Hide Nakaya
NHK News Commentator (Art and Culture / Digital Arts)
Born in Kanagawa. Graduated from the Tokyo University of Arts Graduate School of Fine Arts.
Worked as a freelance advertising planner and art director of advertising films before joining NHK in 1991. Sent by the company to MIT in 1994. Served as the art director for the NHK Special The Human Body—Brain & Mind and design of the NHK logo; film director of the official broadcasts of the Nagano Olympics; and director of the television drama DREAM TV 200X. Became a NHK news commentator (Art and Culture / Digital Arts) in June 1996. Navigator of the program Digital Stadium from March 2000. Has served on the jury committee for the G Mark (Good Design Award).

Hiromasa Amasaki
Born 1946 in Hyogo. Graduated from the Kyoto University Faculty of Agriculture in 1968. Professor at the Kyoto College of Art from 1968. Served as the university president of the Kyoto College of Art and vice-president of the Kyoto University of Arts and Design. Currently a professor at the Kyoto University of Art and Design and director of the Research Center for Japanese Garden Art and Historical Heritage.
Received the 1992 Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture (JILA) Award and 2007 Kyoto Prefecture Cultural Contribution Award and recognized as a Person of Cultural Merit by Kyoto Prefecture in 2014.
Notable books include Ueji no niwa—Ogawa Jihei no sekai (1990), Chaniwa no shikumi (2002), Shichu no sankyo—Amasaki Hiromasa sakutei shu (2006), and Nanadaime Ogawa Jihei (2012).
Awarded the JILA Award for his design of the Musashino Garden of the International Garden and Greenery Exposition. Supervised the garden of the Kyoto State Guest House.

Soshin Kimura
Born 1976 in Uwajima, Ehime. Graduated from Kobe University. Studied the art of tea (Urasenke School) from his childhood. Established the Hoshinkai in 1997. Directs schools in Kyoto and Tokyo. Writes and directs/coordinates publications, television programs, and exhibitions related to the tea ceremony.
Has collaborated with international designers/creators on exhibitions/installations such as the "Ku-an” for the 2005 Milano Salone and "TEEHAUS” for the Museum of Applied Art Frankfurt. Books include Rikyu nyumon and Chanoyu design
Received the Japanese Association of Museums Award in 2008. Won the 2011 JCD Product of the Year Grand Prize and JCD Design Award Gold Prize for the "Kasa-an" teahouse that he supervised.
Received the Uwajima Grand Prize in 2012. Awarded the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards Pastry Cookbook Grand Prize in 2015 for One day, one sweet (Shinchosha Publishing Co.). Received the Ehime Prefecture Culture/Sports Award in the same year.

Yoshiaki Nakamura
Born 1946 in Kyoto. Graduated from the Ritsumeikan University College of Business Administration in 1968 and joined Nakamura Sotoji Komuten. Established Kohseki Co., Ltd. in 1984 and began producing Japanese lights and importing Danish furniture. Became the principal of Nakamura Sotoji Komuten in 1997.
Awarded the Tea Culture Promotion Award (2010).
Major works include the Osaka Expo Japanese Garden Tearoom (1970), New York Rockefeller House (1972), Konosuke Matsushita House Tearoom (1973), Philadelphia Japan House (1976), Ise Shrine Tearoom (1982–1985), Shinji Shumeikai Ceremony Building (1984–1986), Kyoto State Guest House Main Reception Room (2006), Tokyo International Air Terminal 4F Edo Koji (2012), and construction/renovation work for Tawaraya Ryokan, Kikunoi, and Wakuden (1973–present).

Senko Ikenobo
Heir to Head Master, Ikenobo Ikebana School
The next Iemoto (head master) of the Ikenobo Ikebana School, which was founded by Ono no Imoko in the Muromachi period. Took the name of "Senko" in 2015. Vice Head Priest of the Shiunzan Chohoji Temple (Rokkakudo). Conducts various activities grounded on the Ikebono Ikebana philosophy to respect and enliven the life in all things.
Honorary consul of the Republic of Ireland. Conducted a workshop at Harvard University in 2013 and contributed flowers to the United Nations Headquarters in New York in wish for world peace. Completed the doctoral program at the Kyoto Institute of Technology Graduate School of Science and Technology.