there in the weekends cause they'll be squashed n dead. I saw some moms taking their kids, dragging them around but they didn't seem to be pleased. Poor little kids... anyways, I'm planning to go see next week:)

Global EXPO 2005 in Japan

愛知万博2005いってきました！！
　前日友達の家に泊めてもらって、次の日昼過ぎに到着。いい天気で超暑く、人いっぱいだった。私たちは待つのが嫌だったから（企業間とかは朝6時くらいにいって4時間くらい待っても入れないかもしれないほど）、待たずに行けるところを行くことにした。でもその計画にして正解！！待ってたらそれだけで疲れて、一日楽しめないよ。
　昼過ぎてから行ったにもかかわらず、覚えてる限りでは、Canada, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Napel, Iran, France, Iｔaly, Turkey, Coratia, Bulgaria, South Afriaca Community, Spainなどのパビリオンに行った。
　しかも友達がカナダ政府代表の人が知り合いで、カナダ館はVIPとして入れ、Office にまで入れてもらった☆とても気さくないい人だった。フランス館も、友達の双子がそこでバイトしてたから並ばずにスッと入れた！やっぱConnectionは大事だねぇ～。
　南アメリカ共同体では、民芸品とかアクセサリーとかが国別に売っててんけど、友達と二人でブルキナファソ人に気に入られちゃって「If you'll be my friend i'll give you present」って言ったからついていったら、本当に彼の店で売ってたものくれた！「chose one from here」っていうから一番かわいかったターコイズのネックレスとブレスもらっちゃった☆前から欲しかったからうれしい☆
　夜はドイツ館でごはん食べてたら、ウエイターさん（ポール・ベタニーをかっこ悪くした感じ）がおもしろくって笑えた。写真撮ろうって言われたし。ドイツ人はみんな鼻高いなぁ～。しみじみ思った。
　その後もいろいろあって、なんだかんだで閉館時刻30分過ぎて出た。本当にいろんな国の人がいて、こんな国際イベントで働いたらいろんな人と友達になれるんだろうなぁって思った。いいなぁ～。いろんな人と出会って、いろんな国が知りたい！これからも旅し続けます！！

　でも友達とも話しててんけど、この万博はGlobal Exposition、つまり、世界に世界の国、そして地球について知ってもらい、考えてもらうもの。でも結局来ているのは地元の人たちがほどんどで、あまり世間では関心を得られていないような気がする。もっとメディアという今あるテクノロジーを使って世界の人に興味を持ってもらうように宣伝すればいいのに。。 まぁ確かに場所が悪いっていうのもあると思うけど、みんながもっと参加してもいいと思う。いろんな国の人と触れ合う絶好のチャンスなのに。家族連れの子供とかが、外国の人と怖がらずに興味あり気に話しかけているのをみてうれしかった。
4年前はドイツで、4年後の2009年は上海でEXPOがあるって知ってた？？ 日本館のスタッフとして上海に行くのもいいなぁ☆

Went to the Global Exposition 2005 in Japan!! It was so hot and a lot of people this day.

I stayed at my friend's house for 2 days and went to visit Nagoya.
the main event was the companies' exposition but since you have to get there around 6 in the moring, wait more then 3 hours in line, we decided not to see that. There's no way i can wait 3 hours in this weather... I can't believe many people do this! Instead, we got there little after noon and saw many countries expo. So far i can remember is Canada, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Napel, Iran, France, Italy, Turkey, Coratia,Bulgaria, South Afriaca Community, Spain Pavilion.
Luckily, we get to go in Canada pavilion as VIP:) since my friend knew the head of the government organization there. He was a very nice gentleman and showed his office too. Also, my friend's twin sister worked at the France pavilion, she let us in so we didn't to wait in line which was nice.
At the South African Community Pavilion, one guy from Burkina-Faso kinda liked us and he said "if you'll be my friend i'll give you present" so we went to his shop. He let us chose anything so we chose turquoise necklace and bracelet. I wanted one of these so I was happy:) thanx!
We ate dinner at a German resturant and met funny waiter (looked a little like Paul Bettany, well not as good as him though). he brought his own camera and came to take pics with us. lol
Germans have tall and big nose! i thought.
I'm sure it would be interesting to work in an event like this! You get to know many people from all over the world. I wanna meet many people all over the world and know more about other countries. I will continue travelling!!

What I thought about this exposition was that even though this is world event, it seemed that only the neighbors are visiting here. i mean not a lot of people are interested and i'm sure there's many people in other countries don't know about this expo in Japan. I didn't know last expo (2001) was held in Germany...
This expo's purpose is let people know about earth, eco and other countries. There's no meaning if people won't be interested and get involved in this. It cost a lot to build this! Japan should advertise more using todays high-technology. It's the best chance to meet people from different country and learn about it. I saw some kids talking to foreigners with curiosity and happy to see this.

Next is Shanghai in 2009! It might be fun to work in Japan's pavilion as a staff~

Art Collection in Roppongi Hills

　なんか無性に美術や芸術が観たくなって、友達に聞いたところ彼女もいきたかったみたいで、 2人で行ってきた。六本木ヒルズ森タワー５２Fの”フィリップ　コレクション”。印象派の画家たち（ルノワールやモネ、ピカソ、ゼザンヌなど）のコレクションで、とても興味深かった！
　あんまり芸術のこと知らなくても観ているだけで癒される。特にモネの画は好きだなぁ。やさしい色とタッチで私の好きな雰囲気。やっぱ芸術はいいよ～とシミジミ思いました。たまには芸術鑑賞も必要です☆
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　＊ルノワール「舟遊びの昼食」
　Somehow I wanted to see the arts so bad that i went to the art exhibition today. It was at Roppongi Hills Mori Tower 52F "Phillip Collection". It was the collection of impressionistic pictures ( Renoir, Monet, Cezanne etc.) and it was sooo interesting!
Even though i don't know much about arts, just by looking at it makes me relaxing. Especialy i love Monet's pictures. Gentle touch and mild color; i like this effect. I heartly thought we need art in life :)