FRAGILE

Hey, everyone! This is an assignment writing from the Business English class in last semester.
The assignment is; Think of a company that you buy products from regularly. What does it do to keep you as a customer? What could it do to strengthen your customer loyalty in the future?
When I read this assignment, immediately my loving apparel Japanese brand, "FRAGILE" came to my mind. All clothes in the photo are "FRAGILE" products. But I took it in February, so I am sorry they don't match this hot summer season!!

When you buy clothes, if you have a favorite shop, it would not be hard to choose the one because you don’t have to go back and forth to several shops wondering which one is the best for you!
But I have a favorite Japanese apparel brand. The brand’s name is FRAGILE. However, my customer loyalty for the brand is not fragile. I have been the biggest fan of the brand for five years.
When I visit Japan, I just go to one of this brand’s shops, try on some cloths, and buy them. I don’t have to make an errand to buy clothes anymore. The reasons why I love this brand are as follows:

First, their designs are exactly my taste. Their clothes are feminine, but not too lovely. They have the latest trend, but not too flashy. When I wear their clothes, they fit my body perfectly. Yes, they are clingy! Therefore, I can show my figure as if it seems more beautiful than the way I really am! These clothes make me a FRAGILE, delicate lady.

Second, the location of the shop is convenient. This brand is a really popular one, so I can find their retail shops anywhere in Japan. Last year when I visited Japan, I went to my husband’s hometown (Nagoya) first.
I visited the FRAGILE shop in Nagoya, and figured out which clothes are good for me. Then, when I went to my hometown (Sapporo,) I visited their shop again, and bought them because it was the time of the big sale!
The FRAGILE shop in Sapporo is located in the biggest department store in Sapporo, so it is also easy to get there.

Third, the clerks are really nice to me. In the FRAGILE shop in Sapporo, the chief remembers me even though I visit there just once or twice a year. I know it is because I always buy a lot of clothes… However, I know it is not easy to remember many customers’ names. Whenever I visit the shop, the chief always smiles to me saying, “Keiko! Welcome back to Japan!” Also, she sends a postcard to me twice a year. Her thoughtful attitude makes me think “I am an exclusive customer!”

If I could suggest them some strategies of keeping existing customers like me longer, I would say two suggestions.
First, send e-mails to their loyal customers regularly. If they introduce their latest products to us, like Nine West or Victoria’s Secret does, we would want to get them more often.
Second, provide some discounts to the loyal customers depending on how much they have bought. What if they have a kind of “a shop card”, so we can save points whenever we buy their clothes? How about getting one more clothing item when the points reach a certain amount?

If they carry out my suggestions, I guess many established & potential customers would keep their UNBREAKABLE loyalties to FRAGILE!!

Last Performance

Seeing this picture, what do you think I am doing?

1. The lady (showing her back) is my teacher. I am being scolded by her.

2. I am storytelling. The lady is listening.

3. I am singing. The lady is an accompanist.

The answer is 3... Is it obvious?

Last month, I performed at the West Lafayette Musicale Group's meeting. The group consists of professional musical performers, teachers, and amateur musicians like me. All members are living in this town or near here. My voice teacher, Mrs. Paine, has been an influential member of this group. So, I have joined the group for two years and a half.

The main purpose of the West Lafayette Musicale Group is "to stimulate the love of music in the community." We have meetings regularly, perform there, and encourage our community members to come to our meetings. We have junior musical competitions, let teenager musicians together, and give awards to winners from our donations.

You know, EVERYBODY in this group LOVES music ( I would say, especially, classical music.) I, who also LOVE music, but mostly pop music, love singing but I am almost musically illiterate, and don't speak much English (loooooong negative? adjective clause describing me!!)..... became a secretary of this group last year.

Whenever we have official meetings, I have the HARDEST time to keep our minutes because everybody talks fast about how we can spread the love of music enthusiastically!!

But I always enjoy the meetings because I LOVE being surrounded by PASSIONATE people!!!

Once you became a member of the West Lafayette Musical Group, you have to PERFORM something regularly in our meetings.

But you know... I am an amateur singer, and not a VERY good singer... So, performing here makes me reluctant!! But I should, so I have performed once a year.

Two years ago, I sang "Sentimental Journey", a standard jazz number, with my Japanese friend. Mrs Paine, my vocal teacher, may have thought we needed to do something besides singing because she knew we couldn't impress members very much just by "our singing." ( of course she didn't say so...)

Therefore, she suggested our doing some dance. Probably I shouldn't call them "dance." They were...movements like swing.

