Formerly Kenya’s ambassador to Korea and Japan (2004-2009) and now representing Toyota Tsusho Corporation as chairman in 13 African states, Dennis Awori knows a thing or two about Japan and its commercial links to the world. Tokyo Journal met up with Awori to find out more.

Through the Eyes of Yankelovich

A Debate with Large Consequences

In industrialized nations we are in the early stages of one of the most important debates in our lifetime:
• Is growing income inequality inevitable or susceptible to change?
• If it is inevitable, what should we do to reduce its harmful effects?
• If it is susceptible to change, what actions should we take to restore greater fairness to our economies? Starting in the 1970s, and accelerating after the Great Recession of 2007-8, income of those at the top of the scale grew enormously, while wages for the middle and bottom parts of the scale stagnated.

It wasn’t until the gifted French economist Thomas Piketty published his masterful book, “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” that a serious and thoughtful debate about inequality trends began in earnest. The book has caught the attention of the industrialized nations for several reasons.

The Legacy of Donald Richie

The following is part of Tokyo Journal’s Living Tribute to Donald Richie who passed away on February 19, 2013. Donald Richie’s contribution was originally printed in the January 1995 edition of the Tokyo Journal. It was excerpted from “Japan Journals 1947-2004” by Donald Richie (Stone Bridge Press. 2004). Donald Richie’s first visit to Japan took place in 1947. Since that time he became a celebrated film critic, author and composer, not to mention a journalist of many talents recording the changes of over half a century of life in Tokyo. Donald Richie contributed to the Tokyo Journal over the years and when asked about times in the nineties, Donald replied, “Frightening but exhilarating. I think everybody with a pencil should be out there taking notes.”

THE LAST SAMURAI

This fourth installment from his Japan Journals features Donald Richie’s elegy for Yukio Mishima,written shortly after the novelist’s suicide.

15 November 1970. It has been some days now since Mishima killed himself, yet the sense of loss continues. It is not that he did it. I guess we all expected that. It was the way in which he did it. It was like a rape. (So all of us victims are trying to account for it. I will write an essay and give it to the paper.)

The shock that so many felt at the manner of Yukio Mishima’s death was deepened by an equally strong sense of loss. No contemporary writer had more completely disclosed himself; none had more honestly shared his most deeply personal emotions. From Confessions of a Mask onwards, Mishima was himself his own subject and his varied works are all, to an extent, autobiographical.

The Elegant Social Snack

Pocky has been a household name and a favorite chocolate confectionary for years in Asia, but how is it faring across the Pacific? Tokyo Journal's editorial team visited with President Shunsuke Nakai at Ezaki Glico USA headquarters to find out.

How to Gyoza (Japanese pan-fried dumplings)
餃子

Ingredients:

• 200g of ground meat
• 2 bundles of Chinese chives
• 6-10 leaves of cabbage
• 2 pieces (about 30g) of grated ginger
• 2 cloves of grated garlic
• 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
• 2 tablespoons of sake
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons of sesame oil
• 2 packs of dumpling skin

The Man Who Brought Sushi to America, Part IV

Introducing Sake to America

This is the fifth in a series of interviews with Noritoshi Kanai, chairman of Mutual Trading Co., Inc. and the man who coined the phrase “sushi bar.”

Tokyo Journal photographer Lola Rose captures the latest in street fashion in her photo column "Streetstyle Glamour."

The complete article can be found in Issue #275 of the Tokyo Journal. Click here to order from Amazon.

A Role Model for Model Management

Donna Models Founder Junko Shimazaki

Junko Shimazaki runs Donna Models, one of the leading agencies of foreign models in Japan, and is mother-agent for Japan’s international supermodel, Tao Okamoto. She promotes Hoorsenbuhs jewelry and also co-owns Asian eatery PINGTUNG Eat-In Market, Los Angeles, where TJ sat down with her to talk modeling.

TJ: How did you get into the modeling industry?
SHIMAZAKI: I met a woman in the fashion business who thought I would be good at it, and I thought, “Why not?” Once I started I loved it, and decided, “Forget about everything else. This is the job for me!” That was almost 29 years ago. I tried a couple of agencies before starting my own - Donna Models - in 1995. In the beginning, it was just my friend and I, but it’s been 18 years and now it’s one of the biggest foreign model agencies in Japan

JAPAN’S beloved manga and anime character Doraemon has made it to Disney! The TV and film series “Doraemon” is being broadcast in the United States for the first time after playing to a huge following in Asia over the past four decades. Disney XD, a children’s channel available in 78 million households, began broadcasting 26 English-dubbed episodes five times a week in July 2014.

NHK’s new twist on Sherlock Holmes

By Charlotte Goff

FEW could doubt that Sherlock Holmes is the world’s most famous fictional detective. Generations of readers have fallen for this master of deductive reasoning, prompting speculation as well as the fan-fiction about parts of his background not recorded by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In an imaginative twist on the classic detective stories, NHK has embarked on a new and unconventional Sherlock Holmes series – in which puppets and voice actors are the stars. From October 2014, viewers can expect plots full of the suspense that have hooked readers of the franchise for more than a century, distilled into a fresh and exciting form. Set in a 19th century boarding school, scriptwriter Koki Mitani brands the show a “racy school mystery.”

The forthcoming series’ action centers on fifteen-year-old Sherlock, whose extraordinary observational talents see him labelled a nerd and cast aside by his peers. This societal rejection leads Sherlock into the path of newcomer to the school, John H. Watson. Watson is fascinated by the very attributes Sherlock possesses that enforce his rejection. The two become friends after Sherlock turns his mind to clearing Watson of accusations leveled against him in the opening episode. Later, the pair work together to take on the challenges hurled increasingly in their direction. The school setting is a first among Sherlock Holmes TV dramatizations. It offers a setting to which the show’s target audience – Japanese high school students – can relate. More than a simple detective drama, the new series is a coming-of-age tale and a platform from which to learn about growing up, logical thinking, justice, and having the courage to defend it.