By Wonsuh Song
I co-authored Sugosugiru Geography Book (すごすぎる地理の図鑑), published by KADOKAWA under the official supervision of the Geographical Society of Japan. Invited to the company’s 80th Anniversary Ceremony, I attended as the Society’s representative.
I expected the usual sequence—greetings, speeches, a sober retrospective. The moment I entered the Tokyo International Forum, that expectation collapsed. The hall was dark, washed in deep violet. Electronic sound pulsed. On one side of the stage stood a woman in black fishnet stockings—the host. Instead of delivering lines at a lectern, she climbed a pole and emceed while performing a pole dance. The audience murmured, then hushed. The gesture read not as provocation but as symbol: publishing slipping its skin—from words on paper to the language of body and senses.
What followed kept raising the stakes: SILT’s sand-art storytelling; an AI pianist, Yasoya Kanon (八十八カノン), performing with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra; and the SWAY Pole Company from Australia in a floating, aerial set. Different genres, one message: publishing now inhabits space, motion, and experience.
There were no long speeches. Art, technology, and emotion interwove to stage KADOKAWA’s vision of a world “beyond publishing.” Later, the professional dance team KADOKAWA DREAMS filled the hall with kinetic energy; the finale, a choir of KADOKAWA employees, landed with pride and warmth.
What stunned me most: the CEO never took the stage. At the very end, a simple on-screen note from CEO Takeshi Natsuno (夏野剛) appeared:
“We deeply thank everyone who has walked with us over eighty years.
As a creative platform connecting talent and inspiration worldwide,
KADOKAWA will continue to deliver new IP and moving experiences.”
A few lines, yet the whole philosophy. Not words but a stage carried the message—true to KADOKAWA’s creed of Fueki-Ryūkō (不易流行): an unchanging core with ever-renewing form.
Founded in 1945 by Genyoshi Kadokawa, the firm once stood chiefly for literature and letters. Today’s KADOKAWA is a comprehensive content enterprise—publishing, film, anime, games, education, and digital tech. It no longer just prints words; it builds worlds.
The anniversary night visualized that shift with artistic clarity. KADOKAWA broke the frame of publishing and opened a new era. In that moment I saw, again, the boundless potential of Japan’s content industry. To keep the essence while reinventing the expression—that is Fueki-Ryūkō, and perhaps the spirit of Japan’s next leap.
Wonsuh Song (Ph.D.)
Full-time Lecturer, Shumei University / NKNGO Forum Representative
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