March 1997, I flew to Fukuoka Japan for the first time. This short trip came after I happily agreed to be Taiwan’s Travel Trend News guest journalist.
Joining me for the trip were eight other travel journalists; each representing one of Taiwan major newspapers or travel magazines. Our destination was Huis Ten Bosch, as this Japanese ‘Dutch village’ theme park was about to mark its 5th anniversary.

When I saw our schedule in Taipei, which was packed with activities such as visiting galleries; museums; group lunches; dinners and of course, most importantly, the press conference with the founder and president of Huis Ten Bosch – Yoshikuni Kamichika (神近義邦社長) – all of this in two and a half days!
As the program was tight and Huis Ten Bosch is enormous… To be in and out of Hotel DanHaag for my outfit changes was out of the question.
So the challenge for me was, how do I prepare an outfit which covers both business and casual? Is there such thing??

Since business wear was essential, I decided to go with a simple white shirt and black suit – blazer and skirt. From there, I could perhaps do some small changes to soften the business edge.
The press conference went really well. After that, I put on my pink cardigan which was rolled up and tucked in my bag early on, so I could appear less business-like while taking a stroll and enjoying snapping away in front of the picturesque tulip field and windmills.
My white shirt also came in handy when I attended our last dinner at Huis Ten Bosch in the Tengu Restaurant. A magic little solitaire designed diamond pendant had added a glamorous touch to this simple yet sophisticated ensemble.

“Are you a Libran?” Asked our local Japanese interpreter lady who spotted me buying some ‘Dutch’ clogs in a souvenir shop the next morning.
‘You are half right!’ I smiled. ‘My rising sign IS Libra! What made you guess that?’ I was curious to find out.
“Ahh~ha!!” She said. “From the way you adjusted your chopsticks during the meal last night…”, “And, your superb taste in simple clothing!”

I was flattered to hear that and I owe it to my simple white shirt!