[/floatl]SMH: Fashion designer Akira Isogawa charged with drink driving
Fashion designer Akira Isogawa has been charged with mid-range drink driving...Isogawa was driving on Collins Street in Surry Hills, not far from his Griffith Street home, when he was pulled over by police and charged after allegedly recording a blood alcohol level of .115 on August 1. Isogawa's barrister, Nick Eddy, told the court his client would be pleading guilty to the offence on the next occasion and asked for an adjournment to seek further instructions from the designer. He will appear next on August 31...more...
This story of a misdemeanour is not especially interesting but it caught my eye because at no time is Isogawa described in the report as Japanese. Isogawa was born in Kyoto and only went to Australia in 1986 when he was 22 on a working holiday visa. It's possible that he naturalized at some time - as chef Tetsuya Wakuda did - but it isn't mentioned anywhere so it's also possible he hasn't. Here's how one fashion magazine speaks of him: "Akira Isogawa was born in Kyoto Japan, but we claim him to be our own since his move to Australia in 1986 where he studied fashion design at the Sydney Institute of Technology."
Just about everywhere, Isogawa is referred to as an Australia designer with little or no mention of Japan. He was formally named "Australian Designer of the Year" in 1999 and was even chosen for an "Australian Legends" series of postage stamps in 2005. In 2008, he was named the inaugural Australian Fashion Laureate Award for his contribution to the Australian fashion industry. Obviously, everyone is fully aware that he's Japanese but it is broadly regarded as irrelevant.
It's virtually impossible to imagine a foreigner today in Japan being referred to in such terms no matter how universally loved and respected he or she might become. I'm not sure you can count special permanent residents since it's more the case that their background has been concealed rather than unmentioned. However, I wonder how many countries would do the same. It probably happens in America but I would guess you'd need to have a passport before you could pick up something like an "American Designer" award. The US is also quite fond of identifying people's backgrounds so there's not so much chance that Isogawa's Japanese birth would go unmentioned as much as it seems to be in Australia.
