A circle of friends connected by gut touch! The “FIST BUMP” corner of the radio program “GRAND MARQUEE” features people who live and enjoy Tokyo in a relay format.
On August 10, Mr. Toshihiko Tanabe, creative director, was introduced by Ms. Yurisa Ueno of ULTRA STUDIO, a first-class architect office. We asked Mr. Tanabe, who has won various advertising awards in Japan and abroad, about what made him decide to work in advertising, the three things that made him creative, and his favorite “play.
INDEX
The interesting thing about advertising is that it’s like an empty lunchbox.
Celeina (MC): First of all, let me introduce my profile. She grew up in Tokyo, Munich, Bonn, Vienna, London, and Jakarta, and joined Dentsu in 2002. Tanabe-san has been involved in many projects from business concepts to creative expressions both in Japan and overseas. 2021 is the year he left Dentsu, and in January 2022, he established the creative director collective “(continued)”.
Takano (MC): He is a great senior. Truly, thank you very much for coming.
Tanabe: Thank you very much. I came here unarmed (laughs).
Takano: It is an interesting project that I never expected to be connected to Mr. Tanabe. First of all, Mr. Tanabe, you have won various advertising awards in Japan and abroad, and I can’t introduce you enough (laughs). (Laughs) So, as this is a GRAND MARQUEE, I would like to introduce some of his work related to music, including the planning and creative direction of the music video for Hikari Mitsushima’s new song produced by MONDO GROSSO, which was released yesterday. Mr. Tanabe also worked on “Kaguya by Gucci,” a modern version of Taketori Monogatari starring Hikari Mitsushima, Aoyamada, and Eita Nagayama, which was released last year and became a hot topic. You also worked on the opening program “62 Minutes Yamanote Loop” for “RED BULL MUSIC FESTIVAL TOKYO 2018,” in which Licaxxx and Chansan performed inside a Yamanote Line train.
Tanabe: Thank you very much for your research.
Celeina: There are so many advertisements that we see every day.
Takano: And from a program standpoint, the photographer Yumemuko-san of “Kaguya by Gucci” appeared on FIST BUMP once, and it was very interesting.
Tanabe: Another dangerous person. It was a broadcast accident (laughs).
Takano: (laughs). We heard many exciting stories about the Amazon and other exciting topics, and I thought it was interesting that they were connected. Mr. Tanabe, do you like music a lot?
Tanabe: Yes, I do. I am afraid of silence. I like the sound of nature, but if there is nothing, I feel like playing whatever I want, so I listen to music all the time.
Celeina: What kind of sounds do you like?
Tanabe: I listen to anything. I’m not Yumemuko, but I listen to Amazonian tribal music, techno, emo-rock, and anything else.
Takano: How do you dig?
Tanabe: When I was younger, I used to be a DJ, like going into Udagawa-cho, but now, I exclusively listen to radio, Spotify, SoundCloud, and various other places.
Celeina: You mentioned that you were a DJ, but what made you decide to work in advertising?
Tanabe: I have been doing advertising for about 20 years, starting from a very loose idea that it looked somehow interesting. Sometimes, you put whatever you like into the ingredients, and as a result, the advertisement becomes stronger and stronger. Of course, I also have to meet the customers who want to eat it, but I think that’s what makes me a little happy.
Takano: You are a creator and have experience as a DJ, but you also have an artist’s mindset.
Tanabe: No, it’s like a part-time job (laughs).
Takano: That’s absurd (laughs).
Celeina: I have learned a great deal from your attitude, Tanabe-san.
INDEX
What made up my creative power was changing schools, traveling, and working.
Celeina: Now that you mentioned creativity, what are the three things that make up your creative side?
Tanabe: As I was introduced earlier, I have moved from one country to another, from one city to another. I changed schools about 8 or 9 times. It is interesting to be a transfer student. I get to know them well, then say goodbye, and then go to a new school, and so on and so forth. I also had a hope that I might be able to improve my skills at the next school. I also had a hope that I might be able to improve.
Teenagers make mistakes, don’t they? I should have debuted more like this! I think that is what leads me to my work.
Celeina: I see.
Tanabe: I think that our artistic style tends to become fixed. But when I go to a different place, something completely different comes up in front of me, and I feel that it is okay to change without sticking to it.
Takano: That’s interesting. It’s like the environment is being updated.
Tanabe: The other two are travel and work. These two are almost the same. In most cases, work takes me on a trip or to a photo shoot. As Yumemuko mentioned, I have also been to the Amazon, and at one point I was like a performer in a remote area (laughs).
