I began learning Japanese for a trivial reason, yet it paved the path to my dreams. Now, I aim to elevate this dream to a grander scale worldwide.

日本語 Interview by Isao Tokuhashi info@myeyestokyo.com   Vinod Vijayasankaran (India) Cinematographer/Filmmaker/Video Director We would like to introduce a longtime friend of ours. A filmmaker from India: the land of cinema. We met him through LinkedIn about 7 years ago. After reading one of our articles, he became interested in our activities. At that point, he was already working on several films and approached us to collaborate. Although we met him several times, we lost touch with him for a while. Last summer, after several years, we approached him for a project, reigniting our connection and leading to this interview. In the

I want to foster helpful dialogue between women from different backgrounds and nurture the concept of “Happy Woman, Happy All” to prevent more war.

日本語 Interview by Isao Tokuhashi info@myeyestokyo.com   Erin Shiraishi (Ukraine) Entrepreneur *Photo provided by Erin Shiraishi Last year, we received a message from someone after a long time. It was from Erin Shiraishi, a former journalist turned entrepreneur. Originally from Ukraine, Erin has lived in many countries. She told us that she recently came back to Japan from France and founded ProMaman – an online social platform to help women everywhere to discuss what they need. In celebration of her entrepreneurial achievements, we requested an interview with her. *Interview held online   Creating an online space for struggling women I organize

A Stopover in Georgia

日本語 Daniel Penso Columnist/Proofreader/Translator Photo by Daniel Penso As one entranced by the cultures of Japan and other parts of East and Southeast Asia, going to somewhere in the former Soviet bloc would appear to be something out of the usual routine. Central Asia and Western Asia, albeit Asia, are not the same in all sorts of ways, be it food, language or ways people lead their lives. So going to Georgia was something I would not have imagined doing previously. I had been interested in the Georgian language (ქართული ენა Kartuli Ena) for the last few months and had

Rakugo has been pretty consistent for the last 400 years but it’s not as static as we might think. It’s changing and evolving to reflect the world around us.

日本語 Written by: Daniel Penso Columnist/Proofreader/Translator   As an avid rakugo fan, I enjoyed Kristine Ohkubo’s Talking About RAKUGO 1: The Japanese Art of Storytelling, a wonderful source for learning about the history of the art and those who have and currently participate in rakugo. In this interview, we talk with Kristine Ohkubo about that book and her thoughts about rakugo and what makes it such an interesting comedy form.   Please introduce yourself. My name is Kristine Ohkubo. I’m an author based in Los Angeles, CA. I officially began writing over a decade ago. I’ve published eight books to