Greetings of Executives

Chairperspn

Konoe​ Tadahiro​

(CEO/Creative Director of curioswitch Inc., Lecurer of Imperial Poetry Contest at Board of the Ceremonies of Imperial Household Agency)

Nearly 80 years have passed since the end of the war, and opportunities to learn about traditional culture in the Japanese educational curriculum and in everyday life have become extremely rare. Even when traditional culture is close to us, I feel that our sensitivity to the wonderfulness and beauty of it is fading. Ideally, we would like to change education and the environment to increase opportunities for people to be exposed to traditions from a young age, but first we would like to disseminate information from wherever we can, including through DENKEN-TEST. While DENKEN-TEST has an educational aspect of “learning", it is also a fun, casual game that will spark an interest in traditional culture among children, young people, and people of all ages. We hope that by understanding how traditional culture was born and developed, people will be able to regain the rich sensitivity that their ancestors once possessed and pass it on to the future.

Vice Chairperson

Todate​ Kazuko​

(Professor at Tama Art University, Craft Critic, Craft Historian)

Looking at the current state of traditional culture in Japan, the number of people, including foreigners, who are interested in it is increasing. If the number of such people increases, I think traditional culture will be passed down in a richer way. In order to maintain traditional culture, it is important to not only develop the creators and performers who create it, but also the recipients, and further to develop introducers and commentators who connect the two. Traditional culture does not develop alone; it is essential that there are many people involved and recipients who are involved and enjoy it. DENKEN-TEST will provide an opportunity to measure how much you know and understand, which I believe will increase your motivation to learn. I also hope that DENKEN-TEST will be a topic of conversation that will increase interest in traditional culture and create more opportunities for traditional culture to be discussed as a common language. I hope that a wide range of people, including people from general companies, people working in national and local government departments, particularly those in tourism and education, elementary, junior high, and high school teachers, and university students studying crafts, will take the exam. I hope that DENKEN-TEST will also be useful in learning about what it means to be Japanese and cultivating an international sensibility.

Vice Chairperson

Shirasu​ Shinya​

(Writer, Art Producer)

The current situation surrounding Japan's traditional culture is extremely tough. This is a problem for Japanese society as a whole, but the fact that there are fewer people to carry on these traditions due to factors such as a declining birthrate and aging population means that it is difficult to maintain traditional industries and performing Entertainment. First of all, I think it is very important that the entire nation shares this understanding of the current situation. The low level of awareness of traditional culture in Japan is clear, for example, when we look at the size of the government budget for culture. According to a document from the Agency for Cultural Affairs in March 2020, Japan's cultural expenditures are 116.7 billion yen, which is only 0.12% of the total government budget. Neighboring South Korea's expenditures are 301.5 billion yen, which is only one-tenth of the government budget (South Korea's is 1.14%), which is far from Japan. We would like to use DENKEN-TEST as an opportunity to change the current understanding of Japanese people. Through DENKEN-TEST, we hope that more people will become interested in Japanese traditional culture from an early age and delve deeper into areas of interest. We would like people who have an area of expertise where they can talk about traditional culture to recognize that it can be a communication tool, and we would like to increase the number of people involved in and understanding traditional culture. (Interview)