 Think Tech Hawaii, Civil Engagement Lives Here. Welcome to Think Tech Hawaii, Konnichiwa Hawaii, a Japanese language broadcast streaming live from downtown Honolulu and available on YouTube. I am Yukari Kunisue and joining me today in the studio is Shihou Masuda, our paper guru who is an internationally renowned gift wrapping designer and artist. Shihou received her first training in New York City where she was studying art. She combines gift wrapping art with her unique style of Japanese gift wrapping tradition. Her YouTube channel is currently subscribed to more than 160,000 viewers. Hello, everyone. I am Yukari Kunisue, a host of Think Tech Hawaii from downtown Honolulu. Today's broadcast is a paper guru who is an internationally renowned gift wrapping designer and artist. I am Shihou Masuda, a paper guru who is an internationally renowned gift wrapping designer and artist. Shihou, thank you for today. Hello. As you can see, there is a lot of work on the gift wrapping design. Yes, you are often asked. Yes. Yes, you are often asked. If you are in Japan, you can buy something from a department store. The store owner will be able to do it beautifully. Do you design it? Yes, that's right. If you design it for the gift that the customer has, will you be able to give it to the customer? Yes, I will be able to give it to the customer. I have brought a lot of beautiful things here and I will show you later. What was the reason for you to be able to enter such a place? I used to be a graphic art student in New York. When I was walking down the street, I saw a lot of beautiful paper in front of the store where paper was imported from all over the world. It was in New York. In Madokiwa, the wrapping designer was doing a demonstration. I see. It was really amazing. Youkari-san was also in New York, right? Yes. I think you know what I mean. It was really creative and I saw it. I wanted to do it at that place and went to the store and said, Please work. Yes. I was surprised at that moment. Yes, I wrote the application. You wrote the application for the job, right? Yes, I wrote the application for the job. Then, the next day, the manager called me. It was a interview, but I couldn't hear the experience or the history. I was asked if I was Japanese. Japanese? Yes, I was asked if I was Japanese. I was asked at that time. So, Japanese people had the idea that they were working in New York. Yes, I was very lucky. I think that person was a very Japanese person. You think Japanese people wear paper, right? Yes, I think it's a self-cultivation that can be done by an origami. I had a strong image of that. So, I was asked to do it. But after I started working, I used the paper from all over the world. I did a lot of different designs. I had a lot of skills in the environment where I was born. So, from the world of graphic art to the world of broadcasting, right? Yes, I was transferred to the world of gift wrapping. I combined it with art and gave it up to the level of art. Yes, it's art. I'd like to show you a little bit of the work here. This is a bright color. What kind of paper is this? This is a paper made by a paper maker called Rappi-ri from Maui. It's eco-friendly. This is a wedding. Yes, I'm sorry. This is Rappi-ri from Maui. Rappi-ri. Rappi-ri is a paper called Rappi-ri. It's beautiful. It's not very white, but it's a color. The designer is from Hawaii. I see. Next one. This is a wedding. It's a wedding gift. It has various shapes and it's kind of cool. I'll put it on the theme. I see. Next one. This is also beautiful. This is also a favorite design of the party. Do you call it a favorite design in Japan? When you go to a party, you often put a gift on the table. It's that design. It's a design designed to bring back the party customers. There are various things inside, but the design is also included. This is probably a chocolate. It's a little chocolate. It's a little bit of a wide-angle, but it's beautiful. Next one. This is also unique. Is this also a gift wrapping? This is a short design of the man. It's a short design. What kind of wrapping is this? This is really a box. This is a magazine. It was a fabric, so the inside was leather. Please take a cool photo of the box. Please design it. It's a shirt design. For example, there is a Christmas box as a gift. Do you put it on your neck like this from above? That's a ribbon. It's a ribbon. I put a ribbon on my neck and designed it. This paper is a very unique paper. Is this a paper? This is a Japanese friendship paper. A friendship paper. What is the yellow part inside? It's gold, but it's called a pleat. It's called a fold. It's a little fashionable to design with a fold. If you give me a gift like this, it's better than the inside. It's great and I can't open it. That's my job. Let's show the next one. Can you show the next one? What is this? I also wrapped the box for the customer. It was a request that was cute and spring-like. I made a flower with paper. I made it like an ornament. You made the flower with paper, too. Yes, it's all paper. What kind of paper is this paper? This is a flower wrap. I use it when I wrap flowers. It's a little watery. The water is good. Yes, it's a paper with good water. That's the flower part. I like transparent paper, so I use it. What kind of paper do you use for the dark pink? This is a normal wrapping paper. It's