Love and Romance Products from Accent Touch

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I was first introduced to the ancient art of love and romance in early 1980 while on an extended business trip to Japan. I was an executive with a large American corporation and had traveled to Japan to negotiate a new contract with a Japanese company that manufactured consumer electronic products which our company sold in the United States. As was common practice in Japan, my Japanese associates and I often went to dinner together and we almost always ended up having drinks in a private club located in the Minami-Ku District district of downtown Osaka.

The Minami-Ku District district is a night-life section of town made up of glittering neon lights, fancy restaurants, crowded bars, noisy Pachinko parlors and private clubs such as the one which we often visited. These private clubs frequently provide entertainment for their patrons and one evening the club which we visited was featuring a company of Japanese Maiko dancers. Maiko dancers perform an age-old form of dance in which they act out folk stories of old Japan. The dancers wear elegant costumes similar to those worn by their ancestors in ancient Japan. It was in this private club that I first met Yuko.

She was a Maiko dancer with this company of traveling entertainers. My business associates and I were having a drink at the bar when the dancers began their dance act on a tiny stage at the back of the club. I was entranced by their ancient music and the dances performed by these remarkably talented entertainers. Moreover, I was totally captivated by the performance of one particular dancer. I did not know at the time that her name was Yuko and that she and I, in the weeks to come, would develop a close and intimate friendship which would have a profound effect on the rest of my life.

When the dancers finished their performance I asked one of my Japanese associates, Tamura-san, if it would be possible to meet the dancer who had so captivated my interest. I was told that this would not be possible. But I was persistent and some how convinced Tamura-san that my intentions were honorable. On my behalf, and after nearly half an hour of discussion Tamura-san convinced the dance company's manager that I was okay and he agreed to let me meet with her — but only briefly.

When she joined us she was still wearing her costume and her flower face — which is what the Japanese call the stark white makeup warn by Kabuki dancers, Geisha girls, and Maiko dancers.

This is the publicity photograph that Yuko gave to me the night that she and I first met in early 1980. She was a member of a traveling Maiko dance company that was providing entertainment at a private club that my Japanese associates and I often visited.

I was told that her name was Yuko and that she spoke very little English. Tamura-san and Yuko's manager sat with us to act as translators and, more than likely, to look after Yuko's best interests. Except for a polite greeting, Yuko said nothing. And, I had no idea what I was going to say either . . .