Uniqlo’s U.S. Expansion

[Flickr/Ricecake That!]

It’s been confirmed by Women’s Wear Daily – Fast Retailing (the parent company behind Uniqlo) announced during the National Retail Federation’s convention and expo that the Japanese clothing brand will be opening more U.S. stores  and taking it’s business online. W00t! W00t!

Let’s hope that one of these new brick-and-mortar locations includes San Fransisco – I can see the store fitting nicely in Union Square or even next to the New People mall in Japantown. But if they skip over us Bay Area peeps, at least, we’ll be able to shop online.

Filed under: Breaking News, Fashion, Retail, Fashion, Japan, Retail, San Francisco Bay Area, Uniqlo, Web Site

UTADA SF Concert, Sold Out! WHY?!?!

[Flickr/Random J]

[Insert Heavy Sarcasm] Good job, Daisy – Hikaru Utada, your J-pop music idol for the past 10 years, is on a rare U.S. tour and you completely missed the boat on getting tickets for the SF concert (on 1/24/09 at the Fillmore). What the heck is wrong with you! With millions and millions of fans around the world, did you really think that this wouldn’t sell out?

Yea, I admit it. I didn’t think it would (given that her recent albums haven’t been as hot as her previous stuff). So here I am, 4 freakin days after the tickets go on sale, without a ticket.

The concert isn’t for another two months, so all hope is not lost. However, I ain’t going to pay an outrageous finder’s fee to a scapler either….to be continued….

In the meantime, here’s her latest English single, “Come Back to Me” – this song has definitely grown on me, so I’m giving it a Daisy Stamp of Approval…Ha!

Filed under: Music, Concert, Fillmore, Hikaru Utada, J-Pop, Japan, Music, San Francisco, San Francisco Bay Area, Utada

Conversation with Hayao Miyazaki

Hayao Miyazaki., originally uploaded by Emily Barrera.

Two days after shaking hands with Hyde of L’arc en Ciel, I attend the highly anticipated (if you’re a Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away fan) “Hayao Miyazaki in Converssation with Roland Kelts” event at U.C. Berkeley. A special thanks to @ritapizza for the ticket. I live tweeted the event as best as I could while I waited for the translator to tell me what Miyazaiki-san just said. Here are my tweets, in case you missed it the first time around:

• #miyazaki‘s head shuttered at the thought of making a live action film.7:45 PM Jul 25th from TweetDeck
• #miyazaki advice to new animators? Have a good critic for your work.7:29 PM Jul 25th from TweetDeck
• #miyazaki makes a hilarious long & drawn out grunt before answering his questions hahaha!7:20 PM Jul 25th from TweetDeck
• In japan it’s normal for the storyboards to be drawn by the director, otherwise he is kind of useless….#miyazaki7:09 PM Jul 25th from TweetDeck
• Totoro was designed so that you don’t know if he’s smart or stupid, ie you don’t know what he’s thinking #miyazaki6:51 PM Jul 25th from TweetDeck
• Did you know that Ponyo started off as a red toy tin frog? #miyazaki6:47 PM Jul 25th from TweetDeck
• Ponyo’s set designer always included red and green as well as 5 clouds. Can you spot them in the new #miyazaki film?6:44 PM Jul 25th from TweetDeck
• So much discussion about the new #miyazaki film Ponyo, I should have watched it yesterday….darn!6:42 PM Jul 25th from TweetDeck
• #miyazaki doesn’t have evil figures in his films because he doesn’t want to have to draw them. LOL6:40 PM Jul 25th from TweetDeck
• #miyazaki says that you shouldn’t associate natual diasters with evil. For example, forests often look healthier after a flood.6:37 PM Jul 25th from TweetDeck
• On the end of the world as a subtext? #miyazaki wishes he could see the end of civilzation in his lifetime, but not gonna happen hahaha6:33 PM Jul 25th from TweetDeck
• Miyazaki-san!!!! http://yfrog.com/76ni1j6:23 PM Jul 25th from TweetDeck
• Have fun, will you be live tweeting the concert? RT @TommyKTse: Going to see HYDE from L’Arc~en~Ciel in a Jrock concert tonight…6:13 PM Jul 25th from TweetDeck
• True to form, the #miyazaki talk is on Berkeley time (eg everything starts 10 mins after the hour)6:10 PM Jul 25th from TweetDeck
• Holy Crap! I am three rows away from #miyazaki, this is going to be awesome!6:04 PM Jul 25th from TweetDeck
• Heading over to UC Berkeley to listen to the #Miyazaki talk, will be live tweeting if I have a connection.

Filed under: Film, Social Media, Animation, Asian, Director, Film, Hayao Miyazaki, Japan

VAMPS Autograph Session in SF Japantown

Two days after standing a foot away from Jolin Tsai, I stood in line to get an autograph from Japanese rock idol, Hyde. If you’re not familiar with his name, you may recognize him as the lead singer of L’arc en Ciel. (And if you’re still lost, check out this Wikipedia page about the band).

I have been following this group on/off since high school (circa late 90s), so while I am familiar with their stuff, I am by no means a hardcore fan; however, my old college floormate’s sister is. Well, Hyde is currently promoting his side project, VAMPS, with K.A.Z of Oblivion Dust. They are touring the U.S. and hosting autograph sessions in each city. Since San Francisco is one of those cities, I volunteered to help my friend’s sister get the autograph that she’s always wanted. To describe the event, it was S-U-P-E-R organized and much better publicized than the Jolin Tsai event. So much so that when I arrived in Japantown at 5:00 p.m. PT, there was already a line of fans ready and waiting to get started at 6:00 p.m. PT. With rules in place requring (1) each fan to be ready with their CD/bag/swag when get in line and (2) limiting each fan to one autograph, everyone was able to meet Hyde and K.A.Z. In fact, the whole session ended 30 minutes early. Good job Team VAMPS!

Long story short, I got the autograph and shook Hyde’s hands. Super fans, don’t be too jealous now….

Filed under: Music, Asian, Hyde, Japan, Japantown, L'acr en Ciel, Music

Buy Uniqlo Online (Only If You’re In China)

Uniqlo, originally uploaded by jackson.chu.

So according to this press release, Uniqlo has teamed up with Taobao / Alibaba (from what I understand, this is basically China’s version of Amazon.com) to offer e-commerce to the Chinese and foreigners living in China. So not only can the Chinese people get their Uniqlo fix in one of 26 stores, they can also buy online.

Needless to say, I am eating a lot of vinegar right now (Chinese expression for jealousy). I mean, come on, I’m only asking for one more location in San Francisco. Is that too much to ask?

As a side note, the press release also uses a recent stat on e-commerce in China, which found that apparel is the most popular online shopping category in China and was the highest transaction amount in 2008. So if the Chinese people are indeed buying more clothes online then in street markets/malls/stores, then this might explain why everything was so damn expensive last time I tried to buy clothes in China.

Filed under: Retail, Alibaba, Asian, China, Japan, Retail, Taobao, Uniqlo