On our performance day, we were freaked out because coincidentally, other performers at that time were vocal musical students of IU (Indiana University, which is famous for vocal music education)!!! Thus, they were like professional OPERA SINGERS!!! On the other hand, we were freaked out reluctant singers who sounded apparently amateur( I am sorry for Mrs.Paine! She has taught me SINGING for a long time!!)... But we tried our best to sing & dance with forced smiling!!

After that, everybody complemented our performance. Oh, they said, "How pleasant YOUR DANCE was!!" They were really kind...

My friend recorded the performance (even though I disagreed with that,) and she gave me a copy of the tape. When my hubby watched that, he laughed & laughed.

For him, our dance ( I mean, our movements) looked like the same as some Japanese MANZAI (comedy) pairs.

He said, "Isn't is a STAND UP COMEDY? You did a great job!!"

Anyway, what I learned from this experience was... " I should perform something exclusively for me!!" I am not a (semi-)professional singer, so I should create something besides singing to entertain people.

(Do I stray from the main purpose of the music performance? Don't mention that!!)

Therefore, last year, I sang a Japanese piece, "The Rhyme of Early Spring(早春賦）."

Mrs. Paine and another professional singer became my chorus singers.

I sang a solo with a professional chorus! That was pretty exciting!!

This year, I also did two solos without chorus.

1. "So In Love" by Cole Porter.

If you watch a movie, "De-Lovely," which is about the life of a great composer, Cole Porter, you will love this ROMANTIC number!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcMxlpOJ_6I I LOVE this movie!!

2. "Oborozukiyo朧月夜(Dim-moonlight)" by Mika Nakashima 中島美嘉

This original song was written in 1900. The songwriter was from Nagano, where the winter Olympics was held in 1997. He described the beautiful nature in his hometown. It was a traditional Japanese song. However, a few years ago, one young Japanese pop singer, Mika Nakashima, and a famous guitar player, Taro Hakase(葉加瀬太郎）, who corroborated with Celine Dion, arranged this song.

Then, this song became popular among young Japanese!

I was looking for a traditional Japanese song which has contemporary taste.

So, this one is the best!

Oh, the very last graphic of this article is my new resource. This is from Sony Music Online, a free trial music Janapese Web-site. You can listen to this "Oboroaukiyo" music if you click the graphic amd see the CD's jacket design.

If you see just some Japanese words"登録したＵＲＬと一致しません”, please go to the left side, the "previous posts" section, and click "Last Performance" article. Then you can see the CD jacket design, and click there!

Because my "blogger.com" is not so popular in Japan, I should register individual articles to download this one. If you have any questions about that, please ask me!!

Back to my last performance...even though I picked wonderful songs, they were difficult to sing for me!!

I could sing " So In Love," but the Japanese one, "Oborozukiyo"...was a pretty hard song, as Mrs Paine said. We listened to Mika Nakashima's CD and watched the video of the traditional Japanese music TV program, "紅白歌合戦", because she performed that song there... Mrs Paine said,

"Mika Nakashima sounds really good on her CD, but she couldn't project this high sound when she performed."

I am sorry if you are her fan! She always does a great job, but only this time her voice condition was not so good, or she arranged the song with too high octaves!!

As Mrs Paine said, this song is very characteristic with frequent dynamic intervals and a lot of difficult vowels, like "e."

"E" is the most difficult sound for singers because we should open our mouth the widest, so lots of air goes out of our mouths. That means it becomes difficult to produce higher sounds.

Until the performance day, I practiced a lot with Mrs. Paine. Sometimes I was discouraged, but she encouraged me saying,

"You know what? There are MANY professional singers who aren't better singers than you. But they have their own performance style making many people excited!! Don't forget, ENJOY yourself!!"

We did a few rehearsals with the accompanist. One day, I just couldn't produce high sounds. Then Mrs Paine said,

"Have you had a dairy product today? Or a dessert?"

I nodded, " Yeah, I had a cup of cafe au lait and a chocolate coissant."

She frowned, "Let's avoid these when you have a performance. Any dairy product produces mucus, which makes difficult for you to sing higher sounds. The same as the dessert."

I was surprised, "Wow! I didn't know that! So, is there anything you recommend my having on performance days?"

She smiled, "I have at least a teaspoon of lemon juice per day. Any fruit works well on your voice. Oh, especially, oranges give you lots of energy! An amazingly genius piano player (I forgot which one she mentioned...) eats 16 ORANGES on his performance day."

Well, I don't know whether eating ONE food too much is good for his HEALTH or not...but, her information was good for me to know!!

Finally, the performance day? I was quite relaxed& enjoyed it!!

