Toco Toco

In this episode, we follow Ei Wada, a young artist evolving in Tokyo, whose universe revolves between music and contemporary art. The instruments he uses for his compositions vary between open reel recorders and all types of old appliances, such as electric fans or televisions. Wada performs in a band named “Open Reel Ensemble”, and also works on various solo projects such as “Electronicos Fantasticos!”, he is also in charge of music for the shows of world-renown brand Issey Miyake during the Paris Fashion Week. We will follow him in the Sumida district, located in Eastern Tokyo, where Wada has an atelier for one of his projects. Our first stop will be at Retro Enterprises, an old camera shop, which is also the only place in Asia where one can develop 8mm film, Wada often goes there to find inspiration and learn the staff’s techniques to preserve old media. We will then head towards the Yoshinari steel factory, a local workshop that specializes in a specific type of part for daily-use objects, before heading over Topping East, where Wada does part of his work. He will share more about his universe, his inspirations and his motivations behind giving a new life to appliances that have become obsolete with time.

In this episode, we follow Kazutoshi Iida, the creator of the Aquanaut’s Holiday, Tail of the Sun and Doshin the Giant games, and lecturer at Ritsumeikan university, located in Kyoto. Our first stop will be at Rissei Cinema Project, a former elementary school built in 1928 reconverted in a cultural center, currently hosting various events. Iida especially likes it theatre area, which features a selection of documentaries and art films from all over the world. We will then follow him to the Kyoto Art Center, which also happens to be a former elementary school, that constantly features new exhibitions and artists. One room gathers flyers from the art events held in the city, acting as an analog portal for all art manifestations. Iida will then tell us more about his influences at his research lab at Ritsumeikan university, where we will learn more about the universes he created in his titles and his teaching work.

In this episode, we follow Enami Masaaki, creator and designer at EDITMODE, which produces THE KING OF GAMES brand, and Chikano, who handles photography and the brand’s website. THE KING OF GAMES is a brand that creates original apparel under an official Nintendo license, ranging from tee shirts, to various types of hoodies or shirts. Our first stop will be at Hedgehog Book and Gallery, a shop showcasing books from various countries overseas, in addition to a gallery space that organizes exhibitions for artists from Kyoto and other regions, including THE KING OF GAMES. We will then head towards the NISHITOMIYA Croquette STORE, a restaurant close to EDITMODE’s offices where the two often go, sometimes together with clients. Our last stop will be at EDITMODE’s offices, where we will learn more about their brand’s origins, and its creative approach and style.

In this episode, we spend the day with Manao Kagawa, a young shogi professional player. Shogi, that we can simply describe as Japanese chess, is a Japanese board strategy game that shares the same roots as chess. Kagawa started playing in 3rd grade and turned pro when she was still 15 years old. As it is a traditional game, players, especially professionals, wear a kimono when playing. Our first stop with Kagawa will be at Shirataki Gofukuten, a kimono shop that traditionally provides kimonos for shogi players since more than 150 years. It also organizes a yearly shogi tournament for women, where the winner is awarded with a kimono. We will then head towards the Sendagaya area to the Hatonomori shrine, which is a shrine dedicated to shogi. Many shogi players gather here at the start of each year for a traditional ceremony where they pray to the shogi gods. Close to the shrine lies the Shogi Kaikan, which are the headquarters of the Japan Shogi Association and the main practice center for most shogi players, including Kagawa. As a pro, she now plays on the upper floors of the building, where each of her game results is archived and contributes to her rank. Our last stop will be at the Jinro room in Shibuya, one of the rare spaces in Tokyo dedicated to the Werewolf game, one of Kagawa’s passions. She will tell us more about her vision about games and the importance they play in her life.

