Bill Hersey’s Partyline, June 1986
Thursday the 20th . . . if you’ve lived in Japan any length of time at all, you know this year’s rainy season (so far, anyway) has been a light one. I, along with others who have been here awhile, remember three or four weeks of constant rain and general gloominess this time of the year. Time seems to go even faster when the weather’s nice and in a few days we’ll be heading into July.
In last week’s column I mentioned how the skylines and general look of New York City and Los Angeles were changing. You can certainly say the same thing about Tokyo. Everywhere you look old buildings, shops and restaurants are being renovated and new buildings are going up. Last week there were receptions for two of the many huge and ultra-modern complexes which have just opened. One was the beautiful ANA (All-Nippon Airways) Hotel in Akasaka, next to the interesting, but already controversial, Ark Hills and the other, a three theater-restaurant complex owned by Shochiku behind Parco 3 in Shibuya. Let’s look at some of the June highlights.
June 10th was Portugal’s National Day and for the occasion, the Moitas opened their home to the Portuguese community in Japan. Our congratulations on that very special day.
On the dance scene, Japan’s top ballet dancers joined in a diversified program of dance at the ’86 Japan Ballet Festival at Kani Hoken Hall June 13 and 14. It was a colorful dynamic program that showed the dancers at their best. After the 14th performance everyone got together for a congratulatory party in one of the hall’s function rooms.
Julio Iglesias
no one gets around more than Spanish super star Julio Iglesias. He’s done concerts in just about every country, and recently completed a multi-city concert tour in Japan. I was privileged to see him perform at Budokan June 8, along with more than 9,000 other fans. After the concert, the sponsor of his tour, Coca-Cola Japan, hosted a reception in his honor at the Capitol Tokyu Hotel. Special guests there included Spanish Ambassador and Senora Camil Barcia, their two daughters Marta and Maria, Sony President Norio Ohga, CBS/Sony President Shugo Matsuo, actor singer Tadao Takashima and his wife Hanao Sumi, and noted actress Mitsuko Baisho.
Mitsuko is the super-chic lady with the low voice who does the Japanese for the Coke Light TV commercials here. It was a very casual relaxed evening with Julio hugging, kissing, shaking hands and obligingly posing for photos with his many friends at the party. There were short speeches by Japan’s Coke Prez Weldon Johnson thanking Julio and his group and by Julio thanking the Coke people and expressing how much the trip to Japan meant to him. There was a superb buffet and the ambiance was perfect for the occasion.
Warner Bros. execs host Imperial reception
Warner Brothers has had all kinds of things to celebrate and on June 8 they held a gala reception at the Imperial Hotel. Special guests were former Tokyoite Richard Fox, now President, Warner Brothers International and living in Los.
Angeles, and film director George P. Cosmatos and his wife Brigitta. George was in Japan to promote the Warner Brothers block-busting film “Cobra” which he directed.
He also directed Stallone in “Rambo II.” Guests at the party were mostly from the film industry and included the leaders in the me the opportunity to congratulate-long-time friend Alex Ying on his recent promotion to Vice President and Far East Supervisor for Warner Brothers (Far East) Inc. and get.