Takano: That’s a good word (laughs).
Tanabe: You can change the background with Zoom or something. I would do Zoom with real glaciers or the Amazon in the background, and it became like wallpaper, and the audience was quite interested in it. Travel is interesting, isn’t it? There are people in various countries who have completely different common sense, and traveling teaches us how small our own common sense is.
Takano: I know this is a difficult question, but do you have a best place you have visited?
Tanabe: I hate that Yumemuko told me first, but the Amazon was amazing.
Takano: What kind of work did you go there for?
Tanabe: I was shooting a documentary. There is a group of clowns in the Amazon who teach medicine to children in remote villages. So you went there to film these people.
Takano: Was the culture totally different?
Tanabe: Yes, it was different. Especially, the deeper you go, the more there is no signal, and there is nothing digital, so we were all concentrating on what was right in front of us.
Takano: What did you do for food?
Tanabe: The fish was delicious.
Takano: Fresh fish from the Amazon River.
Celeina: You mentioned that you travel a lot for work, but do you have a must-have for your trips, something you take with you every time?
Tanabe: I am famous for not having much equipment. I don’t think too much about it. When I meet up with producers and others at the site, they ask me, “Why did you come dressed like that? (laughs). When we go to cold places or deep in the mountains, we go there as if we were in Shibuya.
Takano: Interesting.
Celeina: Do you get that stuff locally? Or do you survive in the Shibuya style?
Tanabe: No, I give up right away (laughs).
Takano: In such a situation, is there anything that you are glad to have?
Tanabe: I guess it’s the music. Also, I bring fragrance with me. When I wake up in the morning, I often have to ask myself, “Where am I? I often wake up in the morning and ask myself, “Where am I? It sounds a bit stylish, but if I bring a scent with me, I can somehow feel the same no matter where I am.
Celeina: Really?
Tanabe: That’s all I have. I’d rather you bring your outerwear than that (laughs).
Takano: Herbs?
Tanabe: There are some that you can put between the eyebrows or on the temples.
Celeina: I see. You are so busy that it is hard to know where you are. How many projects are going on in your mind at the same time? Do you concentrate on one project at a time?
Tanabe: There are times when I have more than one project going on at the same time, of course, but I am the type of person who clearly decides, “This is what I am going to do on this day! I am the type of person who decides clearly, “This is what I will do on this day! For example, today is the day for this! I decide on the day. I receive calls for various other projects as well, but I decide, “This is the day. Sometimes it’s half a day, but I can’t do too many things at the same time.
Celeina: I see. It is interesting to hear about your timekeeping method. Tanabe-san, you have chosen a song that you would like us all to listen to together on the radio at this time. What song would it be?
Tanabe: It’s a new song by Hikari Mitsushima called “Shadow Dance,” produced by Shinichi Osawa and MONDO GROSSO, and I directed the music video for it, so I thought you should check out the music video as well. I directed the music video, so I hope you will watch the music video as well (laughs). Thank you very much.
INDEX
Talking to people you don’t see very often is the best way to have fun
Celeina: Yesterday, Ueno-san said that Tanabe-san is a “vampire who works hard and plays hard.
Tanabe: Is this a mild dis? I don’t know how to take it (laughs).
Takano: It’s a power word (laughs).
Celeina: So far we have asked you about your work, but when it comes to play, what do you do? I know that’s a bit vague (laughs).
Tanabe: That’s the thing about playing a lot. There is no possibility that my family is listening to me (laughs).
Celeina: It’s leisure time (laughs).
Tanabe: I am an indoor person, so I don’t go to many places. But I do like to meet people. I am currently running a collective called “(continued),” which has an office in Omotesando, and I have clients there, and through those connections I meet many people. It doesn’t matter what industry you are in. I think meeting people I wouldn’t normally meet is the best kind of fun. The rest of the time, though, I’m drinking.
Celeina: What was the ratio of work to play?
Tanabe: In the end, when I meet people and have fun, I end up doing some kind of work with them.
Celeina: It’s like play=work=play. There are no barriers.
Tanabe: I want to talk about the fact that this is not play but work today (laughs).
Celeina: Then, vampires who work well (laughs).
Takano: I don’t know what a vampire is. It’s already a mystery (laughs).
Celeina: “FIST BUMP”, today we welcome Mr. Toshihiko Tanabe, creative director. Thank you very much.
Tanabe: Thank you very much.
GRAND MARQUEE
J-WAVE (81.3FM) Mon-Thu 16:00 – 18:50
Navigator: Shinya Takano, Celeina Ann