In this episode, we will spend the day with contemporary artist Kazuki Umezawa, also known as UmeLabo, where he will tell us about his inspirations and his work. First, we will follow him to the Chaos*Lounge Gotanda Atelier, a space shared of the Chaos*Lounge artist group, which Umezawa is part of. The multipurpose space is used by the artists as an atelier, but it is also used as a gallery or as event space. Umezawa’s style, strongly influenced by otaku culture and its characters, mixes both analog and digital techniques to create digital collages and paintings. We will learn more about his style at CASHI, an art gallery that represents Umezawa, where he will tell us about the state of collage in Japan, and his positioning as an artist. Our last stop will be at Umezawa’s home atelier, to take another glimpse in his universe and to hear his visions about characters.

Our first episode of the year features UME, a two-person mangaka unit based in Tokyo composed of writer Takahiro Ozawa and artist Asako Seo. UME is behind the Tokyo Toy Box series, which takes place in the game industry. The manga was a big success in Japan and has also recently been adapted for television. First, we will head towards Akihabara, a place of inspiration for UME as it is where the Tokyo Toy Box story is set. Besides recreating the city’s backgrounds, a few local companies were also taken as reference in the story, one of them being Acquire, a studio that is behind renown series such as Tenchu, Way of the Samurai or Akiba’s trip. UME did several collaborations with the studio, and some of its manga characters were also featured in Acquire’s game Akiba’s Trip 2. We will then head towards the Yanaka Ginza shopping street, where UME often go to take walks and enjoy drinks after a hard week’s work. Its atmosphere is representative of Shitamachi, the Eastern Tokyo, with its small shops and a scenery that remains almost unchanged for the past decades. Our last stop will be at UME’s atelier, where we will learn more about the mangaka’s backgrounds, their work philosophy and their attachment to technology. The latter was a trigger for Ozawa to write the story of UME’s latest series STEVES, a story about Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. UME were also the first mangakas in their magazine to completely switch to digital and more recently they were the first Japanese mangaka to self-publish their work on Kindle.

In this episode, we will spend the day with KASHIWA Daisuke, a musician and composer based near Tokyo. First, we will head to Hino, located in the Tokyo suburbs to the big temple complex Takahata Fudoson. KASHIWA, having lived just behind the complex for a few years, used to often come here to have a walk alone or with his kids, to pray or find inspiration for his music looking at the buildings and nature. A few minutes away from there, we will head to Fureai bridge, which also was a regular stroll for KASHIWA. While he was struggling with composition on his album « 88 », KASHIWA mentions he would also come to look at the river and think about his approach to music. A few years ago, the animation movie director Makoto Shinkai liked this same album and asked KASHIWA to rearrange it as the soundtrack of the movie « The Garden of Words ». In the second part of the episode, we will head to Yoshida Fish Farms, a shop specialized into Japanese goldfishes and koi carps, as well as tropical fishes and plants. Since he was little, KASHIWA loved to build aquariums, which he qualifies as “small universes”. He compares this to his way to make music by assembling various elements and to create such universes in his work.

Nukeme is a fashion designer based in Tokyo. He works on various creative projects, that recently include a collaboration with Urusei Yatsura license and other projects leveraging new technologies. His latest creations feature glitch art, that he creates by hacking into embroidery software, which generates a random aspect to his works. First we will follow Nukeme to Hayatochiri, a select shop located in the Koenji area, whose owner, Goto is also a creator himself. The store features unique creations made by young local designers, and it was the first to feature Nukeme’s work eight years ago. The store’s walls are fully decorated with manga pages, so the store’s visitors can also enjoy some reading while browsing through its wares. Our second stop will be at House@Mikiri Hasshn, a store and gallery space located in Omotesando area. The store combines original fashion creations from Japanese creators, vintage clothes and a gallery space located in the basement. We will have a peek into the current exhibition, Korisho, featuring items that combine traditional Japanese craftsmanship with new technology, such as laser cutting. Its peculiar interior combined with its concept make the store one of Nukeme’s favorite spots in Tokyo. Lastly, we will head to Nukeme’s atelier, where he will tell us about his work inspiration and creations, some of which involve a unique use of 3D printing…

In this episode, we follow Murahama Shoji, who is an animation producer currently working as a manager at the Emon Studio. After working at Gainax on acclaimed anime series and founding the Gonzo studio, Murahama is now working on several anime series in this new international studio, aiming at bringing globalization to the anime industry. We will follow Murahama during a themed-game of airsoft, where players dressed as characters from various post-apocalyptic universes such as Mad Max or Fallout gather to play. After that, we will visit the Emon studio to learn more about the company's philosophy and its founder, Li Haolin, who will share with us his company mission, one of which is to nullify the borders of the animation industry. As a science-fiction lover, Murahama will also share with us his perception of imaginary worlds, and the thin line that separates them from the ordinary.

