NSK Celebrates 100th Anniversary on November 8, 2016

This creative group features a select few individuals with a high level of technical and expressive abilities covering a wide range of media, such as web design and interactive design of physical spaces. Rhizomatiks Research has won a variety of awards from Ars Electronica, the Japan Media Arts Festival (Agency for Cultural Affairs), and the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Yuri Suzuki

Born in Tokyo in 1980 and currently living in London. After working as an assistant at Maywa Denki for five years, Suzuki joined the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London through the Agency for Cultural Affairs' emerging artist overseas study program. His works focus on music and technology and he is currently a sound artist and product designer as well as teaching at his alma mater, RCA.

Slow Label

This group connects artists, businesses, and welfare institutions all around the world to create new systems of manufacturing and social programs.

Architect and designer Emmanuelle Moureaux was born in France and moved to Tokyo in 1996. She helms emmanuelle moureaux architecture + design. Taking inspiration from the complex layers and cityscape of Tokyo, along with traditional Japanese partitioning, her “Shikiri” concept separates spaces using color. She is involved in a variety of projects including architecture that use colors (Sugamo Shinkin), spatial design (ABC Cooking Studio), and art (UNIQLO, Issey Miyake). Moureaux is also an associate professor at the Tohoku University of Art and Design.

This artist collective is composed of Tohru Nakazaki, Daisuke Yamashiro, and art manager Tomoko Noda. They invent the optimum pretext and realize that pretext to create an event - or happening - by getting many people involved. Their piece is displayed as a combination of documents, theatrical techniques and an installation.

Takashi Ishiguro graduated from the Industrial Design Department at the Royal College of Arts (RCA) in 1994. He then joined IDEO in the U.S. in 1995. In 1998, the New York Museum of Modern Art added to its permanent collection his work Rice Salt & Pepper and his humidifier Chimney. He struck out his own from 2002, working in product, art, and stage design.

This development unit works in a variety of genres with a unique retro flavor. Their most famous works include development of Unicorn Z and Z II, Diorama Visualizer, direction and performance in the Magokoro Brothers music video “Kienai E,” and BUMP OF CHICKEN's “BOC-AIR,” as well as development of the Coca-Cola AR vending machine, and direction and development of Jounetsu-Tairiku and Kagai Jugyo Yo Koso Sempai.

Born in Hiroshima in 1978, Tamesue is the first Japanese sprinter to win a medal at a world-class track and field event. He won bronze medals in the men's 400 meter hurdle event at the 2001 Edmonton world championships and the 2005 Helsinki world championships, and competed in the Olympics three times; in Sydney, Athens, and Beijing. He also holds the Japanese record for the men's 400 m hurdle (as of August 2016). In 2012 he retired after 25 years of competition. He is involved in a wide range of activities including sports-related education and research through his own company Samurai Co., Ltd., the Athlete Society, and Xiborg Inc.

Yamanaka is a design engineer and professor at the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies. After graduating from the University of Tokyo Faculty of Engineering in 1982, he worked at Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., then began working as a freelance designer in 1987. In 1994, he established Leading Edge Design. From 2008 to 2012 he was a professor at Keio University and in 2013 he began working as a professor at the University of Tokyo. In addition to designing a wide variety of industrial products such as wristwatches and railroad cars, he is also involved as a technician in robotics and communication technologies. In his university position, he is involved in research that creates new relations between people and objects, such as prosthetic legs and robots that appeal to the senses. In 2004 he won the Mainichi Design Prize and the German IF Good Design Award and Good Design Award. In 2010 the Tagtype Garage Kit was selected for the permanent collection at the New York Museum of Modern Art.

Takahashi is a robotics creator and specially appointed associate professor at the University of Tokyo Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST). Born in 1975, he graduated from the Kyoto University Faculty of Engineering and immediately established the Robo Garage, the first venture of its kind for Kyoto University. His most famous creations include the robot telephone Robohon; Kirobo, the robotic astronaut; Deagostini's Weekly Robi; and EVOLTA, the robot that climbed the Grand Canyon. He has won the RoboCup World Championship for five consecutive years. His creation was selected for U.S. Time magazine's Best Inventions of 2004, and he was named one of the “33 People Who Will Change the Future” by Popular Science magazine. He is the CEO of Robo Garage, Inc.

Sputniko! is a modern artist and assistant professor at the Media Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Her art involves videos, music, photos, and performances that reflect the changes in human existence and society brought about by technology. One of her recent major exhibitions was at the Setouchi International Art Festival 2016 (permanent exhibit at the Benesse Art Site; 2016). In 2013, she became assistant professor at the MIT Media Laboratory, and established the Design Fiction laboratory. In 2016 she won the 11th L'Oreal - UNESCO Award for Women in Science - Special Japan Award. Since April 2016 she has served as the MC for the NHK program Super Presentation. Her published works include Hamidasu Chikara (Takarajimasha).