BEYOND THE SOCIAL WHIRL

Leafing through my appointment diaries of this period it seems I did little else but attend receptions, luncheons, dinners, and geisha parties. 1967 was a particularly hectic year with an average of twenty engagements each month except August. Most of these were business-related but in deference to perceived Western sensibilities ‘the wives’ were sometimes included in the evening invitations of banks and large companies with their seemingly inexhaustible expense accounts.

The embassies too did their best to use up their entertainment budgets. The Dutch ambassador usually gave a lunch or black-tie affair whenever there was a luminary from Holland in town. Invitations from the American ambassador or his deputy tended toward the buffet reception or informal cocktail party — or more likely I was not on their A-list for the formal occasions.

All this activity reflected J apan's growing importance as an economic power, based largely on the phenomenal success of its export industries. To the extent that the entertainment was directed at the foreign banks it also served to underscore the chronic hunger for capital in this high-growth economy. The competing buzz for scarce loan funds formed the background of many a Shimbashi or Akasaka geisha party, though no Japanese host was indelicate enough to actually mention the subject over the dainty dishes and the velvety Chivas Regal, a np-off owing to the 350% import duty and the restaurant's hefty mark-up.

Spurred on by the free-spending business elite, new and often innovative eateries, bothjapanese and Western, emerged alongside the traditional establishments. One unusual newcomer was a high-class Japanese restaurant ensconced in the bowels of a large office buildingin Marunouchi. Taking up three underground stories in height, it featured pavilions connected by lantern-lit stepping-stone paths, and surrounded by authentic Japanese gardens, complete with a carp stream, live trees and bamboo groves. The effect created was that of an Edo period teahouse by night. To keep the garden healthy, the place was set ablaze with artificial light after close of business each day, only to be cast back into darkness by noon the following day in time for the lunchtime trade.