Wanted: 30,000 animators. Japan's anime future at risk
TOKYO -- Aina Sugisawa's story of getting her foot in the door of Japan's anime industry is one studios hope to replicate. After studying at an academy run by Tokyo-based TMS Entertainment, she went to work for the studio as a contract employee.
Sugisawa, who has been in the industry for a year now, recalls watching the end credits of the latest installment of the long-running Detective Conan series, "One-eyed Flashback," at a theater earlier this year. One of the names that scrolled by was her own.
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Japan Times
a day ago
- Japan Times
Diva of dualities: Maria Seiren sings opera and noh in both a female and male voice
When opera singer Maria Seiren opens her mouth, you're never sure which voice you will hear. One moment she is singing an aria in a high, warbling soprano. The next, she switches to a booming tenor, effortlessly leaping back and forth in a duet with herself. The first-ever winner of talent show competition 'Japan's Got Talent' dazzles both with her ambivoce (Seiren's term for dual male and female singing voice) and her elaborate costumes and headdresses, designed by Mieko Ueda. Even offstage she rocks a flamboyant floral blazer and elegant long dark hair when we meet on the ground floor of the offices of MondoParallelo, her own opera production company. Seiren rejects rigid definitions and embraces experimentation. She masterfully mixes styles such as classical opera and traditional noh theater, high art and entertainment, as she blends the masculine with the feminine — in spite of, or maybe precisely because, she has had difficulties with gender roles from a young age. 'I never really cared about gender,' Seiren says. 'I never fully grasped the concept that men and women had to be one way or the other. 'My first consciousness of being transgender was the color of the randoseru (school backpack). Black randoseru is for boys, red randoseru for girls, but I wouldn't follow those rules. My father was always strict about gender roles ... he gave me a hard time. But my spirit wasn't broken. I was a fighter.' Thanks in part to her mother, who sang traditional songs to her as a child, Seiren developed a deep love for music and trained herself to maintain her higher vocal range through puberty. She had not, however, seriously considered entering music as a career until designer Junko Koshino invited her to sing at one of her fashion shows in 2013. Inspired by one of her icons, pop-opera queen Sarah Brightman, Seiren covered 'Time to Say Goodbye' for the event using her soprano and tenor voice switch. To her surprise, a YouTube video of the performance hit 15 million views. 'That was the first time I experienced singing as a professional in front of a lot of people,' Seiren says. 'Up until then I was just singing for fun. That experience opened my eyes to a lot of other possibilities — what if singing was my calling?' Maria Seiren has struggled with the rigidity of gender norms since childhood, but also didn't want to be stereotyped as the queer character on TV. She founded her own production company to ensure creative experimentation and freedom. | Yutaka Mori © 2025 Mondo Parallelo Inc. Looking back, Seiren says 2013 was a great year as it also kickstarted her close business partnership with Fumiaki Uemura, now general director of MondoParallelo. An advertising agency director, Uemura had no professional background in music when they met, but he knew many people in the world of entertainment and he had ideas on how Seiren could boost her budding career and stand out in the industry. He became her mentor, friend and, ultimately, her adoptive father. 'Back then, I was getting a lot of offers from TV to play the onee talent role, the comedic queer character. Those roles made me uncomfortable, so I turned the offers down,' Seiren says. '(Uemura) saw he needed to protect me from people who would want to exploit my talent and queerness. So he decided to legally adopt me.' While Seiren never attended music school, she began intensely training her operatic vocals under the guidance of Takehiro Shida , as well as her Italian pronunciation and mouth shape under vocal coach Francesca Miscio. When asked which of her two voices feels more authentically her own, Seiren says, 'They both feel true to me.' She differentiates the energy that she puts into vocal techniques. 'For soprano, I focus on the contraction in the upper area of my head and think of echo, vibration and softness,' she explains. 'When it comes to the tenor, I think of power, strength, intense energy and vibrations that reach the ground. Both ranges exist very naturally to me; switching comes naturally. Sometimes I don't even notice I've shifted from one to the other.' While Seiren's aim has always been limitless creativity, fusing opera and noh theater in particular was Uemura's idea, as part of his master plan to enhance Seiren's uniqueness in the highly competitive music industry. Initially, Seiren was unimpressed by the notoriously slow and rigid noh theater. 'It was actually emotionally painful when I first had to sit through it,' she confides, recalling her first exposure to noh in 2013. 