a Tokyo Hanzo. There are pink paper on the bottom. Is it on the back? This is another paper. It's beautiful. If you give me a gift like this, I really want to take it without opening it. Next one. This is also amazing. What kind of paper do you use for this? It's a little bit like a vase. Yes, this is a lot of wrapping paper. I think it was Valentine's Day. I'm sorry, it was Valentine's Day. I think the red image is good for Valentine's Day. There are times when you don't have one gift. There are a lot of them. It's a wrapping design for that kind of time. I see. Thank you for... Later, we'll show more pictures. I'd like to show you a little bit here. You can give me a beautiful gift or a present. But if it's beautiful like this, I'm sure you'll be happy to see it. I really want to decorate it when I get something. What do you feel when you're broadcasted? Do you design or wrap it? I think gift is material. By adding wrapping paper, I think it's a job of a wrapping designer to give emotion and send it to others. To send it to others? Yes, for example, a gift for a present. But I think it's important to remember the occasion. For example, do you remember the gift from your friends when you were born five years ago? I don't remember. I got something. I don't remember. It's almost like that. I don't remember what I got three years ago. But it's not as good as I remember. But when I make a gift, I remember it more than I remember. For example, when I was six years old, I was told by my parents that I got a Christmas present from my father and mother. For example, a very colorful and cute wrapping paper with a big ribbon and a present under Christmas tree. When I woke up on Christmas morning and saw it, I was very happy. I remember the scene where I opened the paper with excitement. I thought it was fun and I wanted to open the wrapping paper. That's why I think making a gift is very important to me. I'm very careful when wrapping. What I thought was very interesting was that making a gift is like drinking tea with a cup of tea. You can just drink tea and drink it. That's what makes a gift. Now, when I'm listening to your story, I think it's very interesting to wrap a gift and make it feel like a touching thing. I think wrapping is very important in the end. It's very good to send a gift, isn't it? It's a gift for a year. There are many gifts, but I'm getting closer to it. It's a waste to finish the gift you gave me. I see. That's why I was moved by giving it to you. I got a feeling that you gave me a gift from Yukari-san. I feel a little pressure. I have to give it to you. I'm not good at wrapping, so I got it. That's right. I'm sending it to you in Japanese. Hello, I'd like you to take a short break here. We're going to take a short break here and it will be right back. Stay with us. Aloha, I am Howard Wigg. I am the proud host of Cold Green for think te kawaii. I appear every other Monday at three and I have really, really exciting guests on the exciting topic of energy efficiency. Hope to see you there. Aloha, my name is Mark Shklav. I am the host of think te kawaii's Law Across the Sea. Law Across the Sea is on think te kawaii every other Monday at 11 a.m. Please join me where my guests talk about law topics and ideas and music and Hawaiiana all across the sea from Hawai'i and back again. Aloha. We are back from break. I'm Yukari Kunisue and this is Konnichiwa, Hawai'i talking with Shihou Masuda, paper guru, gift wrapping designer and artist and instructor. We have a live broadcast. This is Konnichiwa, Hawai'i. Today, we are going to talk to Shihou Masuda, the artist's paper guru and gift wrapping designer. Please continue. If you can show the next picture, that would be great. I have a lot of pictures, but I'd like to explain them to you. We had a lot of requests. We wanted to give you a beautiful wrapping, but when we wanted to give you something, how do you wrap it? You don't have many, do you? I have a lot. Especially in the middle of Japan. What are you going to do? I made a simple tutorial to show you the box. Is that a bottle at first? I think it's an oil bottle. It's an oil bottle. In the middle, you can get a flower bouquet. But on top of that, you have a lot of knowledge. What's in the third one? It's a stuffed animal. It's when you give it to your child. I want to show you a stuffed animal, but when you wrap it in a box, it's hard to open it. So it's good to show it. Yes. It's often closed, but it's cute to open it. I see. Today, we have a very beautiful example on the screen. Please explain it to us. Let's start from this side. This is a little autumn-like. It's a sample of a Japanese fairy, Momiji. This is a traditional traditional pleat design. Is there a traditional pleat design in Japan? Yes. The basic pleats are origami. You can put origami in a wrapping. I see. You can arrange it in your own way. Please show us a little. Oh, it's a toy. Please take a look at this. Oh, there's something in it. It's heavy. Normally, only ribbons are wrapped in wrapping paper, but there are Japanese paper and pleats in it. It's a very beautiful design. It's like this. The front is like this. It's like a kujaku. Yes, I'm also calling it a peacock design. Yes, it's like a fan design. Only paper. Yes, it's all paper. It's really origami. You can fold it and close it. The big peacock pattern is