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1 - Tuesday, July 18th Hi! This is Kei Mizutani. I recently came to the San Diego Comic Convention for the world premiere of the English version of my movie, "Weather Woman." It was a very long flight from my home in Japan and I was happy to finally arrive. I was greeted at the airport by staff members from Central Park Media. There was a nice stretch limousine that drove us to the hotel - the first time I've ever ridden in a stretch limo! The ride to the hotel was sunny and pleasant. When we got to the hotel, I was impressed by the luxurious rooms and views. We were next to a marina where many yachts were docked. The room that I stayed in was really big and the view was beautiful. We met with the CPM staff and had a meeting to talk about my schedule at the convention. It was really tiring, due to my jet lag. I had to drink some coffee to stay awake. The next day was going to be very busy! Click on the thumbnails for a gallery of images: |
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| Day 2 - Wednesday, July 19th To get ready for the premiere, the first thing I did was to select my dress. I wanted to make sure that I looked my best for my American fans! We spent the day conducting a photo session for publicity photos and to get pictures for my website fan club, www.keimizutani.com (you're already here, if you can read this!) CPM wanted me to dress up like Utena in Revolutionary Girl Utena, so that they could promote Utena at the CNAnime Convention next month, in Toronto. I was happy to help out, since I love this anime - what a cool concept for a heroine! Check out my Utena gallery on this website - I think I look great doing Utena cosplay! Wednesday night was the world premiere of the English dubbed version of my most famous movie, "Weather Woman." It was really nice to see all the fans show up to see me and the movie. (I was happy to see that everyone stayed throughout the whole movie, and then hung around to talk to me afterwards.) I signed a lot of autographs after the premiere, and spoke to some of the fans. They told me that they really enjoyed the movie and thought that I was very good in it. Some of them already had the new DVD of Weather Woman, and had me autograph their copies, which I am always happy to do. Click on the thumbnails for a gallery of images: |
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| Day 3-
Thursday, July 20th We spent the whole day doing publicity photos for Asia Pulp Cinema, and for this website. When we were on the balcony doing the famous "Weather Woman" pose, one of the hotel guests told the hotel that "an underage girl was being photographed in her underwear." The hotel security staff made me show them my passport, to prove I was over 18 years old - I was ecstatic to learn that Americans think I look so young! What a great experience! |
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4- Friday, July 21st I finally had some time off, so my friend and I snuck out of the hotel to go shopping in the morning. We couldn't believe how inexpensive it is to go shopping in America! Everything was so cheap compared to the high prices we must pay in Japan. I wonder if the Americans know they have it so good? Right after lunch, I appeared on the "Manga to Movies" panel with Chris Couch, the Editor in Chief of CPM Manga, which had just released the first issue of Tetsu Adachi's Weather Woman comic book, to coincide with the premiere of the movie. Chris made a great speech all about the comic book and its deeper meanings, and I had fun talking about the movie. I told everybody that it was very exciting for me to play a character that originated from a manga (comic book). It was a very well received panel, with lots of interesting questions from the audience. There were many people who had seen all of my APC movies already (Weather Woman, Tokyo Decameron, and Ladies Phone Sex Club), and even one fan who knew all about my appearance as the villianess on the TV show, Gingaman. Next up after the panel discussion was an autograph signing session with the fans. For over two hours, there were people lined up to get my autograph - I was very happy to talk to them, and hear which of my movies they liked the most. I took some pictures with some of the fans, and was very glad to have the chance to meet so many Americans who like my movies. At the end of the day, we had a big party with the staff of Central Park Media to celebrate a very busy week in San Diego! Click on the thumbnails for a gallery of images: |
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5- Saturday, July 22 It was time for me to leave. There was another limo to take me to the airport. I thought about all the wonderful things that happened to me at the San Diego Comic Convention. I was sad because I had to leave but I was also happy that I was going home. Everybody from Central Park Media was very nice and took very good care of me. I didn't have time to do as much shopping as I would have liked to do, but I did manage to get a little shopping done. I took some last minute pictures at the airport. I think I will have to come back to the United States soon, so I can continue to meet my fans! In the meantime, keep coming to my fan club website so you can see what I'm doing. Bye for now. Click on the thumbnails for a gallery of images: |
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