'At the same time, I remember going to see another play called 'Toru'. After the play ended, I heard many people saying, 'Wow, the moon was so beautiful!' and I was like, 'What moon? There was no moon!'' Noh is a practice in minimalism: minimal movement, expression and set design. The true art of an experienced noh performer is igniting the audience's imagination with just a few gestures and pantomimes, such as gazing at an imaginary moon reflected in an imaginary bucket of water. Seiren knew the magic of noh had finally captured her after seeing a play called 'Kanawa.' During one scene when a namanari (half-demon) woman suddenly droops her head and curses, Seiren thought she saw a huge storm whirling behind her. 'I could see the storm that no one else could see!,' she says. Soon after, Seiren began training in noh dancing and acting with actor and teacher Akio Awaya and eventually entered the Kita-ryu School , one of the five branches of noh, which specializes in dynamic movement. Noh, she found, was more about silence and standing still than moving and singing. Profound sadness could be shown by wiping a single tear; there is a depth of art and emotion Seiren says she now always strives to bring out in her opera and noh collaborations. At the same time, she says the vocal techniques of opera and noh are not dissimilar. MondoParallelo's latest show, 'Keisei Aoshigure Torimono Emaki' (The Mystery of the Summer Rain Courtesan), combined classical opera, rock, disco, old-timey kayōkyoku pop ballads and enka folk songs. | Tetsuo Isowaki © 2025 Mondo Parallelo Inc. 'The biggest difference with singing is in opera you lift your face to project your voice and resonate with the stone ceiling. In noh, you lower your face to resonate your voice with the wooden floor of the stage,' she says. Seiren's goal in learning the history and traditional practices of noh is to more effectively mix the art form with other types of performance and to create something new instead of simply showcasing two things together on the same stage. 'In my show, the singing aspect is mostly opera and the movement and expression of my body is noh,' Seiren says. 'It's like taking two eggs, cracking them and mixing them together!' MondoParallelo's latest show, 'Keisei Aoshigure Torimono Emaki' (The Mystery of the Summer Rain Courtesan), was a particularly wild omelet, whipping together classical opera, rock, disco, old-timey kayōkyoku pop ballads and enka folk songs. A particularly illustrative scene: The cast of courtesans, in elaborate noh kimono and front-facing obi knots signifying their occupation, assume position in slow noh-step, then break out into disco hit 'She Works Hard for the Money' by Donna Summer. The show was the eighth production of noh and opera by MondoParallelo, the first being 'Otohana no Inori' (Prayer of the Song Flower) in 2020. The next opera-noh play, 'Yumekikyo' (The Bellflower of Dreams), where Seiren plays the historical figure Gracia Hosogawa, daughter of samurai general Mitsuhide Akechi, will premier in October at the Umewaka Noh Theater Hall . Seiren says the production will lean more heavily toward noh and there will be more professional noh actors joining the cast. 'Japan is usually not enthusiastic about art like opera and noh because they're considered boring. I was glad my voice could reach so many people,' says Seiren. Seiren has released four albums, including the diva's long-awaited 10th anniversary collection 'One More Time' on June 18. Though her career has spanned over a decade, the past two years have been the start of an exciting era for the opera diva: Seiren's participation in Japan's first ever 'Japan's Got Talent' in 2023, her victory and, a year later, her preliminary performance on 'America's Got Talent: Fantasy League' brought her fame not only throughout Japan, but worldwide. Moving forward, she hopes to continue to grow with her company. Most of all, however, Seiren intends to keep living and performing true to who she is. 'Especially for transgender kids,' she says. 'I want to encourage them to pursue their own dreams. I want them to see that anything is possible.' For more information, visit
Japan Times
a day ago
- Japan Times
The 'internet' hated Switch 2 — consumers bought it anyway
Online, gamers declared the Switch 2 "anti-consumer.' In reality, no one cared. With Nintendo charging $450 for its new device — and up to $80 for some games — influencers and TikTokers took to their accounts to warn it was too expensive. Across social media, others decried how new terms of service gave the Japanese firm the ability to remotely disable the latest machine if they detected unauthorized activity. Many games sold in physical packages were, they complained, glorified download codes. Anyone expecting the backlash to dent sales was disappointed. The Switch 2 is not only Nintendo's best-selling device ever, it has become the fastest-selling games console of all time with 3.5 million units snapped up in the first four days alone. Shares have hit record highs. For executives, it's the latest example of an increasingly pertinent lesson: While the internet has given consumers a voice, you must not confuse it for reality. Separating the signal of genuine consumer sentiment from the noise of the most terminally online is a challenge. Early feedback can often be useful: Sony Group Corp. changed the design of the original "boomerang' PlayStation 3 controller after online mockery; Nintendo itself should have responded quicker to complaints about broken original Switch controllers. But