A Fair-ly Royal Day in Tokyo

Guilt can be a powerful motivator. A few weeks ago I was feeling guilty about not being able to travel to Mt. Takao with some of the other Ikebana ladies to make arrangements for the field trip we've planned for this coming spring. I had already promised to take some people to Asakusabashi that day. Then I had to say no to a practice session for another upcoming Ikebana program because I had a JAW commitment. So when they called for volunteers to man a fundraising booth at the annual Ikebana International Fair in Tokyo and my calendar was open, my guilty conscience pulled a string and my hand immediately responded.  Weather Explorer raised her hand too.  Have I ever mentioned that she's Catholic too?

"What have we gotten ourselves into now?" "I haven't a clue other than we have to be awake by 5:30 am to get to Shiba Park on time."  Good Lord.

The Russian ladies

The Fair covered two ballrooms on the second floor of the Tokyo Prince Hotel. The first room was filled with enormous flower arrangements and the second room, even larger, was crammed with tables assigned to dozens of embassies. Those embassy booths were a pleasant surprise. Our Kamakura chapter shared table space with Ikebana International. They sold t-shirts and we sold American Christmas products (our wide wired ribbon was quite the crowd pleaser).

The Peruvian emissaries.  I'm pretty sure one was a local hire.

Thanks to an overbundance of Kamakura Ikebana volunteers, Weather Explorer and I only had to cover our booth for one hour. That gave us 2.45 hours to shop and 15 minutes to check out the flower arrangements.

Peru was next to Saudi Arabia

The embassies sold a variety of goods. Cuba had cigars, Belgium was pushing waffle cookies, some African countries offered food I had no desire to taste, and Jordan and Russia both had ornaments simply begging to adorn my Christmas tree.

The Ikebana International Fair might be the best kept secret in Tokyo.  Not any more, of course, because I'm not good at keeping secrets (and rather abhor them, truth be known).

Next year I think I'll postpone much of my Christmas shopping until the first week of December.

American Christmas products delight Princess Takamado

Princess Takamado, the Honorary President of Ikebana International, opened the Fair. She and her entourage visited each table and made a few purchases. Princess Takamado struck me as a very classy lady. Her father is a Japanese industrialist who was transferred to England when she was a child. She is fluent in English and a 1975 graduate of Cambridge University.

She has three daughters born between 1986 and 1990. Her husband, Prince Takamado, passed away in 2002 from a heart attack while playing squash at the Canadian Embassy. Oddly, the Canadian Embassy was also where she first met her husband.

I didn't spot a Canada booth at the Fair but I'm not drawing any conclusions. I also didn't see the United States. Why not? Seriously, why not?

This is how I look when I get up at 5:30 am. 

The coat check girls

The Tokyo Prince Hotel has a coat retrieval system worth mentioning.  When I handed my numbered plastic disc to the clerk who waved at me, she handed me a rectangular plastic tag decorated with a big P.  The P matched the 'name' badge she wore on her vest.  Two seconds she zipped back out of the closet with my coat which was folded neatly inside out and sheathed in a clear plastic bag.  We exchanged the P tag for the coat.

An overly elaborate system?  Perhaps.  But who can argue with speedy, efficient service?  The Tokyo Prince Hotel sure knows how to make a girl feel like a (slightly guilty) princess.

Ikebana Visits the American Embassy

This month's Ikebana program was more scintillating than usual. You can chalk this up to "location, location, location." We took our show on the road and visited the Tokyo residence of the U.S. Ambassador to Japan.

The back yard.  Pool is behind the hedge on the left.

Susie Roos, the wife of the current ambassador, told us this house is one of the U.S. Department of State's premier properties. It was built during the Great Depression at considerable cost to American taxpayers since most of the construction materials were imported from the United States and since there were only about 15 taxpayers in total at the height of the Depression (estimate mine).  The house was renovated in the mid-90s during Walter Mondale's tenure as U.S. Ambassador to Japan.

Lunch on the patio

The only other time I've visited the embassy residence was for a Fourth of July party, a rather boisterous, evening event hosted by the previous ambassador. Seeing the house in daylight for the first time, the architecture struck me as a tad more Spanish than North American. My Puerto Rican friend Carmen agreed which is sufficient validation for me.

Mrs. Roos told us about the State Department's "Art in the Embassies" program and invited us to view the art currently on display on the first floor. So we did.



Morinaga and Nagisaki chat in the shade of Yoko Ono's installation

The works currently on display are all by Japanese artists who have lived in the U.S.  Yoko Ono, for instance, installed this potted tree and dashed off a bi-lingual invitation that hangs on an adjacent wall.  Some of us took Yoko-san up on her invitation by writing our wishes for Tokyo on little white cards and then hanging them on the tree.


Several of us were arrested (in Kafka's sense) by a kimono displayed in the drawing room.  American warplanes were printed along the shoulders and GIs floated in parachutes down the back to the floor.  Someone said the artist's intent was to depict the harmonious relationship that exists in Okinawa between the U.S. military forces and the native population.  I'd like to meet that artist.  He seems to have a nice sense of humor.

Otsuka-san, Ando-san, and Kaji-san in the drawing room

The questionable arrangement

A few of the Japanese ladies rolled their eyes ever-so-politely, shook their heads sadly, and quietly tut-tutted when they spotted the flower arrangement in the center of the drawing room.  This was an educational moment for me.  I learned that one should never be able to see the little metal prongs that hold the flower stems in place.  Duly noted. 

After we feasted our eyes on the art and furniture, three of our members assembled Ikebana arrangements while marimba music played softly in the background. This was more exciting than it sounds. There was something of a competitive, beat-the-clock energy in that room. The ladies represent three different schools of Ikebana. The lady on the left finished first and the lady on the right managed to finish just as the music ended.

The marimba player then took center stage for twenty minutes. The program was running late by then and all the growling stomachs made it hard to hear the music. Fortunately, yours truly was seated right next to the dessert table. I amused myself for the first 15 minutes of the concert by taking pictures of the treats. For the last five minutes I sampled the coconut, strawberry, and chocolate cupcakes. The coconuts were especially tasty.

(Truth be told, I was not a good sport about the marimba player, mainly because I fail to see a connection between that instrument and the United States. I was all for hiring the high school choir - what a thrill for those teenagers - or a banjo player to entertain us, but those ideas weren't popular with my fellow board members. I might have been more amenable to marimba music had anyone mentioned the Latin-flavored architecture.  Then again, probably not.)

Denise, Cheryl, and Carmen with their new friends

Ambassador Roos joined us for a few minutes.  That was nice.