On small projects with cultural institutions, it’s [hierarchy] not an issue. The commissioner, editor and designer decide at eye level. But if you work on commercial projects for bigger clients, hierarchy is an important issue in Japan. The problem is that the bosses usually make decisions based on their personal tastes, changing their minds over and over again. And as a designer you have to execute all these decisions without questioning them. In my opinion that is a waste of time and money. Fortunately, in recent years, some companies have started to change their mindset. They understand the quality of a precise briefing. But the majority still stick to the top-down trial and error method. Tetsuya Goto

Considering positive values in contemporary Japanese culture, I would point to the ability to accept ephemerality and the ability to handle the contradictions of hybridity. One could even look at ephemerality and hybridity as two interdependent phenomena.
[…] Design-wise, there are these two sides to Japan: On one hand, we have the white, clean, restrained, almost sacred approach, represented for example by the Japanese retail company Muji. On the other hand, we have this very messy, colorful, and expressive approach that you can observe in the streets or in Manga publications. For me there is no conflict, but a diversity in our culture—that, admittedly, some people don’t want to accept as authentic Japanese culture. Tetsuya Goto

There is something that I hope to achieve professionally: I want to be a bridge between people and societies. Even though Japanese culture imports a lot of resources, we still stay isolated. We’re not so good at connecting back to other cultures. This attitude has no future, and I want to help get past it by nurturing a culture of translation. […] And I’m not talking about mirroring or literal translation. I’m talking about a translation that takes serious cultural gaps into consideration. Tetsuya Goto