Mariko Harigai
Born in Fukuoka. Theater studies and German literature/philosophy. Associate professor of Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tokyo. Her publications include “Ortlose Stimmen” (transcript, 2018) , “Stimmen der Stadt, Ort der Beute: Theater des »Nicht-Orts« in Stadt als Beute von René Pollesch” (published in “German Literature,” Issue 156, 2018), “Humanities of Objects and Media: Contemporary German Cultural Studies” (co-authored, Iwanami Shoten, 2022), and “Theater and Democracy” (co-edited, Sangensha, 2025).

Ken Hagiwara
Born in Tokyo in 1972. Professor at the School of Global Japanese Studies at Meiji University. Doctor of Literature. Specializes in contemporary German-speaking performing arts and related Japanese performing arts. Author of “The Work of Director Piscator” and co-translator of Erika Fischer-Lichte’s “Aesthetics of Performance” and others. He also works as a rehearsal interpreter, translating, creating and operating subtitles for guest performances by German-speaking theater companies in Japan. At the 2011 Festival/Tokyo11, he was responsible for the “Cinecittà Aperta – Ruhr Trilogy, Part 2”, written and directed by René Pollesch.

Sachiko Hara
Born 1964, Kanagawa. The only Japanese actress exclusively working in public theatres in German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). Graduated from Sophia University with a degree in German. While still at school, she began acting in theater with the Theatre Company Tourou and later joined Romantica. In 1999 she made her stage debut in Germany in “Narayama,” directed by Kazuko Watanabe, and in 2001 she moved to Germany, where she became an ensemble member at the Burgtheater in Vienna in 2004, and has been an ensemble member for 20 years in Hanover, Cologne, Hamburg and Zurich. She is currently engaged as an ensemble member with the Schauspielhaus Hamburg, and is also involved in a wide range of activities between Japan and Germany, including Hiroshima A-bomb remembrance activities, performance, butoh, directing, translation and lecturing.

Akira Takayama
Akira Takayama formed the creative collective Port B in 2002. He produces a wide range of artworks and projects that include tour-style performances, social experiments, education, and launching urban projects. In 2013, he founded Port Urban Research Center, which applies theatrical methods to tourism, urban planning, education, and media development, among other activities. In recent years, he has initiated the ‘New Theater’ project, attempting to update the theatre as a place. He is the author of “Theatron: What Links Society and Theatre” (Kawade Shobo Shinsha).

Ayaka Ono Akira Nakazawa Spacenotblank
Founded in 2012 as a performing arts collective of Ayaka Ono & Akira Nakazawa which makes dance, theatre and new mechanisms of performing arts. By integrating the established concepts of the performing arts with new mechanisms of their own research and development, they explore the state of the performing arts in the contemporary world and continue to experiment with creating diverse values. With communication arising from the unique environment and relationships at the root of their creation, they are actively engaged in both continuous collaboration with creation members and collaboration with different artists. https://spacenotblank.com/