― Artist’s Statement ―

I was born and raised in Nagasaki, Japan.

From an early age, I was immersed in the city’s unique culture, where Asian and European influences naturally blend into everyday Japanese life.

My home was near Dejima, the historic port where Japan once traded exclusively with the West during the Edo period.

The neighborhood was filled with old European-style buildings and churches.

My mother’s family ran a liquor store in Chinatown, and I grew up with a deep sense of familiarity toward Chinese popular culture and design.

To my childhood eyes, Nagasaki was a place where Shinto, Buddhism, Christianity, and Taoism coexisted with ease.

It was a colorful, rich, and free-spirited worldview—one that still lives at the heart of my creative work today.

Nagasaki is also home to a festival shaped by centuries of tradition.

Local people become performers, creating a vibrant and fantastical world through dance, floats, music, costumes, and art.

The sea roars, rivers shimmer, flowers dance, and dragons and other mysterious beings come to life.

It’s a place where divine maidens sing and dance before gods, foreigners, and townspeople alike.

For me, everyday life in Nagasaki was always quietly connected to a realm of mystery and wonder.

That world once captured me—and it has never let me go.