In this last episode of our Game Creator special series, we spend a day with Keiichiro Toyama, creator of the Gravity Rush series, the SIREN series and Silent Hill. We will follow Toyama from his commute to work, passing through the traditional Matsubara shopping street, before heading to his work place in Sony Interactive Entertainment’s offices in Shinagawa. Toyama will tell us about his work style, currently extremely busy as the Gravity Rush 2 release is scheduled for early December. At dusk, we will follow Toyama with two of the game’s producers for drinks at an izakaya, where they will discuss their past projects and experiences. At night, we will follow Toyama back to his neighborhood in the Yokohama for a last drink at Cinema Novecento, Japan’s smallest movie theater, that showcases old works on film and also has a bar area.

In today’s episode, we spend a day with SUDA51, a world renowned video game creator famous for No More Heroes, killer7 or Lollipop Chainsaw, games produced by his studio, Grasshopper Manufacture. Our first stop is the Jingu Batting Dome, a batting center located in the heart of Tokyo, that SUDA51 visits from time to time. The batting center setting is featured in The Silver Case, SUDA51’s first game with Grasshopper Manufacture, where it is used as a secret meeting place between two detectives. We will then visit Grasshopper Manufacture, SUDA51’s workplace where he will tell us more about his work, and the philosophy behind his studio. For a brief lunch break, we will head to Megumi-ya, a close-by soba noodles restaurant. Megumi-ya, compared to other traditional noodles restaurants, is themed around the rock universe and plays rock music - which is quite unusual for this type of restaurant. Later in the afternoon, SUDA51 will take a few of his colleagues for drinks to Kawakami, a restaurant nearby, where Kazuki Morishita, president of the Gung Ho group, who acquired Grasshopper Manufacture, is a regular. Our night will end in Shinjuku Golden-Gai, famous for its narrow streets and bars, we will head to the bar plastic model (bpm), where SUDA51 is a regular. The bpm was featured in No More Heroes, and its bartender, Mr. Sekine often plays music from the game, among other of his records from the eighties.

KYOTARO is an artist based in Tokyo who works in various fields, such as illustration or fashion, and also did collaborations with world-renowned artists such Katsuya Terada. Today she will introduce us to her work by visiting two of her exhibitions that are held in the city. Our first stop will be the mograg gallery, that specializes in "Japanese lowbrow" art and often showcases new artists. KYOTARO's exhibition gathers more than 170 pieces of her work, mostly centered on pencil drawing, made during the past 15 years. After discovering a few landmarks in Ginza, we will head towards the Morioka Book Store to discover KYOTARO's second exhibition, showcasing her manga work. The Morioka Book Store is unique as it only sells one book at a time, in addition to goods related to the book in order to recreate its universe. This is where we will discover MWUAI, an original story drawn fully by pencil showcase a white bear as its main character...

Gajumaru is a duo of comedians and "butt-artists" based in Tokyo, part of the prestigious Office Kitano agency. In this episode, they will introduce Shimokitazawa, an area various subcultures cross paths and where aspiring artists come to perform and attempt to achieve their dreams of fame. First, Gajumaru will take us to Pearl Lady, a shop specialized in crepes and bubble tea, to taste their tapioca-flavored delicacies, before heading to the Makino fabric shop, home of hundreds of different fabric designs for all amateurs of cloth-crafting. This is where the two comedians buy the fabric that makes their red fundoshi, the attire in which they perform. In the last part, we will head over to the Shimokita Studio Thrash, a small theater and playhouse where Gajumaru performs for free on Fridays and during the weekends. There, Gajumaru will tell us more about their activities as "butt-artists". Thrash's stage welcomes various artists, where they get the occasion to perform and refine their art, to some day catch their big break into the industry.

