Meeting the Ambassador

On Friday, I was invited to a special reception at the Oklahoma State Capitol (and later at the Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa... posh to the max) honoring the current ambassador of Japan to the US, Ichiro Fujisaki. It was an interesting event... there were suddenly a flurry of Japanese obachan (older ladies) chattering away all around me. It was surreal, considering that I know of hardly any other Japanese people here in OK. I felt like I was in Japan just for one tiny moment. I guess I was invited because someone Googled "Oklahoma" and "Japanese artist." In any case, after many speeches and hullabaloo, we got to meet the ambassador and shake hands very quickly. I gave him my newest painting "Moment -Setsuna-".



This little work was acrylic, collage, and gold leaf on a slab of wood with the bark still on the sides. Woops, I hope it's not banned at Narita airport because it's an agricultural product. O_o





I hope he liked it... I couldn't tell because we were rushed through so quickly. The chrysanthemum surrounding the girl is the traditional Japanese motif for the Emperor, so I thought it fitting to give it to a government official. Here we all are... and I'm looking so awesome with my shiny camera eyes that I am too lazy to fix in Photoshop. I hope the official photographer posts the photos soon so I can get a more decent shot.



Speaking of decent shots, the bathroom at the country club was gorgeous. It was like a dream bedroom, except it was the BATHROOM. My friend and I went a little too wild in there, as you can see.