frequently, digital conversation is divorced from actual consumer behavior. Consider how, as smartphones grew larger during the 2010s, online users demanded smaller devices that could be easily used with one hand — something Steve Jobs had championed before his death. But when Apple finally responded with the iPhone Mini in 2020, those users simply didn't show up in large numbers and it was discontinued in 2023. Having coined the slogan "think different,' Apple is used to facing down fuss, from its removal of MacBook disk drives to abandoning the headphone jack. Nonetheless, in the noise there is sometimes signal — the firm ignored the iPhone 4 "Antennagate' issue for much too long and was forced into an embarrassing climbdown. Online communities are frequently too far in the weeds to represent the average consumer. On social media, advocates for preserving physical games are upset with the Switch 2's Game Key cards, which are essentially just a code to download the game from the internet. The move is good for software makers, who pay less for the memory cartridge, but in future years means Nintendo will have to keep those downloads available. Still, it's a niche issue: The average Switch 2 buyer, raised on Netflix and Spotify Technology SA, likely couldn't care less about physical ownership of most games. It's also increasingly hard to isolate genuine fan engagement from click-chasing rage-bait. Online revenue-sharing creates incentive for insincere actors to generate controversy that often matters little to the wider public. There was much ink spilled and calls for boycotts ahead of the launch of Warner Bros. Discovery's "Harry Potter" game Hogwarts Legacy, owing to author J.K. Rowling's views on gender and trans issues. None of that stopped it becoming one of the best-selling of all time. Meanwhile, right-leaning activists have led backlashes over Sony's The Last of Us Part II (decried for inclusive changes from the first game, including a lesbian protagonist and transgender character) and Ubisoft Entertainment's Assassin's Creed Shadows (due to its choice of a Black samurai hero) that have had little sales impact. Knowing who to ignore isn't just a tech issue. A growing theory among those on the political left posits that the movement's failure to stop the election of U.S. President Donald Trump could be due to ideological capture by overly active online voices on the fringes — leading politicians to focus on niche concerns of little interest to the majority of voters. Of course, online issues can end up being important. The backlash to faded social network Tumblr's decision to eliminate adult content preceded a decline in popularity that saw it sold for a fraction of the $1.1 billion it cost in 2013. The #MeToo movement emerged from testimonies shared over social media to become a worldwide phenomenon. And indeed, much of the success of the Switch itself comes from Nintendo's responding to gamers' complaints about its predecessor, the Wii U. But consumers often simply don't know what they want. Henry Ford may not have actually said that if he'd asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses. But it's nonetheless true that users will say one thing when their revealed preferences show otherwise. Social media is acclaimed as the "global town square' where grand ideas are debated and exchanged. But in reality, it's often more like a crowded bar — where the loudest voice usually isn't the one you should pay attention to. Gearoid Reidy is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Japan and the Koreas.
Tokyo Weekender
2 days ago
- Tokyo Weekender
Sashiko Gals: The Touching Story Behind Japan's Most Unexpected Fashion Icons
A series of thick, stitched trails run across the ordinary suede of a New Balance sneaker like wandering footprints on a map, tracing and veering away from the shoe's original contours. Beneath them, scattered across the shoe's surface, is a web of indigo-dyed patches. The design is unpolished yet artful and distinctly joyful, turning the iconic shoe into something truly original. This is a classic Sashiko Gals design. The collective specializes in the traditional Japanese needlework technique of sashiko , which uses bold running stitches for reparative and decorative purposes. The women of the collective offer a bespoke customization service: For prices starting at around $1,600 USD, they will painstakingly embroider a pair of sneakers, provided by the customer — a process that takes an experienced artisan about 30 hours of work. The design is left to the gals' discretion, and the service is currently so popular that prospective clients have to apply via a lottery system. The collective is perhaps best known for its highly coveted limited-release collaborations with legendary brands: Veja, Maison Margiela and Isetan Men's, to name a few. Given Sashiko Gals' fashion bonafides and cult following, one might expect its members to be insiders or formally trained designers — but in fact, it's a group of 15 women between their 40s and 80s based in Otsuchi, a sleepy seaside town in Iwate Prefecture. The first iteration of the project that would eventually become Sashiko Gals began in 2011, the year of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Its initial members had lost their homes and jobs in the ensuing devastation, and several were living in evacuation centers. For them, sashiko was a means of recovery: stitching a future while honoring the past. List of Contents: A Community in Tatters The Spirit of Girlhood From Otsuchi to the World Related Posts A Community in Tatters As one of the areas that suffered extensive damage following the earthquake and tsunami, Otsuchi underwent a long period of reconstruction. Sashiko Gals' original name was the Otsuchi Recovery Sashiko Project, brought to life by women who were unable to help with rebuilding efforts that involved heavy lifting. Wanting to do something productive to fill their days, they began stitching. Keeping busy with sashiko became their lifeline. 