Inspiration / Innovation Japan with Nick Luscombe

Nick meets Georgie Ichikawa. 

Georgie was born 1982 in Tokyo,  and moved to UK when he was 16.

He later graduated from University of Arts London ( London College of Fashion ) MA Fashion Design Technology with scholarship.

 At age of 25 he became head designer for PUMA x Alexander McQueen .

In 2018 he was a founding member to start MR GAY JAPAN in which he became chair person for the organization for activism for the LGBTQ community in Japan. 

He is currently working at PUMA JAPAN as Head of Creative and Design.

Nick Luscombe meets long-time Tokyo-based English artist Ratko Backo  about his training at Saint Martins in London, his decade working with Issey Miyake and his latest art works.

https://www.instagram.com/ratko_backo/

Nick speaks to Philip Clemo, the British composer, musician, producer, sound artist, filmmaker and visual artist, described by Propermusic.com as one of contemporary music's most innovative artists.

Phil is currently in Japan developing a project with the charity Shout at Cancer
exploring the destructive and healing legacy of radiation. It honours the
trees that survived the Hiroshima & Nagasaki bombs and a choir of
cancer survivors who learnt to sing after the removal of their voiceboxes.

https://www.philipclemo.com

Nick chats with Chikako Fujii about her career as a company director and dancer, and the importance of international collaboration.

Chikako was born in Tokyo and has a father who is known as an early pioneer in the Japanese French patisserie industry. Chikako worked in the family business for 16 years and gained various management skills during that time. She became a managing director in 2018 before leaving the business in December 2021 when the family business was sold in January 2021.

Chikako also broadened her skills to provide “active listening service” and started to work as a Support Service Provider at YelI Co., Ltd. in 2020. Since then, she has been promoted to a Support Service Lead.

Chikako trained as a modern and jazz dancer in her childhood. She later developed an interest in contemporary dance and moved to London in 1993 to study at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance (formerly known as Laban Centre), majoring in BA (Hons) in Dance Studies. Since her return to Japan, Chikako participated in project-based dance performances and assisted workshops for various choreographers and artists (e.g. Fumiyo Ikeda, IÑAKI AZPILLAGA, Kirstie Simoson, etc.) whilst managing her family business. Chikako has been involved in various projects, including contact improvisation, collaborative works with painters and literal works, dance works using sign language for deaf people, improvisation sessions with musicians and poets in Japan and abroad. In 2017, Chikako was invited to a Poetry Festival in Lahti, Finland. She was also invited to the French Japonisme Project at Reims, France in 2019.

For more information about CIC please check the link below.

https://jp.cic.com

Nick is joined on CIC Live with music specialist Keith Cahoon.

Keith Cahoon grew up in Northern California, and became a music fanatic at a young age.  He began buying an immense number of albums, and regularly attended concerts at Winterland and other Bay Area venues.  

After stints in university and working as a carpenter, he joined Tower Records at age 22.  While he first thought the job would be just for a few months, he ended up working for Tower Records for 25 years, 7 in America and 18 in Japan. He served as CEO of Tower Records Japan from late 1984, and was part of the management buyout when Tower Japan split from the parent company in 2002. 

While at Tower, the company grew from three stores to 62, including the largest record store in the world, in Tokyo’s Shibuya district.In addition to Japan, under Keith’s management Tower also opened stores in seven other Asian countries.  Keith left Tower in 2003 and started a music publishing company, Hotwire.  

At Hotwire he worked with a wide range of music, introducing foreign artists to Japan, and Japanese artists to the worldwide market.   Keith later joined Apple as Director of iTunes Japan.  

He currently lives in the SF Bay Area, and continues to run Hotwire, where some of the better known artists he works with include Galactic, OK Go, Shonen Knife, Dan Penn and Israel Kamakawiwo’ole.

http://www.hotwirejapan.com/wordpress/

For more information about joining the CIC community....

https://jp.cic.com/en/

Nick chats with Keiji Ito, the CEO of Tokyo-based startup MentorMe, a new venture created to support entrepreneurs.

mentorme.co.jp

https://jp.cic.com/en/office/

Nick is joined by Adam Fulford to learn about his work in rural Japan.

A native of England, Adam Fulford has been working as a language consultant in Japan since 1981, offering behind-the-scenes support for Eigo de Shaberanaito, Eigo de Asobo, Super Presentation and many other NHK programs. These days, he and his staff work on a number of shows broadcast in English on NHK WORLD-JAPAN, the international service of NHK.

Adam also works as a presentation coach, supporting the efforts of the Japan National Tourism Organization to have more venues in Japan selected as hosts for international conferences.

Married with three children, all of whom have chosen Japanese citizenship, Adam is committed to pursuing a bright future for Japan. For the past decade he has been active as a cross-cultural consultant who places a special emphasis on the value of regional Japan. In this capacity he supports efforts in the Japanese countryside to identify the best next steps to take amid challenging demographic circumstances.

Adam firmly believes that traditional values combined with a modern mindset can offer any community, ranging from the smallest village or company to the largest metropolis or megacorporation, a robust framework for cultivating happiness, sustainability, and resilience in an increasingly unpredictable world.

More about Adam Fulford...

www.fulfordent.com
ms-nakatsugawa.com
https://tinyurl.com/2p92k8ap

Find out more about CIC Tokyo here...

https://jp.cic.com/en/

Nick discusses Noh with Diego Pellecchia, Associate Professor at Kyoto Sangyo University, to learn more about this fascinating art form. 

https://internationalnohinstitute.com

https://jp.cic.com/en/   

In this episode, Nick meets Kirsten O’Connor, the Founder and Director of QUEST TOKYO KK, a company offering a range of independent educational services and tutoring to Japanese and international communities in Japan. A newly opened division, QUEST Learning Support and Therapy (QLST), provides professional services for children with learning difficulties within Tokyo.

Kirsten is a UK qualified teacher and taught in London before moving to Tokyo in 2001. During her 17 years at The British School in Tokyo she was Head of Years 1 & 2, Deputy Head Teacher and for the final six years, served as Head Teacher of the Primary School.

Currently, as Senior Education Advisor with educational management company, Clarence Education Asia, Kirsten is involved with opening new international schools in Tokyo.

An Entrepreneur Member of the BCCJ (British Chamber of Commerce in Japan), Kirsten is also a Fellow, and Board Member, of the Royal Society of Arts - Japan Fellows Network, and founder of Talk Education Tokyo.

In this episode Nick meets Tokyo-based entrepreneur Max Godin to talk about his FORGIGS platform that works with artists, audiences and venues to streamline the process of buying and selling gig tickets.

https://www.forgigs.com/home

https://jp.cic.com/en/