Biographical Sketch
Keizo Kakiuchi
Keizo Kakiuchi is a superintendent of Sasayama Children's Museum. Also he is an art director and graphic designer based in Osaka, Japan. He is a graduate of the Osaka University of Arts with a BA degree in Art. After graduation, he served as a designer/art director for Nihon Layout, Inc., where his primary involvement was in corporate identity projects. In 1988, he became chief designer for ARX Design Institute and was responsible for planning and execution of visual identity systems. Kakiuchi opened his own firm in 1989 and together with Gregory Thomas Associates (Los Angeles) developed an identity system for the Nakamine Golf Club and HONMA Corporation in Niigata, Japan.
In addition, he is also involved in many other graphic designs and consulting activities, including the brand design for products of HIWATT Corporation (New York), the design for the symbol of Richmond International High School & College (Canada), and design consultation for the Station Sign Project of Hankyu Railway.
He also designed some characters, including "HANIMARU" for the NHK TV program and some mascots for such exhibitions as "Hiroshima Exhibition" and "Yokohama Exhibition". He also took charge of the judging of character designs for competitions held in some events or at amusement parks.
From 1995, he was involved in the planning and production of Web sites. Since 1996, he has been engaged in the production and operation of the Web site "World"(Kobe). Also, he produced and operated a lot of other Web sites, such as ones for Glamorous (the company of Mr. Yasumichi Morita, an interior designer), Nissin Foods, Kyoto Prefectural Library, and Shigenoi, the Japanese food restaurant.
As for his literary activities, he wrote The Methods for Web Identity in the specialized magazine Design Plex under joint authorship with Otoyoshi Yakura, the representative director of Socio and Associates, on a monthly basis from 1997-98. Since 2005, his comics have been serialized in the monthly magazine Choryu issued by Sojiji, the main temple of Sotoshu (Soto Zen Buddhism).
In addition, he worked as a Web seminar lecturer for company managers and provided a seminar for students who were the members of i-Mode Cafe operated by NTT DoCoMo, Kansai.
Furthermore, he engaged in social volunteer activities, serving as the secretary of FFF Japan (Federation of Fly Fishers Japan) and the chairman of the Sasayama Children's Museum, Museum Club.