From an aspiring artist to a director! A place to settle down and follow your heart

Winner of the Best Director Award at the 33rd Yomiuri Theater Awards, Inaba Yoshie is widely regarded as the top young director in both name and reality. In the first part of the interview , we asked her about directing the 311th Kanagawa Youth Arts Theater production, "Endless Room" (February 20-23, 2026, at Studio HIKARI). In the second part, we asked Inaba about her journey to becoming a director, her own outlook for the future, and her thoughts on the future of theater and theater, as she also serves as a judge for the Kanagawa Performing Arts Awards, which aims to discover the next generation of artists.

- As this performance is being held at the Youth Center, I would like to ask you about your own career history, for the benefit of young people who may be somewhat unsure about their future career paths. What led you to study directing at the Film Department of Nihon University College of Art?

Originally, I loved drawing and wanted to be an artist. I'm an only child, and both my parents worked, so I was often alone. Of all the things I did alone, drawing was my favorite activity. So, when I was in junior high school and looking for a cram school to attend art school, I came across sculpture and thought, "Sculpture sounds good," and my thoughts turned to sculpture. Around the same time, my father bought me a video camera to record events like my sports day. I'm still a "recording junkie," and I was completely hooked on that video camera. I would record my friends during breaks and after school, and with the editing software called iMovie just starting to come out, I had so much fun editing the videos that I thought, "Video is great, I want to aim to become a video artist!"

I was determined to shoot the footage on film, so I ultimately chose Nihon University of the Arts, which had the necessary equipment and facilities.

-From there, did you change direction to stage directing and Bungakuza?

I loved movies! I wasn't an expert on movies! That's not to say I had a complex about my classmates who were movie buffs. But I was influenced by those around me and watched a ton of movies...

When I was in my second year of university, I worked as an intern on a film set, and I spent the whole day directing traffic at a stop about 100 meters away from the set. I was a student, so it couldn't be helped, but at the same time, I wanted to see the actual filming, and at the same time, I felt dizzy with the sheer number of people involved, some of whom didn't even know what was going on.

Also, as part of a class, he had the opportunity to film his own work, and even though the filming period and the actors' time commitment were short, he wanted to rehearse. He wanted to criticize the actors' performances (laughs). So he went over time and, because he was shooting on film, a lot of money ended up going missing.

Films are edited by the director after shooting, so although the actors' performances are important, they can be eliminated by cutting. But I was interested in the performances in the moment. I realized, "Ah, I'm interested in the act of creating a play with actors."

My professor then said to me, "Maybe that's theater, not film?" So I looked into it as a career path after graduation, and I found that Bungakuza was a place where I could learn a wide range of things about theater in one year (as a trainee) and at a reasonable price.

Just like when I entered university, I didn't choose Bungakuza because I loved it, so I couldn't answer the typical questions that were asked during the interview, which were questions that anyone who does acting would naturally know. However, I explained with passion why I wanted to do theater, so I think they chose me for that.

-So you chose to direct rather than act?

That's right. Creating something is the same whether you're an actor or a director, but rather than expressing something with your own body, I was interested in creating works with objectivity. It was like I kept a distance from the reactions of the audience. Also, my subjective desire to design a place or space that would bring people together may be part of my thinking.

A senior director once said something that I thought was a great quote: "A director is the job of someone who has never been anything." For example, I can't be a sound planner, lighting designer, or actor. I create what I envision by asking people who can do it. A director is someone who is always asking for help.

To begin with, I'm the complete opposite of the type of person who "likes to communicate with people and wants to be with someone all the time," so why do I go to the trouble of asking others to help me interact with them and create things? I think it's because I think "creating things with other people produces things that are far more interesting."

I'm a very particular person, so I want to do what I want to do, with the people I choose and love. However, I don't want to be in a position to control everything, but rather to be in a position like a mediator or a midwife. With that in mind, I feel like I naturally ended up in the direction of directing.
Just as he settled on theater over the time he spent from childhood through university, I believe his direction came about as a result of his interest in many different directions.

So, I still don't choose my medium of expression thinking, "Theater is the only option!"

-I see. So it's the result of following your own interests. And you haven't decided on one medium of expression, 2D or 3D, so does that mean that it's possible that it will change in the future? This year marks the 15th anniversary of your first production, so is there anything in particular you're thinking about for the future?

Up until now, I've felt like I've been giving my all to any job I've been given, but in the last few years, I've started to be able to "choose the people I want to create with," as I mentioned earlier. Not just in theater, but also in music and other fields, I've recently started to think, "If I think I want to collaborate with this person, then I should just say so!" As with this project, I feel like I've entered a phase where I can reach out to people even if I think "maybe it won't work out," and take the initiative to make what I really want to create a reality.

This time the theme was "sound," but I would like to continue this style of creating works by discussing various themes together and seeking solutions.

Also, the Japanese theater world is small, so I would like to be able to connect seamlessly with people from other genres. In fact, most of my friends from the Film Department are in the film industry, but there was a time when I couldn't meet them because I felt a bit inferior or jealous of them. But now I think I've gained a little more confidence, and I feel like I could give myself permission to try making a film or painting. I would like to choose any medium that I want to express myself in, without being limited to theater.

Also, I want to know what people my age overseas think. I want to see their perspective and go out into the world!

-In addition to the future of theater that you yourself are creating, what do you think about the future that the next generation will create, such as the entries for the Kanagawa Performing Arts Awards, for which you serve as a judge?

The Kanagawa Performing Arts Award gives groups selected through a preliminary screening process the opportunity to perform at KAAT (Kanagawa Arts Theatre).
I think it's important that the younger generation is in a place where everyone can perform together, and I don't think the next generation will be able to grow unless the doors are open to everyone.

I believe that creating a theater as a venue is important to lower the barrier to theater for both creators and audiences, but in reality, many theaters are like fortresses. In that respect, KAAT has a large foyer, with chairs placed here and there, and an atmosphere where it's okay to chat, so I like the feeling of it being an "open theater."

—You've mentioned "place" several times so far, but does that also relate to your desire to design spaces?

That's right. I hope that the theater will become a place where people can connect with each other and expand the base of theater, and I am thinking about who needs to take action and how to make it such a place. The Performing Arts Awards, which allows us to see the next generation of works once a year, also serves as a place to communicate and think about this together.

I imagine that this style of communication, which we have tackled in this "Endless Room" project, on various issues, including how to create this "space" and how to widen the "door," will continue for the next 10 to 20 years.

Postscript to the interview
"A woman with a soft and gentle aura." That was my first impression of Inaba. However, I sensed a kind of inner strength in her, as she carefully chose her words to convey her thoughts. I'm convinced that she will surely have a significant impact on the Japanese theater world and arts in the future. I look forward to keeping an eye on Inaba's future activities.