Japan¡¯s creative industries are world renowned, yet the country¡¯s education system more often than not is perceived as a grueling succession of cram schools and formulaic exams that prepare its youth for a life of apparent conformity.
As Japan becomes ever more reliant on Cool Japan-driven ¡°soft power¡± to promote its creativity, this discrepancy with education is not only becoming impossible to ignore, but also a potentially damaging undervaluation of young potential. Shining a light on this student talent pool is Gakuten, a new event from the group responsible for the Design Festa biannual international art fair. There¡¯s only one requirement of Gakuten participants ¡ª that they be enrolled in an educational institution.
¡°The whole concept first came about simply because we got too big for the Big Sight venue where we currently hold Design Festa ¡ª we became too successful,¡± explains PR manager for Design Festa Sarah Feinerman. ¡°We were having to turn away potential exhibitors in their hundreds, and there was no way of adding any more capacity. So we realized we needed to come up with a new event.¡±
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