Well, the picture was taken on the the performance day. Our meetings are always held at a member's house. (Some members have pretty gorgeous houses!!)

You can't see the audience, but there were 25-30 people. I didn't dance this time because I wore a Japanese Yukata ( a summer cotton Kimono)! Please don't say my Yukata looks untidy... I am not good at wearing Kimonos...

My costume, and the Japanese e-varietions that Mrs Paine mentioned as difficult to sing, impressed theaudience, I think... They felt "the mysterious oriental taste," some members said. I couldn't sing "perfectly," but it's OK! They liked my performance!!

On that day, I quit Mrs Paine's singing lessons and the West Lafayette Musicale Group. I enjoyed them, but in fact, sometimes I had to take much time for those activities. Therefore, that performance became literally, my LAST performance in the group. I love singing! However, I have some personal goals that I want to achive, hopefully, until I go back to Japan, like getting a full score on the TOEIC and being an ADVANCED speaker at the Toastmasters.

Therefore, I chose to concentrate on pursuing my resolutions!!

Sometimes we need to "choose" something from our lives...but, don't forget, ENJOY YOURSELVES!!!

Fabulous! Las Vegas!!

Which city is your favorite in the U.S? Mine is...LAS VEGAS!!! But actually, my hubby LOVES it more than me.

Sometimes we feel like...he IS ADDICTED TO Las Vegas. Basically, he doesn't like traveling and big cities so much. However, since we went to Las Vegas two years ago, he often says, "So...when will we go to Las Vegas?" His favorite TV shows and movies are related to Las Vegas, like "Ocean's Eleven". When he is VERY quiet in front of PC at home, he checks Las Vegas information Web-sites. Have you ever seen the first picture? It is a trademark of Las Vegas, which is located at the entrance of the city. It says, "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas!!" My hubby REALLY likes the sign, so he collects any Las Vegas goods!! Occasionally he says..." I think I was born in Las Vegas in my former life..." Nobody knows...

Anyway, since we were FASCINATED by this city, we have visited Las Vegas once a year!! Last Memorial Day holiday, (May 26th-29th) we went to Fabulous Las Vegas for our third time!!

Why is Las Vegas so fabulous? I guess it's because the whole city is very entertaining, and unrealistic. Everybody is enjoying their vacations! But it's not like Florida Disney World. Las Vegas is a nice vacation place for adults.

What do we do there? Well, first...shopping!!
My favorite shops are PACKED in Las Vegas. The right picture is my favorite favorite jewelry shop, "Michale Negrin." In the U.S, we can find their shops only here and a small mall in the suburb of NYC!

This shop is in the big shopping mall of Caeasr's Palace Hotel, "Forum Shops." If you were a Japanese or you had been to Japan, do you know the Odaiba Venus Fort(お台場ヴィーナスフォート）？　　The mall was influenced by the Forum Shops, a lot. They are really similar, but the Forum Shops is quite bigger than a Japanese one! Other than Michale Negrin, my favorite shops are Kate Spade New York, Almani Exchange, Anne Fortunate, etc etc.

The left picture is the Grand Canal Shoppes, in the Venetian Hotel.

You know, most Las Vegas hotels are like theme parks. The Venetian Hotel's theme is Italy! Their fashion mall is like Venice! You can ride a gondola enjoying listening to canzona music!! In this mall, Burberry's shop is immense, and has lots of items!!

These shopping malls have gorgeous brand shops,,,but of course you can find casual goods in Las Vegas!

The beloved American candy, m&m's, have their own shop!
My hubby and I bought the blue & red golf club cover. Their faces are really...funny! We love them.

Oh, sometimes m&m's characters appear, and have pictures taken with kids! The green gal is sexy!??

How do we enjoy Vegas?

Secondly, shows!! Las Vegas has got many spectacular shows. Especially, we love Cirque du Soleil!! It means "Circus of the Sun" in French. The group is a Canadian circus group, but there are many members who are Chinese and Mongolian. Their artistic & acrobatic performances are always breath-taking! We have seen all of their shows except for "LOVE", a very new one. We heard that "LOVE" is mostly for Beatles' music fans, so this time, we went to the Wynn Hotel to watch "Le Reve."

It means "The Dream" also in French!! This is not a Cirque du Soleil show, but in fact, the group performance was very similar to the Cirque du Soleil, and we were satisfied with them!!

In the contrast to other shows, in this show, the front seats are cheaper because they are "splash" seats! The stage is like a round pool and the audience seats are surrounded by the stage. We booked the very front seat, so we were afraid we would be "drowned." However, it was OK! We had some splashes, but not much. Due to the very close distance to performers, we could see their delicate face expressions, details of costumes and so on! This show is cheaper than Cirque du Soleil shows, but just as good as them!

