When I visited New York in September, I stayed at the Mandarin Oriental wishing to make a fresh start with a secret project. However, for the meetings in December, I decided to stay at The Ritz Carlton Central Park because I wanted to add stability to the new project which was now up and running.

New York is also home to The Ritz Carlton Battery Park with its contemporary interior, but I choose The Ritz Carlton Central Park for the classical style that I love. As with the Mandarin Oriental, I requested a room overlooking Central Park. Why, you ask? Because I wanted to be energized by the park, to spend my precious moments looking at the park and engaging in a quiet dialogue with it.

The photo at the bottom is of Central Park's lake. My spiritual power stabilizes when I am near water, so I make sure that when I travel, I stay in a place that is near the water. For instance, if I am in a mountainous area, I would stay in a hotel overlooking a lake. The view of the lake at Central Park from my hotel room was therefore very important.

Also, it was snowing that day, and the lake was frozen, turning everything white. It was a beautiful sight. I was convinced that the god of water was welcoming me to the city. Just this made me very excited. My husband always tells me that “it must be good being so simple,” but I feel these little things are important.
(Photo: View of Central Park from my room)

I was very happy about the view from my room that day, but breakfast the next morning was quite disappointing! The bread served was neither soft nor warm. This is breakfast at a five star hotel? I was so appalled that I took a photo. I quite simply believe that the first meal of the day is important, and I wanted it to be special.
(Photo: Bread at breakfast)

Craving Asian food in the evening, I visited the Chinese restaurant Shun Lee Palace located on East side, upon hearing from the hotel concierge that its sister restaurant, Shun Lee, on West side was also a popular spot.

The food there was absolutely delicious. The restaurant was intricately decorated with dragon and monkey statues hanging from the ceiling as shown in the photo. I noticed that the interior was designed using Feng Shui, and decided to ask the owner about it.

“How did you know? Are you a Feng Shui Master?” (he asked)
“A kind of that…” (is what I said)
“Beyond that!” (was what I was thinking)

It's very comfortable to be in a place that is built based on Feng Shui. I hope that more restaurants like this are made in the west.
(Photo: The restaurants dragon and monkey statues)

The next day, in my spare time, I visited my favorite shoe store, Manolo Blahnik. This brand has recently become popular in Japan, but I have been visiting the store in New York for around 15 years now. The woman in charge of me since my visit last year greeted my husband and me with a smile saying, “you've come this year too!” Things like this that make people happy, and also happen to be the basics of marketing.

I was impressed and thought about how the quality of a brand really depends on its skilled staff. I have become more of a Manolo Blahnik fan.
(Photo: My sales associate at Manolo Blahnik: since she knows my taste and my feet, she's very helpful)