Why does it come as such a surprise to find Carin Smolinsky with an Audi TT Roadster? Certainly it suits her driving personality -- the bubbling nature of her entrepreneurial spirit. For her own part, it's perfect for nipping ("sedately," she insists) through Tokyo traffic and slides into the smallest parking space with ease.
On her own admission, Carin can be "overwhelmingly optimistic." Whether talking about her mother, Rochelle Battistelli, husband Allan Wilson or 17-month-old son Indiana, her various businesses or any of many projects in the making, she exhibits total enthusiasm.
May saw the launch of her company's new bimonthly free magazine, Tokyo Families, described on the cover as "Your local guide to family living." ABC International printed 4,000 copies, mostly gone. "Azabu National Supermarket ran out after the first day. I took along extra copies but seeing the shelf empty after 24 hours thought, 'Oh dear, they've been trashed.' No, said the employee, every single copy had been snatched up again. Now we've topped 800 from that venue alone."