Filed under: Diary, Friends | Tags: AI Tokyo, Maria Teresa Gow, Motown, Roppongi
Gow and Michael have finally joined together in an official project called Genez. With their debute this year they are now busy promoting an upcoming album. Their first promo event at AI Tokyo was super cool. Gow went through a dramatic makeover cutting her long tresses into Rihanna style short one sided bob – looks really sexy. She was also wearing a dress and heels – a totally new look for her. I thought she looks much more sophisticated that way (yes, girl you do). The new album is in J-hip-hop style with elements of enka, pop and reggae. I really enjoyed watching them together, they perform in an absolute sync and I really liked that. The songs are not completed yet so I can’t wait to hear the rest.
After event we went out for some dancing. Here are the pics! 
Filed under: Diary, Out and about | Tags: Afro cuban jazz, Billboard live Tokyo, La Colina, Midtown, Snowboy
Yesterday my fiancee took me to Billboard live house for the first time and I love it. It’s located in Midtown, Roppongi and has such a great view on city and Midtown park. The view yesterday was especially good – pouring rain and lightning blurred out the city lights and created a perfect ambient atmosphere for Afro-cuban jazz performance. I was kind of familiar with the music because it’s often played on the background at home but I had no idea I would enjoy it so much. I really wanted to just jump on my legs and dance but with my very reserved fiancee I felt somehow reserved to myself as well. I closed my eyes and tried to figure which instruments were playing at that particular moment and to my surprise I could always guess bass guitar and second bongo drums even though the sound was kind of muted.
Showboy is a British percussionist who was inspired by club jazz and then created his own Latin jazz project which many great musicians. I got to meet all of them after live and they signed my CD.
We chatted for a while and they revealed that I am probably the 100th Russian they meet in Japan on their tour because they happened to stay in the same hotel as Philharmonic orchestra from St.Petersburg. The bass guitarist turned out to be French medical doctor – funny!
I also discovered new Mexican restaurant with great open terrace and live Mariachi music. It’s called La Colina (same group as Fonda de la Madrugada) and although food wasn’t to my liking, it is a great place to chill over Margaritas and enjoy summer breeze. Renting that terrace space for a birthday party could be a nice idea…
Nothing is impossible for Laura! Singing, costume designing, modeling, making movies, acting, DJing? No problem. Her multi talent has no limit and she never fails to surprise me. Last week she invited as all out to her party at Womb where she was performing as well. It was great, so natural and energetic.
There was a fashion show too. Some young aspiring designer and 150cm tall Japanese models hehe. No but they were cute and who said a model has to be tall? Tiny models can do it just as good. Here is their picture!
Two weeks ago me and Hiro were talking and came up with an idea to shoot something in ruins. Without any particular project in mind or time to prepare and do research, we found some Tokyo ruins on the internet and went for a shoot. The ruins turned out to be recently renovated public library with only outside walls still remaining in their rustic old state. So we decided to shoot our concept against that one wall.
Our idea was to portray a good girl who rebeled and ran away from her family to be independent but then became unsure of what she wanted. My image in mind was Jenny from Gossip girl. I didn’t have much time to prepare for the shoot in terms of styling and getting into the character but we could make couple of nice pictures. ^-^
Filed under: Diary, Friends, Out and about | Tags: Gyoen, hanami, Sakura, Shinjuku
It was pre-sakura week. Only few trees were blossoming but the weather was perfect and crowds with professional cameras have not yet hit the park so we could enjoy a nice stroll in the sun, Magnolia scent and a rare opportunity to gather up on a saturday afternoon.
It was my first time to meet Yogi. He came from Okinawa to visit our mutual friends in Tokyo. He was very friendly but shy and because Vincent was in our company we could hardly talk, as always Vincent did all the talking. ^-^ That’s one of his charms.
We walked all the way to the French gardens and then spend all afternoon in La Boheme.
Louise joined us later to spice up our discussion with her cute little French jokes. It was also my first time to meet her but I’ve heard a lot about her from Laura. She is sooo interesting, playing violin and dancing ballet and her birthday is on 29th of February so she had only like 8 birthdays so far. In Russia, if you are born on 29th of February you are registered either as 28th of February or 1st of March – never on 29th because in Russia we think of a year that has 29th of February as unlucky year. ^-^ Fortunately Yogi gave us all little “omamori” – little bags of salt that are believed to have protective powers in Okinawa.
