Neil Duckett

Over the years i’ve had a knack of climbing the greasy pole and ending up at events and functions many would envy, i guess i’ve just been in the right place at the right time. Some of the best examples would have to be the Nike Speed Olympic Party, CLEO Batchelor of the Year after party, Sportsgirl @ Melbourne Fashion Week & the Emirates Marquee in the Bird Cage on Melbourne Cup Day …. and the list goes on.

Last night i was invited to a gathering in the Keio Plaza hotel, hosted by the guy who’s farm i spent a weekend on earlier in the year. I had no idea what to expect and had been given little detail. It was like a cocktail party, he hosts the same event every Tuesday night to which i’ve been given a flag to each week should i choose to accept. There were about 30 or so people there, only 5 of who i knew.

In typical Japanese tradition it’s advisable to have a healthy stack of business cards on offer and lucky for me i did. I was able to meet a Japanese Comedian, a television personality from TVK Yokohama ”Kyoko Nakayama” along with 2 of Japans’ elite sportsmen, “Tanaka Masato” from Team East Wind - Adventure Racing and  “Yoshimasa Wada” from Wadapro - Skiing the Globe.

These were all interesting people with differening levels on English so it made for some good practice for the both of us but the highlight of the night was meeting the grandson of the guy who founded the Miss Nippon Contest (ミス日本コンテスト) back in 1950. I couldn’t get my card out of my pocket quick enough to exchange with him. I won’t lie, i found it hard to hide my excitement at the thought of going to Miss Nippon 2008 and i’ve already told him i’m free that night.

The competition is held on the 28th of January 2008 at the Keio Plaza hotel so it’s a short stroll up the road from home. At this stage it’s unconfirmed as to what capacity i’ll be attending …. over the next few weeks i’ll liase with him some more but anything from general admittance through to guest judge will make for a great night! Needless to say i wont rely on my camera phone to tak the pictures that night, i’ll take the 10 meg Canon i bought a few months back.

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