Sakurai, Takamasa

Born and raised in a special area of ​​Shinjuku , Tokyo. He graduated from elementary, secondary and high schools at Waseda University , and later entered the Waseda University itself located in his home district. After graduating from the faculty of political science and economics, Takamasa Sakurai began his business career as an editor at one of the reputable book publishers Tokyo. He has published a large number of popular science books in areas such as politics, economics, medicine, art, sports and entertainment. In addition to writing books, he acted as a producer and director of various media and events. He then moved to the Internet business , engaging in content production, and thus has been involved in the Japanese Internet services industry since its inception. He was responsible for the planning and production of various corporate websites (including those for large automotive companies). Being one of those who stood at the origins of the Japanese Internet business, Takmasa Sakurai seeks to pass on their experience to the younger generation, teaching students in various educational institutions to the finer points of content production. His field of activity included the creation of visual content (for example, video clips for popular Japanese musicians), the organization of media projects and the production of events for companies and government agencies ^[4] .

The result of the work at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, who invited him as a lecturer on anime training for future diplomats, was that since 2007, Takmasa Sakurai devoted himself to cultural exchange activities, one of the first to use for establishing international relations such phenomena of Japanese culture as anime , manga , cosplay , j-pop and harajuku fashion . Regularly appearing as a commentator on television, in print, on radio programs, as well as through live lectures, Takamasa popularized Japan to the whole world. As part of cultural diplomacy, by October 2015, he had the opportunity to visit more than 150 cities in 27 countries and regions of the world ^{[5] [6]} .

Death

December 4, 2015, at about 00:30, in a special area of ​​Tokyo Arakawa at Nishi-Nippori Station , from the JR platform of the Keihin-Tohoku Takamasa Sakurai line, stumbled, fell under the moving train of 10 cars. As the metro police stated, the passengers at the station testified that according to his behavior before the traffic accident , it was possible to assume that he was not sober and there was a high probability of an accident . Upon arrival at the hospital, he died at the age of 49 ^{[7] [8] [9] [10]} . Takamasa Sakurai lived in the nearby Higashi-Nippori area ^[11] .

On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, in 2009, as part of cultural diplomacy projects, Takmasa Sakurai is developing the concept of the ambassador kawaii ( Jap. Ава ワ イ イ 大使 Kawaii Taishi ) , the approximate meaning of the word Kawaii, translated from Japanese, is dear. Three young models were officially appointed at the Foreign Ministry of Japan and as ambassadors of Kawaii on February 26, 2009: Misako Aoki, representing Lolita style, Yu Kimura, representing Harajuku street style, and Shizuka Fujioka, representing schoolgirl style ^{[ 12] [13]} . The goal was to appoint official cultural representatives who establish public relations in the direction of promoting Japanese pop culture internationally, who would take part in various presentations and lectures on Japanese fashion, at events such as J-FEST , Bangkok's Japan Festa and Japan Expo Paris.

In Moscow, the Japanese model “Misako Aoki” was presented for the first time as an ambassador of the “Kawaii” at the festival of Japanese pop culture in 2009 ^[14] .

Takamasa Sakurai: In diplomacy, such a thing as “ soft power ” is popular now. In order for the world to better understand Japan, we decided to use the ideas of pop culture. The foreign ministry realized that it was necessary to choose people who could become a kind of “bridge” between Japan and young people from other parts of the world. Misako is a professional model. During the year, we asked her to become an ambassador for kawaii, in order to spread the ideas of Japanese culture in the context of “soft power”. In our country, fashion is now actively developing. And, discussing the candidacy for the post of ambassador "Kawaii", we decided that it would be better if they were represented by the representative of the fashion world, representing the idea of ​​Lolita or the so-called "school suit." Because it is this style that looks uniquely Japanese ^[15] .

