Bill Hersey’s Partyline Column

PEOPLE Catching up with Joel Schumacher “My life’s an open book,” Joel said, starting proceedings at an open table with journalists outside…

PEOPLE Film/Music Celebs in TownThe number of Hollywood stars visiting Japan really dropped after the 3/11 tsunami/earthquake. I’m happy to report they…

PEOPLE As always at this time of the year, there were a lot of special TV shows. Our British friends continue to…

PEOPLE Firstly, Happy New Year and my sincerest best wishes that 2013, the year of the snake, is a really good one…

PEOPLE Just got a postcard from friends and former Tokyoites Ron and Maria Anderson, who were traveling in Asia. After 10 years in…

PEOPLE It was a sporty couple of weeks after I spent considerable time with many Formula One drivers before their race on…

PEOPLE I’d like to say so long to one of our fellow passengers, Hilton Hotels’ Oded Lifschitz. After six years in Japan…

PEOPLE Sad to hear that Christian Hassing, GM of the Mandarin Oriental will be leaving soon after eight years here. His new…

PEOPLE Banjiro Uemura Moving on slightly, I would like to congratulate Banjiro Uemura, the founder of Tohokushinsha (the company which owns The…

PEOPLE Recently, we celebrated the 34th anniversary of a small funky club I’ve been affiliated with since it first opened. It started…

PEOPLE Congratulations and domo arigato to HIP Entertainment president Massy Hayashi for packing out Tokyo Dome City Hall for three Lenny Kravitz shows. I’ve…

Republic of Kosovo 4th Independence Day Reception To celebrate his country’s independence, Kosovan ambassador Sami Ukelli hosted a well-attended reception at the…

PEOPLE Vietnam’s diplomatic couple the Nguyens bid sayonara After over 40 years of writing this column you’d think it would be easy…

PEOPLE First, there was Ben Affleck. I spent considerable time with this great guy whenever he visited Tokyo. On one of his…

PEOPLE Catching up with old friends With so many things happening in Tokyo, breakfast meetings are the newest way to catch up…

PEOPLE Zac Efron here for Warner Brothers Young actor Zac Efron took time out of his busy schedule and flew to Tokyo…

PEOPLE Over Christmas I had a phone conversation with Princess Takamado, we talked a lot about the March 11 earthquake and tsunamis…

PEOPLE I’d like to say a big thank you to my friend Tom Yoda, chairman of Tokyo International Film Festival, his hardworking…

PEOPLE Philippe and Christine bid adieu The spacious and chic French residence in Hiroo was, as expected, wall-to-wall people for ambassador Philippe…

PEOPLE Miguel and Martha bid adios after seven years in Japan. Mexican ambassador, Miquel Ruiz Cabanas, his wife Martha and their two…

PEOPLE Merci to Societe Generale Private Banking’s president/CEO Christophe Billard and his executive staff, as well as Koichi and Daniele Yoshikoshi for…