Every other month, Tokyo Weekender creates and celebrates the non-digital and tangible parts of culture with our magazine parties, where you can see, touch and read our latest issue. This time, in the peak of the summer heat, on August 4, we gathered in Or Miyashita Park, to chat and have the best time while also flipping through the latest issue with Herbie Yamaguchi on the cover. The party featured TW and Or’s original cocktail and nihonshu, gifts for those who were there and a fashion pop-up by Bunzaburo. On the DJ decks, we had Japanese city pop mavericks DJ Fujiko and DJ Abilio, followed by DJason to close the night.
Above all, though, we brought together the people who make up the TW community, whether it’s the editors, writers, photographers, interviewees, or readers and supporters of our magazine, to create a genuine cultural hub for one night.
A Tasty Welcome
Early birds got a treat at the TW party in the form of high-quality nihonshu by Hayashi Honten. This sake brewery from Gifu Prefecture prides itself on using clear water from the Japanese Alps and Gifu’s legendary Hatsushimo rice (loved both by chefs and sake makers). The sake is additive-free, using only this rare rice and pristine water. The brand is easily recognizable due to its labels with Kabuki masks.
Pairing well with sake, our guests also got to sample some delicate kamaboko fish cake from Maruhachi Kamaboko. These fish cakes often come plain, but we got to try more creative types with shrimp, lotus root and perilla leaf in them.
TW x OR Original Cocktail
Here at TW, we love being creative, and also take that approach to the drinks for our magazine events. As is already becoming tradition, we designed an original cocktail just for this party in collaboration with Or, our host venue. In April we had a cherry blossom cocktail, in June we had a yuzu and orange-based cocktail, and for the August TW party we had a summery pink cocktail with peach and cranberry flavors. Refreshing, well-balanced and pretty, the TW x OR cocktail was only available at this party, so for those who didn’t have the chance to taste it, we are sharing the recipe.
Ingredients:
30ml Kanade white peach liqueur
15ml Roku gin
30ml cranberry juice
Soda to fill up
One lemon slice
Pour ice into a glass. Add the alcohol first, followed by the peach liqueur, cranberry juice and then finish with soda. Add lemon for decoration.
Bunzaburo Pop-up and Gifts
A century-old fashion brand from Kyoto that we introduced in the latest TW issue, Bunzaburo took over the pop-up exhibition space with its fantastic creations. Inspired by the strategic ties used in shibori that are usually undone after dyeing, the brand creates protruding spaces, as if the fashion items were nature’s living creations. Sometimes they look like underwater creatures, other times like mercurial intergalactic lifeforms we are yet to meet. Bunzaburo is best known for its bags and clothes, and its style of textured expanding fabric is now back in vogue.
At the TW party pop-up, in addition to the clothes, the brand also showed its more recent forays into interior design products such as lamps. Partygoers left with a gift from Bunzaburo — a mini bag for valuables. Those who couldn’t come to the party can check out the brand’s online store or Bunzaburo’s pop-up store at Ginza Six, which is there until August 29.
Solène Ballesta, TW Style column curator and photographer
TW July-August 2023 Issue Pages Coming to Life
With these events, we are putting many people and stories from the magazine’s pages into a room together. Of course, we had most of the editors, writers and photographers who worked on this issue. And just like we brought Bunzaburo from the page to the real-life space, we had several magazine interviewees in attendance. Our latest issue’s cover star Herbie Yamaguchi was in his element taking photos of other guests while younger photographers were starstruck to meet him.
Also from the latest issue, we had a chance to catch up in person with well-known fashion designer Shun Watanabe, Itsuki Hozumi, who heads the retail brand Auba Jaconelli, and the photographer Kosuke Shimasaki, who took the photos for the article.
Photographer Herbie Yamaguchi in action, taking photos of the TW team and guests
Shun Watanabe and friend with DJ Abilio
Itsuki Hozumi from fashion store Auba Jaconelli and photographer Kosuke Shimasaki with other TW party guests
Gallery
As always, aside from the people creating the TW issue, we had wonderful guests such as representatives of the Millennials of Tokyo, More Than Music and fashion brand Harob, just to mention a few of the wonderful creatives and professionals that joined us. See a selection of photos from the night below.
