I first met Ms. C, a French art dealer, in 1991. There was an Art Expo in Tokyo, and she had come to Japan, employed by a French gallery. It was the height of the bubble economy, and several French galleries participated in this art expo. I also spent half a day at the venue. I negotiated with several galleries and gave them my name.
On Friday, Ms. C called me. She didn't know anyone in Tokyo, and her colleague was invited to a Japanese art gallery for the weekend, but she hadn't been invited by anyone and wanted to see the sights in Tokyo. I had no choice but to show her around Tokyo by car on Saturday.
I picked her up at the Tobu Hotel in Ginza around 10am the next morning, showed her around Hama-rikyu, Asakusa, etc., had dinner at Chinatown in Yokohama that night, and then took her back to the hotel. She was very happy and returned to Japan from Narita the next day. The following year, when I went to France, she took me to Barbizon (where Millet and other Barbizon School artists lived and painted) on the outskirts of Paris and introduced me to some painters, and also introduced me to Michel Henry, a master of the French art world, with whom I later signed an exclusive contract in Japan.
Her ex-husband was an Air France pilot, and her boyfriend at the time was also an Air France pilot, so they were able to get cheap air tickets. After that, she frequently traveled back and forth between France and Japan, actively introducing French artists to Japanese galleries and selling paintings and prints, but she didn't do much business with me. Unlike other Japanese galleries, I can speak French and I understand the situation in France well, so I didn't need her as an intermediary, but we worked together as friends. She really liked Japan, and brought her daughter over to Japan and had her live there for a while. This is a story from a time when Japan had a strong presence in the global economy.