DJ Mayumi is a Japanese female DJ who is also mixing CD compilations, and track maker specialized in hip hop, R&B, reggae and EDM. She released ten CD at Universal Music Japan and one original album. DJ Mayumi loves to walk and drive in the Minatomirai area in Yokohama. This area is famous for its Ferris wheel and the Landmark Tower, as well as its many malls and attractions. The scenery and sky line are beautiful especially at night, it is perfect spot for a date or hanging out with friends. In the second part, DJ Mayumi takes us to Wang’s Dining, her friend’s bar. Located in Motomachi, Wang’s Dining is a « at-home feeling » bar where you can drink, eat, play darts, party or mix at the DJ booth. DJ Mayumi is a long time friend with Wang, the owner and they like to drink together. She recalls how she started to be interested in DJing after seeing a DJ in a bar for the first time.

DE DE MOUSE is an electronic musician based in Tokyo, famous for his psychedelic music universe and dynamic live performances. In today’s episode, DE DE MOUSE will take us to Tama New Town, a recent city that grew from ground up after the activation of an urbanism project in the seventies. Its kitsch style of architecture and urban design made it popular in the eighties, however it suffered a drop in population in the nineties onwards, especially from younger demographics. DE DE MOUSE will then take us to the Tsurumaki-Higashi Park, a very important location to him, where he comes to relax and admire the view over Tama New Town from the top of a lonely hill. He used the city as a location for one of his music videos, composed of more than 100,000 photos. Our last stop will be the Tsurumaki-Daini Park, another elevated location with a view over the city favored by the artist, where DE DE MOUSE will tell us more about his music style and his bond with the town, truly defining his style.

In today’s episode, Chuya Koyama, creator of the worldwide hit manga "Space Brothers", that has been adapted in a feature film and an anime, is taking us to the FabCafe, a café and a digital creative space located in Shibuya. The FabCafe is a global network with locations in Japan, Thailand, Taiwan and France; the Tokyo venue is located in Shibuya and holds an open event space for digital creation, with 3D Printers and Laser Printers anyone can use to give life to their digital creations, or engrave their laptops or smartphones. The FabCafe hosted a Space Brothers themed event last year, where fans could buy limited edition goods and attend a panel talk with specialists in spatial exploration. We will then proceed to have an exclusive visit at Chuya Koyama's atelier, where he creates a bi-weekly new chapter of Space Brothers with his five assistants. Chuya Koyama goes back on "Space Brothers"' origins, while giving an explanation of the production process of the manga.

In today’s episode, Masaki Maenosono, lead vocal and drummer in the Japanese rock band 8otto, is taking us for a visit Sakai, his home town where we will go and have some delicious local delicacies. While introducing us to his career in music and the thrill of stage performances, we will first visit Kanbukuro, a store located near Terajicho Station that is specialized in Kurumi-mochi, a truly Japanese dish made with round rice cakes and a sweet walnut sauce. Kanbukuro is very famous among the locals and has been open for many generations, making the Kurumi-mochi a popular souvenir and dessert shared with friends and family. We will then remain in the Sakai area and head towards Fukasezushi, another old and traditional store that is specialized in Anago-zushi, an exquisite preparation made with boiled eel. Enjoy this traditional gourmet tour, with a few hints of rock!

