Hello
A life without taking on challenges is unimaginable for me. When my father said "I'll give you one Schilling to ski down straight without falling over..." I always gave it a go. At 17, I became a member of the Austrian National Ski team but never reached my dream of Olympic Gold.
Even after retiring, my life was never without a good challenge – Japan was my biggest one: starting out in the ski business, learning about people and a new language, finding a husband, starting my own consulting company, and taking a chance by publishing my first book, 1000 NEN ME NO DANSHAKU REIJO about my life born into an aristocratic family and growing up in Austria after the War. Thanks to my brilliant translator and friend, Kumiko Goto, I was hooked on to writing and two more books followed in Japanese. 10,000 copies have been sold over the years.
I regard writing as my ultimate challenge since I have to choose amongst hundreds of words to find the perfect expression. This can take minutes or hours, overcoming writer's block and putting myself in the reader's mind while there is an annoying temptation never to finish! In contrast, writing articles for magazines and newspapers was easy, but giving advice exclusively on love for MIL Magazine was a special challenge.
Through my website and social media I hope to create curiosity with readers who want to learn about European history and get inspired by reading of the fearless and courageous life of Luisella : HERE I AM AGAIN or IKINOBITE FUTATABI KOKONI. Her story is particularly relevant now because she was made a prisoner in Russia having been a landowner in the Ukraine. History is repeating itself in a modern way.
My Story
I was born in 1943 in Austria into an impoverished aristocratic family. Due to political circumstances, we were refugees in our own country. My brother and I grew up thinking our paternal grandmother had died somewhere in Russia after vanishing behind the Iron Curtain, a story I wrote about prolifically in my latest book, ‘Here I Am Again’, a story of her life from Baroness to living in a Gulag. We lived in a small village surrounded by high mountains covered in snow; skiing came naturally to me, and I became a member of the Austrian National Ski Team from 1960–1967 which opened a window of opportunities into the world. In 1968, I retired from ski racing and moved to Australia as a ski instructor for the winter months.
Back in Austria, I started a marketing career in the ski business promoting Tyrolia ski bindings, now known under the famous brand name of HEAD. Eventually, my job took me to Japan, where we increased the market share
dramatically, earning me the AMF Chairman’s Business Award in 1983 – the highest award given to a woman. After 17 years with AMF and Head, I started my own business “Christina Consulting Japan” which provided me with a number of roles: a Lecturer for Asahi, Shimbun’s Culture Seminars, advisor on Western elegance for ladies at Takashimaya’s Members Salon, and “Poster Girl” for White PIA Takasu Ski Resort. For 4 years, I was a Special Correspondent for Shinano Mainichi during the Nagano Olympics in 1998, and had a monthly column in Ski Graphic and MIL, a Ladies Magazine. During this time I published three books in Japanese on lifestyle, business, and marriage. In Australia, I was a consultant for Hayman Island, establishing the Japanese tourist market. I also promoted diving in the Great Barrier Reef and skiing in the Snowy Mountains. Later, I returned to Head Tyrolia as a senior advisor for Japan. In 2006, I published: Die Welt ist meine Heimat (The World is my Home), reflecting on my ski racing career.
My passion for writing has never left me and Here I am again is the extraordinary story about my grandmothers’ life, which I published in both English and Japanese. Beyond my love for skiing and writing, I have a never ending interest with Japan and its culture. I am married and my husband and I now live permanently in Sydney Australia.