Bill Hersey’s Partyline, January 1987

Hong Kong was absolutely great and, considering the number of Tokyoites I ran into over there, a lot of our people must feel the same way. The weather was just right, mid50s to high-60s; the city was beautifully decorated for the Lunar New Year, and there were super sales everywhere. 

Just about everyone from Tokyo was staying at what’s always my home-away-from home when I travel to the Colony, the Hong Kong Hilton. It was just before Chinese New Year and the Hilton’s Ken Moss and James Smith plus some Chinese friends made it like Christmas for me. My light and bright room overlooked the hotel’s swimming pool had a great view of Hong Kong’s fabulous harbor. Also was loaded with fruit, cookies, candy and champagne. There was also a red envelope embossed with the Chinese characters Kung Hei Fat Choy (Happy New Year) from Ken that contained “some lucky money” a tradition for the Chinese New Year. Really, my friends, nobody does it like the Hilton. 

Tokyo, of course, we all know is very much of a happening itself, so let’s move and cover some of those many end of the old year and first of the New Year events. right here in our own city. 

Enormous Party Fetes Shin Watanabe’s government Award

Another one of our good friends, Shin Watanabe, president of Watanabe Productions, was honored by the Japanese government when he was decorated with a special award titled Ranju Hosho (Medal of Honor with Blue Ribbon).

Guests at the reception included many of Japan’s top-ten executives – Noboru Goto, President of the Tokyo Group and President of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Akio Morita, chariman of Sony Corporation, and Jiro Ushio, chairman of Ushio Inc. Familiar faces from the entertainment world included actors Toshiro Mifune, Hisaya Morishige and Katsu Shintaro; the music world was well represented by Sen Masao, Joe Serra, Mie Nakao and many more.

Many of these plus VIPs in almost every field took the microphone and paid tribute to Shin. During the entire party, his wife Misa – who’s a celebrity on her own – was right there by his side as she has be since they first met at Waseda University and she became business manager of the band Shin headed furing his university days. Nostalgia galore as Shin went on stage and played the bass with one of Japan’s top saxaphonists, Yodo-san.

Later many of his old school chums went up and joined them in singing the Waseda University school song. It was a fabulous party and Misa, her and Shin’s two daughters Miki and Mayumi, and several of their friends should be congratulated on the super job they. As Joe Jackson who met just about everyone there – said as we left, “When they do things here, they really do them up big. That party was really something.”

Our sincerest congratulations to Shin and his family on his much deserved recognition as a pioneer in his work and his many contributions to the entertainment business in Japan.

Jacqueline Bisset and boyfriend Alexander in town for UIP

Thanks to UlP, I was able to get together for dinner with long-time friend, actress Jacqueline Bisset who was here with her boyfriend, dancer actor Alexander Goduuov, busily hyping his latest film, ”The Money Pit” for UIP. We ate at Inakaya, an experience in itself, and having Alexander with his outrageous sense of humor and Jackie with her more subdued comedic touch at their best made for one great evening.

Alexander told me that when they arrived at Narita they had two magazines, L’Officiel (with his photo on the cover) and the December issue of Playboy in which
Jackie appears (fully dressed). The customs man said, “You can’t bring Playboy into Japan; it must be destroyed.” “O.K., destroy it,” Alexander said. When the man said that was done by someone else later, Alexander said, “Yeah, I’ll just bet,” all the while making a pantomime of the customs agents scanning the mag later.

From Tokyo they planned holidays in Singapore and Bangkok. When I told Jackie
that Alexander might not get into Singapore with his long hair, she grew concerned as she told me, “He hates to have anyone tell him what to do, and I’d hate a scene in the airport.” Consequently, she spent the next half hour studying how to pile his hair on top of his head and cover it with a cap. I got a card from her later to tell me it worked. Jackie just finished a film in Greece and you can see Alexander in a Suntory CM here. Good people with tons of talent between them.

Walt Disney Productions open new Tokyo offices 

Former Tokyoite Rolf Mittweg -with a long and highly regarded career in the film business is back as Buena Vista International Vice President and Sales Supervisor for Japan, the Far East and Australasia. Buena Vista is the Walt Disney Studio’s distribution arm for Walt Disney and Touchstone feature films and television productions. Recently Rolf, his lovely wife Reiko and his staff gave а reception to celebrate the opening of the new Walt Disney Productions Japan, Ltd., and the Far East Supervisor Offices here in Tokyo. The guests included most of the top men in the film business here, and they all enjoyed the tour of the offices, the buffet and the chance to relax and talk. The spacious offices’ are ultra-modern and there wasn’t anyone there that wasn’t a little envious of the what they considered the perfect setup for a film distribution office. Rolf’s new offices are located in the Dai San Toyo Kaiji Bldg. (7th floor), 23-1, Nishi-Shimbashi 2-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105.