✎Digi | Gen Artist | Entrepreneur / National Noh Theatre 10.12 / Prince Takamado 🖼️ 1.22-5.12 / Air Canada sponsored 🛫
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Joined January 2009
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“What is not done is where the interest lies.”
That line from Zeami Motokiyo (c. 1363–1443), the individual who made Noh what it is, stayed with me through the whole panel.
I sat with Matthew J. Wilson (Temple University Japan), Hideaki Koizumi (University of Tokyo), and Ikuo Honma (Showa University), moderated by Soraya Umewaka, to talk about yūgen in the age of AI.
Honma spoke of breath and stillness. In Noh, the heart is never shown outwardly. It comes through only when the body stops.
Koizumi spoke of time. AI runs on electrons at near light speed. Your nervous system runs at 100 metres per second. The gap is 2.5 million times. We will never catch up on speed, and that is exactly why we can do what AI cannot.
Wilson spoke of judgment. AI hands out information regardless of truth. Schools must teach what is true, what crosses cultures, and what you learn by doing.
And I spoke of the cut. Digital is infinite. What I long for is the tangible. I found Gutai during my studies in Canada: the artist does not disturb matter, but imparts life into it. My piece was made to respect Noh and its essence. In Noh, every movement is precise and nothing is wasted. The simplest thing is the hardest to do.
And where it gets interesting, in my medium and in Noh, is when you cut. When you stop. That is intuition, and only the human spirit defines it. Restraint around the tools is how we stay human.
EΞPMON retweeted
エリック、貴重なお話をありがとうございました。
学生時代の学びからアーティストとしての活躍へ。
エリック・チャン（eepmon）さんが、カナダの教育が自身のキャリアと創造性にどのような影響を与えたのかを振り返ります。
Sat down for an interview with First Secretary Jean-François Renaud at the Embassy of Canada to Japan (@CanEmbJapan), published by KBUNSHA. We discussed my journey combining fine art with software engineering, early video game influences, and my ongoing connection to Japan. 🇨🇦🇯🇵
EΞPMON retweeted
Thanks Eric for sharing this deeply inspiring story!
From the classroom to a successful artistic career, Eric Chan (eepmon) reflects on how his Canadian education helped shape his creative journey.
Sat down for an interview with First Secretary Jean-François Renaud at the Embassy of Canada to Japan (@CanEmbJapan), published by KBUNSHA. We discussed my journey combining fine art with software engineering, early video game influences, and my ongoing connection to Japan. 🇨🇦🇯🇵
JF: What about trial and error and taking on challenges? I think the Canadian education system always places great importance on “failing” and “changing course along the way.”
EEPMON: I’ve experienced that firsthand. I’ve made many mistakes, and I believe it’s perfectly valid to make errors while experimenting. That’s where true learning happens. “Learning” isn’t the same as “winning,” is it? There’s no clear-cut definition of success or failure to begin with. They all exist in the same realm of “experience.”
I think trial and error—gaining diverse experiences—is truly important, and the interdisciplinary approach of combining different fields to solve problems is a major strength of Canadian educational institutions.
An excerpt from my KBUNSHA interview with First Secretary, Jean-François Renaud during my Digital Worlds solo show, Prince Takamado Gallery.
🇨🇦🇯🇵 eepmon.com
Air Canada team and I got a lot of great things on our plates (pun intended lol). 2027 and beyond 🍽️🛫
October 12, National Noh Theatre. The performance has concluded. My digital art as a main fabric for the stage. Not projected. Restraint as the medium.
Official photos from the theatre are still on their way. Until then: the stage, the program, the hall holding its breath.
More soon. 📷 kimonoen
Sat down for an interview with First Secretary Jean-François Renaud at the Embassy of Canada to Japan (@CanEmbJapan), published by KBUNSHA. We discussed my journey combining fine art with software engineering, early video game influences, and my ongoing connection to Japan. 🇨🇦🇯🇵
We also highlighted the pivotal role of my Canadian education, the importance of adaptability in creative discipline, and the deep, enduring connection to Japan that continues to shape my work. Further Reading: lnkd.in/gyzVgi4p
It was so great catching up with my friends @CanEmbJapan. Thank you all for taking the time to meet with me! I’m excited for my collaboration with Noh master Naohiko Umewaka at the National Noh Theatre, and I hope it contributes to our cultural exchange as we look ahead to the 2028 centennial anniversary of Canada–Japan bilateral ties and friendship! 🇨🇦🇯🇵
I’m a panelist for “Yūgen and the Calculating Machine – All Things Beyond AI”.
Yūgen (幽玄) is a traditional Japanese aesthetic concept that describes a profound, mysterious sense of beauty that is felt rather than explicitly seen.
The panelists:
∙ Matthew J. Wilson, J.D. – President and Dean, Temple University Japan Campus
∙ Hideaki Koizumi, Ph.D. – Fellow, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Tokyo
∙ Ikuo Honma, Ph.D. – Professor Emeritus, Showa University School of Medicine
Moderator: Soraya Umewaka
Special Performance: A performance of Shimai Kasuga Ryujin (Noh Dance) by Yuha Umewaka.
More Information @ eepmon.com