This year began on January 2 with a worship service (19 places of worship) in Okinawa’s local Niihara community.

.

In February, the traveling exhibition of street artist Mr. Brainwash was held at Shibuya PARCO, following last year’s exhibition in Osaka, and despite the Corona disaster, many people attended.

In November, Debora Guetta opened an exhibit at the Speedy Gallery in Los Angeles, which was a huge success with over 300 visitors at the opening, including Kaori Momoi and James Franco.

In the same month, he returned to Japan and held a small exhibition of Yuriko Yanaga, a promising artist, to show the world the possibilities of new art.

.

The year 2021 was the first year that contemporary art gained citizenship in Japan, with high prices paid for Ly and Ayako Rokkaku at the SBI auction in March, and Japanese IT executives furiously buying art at Art Fair Tokyo in April in a venue where Chinese and Western collectors were not present. Seeing this, I realized that Japanese contemporary art has also gained a position as an investment target. In fact, contemporary art has become a commodity that yields more than real estate worldwide. Even though the Corona disaster has created a money glut in the background, the fact that art has created demand is a major event.

.

The virtual currency took on a new dimension in March when BEEPLE’s digital work sold for a high bid at Christie’s. Speedy Euro has also been selling NFT art by Demian Hirst, Steve Aoki, and Shinichi Hara, and they are selling well.

NFT is the new fuse to Web 3.0 and the token economy (DeFi = decentralized finance, DAO = decentralized autonomous organization, etc.) will continue to spread over the next year, Facebook has changed its name to META, and the metaverse is a hot topic, but my prediction is that it is not becoming Web 3.0 (i.e. I think the (centralized) metaverse will fade away as rapidly as Second Life. On the other hand, Web 3.0, which has become a token world via wallets, will develop rapidly. It will function similarly to CeFi (centralized finance), including startup funding and crowdfunding.

For me, the inspiration is “Nono”. While the Japanese entertainment industry is rapidly becoming isolated and shrinking, “Non” has been successful with her global expansion in Asia and her diverse activities in art and music, and has even created a theatrical movie “RIBBON,” which she directed, wrote, and starred in herself. In entertainment, as in other industries, only professionals survive.” NON” continues to prove this.

Korean entertainment has been in the global spotlight for the past several years. This trend will continue next year. The boom that began with the movie “Parasite” culminated in the Netflix “Squid Game. Both the drama “Crash Landing of Love” and “Squid Game” are produced by Studio Dragon. Its parent company is CJ ENM, which also owns a stake in the company. The world of entertainment also develops where DX has advanced.

At a time when the Hollywood monopoly is about to collapse thanks to Netflix, I am very proud to see my Asian colleagues playing an active role in the industry. Japan should do its best to go out into the world, instead of sticking to its port city village forever. This does not mean going to Hollywood. We can get to the global stage by deepening the local.” I think the fact that a talent named “Non” was able to make a light-hearted dramatic film and enter it in the Shanghai International Film Festival is one step in that direction. Agents who can handle global expansion and the ability to raise funds from multiple sources. This is what is needed to catch up with South Korea. Speedy intends to refine these qualities and take up the challenge.

Speedy Farm started in March, cultivating 1 hectare of farmland in the center of Okinawa. With plant hunter Seijun Nishibatake as advisor, they planted rare plants and crops suitable for longevity in Japan. The first harvests are expected next year, including a baobab tree, which is a supine food from “The Star Prince,” and blue bananas with an ice cream-like taste.

I learned a lot about the future of food through agriculture. Okinawa’s fertile land, low land cost, and labor cost are attractive, but considering the future of the earth, we should also pursue the possibility of cultured meat using urban farming, AI, and genome editing. Ginko Bioworks, which owns soy-based Beyond Meet and cultured meat developer Motif Food Works, Inc.

This year, I had the pleasure of co-authoring a book with Mr. Naoki Sakai titled “The Swiss Living Corona Era. The purpose of the book is to show the new trends of the after-corona era and to encourage corporate DX. In order to publish more publications in the future, we acquired Koryosha Bookstore, which has a 73-year history. We would like to continue such cultural activities and corporate consulting in order to quickly grasp the future of society and continue to update it.

We were also able to talk with 10 people on Talked.jp, our owned media.

Ito Toryo (Zen monk, vice-abbot of Ryosokuin)

Shinsuke Tsutsumi (Editor, Commentator)

Leena Lee, actress and model

Akira Takatoriya (Japanese businessman)

Kentaro Ogata (CEO, Voicy)

Rina Akimoto (Representative of “Eat Choku”)

Minoru Moriya (New Business Entrepreneur)

Nakata, Takashi (Islamic jurist)

Comins Rio (President of SEAMES Inc.)

Momoko Shirakawa (Journalist and author)

I don’t think there is any limit to what one person can do. One person can become a force like a typhoon with the resonance of those around him or her.

I hope that in 2021, which began with a small prayer in Okinawa, we can continue to move forward next year, gathering everyone’s energy together.

Jun Fukuda