Keith Whittle (KW): Thank you for agreeing to meet. I know you are incredibly busy. To begin with could you briefly outline your professional background and current role at Mori Art Museum? Mami Kataoka (MK): I began my career not as a curator but as a researcher. I worked for a firm called The NLI Research Institute. They are the research institute for Japan’s largest insurance company who make investments in real estate and financing. As part of the real estate growth in 80s and the 90s, the time of Japans bubble economy, many arts and cultural projects were taking shape, not only in the public sphere but also private sectors as well. NLI was undertaking consultation for proposed cultural facilities or cultural complexes for its operation and management model, as well as the fundamental concept of the new institutions. One of my projects, which I began work on in ’92 was the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, which eventually opened in ‘99. The Tokyo Opera City complex itself opened in ’96, so when I started consulting on the project, there were intense discussions as to what kind of art gallery the developers wanted to have. Overall, I worked on that project for 11 years, including seven years of pre-opening preparation, consultation and researching on what would be the ideal for that institution. At the beginning I wasn’t going to be a curator for that institution, but maybe I was too committed and started to have a strong and clear vision for a new