made by Wanmaru-chan. It's a little bit like a holiday-like Christmas ornament. It's also cute. This is really Christmas-like. For example, even if it's not gold, it's red and green. People like that color. The ribbons are all over the place. The big ones are made with shirts and satin. It's also made with pleats. This is also a fan design. It's a fan design. I can't do it because I don't know how to do it. If it's that big, I'll try to do it if it's a little less. I think you can do all these parts. No, it's okay. I think you can do it. How about this? This is also very beautiful. I really like paper. This is a paper shop that I introduced earlier. It's a shop called Rappi Lee. It's really beautiful. It's a shop where people who are working hard to make nice paper in the environment. This paper is actually a paper that can be reproduced for about 8 times. That's why it's printed with only soy-based ink. I see. It's not just paper, but it's recycled. She wants to promote it. That's what's in front of her. I just thought about it in the environment. In Japan, the broadcasts are a bit of a process. For example, I want to have a little bit of an impression. In Japan, it's usually like that because it's a refrigerator. It's like taking it home. Isn't it like that? That's right. The refrigerator itself is a gift. It's a race. It's okay to raise it up like that. It's okay to take it home because it's a refrigerator. You have a refrigerator, too. Yes, I have a refrigerator. There are more people who are conscious about the environment, so I want to have a refrigerator demo. Are you surprised? There are a lot of people here. That's not from Japan, but from other countries. There are many Americans. Yes, there are many Americans. I forgot to say a little bit here. Mr. Shifu is a YouTube fan. There are 230 people watching Shifu's rapping. I introduced him as if he was famous all over the world. I think the world is very interested in rapping. Now, I'm going to show you a few videos about froshiki. I'd like you to show me just one. If you can show the video here. I don't know if I can do this complicated challenge. I'll do it. I brought a bottle because I wanted to try it. Yes, let's do it. It's very easy and I'm surprised. Is that so? I haven't practiced this at all. Yes, it's the real deal. Yes. First of all, please spread the froshiki upside down. Yes, it is. Please move it. Yes, that's right. Yes, please. Yes, that's right. Can you see it? I'll put the bottle in the front of the bottle. That means it's in the other side. Yes, put it in the other side. First, put the white skin on the bottle. Yes, put it on the bottle. Please look at me. Yes, that's right. I'll put this on the bottle. I think it's a kimono. Yes, I think it's a kimono. Can you do it? I'll put it on the bottle. I'm bad at it. I'll show you. Yes, that's right. This time, I'll make the front part of the bottle. It's different from the teacher. Yes, that's right. Yes, that's right. It's okay to make a pot. I'll put it in the middle of the bottle. Yes, that's right. I'll put it in the middle of the bottle. Yes, I'll put it in the middle of the bottle. Yes, like that. Yes, like that. And then I'll put it on the bottle. Yes, just put it on the bottle. Can I put this on the bottle? I can't do that. I'm wearing a tight shirt. I can do it well. This is really all I have. That's a good feeling, isn't it? But I'm not tied up. The back is already cute. Normally... I'm tied up. Which is in front of you? This is in front of me. This is in front of me. This is it. I did it! How was it? This is a wine party. It's called at Christmas party. I'll bring it. But it's a big beer. I think I can do it. I can do anything with a bottle. I can put ribbon or something. Yes, if it's cute, I can put flowers or flowers. I think it's cute. I see. How was it? That's right. I think I can do it. I can do it. Finally, it's time to get closer. If you want to see more of Shion's art, what would you like to see? Right now, my website, Shihomashida.com You can see it. Shihomashida.com I have a lot of Instagram. I think you can see a lot of up-to-date images. I see. What should I look for on Instagram? Shihomashida underscore GIFT LABPING GIFT LABPING I'll go with that. How many YouTube videos do you have? I have about 200 YouTube videos. How long does one video take? I have about 2 minutes. I have about 10 minutes. I see. How many videos do you have? It depends on the content. It depends on the content. I can play on YouTube many times. I can stop people who can't do it like me. I can do it. If you want to take a step by step, I think YouTube is the best. I think there are people who are interested in this. I don't want to rap like me. I want to learn the design. I want to study the level of the code. What should I do for such a person? I have a workshop. I also do online courses. Please email me. You can email me. infoatmrcifomasuda.com Please contact me. Please contact me. infoatmrcifomasuda.com There is also an online class. If you are interested, please take a look. Thank you. I hope you have a good time. Thank you for today. Thank you for the interesting and beautiful story. It was fun. Thank you so much for coming. Stay tuned for more shows in Japanese. Thank you all for watching Think Tech Hawaii. I am Yukari Kunisue. This is Konnichiwa, Hawaii. See you next time.