In today’s episode, one of Japanese animation’s living legends, Manabu Ōhashi, will take us to Asagaya visit the Laputa Cinema located in Asagaya, a unique cinema showing old Japanese film where he goes often. Laputa, with its unique building design and hidden entrance, is a perfect spot to discover traditional Japanese cinema, or just to relax around a cup of coffee. In the second part of the episode, Manabu Ōhashi takes us to the Laputa Art Animation School, where he is lecturing every week. This school offers a unique curriculum, which as opposed to normal animation schools, is not aimed for students pursuing a career in animation but enrolls students who never did any animation work before. These students get the opportunity to liberate their creativity by overseeing a project from scratch throughout the year. Manabu Ōhashi, who worked on iconic projects such as Ashita no Joe 2, Cobra or Robot Carnival, will then introduce his work as an animator in addition to his vision of the work style in Japanese animation. Lastly, he will introduce " Chibi neko no Tom no daibōken ", an old project directed by Ryōtarō Nakamura, that was brought back to life through crowdfunding.

In today’s episode, Daijū Ishikawa will take us to the Cultural Center Tokyo Culture Culture situated in Odaiba and he will also introduce us the robot competition Hebocon of which he is the creator. Tokyo Culture Culture is a talk live house in Odaiba where are held events centered around a very specific theme. Today's theme is "dams", and it is the tenth times the event is held there. You can listen to guests talking about dams and its particularities while enjoying food and drinks. There is also a special menu created for the occasion such as the chicken curry rice in the shape of a dam or original cocktails like the "Dam Sour". You can always be surprised by the menu as it changes depending on the event theme. In the second part of the episode, Daijū Ishikawa is introducing us the robot competition called Hebocon that he created for people who have no technical skills. At first, he just wanted to make an exhibition of robots created by people with no skills but as it didn't gather much people, he decided to make it a competition, a battle of robots following the sumo rules. In Hebocon, there are all sorts of robots that shows how creative participants can be. The goal is not necessarily to win the competition but to have fun and to create the most poorly done robot that will catch everyone's attention by its somehow touching weakness.

In today’s episode, we will meet the whole crew of TEMPURA KIDZ, a pop dance group in Japan’s fashion mecca Harajuku. The young and cheerful members of TEMPURA KIDZ will take us to the shop SPINNS, then to the karaoke box located inside the information corner « Moshi Moshi Box ». SPINNS is one of the most emblematic fashion shop chain from Harajuku, with one shop located in the famous street « Takeshita-dōri ». SPINNS offers a mix of original items and vintage clothes at a very low price, thus being very popular among Japanese teenagers who follow the trends of Harajuku fashion. Then TEMPURA KIDZ will introduce the karaoke located in the tourist information center Moshi Moshi Box. This karaoke box can be used for free, offers explanations in many languages and has been designed by Harajuku sensation art director Sebastian Masuda. TEMPURA KIDZ began their career as child back dancers for the famous singer Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, before forming their own unit upon entering junior high-school. Mixing dance and pop music, they often participate in live events in Japan and Asian countries. In 2015, they will perform outside Asia for the first time, with a live performance in France in October.

In this episode, a Japanese animation legend, Shichiro Kobayashi who worked on more than a hundred animes as an art director and production designer is taking us to Akiruno-shi, situated at one hour from Tokyo. We will first take a walk along the Akigawa river, and then we will go to Shichiro Kobayashi's atelier where he keeps all his amazing illustrations and paintings. Higashi-Akiruno represents very well the charming japanese countryside. Along the Akigawa river, you will find nature and peace. When he was a child, Shichiro Kobayashi use to look at the river for hours imagining all sorts of things. This is simply where all its creativity comes from: Nature. While sketching, he tells us about his childhood and his passion of drawing that became a career at the age of 30 when color television was taking its first steps. Then, Shichiro Kobayashi takes us to his atelier where he lets its creativity express itself on the paper. For forty years, he worked on famous anime such as Nobody's boy: Remi, Gamba no Boken, Treasure island, Aim for the Ace!, Cobra, Angel's Egg, Berserk, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Ashita no Joe, Nodame Cantabile, and many more.