'At the time of the disaster, it may have been a way to create a sense of purpose in life,' Arata Fujiwara, a longtime collaborator and the current business manager of the project, told Tokyo Weekender . 'When they were facing many hardships, focusing on a hands-on craft every day allowed them — if only temporarily — to put everything else aside.' Tokyo-based media outlet Houyhnhnm recently produced a short documentary on the Sashiko Gals members, in which they all recount their stories. In it, Mieko Osawa, 74, recalls the shock and devastation of March 11. Though she and her husband were able to flee safely, they returned to a home in ruins. 'The place was completely covered in mud. It was unrecognizable. All of our framed family photos, our photo albums, were soaked. Pictures from weddings, my grandchild's shichi-go-san ceremony (a childhood rite-of-passage) — all ruined.' When Osawa joined the sashiko community in December of the same year, she was immediately hooked by the craft's meditative capacity. 'When I was stitching, I didn't have to think about anything else, or worry about the future,' she reflects. 'I could just focus on the needle and thread.' Fellow 'Sashiko Gal' Tomiko Goto, 77, echoes the sentiment: 'Sashiko embroidery has been my greatest source of mental and emotional support. It saved me. I think everyone who loves sashiko feels the same way.' The Spirit of Girlhood Widely believed to have originated in Japan between 200 and 500 years ago, sashiko has been a symbol of strength, resourcefulness and sustainability for centuries. The needlework technique was created to mend and preserve items made of cotton, which was a precious commodity at the time. But rather than being purely utilitarian, the traditional art enhances while repairing — turning worn-out garments into a canvas and breathing new life into them. While the Sashiko Gals' creations have now amassed a global fanbase, the group's journey was not without difficulties. Membership decreased over the years due to people moving away from the town, and the pandemic caused many in-person sales opportunities at department stores and commissions from various companies to be canceled. Wanting to keep the project alive, the women approached Fujiwara, founder of a craft-first Japanese label called Kuon. Sashiko Gals, as it exists today, was formally launched in March 2024. It was Fujiwara who coined the project's iconic name. 'In Japan, the word 'gal' ( gyaru ) is often used to describe energetic young women,' he explains. 'The members are women in their 40s to 80s, but when they get together, they look just like high school students enjoying a chat after school in a classroom or family restaurant.' In the documentary, when she's asked how she feels about the moniker, the 77-year-old Goto laughs. 'I wasn't sure about the name at first. But then I thought, we were all gyaru back in the day! We may not look like gals anymore, but we can still call ourselves that if the spirit of girlhood remains in us.' She now wears the title with pride. From Otsuchi to the World With the support of Moonshot Inc., the company behind Kuon, and the power of social media, the gals have reached an audience beyond their wildest dreams. Their designs often go viral online, catching the attention of fashion enthusiasts and insiders around the world. ('On Instagram, I see lots of stylish foreign people wearing our shoes,' Osawa gushes in the doc. 'I'm amazed when I tap 'See Translation' and read all the comments of people saying they love our pieces.') The collective ultimately hopes to achieve something more enduring than fashion world success: The members' aim is to inspire a love of sashiko in the next generation. 'Many heritage crafts in Japan are disappearing due to a lack of successors,' Fujiwara says. 'We hope the younger generation will understand the value of these traditions and carry them on.' Once born out of necessity — for routine, refuge and community — Sashiko Gals has evolved into a beacon of love and creativity. For many of its members, sashiko has ignited a passion for art and design they never knew existed within them. As Goto puts it: 'I never really thought of myself as creative, but I love coming up with ideas and designing things now. It makes me want to experiment with wearing new styles myself. Daisuki — I love it so much!' More Information Sashiko Gals' custom pieces are available for order on a limited basis. Follow the collective on Instagram @ sashiko_gals for regular updates. Check out the Sashiko Gals documentary short on Houyhnhnm's Youtube channel. Related Posts How Japanese Construction Uniforms Went High Fashion Sumire Morino Is Carving a New Path for Japanese Crafts How Mogi Folk Art Sparked Tokyo's Mingei Renaissance
