Designer Gives Japan a Taste of U.S.

Japan seems to have welcomed Westside designer Rick Seireeni and his version of American pop culture with open arms.

Seireeni recently designed a sports bar for the new Fukuoka Sports Dome, home to the Daiei Hawks baseball team.

Seireeni’s creation, “The Big Life,” pays tribute to American sports and culture. The 27,000-square-foot bar, which opened in April, is in the city of Fukuoka on Japan’s southernmost island of Kyushu.

The bar features dining and entertainment areas themed after surfing, baseball, football and boxing. In the area called “The 7th Wave,” giant waves are projected onto television screens while patrons sip daiquiris and dine on seafood.

“It’s 100% American,” said the 43-year-old Los Angeles resident. “The only thing that makes it Japanese are the patrons and people that work there.”

Seireeni spent the past year in his Fairfax district studio conceiving the theme, consulting on the entertainment and designing the facility with the help of Los Angeles architect Josh Schweitzer.

“American sports bars tend to be large and open, so we broke up the area into different themes,” Seireeni said. “We also used devices such as video software, themed food and drinks (to attract customers).”

Seireeni has noted a difference in the way stadiums are used in Japan and the United States.

“When we build a stadium, it’s on the outskirts of town,” he said. “In Japan, land is much too valuable, so the entire outer circumference of the dome is occupied by restaurants and offices.” Thus, the Fukuoka dome operates all the time.

This is not Seireeni’s first foray into Japan. In 1988, he designed Japan’s largest water theme park, “Wild Blue Yokohama.” He likens the entertainment complex to Disneyland except that you move through it wearing a bathing suit and ride a collection of slides, which are protected by a huge dome.

He attributes the success of the entertainment centers to a change in attitude about leisure and work.

“People are starting to learn how to relax and want payback for their hard work,” Seireeni said.

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Three USC alumni received Merit Awards at the General Alumni Assn. Awards dinner.

Award winners were Los Angeles resident James Doolittle, Pacific Palisades resident Bee Canterbury Lavery and Brentwood resident Dr. Robert Kerlan.

The ceremony was April 25 at the Regent Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills.

Gov. Pete Wilson has appointed Nancy Zarenda Spillane to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

The commission is responsible for developing and implementing standards for the professional preparation and credentialing of teachers and educators throughout the state.

Spillane, a teacher at Santa Monica High School in Santa Monica, teaches Spanish and serves as chairwoman of the department of modern and classical languages.

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The Los Angeles Philharmonic Kaper Awards were given to two students of the Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences.

Violinist Nokuthula Ngwenyama received second place and cellist Christine Kim earned third place.

The students were judged by a panel of philharmonic players.

Judith Berliner, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and medicine/cardiology at UCLA School of Medicine, received the 1992-93 Woman of Science Award.

Presented by the UCLA Medical Center Auxiliary, the award recognized Berliner for her research on atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. Her studies have focused on the oxidation of lipids that form during the early stages of atherosclerosis.

The West Los Angeles resident earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in zoology from the University of Michigan and a doctorate in cell biology from Brown University.

Actor Kirk Douglas presented the Technion Star Stream award to philanthropist Arthur Gilbert at the Annual American Technion Society Dinner.

Gilbert, who endowed the establishment of the Arthur and Rosalinde Gilbert Center for the Advancement of Scientific Research at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, was honored at a dinner May 16 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills.

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