Jimmy Choo. Shoes from the Exhibition

I don't want to tread on Feet Man Seoul's territory here, but I thought I'd post one photo of the twelve shoes on display today at the Education UK Exhibition.



Jimmy gave a very upbeat talk about what a positive experience he had had as a young shoe maker from Malaysia, coming to London to study shoe design 25 years ago. The college principal was initially reluctant to enroll Jimmy, but once he saw some examples of his work he was persuaded to give Jimmy a chance, inspite of his poor English skills.

For those readers of the blog in Korea: The Education UK Exhibition, run by the British Council will be coming to Seoul on the weekend of November 1st and 2nd.

Saturday 1 November 2008
Time: 1300–1800

Sunday 2 November 2008
Time: 1300–1800

Venue: Seoul Plaza Hotel

And, for anyone interested, the exhibition will also be on in Taiwan on the same weekend.

Jimmy Choo at the Education UK Exhibition Japan

If you are interesting in studying in the UK and live in Japan come to the Education UK Exhibition Japan 2008 this weekend. It's on in Tokyo at the International Forum near Tokyo Station on Saturday and in Osaka on Sunday.

Over 60 UK universities and colleges be at the fair, part of the Education UK initiative led by the British government.

World-famous shoe designer Professor Jimmy Choo (Professor Emeritus, University of the Arts London) will give a talk show about "UK Creativity", as well as exhibiting 12 pairs of shoes designed specially for this event. There will also be several other presenters who have been influenced by UK creativity, including Anne Suzuki, an actress who studied in the UK.

I will be at there on Saturday on the stand of my Alma Mater Southampton University.

Dates, times and venues:

Tokyo: Saturday 18 October 11:00 - 17:00
Tokyo International Forum (Yurakucho)
Entrance is free

Osaka: Sunday 19 October 13:00 - 18:00
Umeda Sky Building 10F Aura Hall
Entrance is free

If you've thought of studying in the UK, come to exhibition to meet people who can tell you what it's like, and what's on offer from the wide variety of institutions that will be there.

Or, if you just like shoes, come and hear Jimmy Choo talk at 1pm.

Yoga Weekend with Nirmal at Alishan

Nirmal and Naresh, originally uploaded by jonallen01966.

We just got back from a yoga weekend with Nirmal.

We stayed at Alishan which is an organic cafe and food shop run by Jack Bayles and his wife Fay. They have an 'Event space' which was our base for the weekend.

Here is Nirmal, demonstrating Yogic Massage on his assistant Naresh.

We also enjoyed Laughing Yoga, which with a small group of Japanese young ladies, was very amusing.

Yakatabuna

Boat cruise round Tokyo bay.
An interesting way to see the sights at night and enjoy a meal.

We went with a company called funasei. Their package includes an excellent tempura meal with non stop drinks and a karaoke machine. Address : 1-16-8 北品川, 品川区, 東京140-0001. 1-16-8 Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, 140-0001. 15 mins walk from Shinagawa station.

Feet Man Seoul in Japan Times

A quick shout out for Mike Hurt AKA The Metropolitician AKA Feet Man Seoul. Not only is he appearing on Arirang TV these days, but I was delighted to see his fashion photos this morning in the Japan Times.

On my way to work I spotted the half page spread by Shawn Despres entitled "Spicy Food, sexy idols and now fashion." including no less than five photos all from FeetManSeoul.com. Some quotes include:

"A few years ago, any self-respecting Japanese young woman would have died of shame rather than be caught in the same outfit her Korean cousin was flaunting in Myeongdong. Now, vacationing Japanese populate those shopping corridors on clothing hunts."

"Until very recently, suits or other formal wear were requirements for men, as were dresses, high heels and makeup for women," explains Michael Hurt, the editor in chief of Feet Man Seoul, South Korea's first street-fashion magazine.

"As any Korean knows, a man walking the streets in the '90s in shorts and sandals would be stared at, or a woman without makeup in an office situation would be thought of as rude or lazy."

Korean Olympic Athletes had Secret Weapon

South Korea won a very respectable 13 gold medals in the recent Olympics. But did they partake in any special performance enhancing chemicals? Was Kimchi perhaps the secret of their success or did Bosingtang give them the stamina to last the race? No the truth behind their strong performance is unveiled:

The state-run Korea Ginseng Corp admitted to AFP that Archers and weightlifters received a regular supply of Korean red ginseng.

The herb known as "the root of life" has been cultivated in Korea for 1,500 years and is steadily adding to its fan club overseas.

While it is especially popular among athletes, Koreans in general attribute a variety of powers including stress relief, anti-ageing and even better sexual performance to its light yellow-coloured fleshy roots.


I leave you to draw your own conclusions. Should the Koreans be stripped of their medals? or left to their own delusions.