Creative Japan

Hitomi Okada -  AKA Nendol -  is a much-loved NHK TV presenter, clay artist, educator, writer and product designer based in Tokyo.In this short interview, recorded in the Autumn of 2024, Hitomi talks about the origins of her work and her day to day inspiration, as well as her passion to help children and young people realise their creative potential.    For more information and updates:https://nendol.comhttps://www.instagram.com/hitomi_nendol 

Nick travels to Yanbaru National Forest, in the north of Okinawa, to meet with the artist Ichiro Kikuta.Born in Fukushima City, Kikuta became devoted to the ecological observation of wild birds, and soon discovered the work of British bird painter Charles Tanikliffe.Kikuta`s style is based on Yamato-e Fusui ink painting completed by Sotatsu Tawaraya in the early Edo period. Since 2006, he has set up a workshop in Kunigami Village, Okinawa Prefecture, and has been presenting folding screen works that incorporate natural drawings outdoors. For more information: www.kikutaichiro.com

Nick Luscombe meets the co-founders and co-directors of the annual Kyoto photography festival Kyotographie, Lucille Reyboz + Yusuke Nakanishi.This episode was recorded in November 2023 at Delta, Kytographie’s permanent exhibition space that opened in Autumn 2020 in Demachi Masugata Shopping Arcade in Kyoto. The 12th edition of Kyotographie takes place from April 13th to May 12th 2024. For more information please go to https://www.kyotographie.jp Thanks to the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation for their support of this podcast series. http://www.gbsf.org.uk

Nick Luscombe meets sanshin player, singer  / songwriter and producer, Aragaki Mutsumi.  Aragaki Mutsumi is a trailblazer in Okinawan music. With the utmost respect for the past and for the rich history of her islands’ traditional music, she is nevertheless unafraid to challenge herself with many experiments and global collaborations. Her distinctive vocal style and virtuosity on the sanshin is becoming better known and she uses both to create adventurous ways in which to move Okinawan music in new directions. On this album she singlehandedly creates another world embracing both natural sounds and effects in order to conjure up an immersive aural and visual experience.  ​John Potter, Music Journalist, Author of “The Power of Okinawa”https://www.aragakimutsumi.comThanks to the Great Britain Sasakawa for their support of this podcast series.http://www.gbsf.org.uk

Nick Luscombe meets the philosopher and pioneering arts editor, Seigo Matsuoka.Mr Matsuoka is Director of the Editorial Engineering Laboratory. Born in Kyoto in 1944, Matsuoka graduated from Waseda University School of Letters. He founded the publishing house Kosakusha and began publishing Object Magazine in 1971. As Japan's first editorial director, Matsuoka's genre-transcending editing and trailblazing graphism exerted great influence in the worlds of art, ideas and media. Matsuoka later became independent, founding the Editorial Engineering Laboratory in 1987. Applying research findings from fields as diverse as Japanese culture, economic culture, storytelling, design, textual culture, iconography and the natural sciences to the development of information culture techniques, he has produced, overseen and directed numerous plans and development projects. In recent years, Matsuoka has been formulating the ISIS (Interacting System of Inter Scores) project, which will link knowledge and information from all ages and cultures in an enormous "city of books" over a digital network. Proactive in searching for applications for the educational methods of editorial engineering, he has also developed educational support software appropriate for elementary through university students and founded the world's first Internet-based school, the ISIS Editorial School.The programme is a mix of Japanese and English. Thanks to Ken Nishikawa for his work translating the interview. https://1000ya.isis.ne.jphttps://es.isis.ne.jpThanks to the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation for their support of this podcast series.http://www.gbsf.org.uk

Nick Luscombe meets Rei Maeda, the Director of Art Front Gallery and Deputy Director of Ichihara Lakeside Museum.Rei details her early career working throughout Japan on the Art Against Apardheid touring exhibtion in the 1980s, her meeting with the French philosopher Jacques Derrida and the pioneering work of her colleague, Fram Kitagawa, through to more recent examples at the interface of art and community via large-scale projects such as the The Setouchi International Art Triennale.https://www.artfrontgallery.com/https://lsm-ichihara.jp/en/Thanks to the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation for their support of this podcast series.http://www.gbsf.org.ukwww.nickluscombe.com