Today the singer and cosplayer Umikun will be showing us the cosplay event acosta! at Ikebukuro. The organiser of the acosta! event is a company (Acosta) that rent studio to cosplayer who take their pictures there. Everything that a cosplayer is looking for can be found at this event! The event has a reception, cloakrooms where cosplayers can change into their favorite character's clothes, various backgrounds to take pictures, and goods stores. There are plenty of settings that recreate various anime's world. In Japanese anime, there are lot of stories centered around school life or extra-curricular activities, so you can find a grass area that looks like a sport court. There are also classroom setting, costumes and weapons that can be rented at the event as well. You will also find beauty products such as foundation, designed especially for cosplayers. The best part of the event is being able to cosplay outside. As the city supports the event, you can walk freely around the streets of Ikebukuro and there are a lot of stores, restaurants, karaokes, game centers or even aquarium where you can go dressed as your favorite anime character. Cosplay lovers gather at this event to share their passion, meet new friends, and take a lot of pictures.

Today Take0920you, a video game streamer on Youtube, is taking us to Akihabara, to the Kanda Myojin Shrine and to the retro game shop "Friends"! The video game streaming culture is growing more and more in Japan and Take has been streaming for 4 years now on many games but mostly on Minecraft. Take is taking us to Akihabara, known as the electric town, where you can find a lot of video games shops. The first place Take wants to introduce is a shrine situated at 5 minutes walk from Akihabara's station, called the Kanda Myojin Shrine. The Kanda Myojin Shrine is famous for people seeking good fortune in business and trade. You will find the ema wooden plates, that are ex-votos on which people write a wish they would like to see come true. As the shrine is situated close to Akihabara, a lot of these plates are decorated with animation character portraits. The second place Take is introducing us is a retro game shop called "Friends" which is a famous store, quite hidden in Akihabara. You will find Game Boy games, Famicom games, Game Gear games but also very recent games as well. Take is looking for a retro game called "Spelunker" known to be one of the hardest game.

Today the cookie artist Ayaka Matsuno is taking us to a Korean restaurant called "Pungumu" situated in Shin-Okubo, close to Shinjuku. Shin-Okubo is known as the Korean district. There you can find K-pop and beauty products, and also Korean restaurants. The restaurant Ayaka Matsuno is introducing us is specialised in Samgyeopsal, a Korean dish using grilled meat. The Samgyeopsal is prepared using a hot plate that is placed diagonally in order to dispose of the fat. After grilling the meat, we roll it in lettuce leaves and we add spices and other toppings. As a K-pop fan, Ayaka Matsuno likes to eat at "Pungumu" with her friends, discuss about K-pop bands while eating Korean food. Then, Ayaka will show us how to make cute cookies decorated with sugar icing. For this special occasion, she will feature the show's characters. She uses powdered sugar, egg white and food coloring. Ayaka Matsuno first started making this kind of cookies when one of her friend asked her to make original dishes for an opening event gathering creators. She likes strong visual and that's how she likes to express herself, through cooking and food.

Today, Riyoo Kim, a ceramic artist is taking us to "Spiral", a multi-purpose cultural center situated in Omotesando, where he is helding an exhibition. Various exhibitions, salons and other contemporary art projects are held there. Riyoo Kim studied ceramics of the Jomon and Yayoi eras. What is fascinating about ceramics is that it can last for more than fifteen thousand years if buried. What has been made by the hands of humans who lived fifteen thousand years ago still remains today. Riyoo Kim would also like to leave a message to future generations, using ceramics. In this episode, is introducing to us the "Arts Of Jomon" exhibition. The Jomon era is the starting point of Japanese antic culture. It span is over ten thousand years, with no wars or human disasters. The era is famous for its Jomon ceramics which characteristic is the use spiral shapes. Riyoo Kim is presenting his work but also other artist's work, such as Takeya Takayuki's, a figurine sculptor. Takeya Takayuki created a Dogū clay figure with eyes shaped like googles. He is also introducing us to the work of Mr. Ifūrai, a reknown ceramist. We are also discovering the Spiral shop with Riyoo Kim where the item selection is all under the theme of "intemporal design". You can appreciate various aspects of Japanese craftsmanship. It is the perfect place for visitors to find a nice souvenir. In the Spiral center, there is a cafe and a mezzanine floor where you can relax while admiring the view over Omotesando.

