Keep your eyes out for the November issue of Tokyo Weekender magazine on the shelves around Tokyo—we hope you can pick your copy up soon, or stay tuned and read our features as we post them online during the month.
You can also get the full magazine through the Apple Newsstand, which will bring a native reading experience to the iPad, or through Magzster.
November 2013 Editor’s Letter
November, a month of mostly cloudy skies, isn’t necessarily the best time for stargazing. But those infrequent days when it’s clear enough to see Mt. Fuji can turn into nights when, even under Tokyo’s bright lights, you might see a heavenly body or two.
This month at the Weekender, we’re sharing a constellation of Tokyo’s best and brightest with you, whether skies above are foul or fair. First up is Kansai Yamamoto: this “Star Man” of fashion and design has run the gamut from David Bowie’s glam rock costumes to the sleek lines of the Keisei Liner to dance and art Super Shows that draw massive crowds worldwide, and we talked with him on his way to his London revival.
Our next star was a member of the bid team who helped bring the Olympics’ five rings to Tokyo in 2020. Christel Takigawa, a television journalist who was born in Paris and raised in Tokyo, spoke to Buenos Aires and the world, in French, about omotenashi, the Japanese sense of hospitality that will make the city a great destination for the Games as it hosts a second time.
Up next, ready to knock it out of the park yet again, is Wladimir Balentien—but you can call him Coco. This Caribbean star of the baseball diamond broke a home-run record that has stood for nearly half a century, and he joins us to talk about the road he has taken to reach his milestone season.
Then we hit the road, fixing our telescopes to the northern prefecture of Akita, and this time we’ve got our sights on gold. We spy a golden girl by a fabled lake, a glittering mask that decorates a dance whose history goes back over a millennium, and can almost taste the sun-kissed tones of Akita’s culinary gold mine: sauces, the exotic flavor of chrysanthemums, and a bird that just may lay golden eggs.
Finally, we consider the eel. Many of us wouldn’t look twice at this humble creature, but this dark star of Japanese cuisine is more than deserving of a taste, and we sit down to tuck in to some hitsumabushi—Nagoya’s version of unagi, grilled over oak charcoal and eaten in three stages. If president of the Hitsumabushi Bincho franchise Hiroshi Suzuki has his way, the world may become even more familiar with it.
And to our readers, happy November holidays: well wishes for Guy Fawkes Night, Remembrance Day, Thanksgiving, and Hanukkah—and apologies to anyone we left out.
Alec Jordan—TW Editor
Top Image: From Kansai Yamamoto’s ‘HELLO JAPAN!!’ show
