This week's show on Slow Living Radio is a true celebration of taking time, breathing deeply, enjoying our surrounds and company. We begin with the oldest Japanese Gardens in the Western World, nestled in Saratoga, California, where guests can, wander, learn Tai Chi to Water Colour painting, or enjoy a traditional tea ceremony. We then learn about some amazing recreational parks and activities run by Basecamp Hospitality. Enjoy the show, then head on to your next slow living adventure.
Shozo
Kagoshima
Shozo Kagoshima is the Executive Director
of the Hakone Foundation. The Hakone Foundation is a 501-c3 not for profit
corporation which is contracted with the City of Saratoga to manage and operate
the historic Hakone Estate and Gardens in the city of Saratoga, CA.
Shozo has been Executive Director since
2015. He is charged with leading a staff of nine full and part-time employees.
His responsibilities include: managing the day-to-day operations, financial
management, fundraising, marketing, and community relations.
Previous to working for the Hakone
Foundation, Shozo worked at the Winchester Mystery House for 35 years.
Born in San Jose, raised in Saratoga, and
now residing in Campbell, Shozo is a graduate of San Jose State University with
a BS degree in Aeronautical Operations.
History of Hakone
The
idea for Hakone, which in recent years celebrated its centennial, was sparked
in 1915 when philanthropists Oliver and Isabel Stine attended the Panama
Pacific Exposition in San Francisco and fell in love with Japanese culture.
This
inspired them that year purchase 15 acres of land in the foothills of the Santa
Cruz Mountains, for the purpose of building their own Japanese garden and
estate.
In
1916 Isabel acquired pieces of the Japan Pavilion from the Panama Pacific Expo
for later usage. In 1916 she (and her
son John) explored many gardens in Japan, noting her favorite elements from
each.
She
worked with architect Shintani Tsunematsu and landscape architect Naoharu
Aihara to build their Japanese style retreat, incorporating the Japan Pavilion
pieces and ideas from her journey to Japan.
Major
Charles Lee Tilden purchased the property in 1932 and operated Hakone as a
private retreat. He hired Japanese-trained landscape gardener James Sasaki to
make improvements to the gardens and build several additional structures such
as a mon, upper pavilion, and wisteria arbor.
Maintained
by the Hakone Foundation, Hakone Estate and Gardens is one of the oldest
Japanese gardens in the Western Hemisphere.
Hakone
offers a wide variety of docent-led tours and educational classes, from Zen
meditation, karate and Tai Chi to watercolor painting:
-
Rinzai Zen
Study with Reverend Enyu Ito on Sunday mornings
-
Tai Chi with with
Linda Scheer on Thursday afternoons
-
Seido Karate
with Kyoshi Robert Henderson on Tuesday and Thursday nights
-
Watercolor
with Kay Duffy every 2nd and 4th Monday morning
-
Mikkyo Zen
Meditation at Hakone on Saturday mornings
-
Traditional
Tea Ceremonies and Classes
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Hollie Potts, Spokesperson,
Drawing on decades of hospitality marketing and operations management,
Director of Social Media Hollie Potts leads a team of digital media experts,
web developers, graphic designers, and location-based sales and marketing
professionals to drive customer satisfaction and manage Basecamp Hospitality’s
online reputation.
Throughout her 20 years at the company, Hollie has played an integral
role in building brand and integrated marketing initiatives, utilizing digital,
print, broadcast, and direct mail techniques. She believes this is key because
while the park’s nature experience is timeless, communicating with a new
generation of consumers requires the latest digital approaches.
Since joining the company in 1998, Hollie has worked in a variety of
roles. Today she serves in the dual role of Director of Social Media and Online
Reputation Management, as well as the Regional Marketing Coordinator for the
company’s San Francisco Bay area. Her day-to-day responsibilities include
developing and executing strategic social media and digital initiatives, analysing
social media trends and their impact on the company brand, and tracking and
driving the company’s online reputation.
When she began with Basecamp Hospitality, she coordinated and
led more than 200 events for premier facilities in the portfolio, which
attracted the attention of the executive team, who promoted her to run the
Reservations Sales Department. There she built the client database to over
13,000, developing the marketing plan, leading onsite customer presentations,
writing proposals, and negotiating customer event agreements. Helping to build
the mobile catering division and grow the on- and off-site catering and special
events business to more than 600 functions per year, Hollie continued to progress
in the company, working her way to Director of Sales & Marketing, where she
created and executed the strategic marketing and communications plan. Today she
leverages all this experience to build client satisfaction and engage them in
the brand.
A native of the Bay Area, Hollie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in
psychology from San Francisco State University.
