By Susan Kreifels
Star-Bulletin

They knew him in Japan as the Santa Claus who flew over a Nissan, and as the bartender who promoted cigarettes in New York's Plaza Hotel.

George Lynch was a well-known gaijin, or foreigner, in Japanese TV commercials during the 1980s. Now the Big Island resident is back in the Tokyo limelight.

Lynch leaves for Tokyo today to return a silver goblet bearing a gold chrysanthemum, the crest of the Imperial family. His story has appeared on the front page of Asahi Shimbun, a leading Tokyo daily.

An expert on Asian art, Lynch saw the goblet for sale on eBay.com, an Internet auction site. He was determined to place the highest bid, realizing the significance of the goblet. He got it for $4,450.

"You don't just leave something with the Imperial crest sitting around staring at you," said Lynch. "I don't like the idea of that being a souvenir or someone's trophy."

With the help of U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Foley, Lynch, whose "whole life has been woven into Japan," contacted the Imperial Household Agency, the impenetrable bureaucracy surrounding the royal family.

The agency identified the goblet as a gift presented to the Intercollegiate Ski Association of Japan in 1928 by ski enthusiast Prince Chichibu, the deceased brother of the late Emperor Hirohito. It was to be passed annually to the champion university ski team, but it disappeared during the war.

Royal welcome

Lynch will return the goblet to the ski association at a ceremony Friday at the Akasaka Prince Hotel in Tokyo. He also will visit Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, the cousin of Emperor Akihito, in his home -- a rare opportunity to be inside the household of a member of the royal family. And Foley will hold a reception for Lynch at the U.S. Embassy.

"I'm enchanted about it," said Lynch, 71, in a recent interview. "I'm so happy to be going back home to Tokyo, my town."

By Rod Thompson, Star-Bulletin
"They're getting back much more than the value of the cup.
It's a symbol. The Japanese take that very seriously," says
Big Island resident George Lynch, who purchased the
goblet online for $4,450.

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The embassy in a statement said it was happy to help Lynch determine the history of the cup and return it to the rightful owner.

"With his generous gesture, Mr. Lynch is helping remind Americans and Japanese that our two peoples have surmounted the past, and today are united by common values in a strong alliance," the embassy said.

Friendship formed

Lynch, now retired, claims a colorful past in both Hawaii and Japan. He served with the Army during the U.S. occupation of Japan after World War II. While living in Kobe, he met a Japanese art dealer who became his sensei, or teacher, on the country's culture, history and art. In turn, Lynch would sneak food from the military galley to his mentor's family, which was struggling to feed itself, like most Japanese after the war.

Quick study

Developing a passion for Asian art, Lynch ended up at the University of Hawaii in 1949 studying under Gustaf Ecke, then curator of the Oriental collection at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

He worked in advertising for a short time at the Star-Bulletin and held other jobs in the coming years, including being a furniture designer, office manager for the architectural firm that designed the Hilton Hawaiian Village, and running an antique art gallery in San Francisco.

Star is born

In 1979, he returned to Japan, starting out as a designer in a trading company. Japan was headed for its economic boom in the 1980s, a time when foreigners were in high demand in commercials. Lynch ended up in the lucrative business, becoming a well-known face in the country and winning Japan's best TV spot commercial in 1984.

His cigarette commercial, which cast him as a debonair bartender, ran on every channel throughout the day, he said. Another time he dressed up like Santa and was suspended by steel cables over a Nissan. He made $1,200 for 20 minutes of "flying."

"They paid like crazy, and I was a star. I loved it," he said.

Lynch retired on the Big Island in 1991. When he saw the goblet online, he contacted the antique dealer about its significance. "I told him nobody could own it, that I might call the FBI, and sent him a long letter explaining the facts of life," Lynch said.

The antique dealer bought the goblet from a millionaire's estate sale in Oregon. That owner purchased it from a retired Army officer in Honolulu, Lynch said.

Lynch believes the goblet was probably turned over to the Imperial Household Agency during the desperate days of the war when a call was put out to the public to turn in precious metals to be melted down. But the goblet survived.

Hot item

Lynch speculated that it fell into the hands of high-ranking U.S. military officers, probably on Gen. Douglas MacArthur's staff.

He said those who possessed the goblet would probably keep it for the most part hidden from the public eye, knowing the significance of what they had.

"It was kind of hot," Lynch said. "There's little question it was improperly obtained. ... War is a nasty thing."

The Imperial Household Agency decided the goblet should be returned to the ski association, which is paying for Lynch's trip and hosting the ceremony. Lynch is donating the royal item.

"They're getting back much more than the value of the cup. It is a symbol. The Japanese take that very seriously."

So more than a half-century after it was presented, the goblet will go back into the hands of Japanese ski enthusiasts.

Despite the tragic war that took it away, the return, Lynch said, "is kind of romantic in a weird way."