If you plan to go to Las Vegas, I recommend your seeing "Le Reve" or "O" by Cirque du Soleil.

This time, we rented a car for the first time. So, we explored the suburbs of Las Vegas! The Strip (the most gorgeous area) is a very crowded big city, but if you drive severel miles away from there...

Las Vegas is just a desert like the side picture. We went to the Hoover Dam, which is the only water supply of Las Vegas. The place was really crowded & not so impressive...I don't recommend it.

But of course you should go to the Grand Canyon!! We went there two years ago. It's spectacular!!

We went to some famous theme hotels that weren't located in the "Strip" area. Especially, the Hard Rock Hotel was quite impressive!! This hotel and cafe are nationwide. We have been to the Hard Rock Hotel in Chicago... But, in Las Vegas, it was not like that!! The hotel's decorations are funky & cool. The customers are....too cool!!

I thought, "Wow, does this hotel have age limits to stay in it?" Most of them were pretty young, maybe high school or college students.

They looked like black rap musicians and models from the music videos. I mean, boys wore baggie pants, sloppy clothes and had tattoos. Their hairstyles were like punk musicians.

Girls wore bikinis, V-string panties, and thick make-up... Well, it was the Hard Rock Hotel, so it maybe make sense; i.e, they "rocked!" But actually, my hubby and I got really scared! Most of them were drunk, shouting, running, or making out in the hotel!! When we walked around the outdoor veranda, we could see some of them were dancing to loud music, and hanging a black banner with a skull mark like pirates... I don't want to speak ill of the Hard Rock Hotel, but... for us, it was one of the scariest moments in the U.S!!

Probably it happened just only in the graduation fun trip season?

If you want to have an adventure, you may visit the hotel...

Anyway, in the hotel, they held the Jackson family's auction. We could see Michael & Janet Jackson's stage costumes, private letters, old records, and so on! We saw this news was broadcast worldwide, but inside the hotel...Oh, I should stop talking about it!!

If you visit Las Vegas, you should go to the casinos!! If you win at the casinos, what will you buy? Last year, my hubby's aim was a plasma TV. This year? He said, "Can I buy a Rolex watch if you become a millionaire?" His dream has been getting bigger... Before we went to the casinos, we went to a Rolex shop in the Wynn hotel, which is the most gorgeous hotel in Las Vegas, to motivate us to win! He tried his favorite one on, but it was $25,000!!! Of course we couldn't afford it...so far!?

Therefore he said to the clerk, "Thanks. But we can't buy it now, so maybe the next time. " Then, the clerk, a middle aged guy, said nothing to us! He was really rude!! Or, they had just very rich customers who can buy the watches without a hesitation? We don't know...

That night, my husband grabbed a hundred bucks and said to me, "Honey, I will win and bring back that Rolex with me!!" and went to the casinos. He is a good boy ! He never spend over $100 in the casinos even though he keeps winning. He didn't come back for three hours!

When he was back, I asked him, "So, did you win?"

He smiled, " I won!"

I smiled back, "Did you get your favorite Rolex?"

He looked down, " No... I tripled money, but far from buying a Rolex!! I think it's really hard to make BIG money enough to get a Rolex..."

Of course we knew it! If you want to get a HIGH return, you should take HIGH risks!!

We don't want to bet big money, but we can always have DREAMS to be millionaires☆

Oh, what did I do when my hubby went to the casinos? Actually, I had somethings to do...to make money! When I tried to use a safe, it was accidentally locked, and automatically the hotel charged us $3!! I didn't want to pay it because the safe was broken, so I talked about that at the front desk.

After that, I used a vending machine to buy a soda, then... the machine was also broken! It ate my $2, and didn't give me a soda! So, I called the maintenance office to complain. They said "If you can come to our office, we will reimburse your dollars." So I went to their office.

When I told these stories to my hubby, he said, "Honey, this is a LAS VEGAS hotel where millions of dollars are moving every night... But you complained about a few dollars?? YOU ARE FUNNY!!"

Oh, boy! we can spend our dollars in the casinos to bet on our dreams, but I don't want to lose a dollar because of the hotel's negligence!!! Maybe, I have become TOO ASSERTIVE since I came to the U.S...

Anyway, we definitely want to go back to Las Vegas, our imaginary hometown!! (This sign is on the opposite side of the very first picture, "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas!" So, when you leave Las Vegas, you can see this sign saying, "Drive carefully. Come back SOON!!")