Are you homesick for your country?

I don’t feel homesick but I do miss my family, friends, the food… but I go back every year to spend the whole summer there, about 6 weeks. I have an atelier at my parent’s house, so I like this balance: during summer in Japan, I can transform my sketches and ideas into realizations.

How did this going back and forth between Europe and Japan influence you and your work?

I think that through this ‘in and out’, ‘west and east’, I could see many different elements, analyse and compare them. Also, the island vs land mentality, and other differences such as religious factors, have affected and influenced my work.

I am very impressed by the variety of your art work and by your collaborations in different fields such as fashion or video games. I believe that back in 2019 you were immersing yourself amongst the native Ainu population. How was this community-based art project?

That started as an individual and personal project with an old lady with the aim of helping me to introduce the meaning of Ainu arts (artforms and patterns that are very geometrically). Unfortunately, before the project went further and became deeper, Covid arrived, so we had to pause it. I may visit her this summer, but she is very busy, so is not fixed yet.

Do you believe that art can help preserve cultural identity in an increasingly globalised world of mixed cultures?

I really believe that shodo helps to preserve culture and identity. It can also help to be more aware of the individual and inner value of each as a result. Through this practice, you learn, question, accept and become aware of your heritage, so it can help your well-being, your self-esteem…

As the creator of Neo-Japonism style, how would you describe it in a few words?

In short, Neo-Japonism is the fusion of traditional calligraphy, Japanese design and poetry, with contemporary artistic forms. The two key essences in contemporary forms of this style are Japonism (the influence of Japanese art and design among Western European artists in the 19th century, especially artists from Paris and Vienna), and the Taisho period (from 1912 to 1926 – a time of curiosity and creation of a new combination of colours, designs and letters by hand).

You currently offer several online courses; is it easy to teach shodo online?

At the beginning, it wasn’t easy at all. It took me some time to bring the best quality to my online courses format because of the way I teach, pretty much based on the inner energy movement (the chi). But now, I am very pleased with the quality I can offer. I use 3 cameras, so the student can see the detail of the brush movement, and I often ask them to have a second camera too (or to change the angle), so that I can see the details of their work. Because of my teaching experience, which is quite diverse and long, I can quickly see the problem they are facing and help them.

Thanks to being online, have you reached people in faraway places?

Yes, I am very thankful because I have students from all around the glove at the moment, and they are calligraphing together. Before Covid, I only had a few long-distance learning students, but then it was a shift. I am surprised how even online there is this particular and intimate connection. It is a bit different from in person, but it works pretty well for me so far, and I think they are quite happy with what they are achieving too.

How is it to teach in Europe a traditional art from Japan? Is the cultural leap a hindrance?

It is a fascinating process because I teach and I learn at the same time. When I teach in Japan, certain elements are not questioned, they are natural and obvious. But in the West, you have to analyse and explain why it is so. Even why you should hold the brush like this or use that angle and not another. That was really refreshing and a good basis to develop my mindfulness process. Thus, the cultural leap became an advantage for both me as a teacher and learners.

Working with calligraphy as a form of meditation, it could be useful for those seeking to do personal work through art. Could you tell us about how are you helping people going through physical or mental suffering, and about your project working with therapists for developing a complementary treatment?

My students come from different backgrounds, age groups, places and professions. Each of them has different bodily tendencies and perhaps physical or mental traumas. Through the way we prepare the ink or our body for the lesson, we release this inner stress. The fascinating point in shodo is that you can see this process visually and instantly in front of you, on your paper. It exists a synchronisation between how you feel and the calligraphy, and this may help to raise awareness, and then to accept it and work on it. You can discover your self-tendencies and then see your progression from A to Z. That helps to get calmer very quickly, and when you have chronicle pain it easiest it up. This is why I work with professional therapists assisting them when they need to work with these therapeutical artworks. It is a nice healing process.

Thank you so much, Rie!