How did you start working on web design?

When I majored in business administration at university, UNIX was a compulsory subject. I learned the Internet at university as a part of the networking function of UNIX. The web was no more than a way of networking. In my early days at university, I devoted myself to using Mosaic. Yahoo Japan was not available and there was little content written in Japanese. Then I started to make some images using Photoshop version 2, write a diary and setup a counter like other students, but I was not totally absorbed in it. SFC has a program called ‘STE’ which allows us to search who was logging in which terminal from which room, and it was interesting to play with a program that can send an ornate initial to my friend’s terminal. When I was a freshman at university, Netscape 2 was released and animated GIF and Java applets began to move. Using a Java applet, we became able to develop an interactive/graphical interface and write concrete poetry using the FONT tag. Then the web gradually began getting interesting for me.

Is there anyone who has an influence on you?

Concerning the web, I like Soulbath.com made by the ‘Hi, Res!‘ people in the UK. They’ve made an excellent interface using Flash. Their ‘Click Here!‘ project which many designers participate in is very interesting. The Spanish web production called Doubleyou.com is also great. And the interaction of Audi TT on the Audi Spain web site gave me a strong inspiration. Also, I’m really interested in Skim.com. I hope they have a shop around Japan.

In Japan, I like the graphics of Delaware, 198yen and Smokymonkeys. I’ve got strong inspiration from Sensorium projects that one of my fellow at IMG SRC participates in. I think I was influenced by the art project of Prof. Fujihata who was a teacher at SFC. I’ve never had him as a teacher though. I’ve been influenced immensely by other web sites.

What do you think about the web scene (business) in Japan?

I’m not interested in so-called internet business in Japan. It’s no more than a boom. Almost all of the business models are uncreative, they’re just imports of pirated editions. Some of them might be original though.

There are lots of web sites that provide various services, but the interface designs are terrible and I don’t feel like using them. For example, shopping sites have the same navigation with a shopping basket. I think it’s good that there’s a unified interface, but if it’s on a low level, it’s not totally good. In that sense, the DiscoverToys site by Macromedia demos is a good example, but there’s still no shopping site with an excellent interface like this.

The web scene in Japan is going forward to the right direction as a whole, but the web service cannot be an essential thing for people yet and there’s not many things required for design. There’s not many managers nor businessmen who are willing to spend enough time and money in the interface design, although they’re aware of its importance. (or they might not be able to persuade investors even if they’re aware of it.)

Concerning the web design business, there are so many bigger production companies than our company in Japan, but most of them are not professional. If anything, some commercial sites are made by an excellent independent designer or small designer group with 4 or 5 members are better. That’s the current situation of the web design business in Japan. Today it’s hard to find a prominent production company in such a situation, but I’m sure that 3 or 4 production companies will be outstanding in both its quality and scale this year or next year.

Is there any other countries where you would like to live or you’re interested in?

Basically I love Japan, so it’s hard for me to think of living in other countries, but I would like to visit Argentina, Mexico, Cuba or Morocco in my next vacation. I just went to Vietnam this past February.

The last question. Do you have any plans for the near future? And is there anything you would like to do in the future?

I’m now developing a USB music box. It’s converted from a hand-wound music box with a motor. It revolves and makes sounds when it’s connected to a USB terminal. Electric current is sent from the USB terminal and applies the electricity to the motor. I like it as it is, but what I’m thinking now is to make a system that can work another person’s music box through the net. It’ll take a lot of time to realize it because it’s not easy to make USB hardware, but if there’s some engineers who can help me in developing the hardware, it would be helpful.

I’ll keep working on the web and at the same time, I’ll concentrate more on the physical media. I mean I’ll do some installations. I have some ideas that cannot be represented only on the computer monitor, but there are too many problems to start working on those ideas.