Talking with American Khristine (Khris) Schaffner lowered the heat in Tokyo's Nishi-Shinjuku by several degrees. She has that kind of tall, willowy, pale blonde beauty that acts as a psychological cooler even if she is talking 10 to the dozen and making a complete fool of herself over a Starbucks chocolate muffin.
We met near her office, where she works as marketing coordinator for Exodus Communications, a leading provider of complex Internet hosting for enterprises with mission-critical Internet operations. Schaffner, who is from Long Island, and up to her eyes in the last-minute details of major white wedding plans, volunteers much of her precious spare time to Webgrrls, an international nongovernment-funded organization dedicated to helping women learn computer skills to assist in their personal and professional lives.
"Webgrrls was founded as an international group in New York," she explained, struggling to maintain a professional image through a mouthful of richly sticky cake crumbs. "The Japan chapter got off the ground four years ago, thanks to May Leong. I first heard about it through an e-mail from May -- a ball of fire who moved on, first back New York and then to Seattle. But she made certain of a strong commitment (to Webgrrls) before she left. Misao Kajiro is my coleader. An architect with an office in Omote-sando, she specializes in residential buildings made of reinforced concrete."