April 16, our 17nd day in Japan.
Today is expected to be yet another interesting day for us. Today we have an interview scheduled with Yamaga Shizuka of Sanwa Publishing. Sanwa is a very big name in Japan and probably known around the world for their, approximately, A6-sized books with beautiful pictures of Japanese models in all sort of bound and contorted positions :). As it turns out Yamaga-san happens to be quite high in the corporate hierarchy of Sanwa. She has hired Kanno Kei a professional photographer that has worked with the greats in the shibari-world, like Akechi Denki. We got to see some of Kei-san’s work and where really impressed, his pictures are clear, beautiful and full of energy (and then I’m not even talking about all the exotic bondage poses that where actually on the pictures) it was all very impressive.
The interview itself went very pleasant, Yamaga-san (and Kei-san) besides their professional interest also showed an honest personal interest in us and the European bondage scene. A nice extra for us was that during the interview Miura Takumi “crashed” the interview to grace us with his presence. After the interview we where asked to do a short performance so they could actually see what we do and to take pictures for the article (the interview was held in the studio of Kei-san, Studio Kei). The demonstration went very smooth and the responses where very positive.
After the demo we talked some more with Yamaga-san, Kei-san and Miura-san before we all decided to go out and get something to eat and drink. The Japanese “crew” decided on a traditional Japanese “pub” where we got a private room, perfect service, great food, tasteful drinks (sake and beer) and the conversations became even more “informal” than they already where 🙂
From left to right Miura-san, Kei-san, Yamaga-san, Alice-san, Chantal, Bob
This was yet another great day in Tokyo, Japan for us to remember.
(more pictures will be published when we have them)
I would like to add one very big “thank you” to one person in particular, Alice. During our time in Tokyo she has been so kind to act as our interpreter during our meets with people like Arisue Go, S-san and this entire interview. She has also been a great help in actually being able to meet these people and has completely setup this interview. Without her “connecting” with the Japanese shibari people would have been next to impossible due to the language barrier.
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