Takamasa Sakurai believed that Japan, thanks to the popularity of its popular culture products, with the right approach could be a diplomatic intermediary between different countries, having enough “power over the minds” of fans and fans of anime and manga. From his point of view, there are a number of influences arising from the foreigners' fascination with Japanese anime. These influences ultimately lead to the fact that interest in one phenomenon subsequently covers the whole of Japanese culture. This “pattern of influencing interests” looks like this:

anime => manga => language => fashion => society and cultural traditions

At the same time, he believed that the Japanese themselves, paradoxically, did not understand the impact of anime and cosplay on the world. The Japanese, he argued, do not realize that anime serves many people as a kind of guide in studying and evaluating traditional Japanese culture. Because of this unfortunate fact, the anime industry is still too reticent and is not trying to enter the market for export shows. If a significant part of the anime product is not export-oriented, then Japan can quietly miss the chance to strengthen its status as an influential world power ^[4] .

A great popularizer of Japanese pop culture, anime, Japanese youth fashion and cultural diplomacy, Takamasa Sakurai is also the author of publications and books on this subject.

Books

In Japanese

• 『ア ニ メ 文化 外交』 （筑 摩 書房 、 2009 年 5 月） - ISBN 9784480064875 ( Rus. "Anime Cultural Diplomacy" )
• 『世界 カ ワ イ イ 革命』 PHP （PHP 研究所 、 2009 年 11 - ） - ISBN 9784569775357 ( Rus. “The World Revolution Kawaii” )
• 』日本 は ア ニ メ メ で 再 興 す る』 』ア』 ス キ ー ー ・ メ デ ィ ア ア ワ ー ー ク ス 、 年 年 月 月 月 78 デ рус рус 年 4 年） - ISBN 9784048684811
• 『「 捨 て る 」」 で 仕事 は う ま ま く い く 』（ダ イ ヤ モ ン ド 社 社 、 2010 年 9 月） - ISBN 9784478014677
• 』ガ ラ パ ゴ ス 化 の の ス ス メ』 』（講 談 社 、 2010 年 9 月） - ISBN 9784062165051 ( Rus. “ Recommended Galapagos ” )
• 『英語 で 話 そ う! 日本 が 恋 す る 日本 （ニ ッ ポ ン ン） - - 会話 つ か か み み Twitter も も れ で OK - 』（』 ア ク 2011 年 07 月 31 日） - ISBN 978-4757419841
• 新書 日本 が 好 き す す る る 中新書 人 女子 女 PHP 新書 2013 - ISBN 9784569812427 C0295 ( Rus. “Chinese women love Japan too” )
• 『世界 で 月 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 』 出 出 出 出 出 出 出 出 出 出 the declaration of our cultural diplomacy . ” * Co-author with Sumire Wesaka ) ^[16] .

Publications

In Russian

• Global perspectives of Japanese anime (04/17/2015) nippon.com ^[17]

Japanese (English) publication series

• -J-Pop Culture 、 録 」ア ア ジ ア ン ン ビ ー ト ト 、 2011 年 4 6 日 - 2012 年 5 月 24 日）
• 「櫻井 孝昌 の JAPAN! JAPAN! JAPAN!」 （ア ジ ア ン ビ ー ー ト 、 2012 年 5 月 30 日 - 2014 5 月 28 日）
• 、 ポ ッ プ カ ル チ チ ャ ー 見聞 録 録 〜 世界 が 愛 す る る 日本 を 追 い か け て 〜 」（ア ジ ン ビ ー ト 、 2014 年 6 年 4 日 -）
• 「ニ ッ ポ ン 再 発 見!」 （繊 plus 2014 年 12 月 3 日 - 2015 12 月 3 日 [4]）

• TOKYO No.1 オ ワ イ イ ラ ジ オ （JFN 系列） - Rus. TOKYO No. 1 Kawaii Radio (JFN online: April 18, 2012 - September 27, 2014) ^[18]
• キ マ か ら 聴 聴 こ え て く る る ラ ジ J J J J J J J J J (JFN online: October 5, 2014 - February 6, 2016) ^[19]

• http://lineblog.me/sakuraitakamasa/