Bringing Japan to Italy: episode 04 – Takeuchi Hideki
On the occasion of the Far East Film Festival, we had the honor and pleasure of being able to interview Takeuchi Hideki, director of "Fly me to the Saitama" (翔んで埼玉 - Tonde Saitama), presented in Italy during the festival for its European premiere!
Takeuchi Hideki made his debut working for Fuji Television and in 1996 he directed the first of his series for this TV station. In 1998 he won the award for best director at the Television Drama Academy Awards for "Just a Little More, God" but the awards won didn't stop there.
His movie debut came in 2009 with the dramatic two-part musical comedy Nodame Cantabile. Takeuchi Hideki continues to alternate between the big and small screen with Thermae Romae and two television series, passing with great ease from the historical drama to the brilliant comedy.
Thermae Romae has achieved such a resounding success in the Japanese box office that Takeuchi-san created the sequel, Thermae Romae II, released on April 26, 2014 and previewed after a week at the 16th Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy.
This year, the director returned to the Far East Film Festival with "Fly me to the Saitama", a brilliant and somewhat surreal comedy about the parochialism that exists between Saitama and Tokyo, starring singer and actor GACKT-san and actress Fumi Nikaido, supported by other famous names within the cast. Fly me to the Saitama, also won the MyMovies.com award for best film acclaimed by the public.
The one with Takeuchi-san was an interesting and entertaining interview that tells the backstage of the film, curiosities and perspectives for future collaboration between Italy and Japan. Enjoy the video and we are curious to know your feedback!
Bringing Japan to Italy: episode 03 – RIADO space design
During the Milan Design Week we had the pleasure of attending a very special exhibition and also the pleasure of interviewing two Japanese artists present in the Lombard capital. We are talking about Sachiko Hiroiuchi, designer at RIADO space design, and Ayumi Shima, designer of fabrics directly from Japan.
Born in Fukui, Japan, Sachiko Hiroiuchi lives and works in Osaka where in her studio RIADO focuses on design for shops, restaurants, offices, apartments, and in the field of interior industrial design. Her activity is focused on the design of furniture, lighting and furnishing accessories.
As a designer, she works alongside a research activity on materials where she has a great sensitivity in the artistic field. And it is precisely here that she develops themes on the paper of the raw material such as "Kozo", "Mitsumata" and "Gampi" with themes focusing on traditional Japanese craftsmanship where each work is made with great care.
The textures you will see in the video are the work of Ayumi Shima, a Japanese artist and textile designer, born in Kyoto, Japan, where she lives and works.
Specialized in the field of textile design, she develops artistic themes with specific research in the artistic pictorial field. Her particular interest is the color related to the textile material and her works are characterized by variations in colors and transparencies related to the material.
In her artistic baggage, she does not forget her tradition and, attracted by older techniques such as the Japanese press, Ayumi works with great sensitivity with references to nature such as natural light, flowers, trees, the forest.
Sunbeams Leaves
With this exhibition "SUNBEAMS LEAVES" the authors Sachiko Horiuchi and Ayumi Shima propose an installation featuring paper and fabric interpreting the four seasons.
Creating a path that accompanies the visitor in exploring the transparencies created by the "ray of light" on materials, the protagonists of this exhibition are traditional Japanese paper and delicate colored fabrics. These materials dance together with the light that is filtered transmitting the color of the sky, water, earth, but also the color of the forest and nature where light is the main character.
The exhibition took place at AD GALLERY focusing on specific themes such as what light and color offer and was the result of a long research work by the artists.
Now we leave you to our video interview and we are curious about your feedback! Enjoy the show!
Bringing Japan to Italy: episode 02 – Masami Suda
Here we are with the second appointment of our Bringing Japan to Italy series, where we interview characters who help spread Japanese culture in Italy and around the world.
After the great success of the first episode dedicated to Alberto moro, today we share with you our chat with Masami Suda, character designer of many anime including Hokuto no Ken (Kenshiro), dr Slump and Arale, Yo-Kai Watch, Mach Go Go Go, Candy Candy, Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman F, Ai Shite Knight (Kiss me Licia) and many other works that have marked the childhood of many now adults in the world.
We wish you a good viewing and we are curious to hear your comments!
Bringing Japan to Italy: episode 01 - Alberto Moro
Here we are with the first episode of our new series『Bringing Japan to Italy』dedicated to Alberto Moro, Giappone in Italia Association's President.
Some weeks ago we met him during the finissage of his exhibition "Il mio Giappone" that, as he said himself, it's a great act of love towards this Nation, the Japanese culture and people.
With this first video, we are launching our new series dedicated to all those people that promot the Japanese culture and the world surrounding Japan in our Nation. Japan Italy Bridge, wants to promote this Nation on an even deeper level, together with its companies and all that concernes the land of the Rising Sun.
Enjoy!