About this season
In conversation with... Japan expert Robert Campbell sits down with individuals from all walks of life whose drive and perspectives are changing Japan.
Episodes (8)
1. Naoki Matayoshi: Creativity Inspired by Human Observation
Aired 28 April 2015 • 28 min
2. Tetsuko Kuroyanagi: The Enduring Power of Television
Aired 25 May 2015 • 28 min
3. Seiji Fujishiro: Expressing the Joy of Life through Light and Shadow
Aired 29 June 2015 • 28 min
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. 80% of the Japanese population was born after the war, and the people who are old enough to remember it are all elderly. How will they pass on their stories? One man who is telling his story is the artist Seiji Fujishiro, age 91, well known in Japan for his "shadow pictures”. Why did Fujishiro feel compelled to make art about his experience of war? We ask this and many more questions as we explore Japan 70 years after the war.
4. Ken Endo: Legs to Stand On
Aired 28 July 2015 • 28 min
In 2020, when Tokyo hosts the Olympic Games, it will also host the Paralympic Games. Japan has traditionally lagged behind in the development of artificial limbs - one man trying to change that is prosthetic leg engineer Ken Endo. He has done very promising work on robotic limbs at the MIT Media Lab, with a particular focus on artificial legs for athletes. Endo's conviction is that "disabilities lie not in humans but in technology". We speak with this visionary engineer.
5. Eiji Mitooka: Trains of Thought
Aired 1 September 2015 • 28 min
6. Kashiwa Sato: Communication Design
Aired 27 October 2015 • 28 min
During Japan's period of rapid growth that began in the mid-1950s, large housing developments known as danchi were built in cities across the nation. In March of this year, a project was launched to revitalize one of these now-aging complexes. It is being spearheaded by Kashiwa Sato, who is among Japan's leading creative directors.
7. Kundo Koyama: Shedding Old Skin
Aired 1 December 2015 • 28 min
Kundo Koyama was tasked with creating a mascot for Kumamoto Prefecture in southern Japan. The resulting character, a bear named Kumamon, went on to generate 120 billion yen for Kumamoto in 2 years. Koyama's strategy is always to keep things extremely simple, and come up with ideas that he really likes. However, that way of doing things isn't always easy in Japan. He speaks with Robert Campbell about everything from the Japanese way to thinking to how he plans out his creative projects.
8. Marie Kondo: A Clean Bill of Life
Aired 21 December 2015 • 28 min