Now sakura is in full blossom. Last weekend I went to watch it at Yanaka bochi – cemetery in Ueno. More about it in the next entry. ^-^
Alex and Chloe is a little upcoming French brand that I’m falling in love with. I found out about them a little late and unfortunately can’t get my hands on “Coco is dead” necklace that is already totally sold out. However I am still on time to buy “Bledding Paris” tshirt that is so simple but so cool. Can’t wait to receive it and can’t wait to see their new designs that are coming at the end of may. This is the brand to watch! http://www.alexandchloe.com/
La Fabrique is famous for hosting fashion related events so Iit was no surprise when Gow told me the Levi’s party that we were invited to was going to be held there. 5 years ago I did Joe’s jeans promotion there and last week it was Levi’s jeans. I got a sweet pair of Angelita skinny dark denim jeans to showcase them at the party. The easiest job ever – just wear jeans and party. If only I could do it again and again. ^-^
The event itself was poorly organized or better yet organized in a sort of traditional Japanese corporate gathering style. It was brought together by a team from Nylon magazine and I guess they have a lot to learn about creating the right mood for the party with good music and performance instead of ” and now we would like to introduce you to our stylist, director, creative director, DJ and so on”. We were very bored and as a result bitchy through the official opening. Then the party got started and I saw lots of crazy styled Japanese girls with Chanel over the American apparel spandex leotards, a few gays with crazy dance moves and a very few foreign guys wih their Japanese girlfriends – all in all quite ok for someone who is not looking for a romantic encounter. hehe
We immediately got drunk to blur out all the imperfections and had fun the rest of the evening!
Filed under: Diary, Out and about | Tags: ichigo gari, International women's day, Mimosa, Strawberry, Suntory, Whiskey, Yamanashi
8th March is an international woman’s day and a big holiday in Russia. We gals get lots of attention on this day and lots and lots of flowers mostly mimosa as a symbol of spring and new beginnings. My fiance gave me beautiful mimosa flowers and took me to Yamanashi to “ichigo gari” – strawberry fields to pick the berries and eat right from the bush.
He knows well where my heart is. Strawberry is one of few things that make my life really worth living. I eat it almost every day and at that particular trip I managed to eat 102 strawberries. I’m really not bragging here. Fruits and veggies are my essentials. I can go without meat or fish for weeks but I really can’t live without fruits or veggies. That’s all I eat when I have a freedom to choose my meal. There’s just so much joy in all that juicy and sweet low calorie treats. I would never exchange a basket of strawberry on a ton of ice cream or cheese cake, no way!
After strawberry fields we went to Suntory whiskey factory to test 12 year old white whiskey and see how it’s being made. It was actually very interesting. They believe that a good whiskey needs a very pure and natural environment like forest and a music like the sound of wind and birds. So they located the factory in the heart of a mountain forest and got all sorts of birds to sing lullabies to the drink. hehe The place was very organic and peaceful. I got 12 year old bottle for my brother. It got several awards on the international market and was even featured in “Lost in translation” movie.
A few weeks ago Gow got me a job modeling for Le Qualite look book. The concept was very me – a spring innocent fairy with a dark side hidden behind her reflection. The idea was to shoot two images – one light and bubbly and the other one dark and earthy and then combine two images into one as if I and my evil twin were touching each other’s hands through a mirror. The hair and makeup were crazy! I had 8cm long nail extentions and hair extentions which became a part of my costume. My second look – a dark forest creature had me wear a very heavy wig with dirt and spiderweb on it. I looked really scary and probably did scare a couple of people on my way from dressing room to a photo studio. I really got into a character with the second look and I can’t wait to see the pictures. They are not ready yet but I got this one snapshot of my first bubbly rainbowy look that I took with my stylist and concept creator Hiroki.
Yay me! I scored 317 out of 400 which is pretty good considering the fact that I totally ran out of time by the end of the test and didn’t finish last 20 questions..Now I officially have no excuse for my bad Japanese..でも合格してよかった！試験のため勉強してきた漢字や文法は今でも毎日本当に役に立っている。全部ではないけどやっと日本語を読めるようになった。これからも漢字を引き続き頑張ります。＾−＾Now I have to practice, practice, practice not to forget what I have learned and to learn even more. I really want one day to just open Japanese book and read everything I see. It would be so much easier and quicker to learn the language if I could read everything, every last damn kanji. For now I only know about 700 which is only half of what is required…Hopefully I won’t be lazy this year and continue to study. ^-^
