CLOSE-UP

People | CLOSE-UP Nov 5, 2006

Joi Ito: Master of multitasking

by Tomoko Otake

Joichi Ito, better known as Joi Ito, defies any one simple label. Japanese-born, he is U.S.-educated, and as a result is both bicultural and perfectly bilingual. Although he is a highly successful free-market venture capitalist, he is also a fervent advocate of social democracy and ...

People | CLOSE-UP Oct 1, 2006

Hisashi Inoue: Crusader with a pen

by Nobuko Tanaka

So wide-ranging are 71-year-old Hisashi Inoue's talents and activities that it is difficult to know which to focus on at the expense of others. Inoue not only writes plays regularly for numerous theaters in Japan, but his own Komatsu-za company that he founded in 1983, ...