Kyoka is a musician who creates electronic music. She uses bass and high-pitched sounds in order to bring out the basses. She also creates works using light, reflections and colors where she tries to express the same emotions as with music. Every year, the ICC is hosting the OPEN SPACE exhibition. Today we are going to the 2014 edition. The ICC art center is a place specialized in what we call "multimedia arts". It is a place exhibiting art, but also all kind of technologies that are featured in modern art. ICC's goal is to globally show the relationship between art and technology. In this episode, Kyoka and Mr. Hatanaka, the chief curator at the ICC center are showing us several installations. The first installation is a setting called "video synthesiser" and was created in the 70s by Abe Shuya, the engineer who was working together Nam Jun Paik as part of his research in video art. Three oscilloscopes are connected to the synthesiser in order to interfere with the video signal and obtain multiple patterns and modifications. It is the same type of process as the one used in electronic music, but applied to video. The second installation introduced in this episode is the work of Shimizu Jio. It uses lasers' relflections on water. The third work is called "The Immortal", created by Cohen and Van Balen, two artists active in the United Kingdom. It is a visual and sound installation featuring a series of organ replacement machines. The fourth work we introduce is called "Cube". When we alter the shape of a cube on a computer, it can be done in the blink of an eye. This installation shows how it is done in the real world. Don't hesitate to go take a look at the ICC Art Center!

Motohiro Inaba and Rio Asano take us to the publishing house “Cotonoha” situated in the sweet and retro neighborhood of Nagahara. “Machi no Techo Ikegami-sen” is a magazine published by “Cotonoha”. Ikegami line is a railway line that runs through Tokyo from Gotanda to Kamata on the south side of Tokyo. “Machi no Techo Ikegami-sen” is a magazine that introduces culture and shops around the Ikegami line. It featured the Japanese sweets shop “Wagashi Asobi” in one of their publications. The particularity of the Ikegami railway train is that contrary to most of Tokyo’s trains that are long, it’s relatively small as it’s a 3-car train. “Machi no Techo Ikegami-sen” is a magazine that talks about the neighborhood’s history. The Shochiku movie studios were once located in Kamata (end of Ikegami line) where directors such as Ozu Yasujiro used to shoot. This magazine is sold in shops, bars, and book shops along the train tracks and on “Cotonoha’s website”. Then, Motohiro Inaba and Rio Asano invite us to their atelier “Wagashi Asobi”. They make two types of sweets: the dry fruit yokan and the herb-aroma rakugan.

Michihito Fujii, a film director from Babel Label is taking us to the Akagi Shrine which is one of the most elevated spots in Kagurazaka. Kagurazaka is a very inspiring city for artists and has an atmosphere very similar to Kyoto. The Akagi shrine is a very elegant shrine with walls made of glass that has been rebuilt recently. Flea markets or second-hand markets are held on weekends at the Akagi shrine. Michihito Fujii also invites us to the Babel Bar in Shinjuku, next to the Shinjuku Gyoen park. The Babel Bar has been created by the Babel Label production company, so that creators can gather and talk about cinema.

Digital artist, Yusuke Shigeta is taking us to the Yokosuka art museum in Kanagawa prefecture. An exhibition was held during the 2014 summer holidays called "KiRaKiRa ZaWaZaWa HaRaHaRa" where parents could enjoy art with their children. It showcased Yusuke Shigeta's art pieces and four other contemporary artists' work. Yusuke Shigeta is originally a video creator who makes animation and computer graphics. His work is a video installation that uses the whole space of a room. The video is a pixel animation displayed from a projector set on the ceiling. This animation, "Gaso no Mori" (Pixel Forest) is inspired by ten fairytales that you can see by holding a white book opened while wandering in the room. His other art piece is called "Gaso Sansui" (Pixel Scenery) and is inspired by the series of paintings of Ogawa Usen, "Shunkashuutou".