toco toco

1. 

   E1. Hisashi Eguchi, Mangaka & Illustrator

   Oct 1, 2017

   toco toco’s new season starts with Mangaka & Illustrator legend Hisashi Eguchi. Our glimpse into Eguchi’s universe starts at Jimbocho, home of Shuheisha, one of Japan’s top publishing companies. We will follow Eguchi through the streets and places that made the memories of the start of his career, which now extends to almost forty years. One train ride later, we will head to Kichijoji, Eguchi’s long-time home and current place of work, where we will discover more about his works and find some hints behind his peculiar style. The night will take us to Sasanoha, a small authentic restaurant in the back alleys of Harmonica Yokocho, where Eguchi meets with fellow mangaka, illustrators and editors.

2. 

   E2. Soichi Terada, Musician

   Nov 1, 2017

   This episode features Soichi Terada, composer, arranger and one of Japan's house music pioneers. Under the beat of his music, we will learn more about his career, which was marked by music creation for the Ape Escape game or encounters with the iconic DJ Larry Levan. We will head first to Wakasu Park, on the outlines of Tokyo, a place Terada used to visit during his pursuit of inspiration, before heading to Koenji, where Terada did countless performances under his alter-ego project Omodaka.

3. 

   E3. Yoshiro Kimura, Game Creator

   Dec 1, 2017

   Yoshiro Kimura is a game creator now turned indie, known for his work on moon, Chulip, Rule of Rose and more recently Dandy Dungeon and Million Onion Hotel. In this episode, Kimura will tell us about his career, a lifelong journey marked by many twists, companies and travels overseas. We will follow him to some of his favorite places in the city, including Mikado, a retro game center that still showcases many games from Kimura’s childhood.

4. 

   E4. Akira “Akiman” Yasuda, Illustrator

   Feb 1, 2018

   Akira Yasuda is a renowned illustrator and character design, known under the pen name “Akiman”, standing on a 30-year career working in the game and animation industry and as a freelance illustrator. He is known as the father of iconic characters such as Chun-Li, Guile or Cammy from the Street Fighter series and his work on other classic Capcom titles such as Final Fight or Darkstalkers. His work in animation includes character design on Turn A Gundam and mecha design on the Code Geass series. This episode focuses on Akiman’s career and his countless contributions to the industry - he will also give us his viewpoint on the Shinjuku area, and introduce Piman, a 30-year old cold-press vegetable juice shop ahead of its time.

5. 

   E5. Emi Kusano, Musician

   Mar 1, 2018

   Emi Kusano is the singer of the band Satellite Young, a “synthwave” music unit strongly inspired by the 80s, which she discovered through old music, clips and videos. We will follow her to Marubell-Do, a sanctuary of old photos of idols, singers and other celebrities, that still shoots 80s style photos to this day, before going to Harajuku and its iconic Boutique Takenoko, symbol of Japanese fashion and its “takenoko-zoku” fashion tribe. We will discover more about Kusano’s vision of a “retro-future”, a past vision of the future she is trying to recreate through her universe, combined to modern technology, and how it drives our lifestyle. Our last stop will be in the traditional district of Noge, in Yokohama, where we will head to Oeuf, a bar that features everyday performances ranging from juggling, pole dancing to tightrope walking.

6. 

   E6. AKI INOMATA, Artist

   Apr 1, 2018

   AKI INOMATA is contemporary artist whose universe revolves around creating original works with animals and living creatures. Some of her most distinctive work includes building original "shelter" art pieces for hermit crabs or creating pieces of material from clothes to give them to bagworms. We will follow her to DMM.make AKIBA, a hardware development studio that hosts the latest 3D printers, laser cutters, among other technologies, where INOMATA works on her designs. We will then head over to HUNCH, her studio, before going to Terrada Art Complex, where INOMATA's work is showcased as part of the Asian Art Award finalists. INOMATA will tell us more about her views on living creatures and the relationships humans hold with their pets and animals, while on a tour a Intermediatheque, a museum with a focus on natural history born from a collaboration between Japan Post and Tokyo University.

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