Play for Peace...

April 7-9, 2005
Play for Peace...

Is about my busy bizzy work life. "Bizzy" because for about a week, my job transformed from straight, dry corporate and finance-related communications to all the glamour and glitz of show biz. Long before I came to Tokyo I was a huge fan of the Coach brand (I own 4 bags, 2 change purses and 2 key chains), and now I am assigned to Coach Japan Inc.'s corporate communications. This doesn't always entail high profile celebrities and the big names in fashion, but this week it did. The new face of Coach in Japan is Mandy Moore, and this past week 60 people from Coach NY and Mandy Moore were in Tokyo for their Play for Peace benefit concert to support victims of the tsunami through UNICEF. The first big event was a large-scale press conference featuring Mandy Moore, Japanese pop star Mika Nakashima, and hip hop group N.E.R.D., followed by a more intimate press briefing with the Chairman & CEO. We were in charge of handling the press briefing, which was oriented toward Coach's soaring business, rather than the star-studded conference, but I still got to attend and see what the fuss was all about.

On Saturday we were then invited to the concert and a VIP after-party at Roppongi Hills' French Kitchen. I took Becca as my guest, since she worked as a fashion designer in NYC, and we quickly changed from hanami attire to proper "I'm going to a very posh party" attire. Leaving the concert and boarding the private VIP bus to the party is where a taste of the NY celebrity life first greeted me...in the form of little bottles of champagne to entertain us on our 15 minute ride to the party. 15 minutes later, I was teetering to the party on my very high heels. I should have known that would foreshadow my night.

It was a real, full-blown NY celebrity party. Looking around at all of the models and gorgeous people around me, I was feeling something between "God I don't belong here" and "God I definitely belong here!" I glanced to my right and sitting at a booth next to me is none other than Macaulay Culkin, the little dude from Home Alone who apparently grew up, though not particularly in stature. He is no taller than I and looks about 15 yrs old. I pondered asking him to make the Home Alone face but figured he's been through enough agony. Didn't Michael Jackson molest him at some point? Anyway, the night went on according to the amount of white wine I drank. The President of Vogue magazine complimented Becca's outfit, which she had actually designed herself (how cool!), but unfortunately didn't offer her a position (yet). We chatted with Mandy, and actually spent most of the evening with her band--some very cool guys. And finally, to top the night off, I -- because I am Jo-chan and therefore have to have a mortifying moment-- just had to make my mark. This needs a new paragraph.

Picture this. We were hanging outside on the balcony chatting with my boss and "Mme. Vogue," and were heading back inside for a drink. Yours truly was dressed in new Diesel jeans and a sparkly turquoise very cute top that I borrowed from Becca, and high black heels. I was nonchalantly holding a glass of white wine in my right hand while gracefully making my way back inside. Heading for the sliding glass door, all of a sudden, I'm no longer on my feet. I'm on my face. And WET. The culprit? Around the perimeter of the balcony sat a very VERY badly designed recessed pool of water lurking in the dark, and I FELL IN IT. Honestly, I was not THAT drunk... it was very deceiving and looked EXACTLY like the floor. I was lucky with the choice of jeans-- pretty much my right leg only got wet, so for the rest of the night it wasn't obvious. But the act of it did draw some attention. I dropped my glass of wine (which broke of course), and within seconds had a waiter at my side holding a white bath towel. Along with my pride, I bruised my knee pretty badly and can't walk up or down steps normally. So, as I am judging the scale of mortification of this catastrophe, I notice that I'm not the only one who appears to be wet. In fact, there are waiters standing all around with bath towels and appetizers floating in the pool. "Join the 'I fell in the fountain club'" says a voice behind me belonging to Mandy Moore's drummer. Apparently the waiter showed up with the towel so quickly because almost 20% of the party had fallen in the water! In the end this absolutely mortifying event was none other than the "usual thing" to do at this party. The next morning I was informed that my boss stepped in it and another colleague had to go home because she had gotten so drenched. So, I stick to my first assertion--it really really was badly designed! And that was what I will remember about my first celebrity party.