INDEX
The “Kamoshika Beverage” was born out of the cultural environmental activity “TŌGE
Celeina: Ms. Ueno, while you are working in architecture, you are also working on a project called TŌGE in Karuizawa from 2021.
Ueno: This is a project that I started together with an artist who moved to Nagano about two years ago. We are developing various experimental projects in a mountain forest called “Hareyama” in Karuizawa, breaking down life into food (eating), nurturing (growing), and housing (living). Among us, we have recently been calling it “cultural environmental activities.
Takano: What exactly are they?
Ueno: As for food, we make drinks, which I will introduce later. We also make maple syrup from maple trees.
Celeina: From maple trees in Karuizawa?
Ueno: It ‘s a lot of work (laughs). (laughs) We also collaborated with an artist, and finally collaborated with a Japanese confectionary artist to pour it all over mizu-yokan.
Celeina: Looks delicious. …… Is the drink you mentioned earlier going on sale this month?
Ueno: Yes, we will be launching a new drink called “Kamoshika Beverage” on August 23.
Celeina: Wjat does the name mean?
Ueno: There is an antelope that we sometimes meet in the forest. It’s a drink made from trees, and drinking it relaxes you as if you were in the forest. They are very chirpy animals, and when you get close to them, they just stand there looking at you. They don’t run away. That’s where I got the name.
Celeina: I see. It’s a kind of relaxation.
Takano: You brought it to the studio today.
Ueno: This is made from thinned wood from the mountain there. This is a project to reconsider the relationship between people, nature, and man-made objects. One idea I had was to see if we could use them for something other than chips and the like, so I tried to make something that would be a luxury item, or something like that.
Celeina: So you created a drink out of the excess wood that had to be cut down. That’s amazing!
Takano: The packaging is very stylish, like a wine bottle.
Celeina: Is this extracted from the tree?
Ueno: It is made from a combination of boiled and distilled into a syrup. What we are bringing to the studio today is soda, but we have both this and syrup.
Takano: It says, “This is a beverage for drinking wood. Can I have it?
Ueno: Go ahead.
Takano: (Smells it.) It smells really good.
Celeina: It’s like being in a forest.
Takano: (Drinking) It’s delicious.
Celeina: (Drinking) Wait a minute. It’s super delicious.
Takano: So this is the taste of the forest. What do you think?
Celeina: Please give me an echo, Foresty…….
Takano: What is that? (laughs)
Celeina: Thank you very much. I want to do it (laughs). It’s soothing, it smells great, and it tastes slightly sweet. Chill.
Takano: It’s quite refreshing. It has an amazing woody aroma spreading in my mouth.
Celeina: The aroma that goes through your nose after drinking is also very pleasant.
Takano: Lovely. This will be available from August 23?
Ueno: It will be available online from the 23rd, so hurry up and sample it today.
Celeina: Thank you very much. If you are interested in Kamoshika beverages, please check out our Instagram for updates. Now, FIST BUMP is a circle of friends connected by gutta touch, so we are asking you to introduce us to your friends. What kind of people will you introduce us to, Ueno-san?
Ueno: Toshihiko Tanabe, a creative director.
Celeina: What is your relationship with him?
Ueno: First of all, he is a creative director who travels around the world, and he was speaking at the same event as Snowden in Croatia the other day. Recently, he directed the GUCCI video featuring Hikari Mitsushima and Aoi Yamada. He himself spent his childhood in Europe, and although he has moved from place to place, he and I are the kind of friends who always say to each other that Tokyo is great.
Celeina: In a word, how would you describe him?
Ueno: “A vampire who works hard and plays hard” (laughs).
Celeina: Thank you (laughs). Tomorrow, we will connect with Creative Director Toshihiko Tanabe. Today we have Ms. Yurisa Ueno from ULTRA STUDIO. Thank you very much.
Ueno: Thank you very much.
GRAND MARQUEE
J-WAVE (81.3FM) Mon-Thu 16:00 – 18:50
Navigator: Shinya Takano, Celeina Ann
