Tokyo Weekender - March 2016

Yoko Ono and the State Minister
of Foreign Affairs, Yuji Muto
Tokyo’s Longest Running
My sincerest thanks to a very kind and giving friend,
Lilo Maruyama. She’s often traveling, and one of the
busiest ladies I know. Even so, she didn’t forget our talk
about visiting another very special lady, Grace Saito.
Grace, who’s 83 now, is in a retirement home here in Tokyo and
unfortunately isn’t able to get out and about very much. I’ve had the
privilege of knowing her for many years, and have helped whenever
I could on her many charity projects. She’s also helped me with
many of my charity projects, including several that I work with in the
Philippines. Many of you know Grace through her years of sponsoring
classical music concerts in beautiful venues in many of our top
hotels as well as other prestigious venues. Grace’s love of classical
music and charming personality helped her get many of Japan’s most
famous musicians and opera singers to volunteer to participate in the
concerts. The venues were always full of music lovers, who included
royalty, diplomats and their wives, and the cream of both Japanese
and international society.
Grace has two light and bright rooms on the sixth floor of the ultra
modern Orix retirement home in Shibaura. Her apartment, which
has a view of Tokyo Bay, was full of flowers, stuffed animals and other
gifts her many friends had sent or brought when they visited. Her
residence is located on Shibaura Island and the telephone number is
03-3798-4401.
I had another unexpected reunion with two friends I hadn’t seen
for a long time. That same day, Lilo had been to a ladies’ lunch that
day, and met Okuda-san, the widow of my doctor for my first ten
years in Japan. Dr. Okuda ran the clinic in the Imperial Hotel. He had
a very international mindset and had a great personality.
This was the ladies’ first meeting and Lilo had invited her to have
coffee at the Grand Hyatt. We had the table near the entrance to the
Society Page with Bill Hersey
hotel’s popular Fiorentina restaurant/café, and in came Japan’s
legendary fashion designer, Hanae Mori. I hadn’t seen her since the
Bastille Day reception at the French Embassy last year. Our table with
three of Tokyo’s chicest women really attracted a lot of attention and
most of us like that once in a while.
YOKO ONO AT THE LOPEZ HOME
Philippines Ambassador Manuel Lopez and his wife Maria Teresa just
never slow down, and always come up with new interesting happenings.
The most recent took place one evening at their beautiful official residence,
the Kudan, an art-filled home near Yasukuni Shrine.
The house—originally designed by an eccentric architect—is one of
the few remaining examples of early 20th century Iberian architecture
in its original forms. It was originally owned by the Yasuda family and
was the official accommodation for many ambassadors during their
posting in Japan. The reception at the house was to celebrate the launching
of the beautiful book, “History and Heritage of the Kudan.” The book
was designed and produced by Artpostasia, and is cover-to-cover full of
history and great photos.
As always Manuel and Maria Teresa’s timing was perfect. Yoko Ono,
who spent much of her childhood with members of the Yasuda family in
the Kudan, was in Japan for an exhibition of her work titled “From My
Window” at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. Yoko made a short
and very meaningful speech, emphasizing that it is important that we
pursue what makes us happy and that we show kindness to others. She
also talked a lot about world peace and the problems of the world today.
I’ve known Yoko for years and always liked her. I actually met her
many years ago in London when some fashion biz friends there took me
to her exhibition of “toilet seat art” and have spent some time with her
over the years. The most memorable was many years ago when I spotted
MARCH 2016 www.tokyoweekender.com