Shopping Guide
“I chose making things as my means for connecting with people”, says fashion designer Tatehana. In the second half of the interview, we ask Lady Gaga’s shoemaker, Noritaka Tatehana, about Hatsune Miku and otaku culture.
[Noritaka Tatehana Profile]
Japanese fashion designer and artist. Born in 1985, he started producing his own clothes and shoes at 15 years old. He attended Tokyo University of the Arts and majored in traditional Japanese fabric dyeing. He then made kimono and geta sandals using the Yuzen 1 dyeing method. In 2010, he founded the NORITAKA TATEHANA brand and began using traditional Japanese artisan techniques to make designs that reflect both modern and classic sensibilities. His heel-less shoes are also loved by Lady Gaga.
Hatsune Miku is awesome!
──On her world tour, Lady Gaga has performed a concert in collaboration with Hatsune Miku. What do you think about linking otaku content to reality?
Noritaka Tatehana: Well, I think it’s interesting. The fact that Hatsune Miku is dancing projected by 3D mapping is amazing. She isn’t even supposed to be there in reality, now is she? But everyone is crazy about her. I think this is a very fresh development, and it’s also much more artistic this way.
For example, contemporary museums in New York also have mobile applications and NES consoles on display. Although their interpretation as art is still different, this means they are recognized as something worth putting down in historical records. I think Hatsune Miku is just the same. I think that in a way, Hatsune Miku was a turning point in the history of human society. She is a kind of media that will never betray its users and keeps close to them. You can feel as if she actually has a voice and even something reminiscent of a personality. She is a new kind of existence.
About the subculture represented by Hatsune Miku, I also mentioned it during a lecture at Kyoto Seika University, where I work as a lecturer. Seika University has a manga department, and its full with foreigners, some of them even walk around campus in Sailor Moon-like getups. It’s deep in the mountains (laughs), I was really surprised. I’m in charge of a lecture about self-branding, and I held that lesson with the mindset that subculture is a factor we can’t disregard.
──What is your favorite manga or anime?
NT: I haven’t really watched TV recently, so I don’t know about the newest, but I used to watch Evangelion and Slam Dunk. Even so, I don’t think about they as a subculture, because those anime were a part of my life as a Japanese youth.
Overseas, one might be considered a geek if he is reading manga. In Japan, however, it’s nothing out of the ordinary. You can even buy manga at convenience stores. The majority and minority are reversed.
My favorite anime is Ranma 1/2. Even now I rewatch it sometimes. I also watch Dragon Ball, although I think that’s only a way of returning to my elementary school years (laughs).
──Your awareness of the subculture is a little surprising.
NT: Advancing to overseas as an artist and propagating culture is my job, so to speak. Recognizing the subculture is something I have to do. Even when I went to Milano the other day, there were a lot of people gathering at a manga festival. And I also have the chance to meet foreigners who come to Japan for subculture-related work. I often meet new people through subculture.
In that sense, Europe has both the market and the demand. Antwerp, Belgium was the first place abroad I ever went to. There, you can find a lot of manga stores while walking down the street or see a huge poster of Detective Conan. It’s interesting to see Japanese manga with the dialogue written in French.
I want people to know Japan through me
──What’s your vision for the future?
NT: It is also connected to what we’ve been talking about just now, but I want to be a motivation to overseas people for knowing Japan. About 95% of my customers are from outside Japan. But still, I’m mostly in Japan. And the customers come to Japan to buy my works.
I think that’s pretty new. And I think my works can show the goodness of Japan. The content born from the professional spirit of the Japanese holds the possibility of drawing people from abroad. I think it’s a culture of great value, and I want to make that part known outside Japan. That’s why I go abroad and hold exhibitions. And what I bring back in the end are people. By making my works more widely known abroad, I bring home other people with me. And that’s my way.
I think it’s because Japan is the center of this subculture that there are so many people gathering here. There are many foreigners at the manga department of Kyoto Seika University. Looking from their point of view, being able to study what they love at college is something they consider the greatest happiness. Because no one will get mad at them even if they read manga (laughs).
By going abroad and taking this cultural background with me, including the subcultures, I want to create a chance for people to connect. Whatever you use as your means of transmission is fine, be it shoes, clothes, or manga. What you want to do must become a motive for foreigners to know Japan.
I’m the type whose strong point is making something from 0 to 1. I prefer creating something from nothing than gradually fostering something already created. And overseas customers have the chance to encounter various aspects of Japanese culture through the works I create. That’s why I want to distribute Japanese culture to the world in a more novel form. That is my job.
Image-Makers Exhibition
Showing in Roppongi until Oct. 5. Tatehana’s works are also on display. Be sure to check it out if you’re in Japan!
This is a Tokyo Otaku Mode original article.
