The choreographer FUMIHITO (Fumihito Tanaka), 38, is the first person in Japan to make a profession out of teaching people how to pose and project themselves, whether for a photo shoot or an interview. He is behind every gesture, stare and dance move we see in hundreds of hit TV commercials. Musicians YUKI, m-flo and Rinka, and megastar Akiko Wada, rely on his coaching to keep them on top. After a childhood in which his alcoholic father beat him and his two sisters, and his abused mother constantly threatened to commit suicide, Fumihito still carries his official disabilities certificate (sho-ugai techo-), which qualifies him for full government assistance, although he no longer needs to collect it. A workaholic, he is famous for squeezing amazing performances out of everybody, especially himself.
I sense people's deep fears and make them all disappear. I turn them into confident, powerful people for the time we are working together. People who know me professionally think I am Mister Strength, Mister Confidence. I am not, but when I work, I am.
Give a break to a struggling person. I was poor, living off welfare and very messed up. I met a commercial producer at a party who had heard that I used to live in New York and was one of the dancers in the House of Xtravaganza. I had no resume, no experience, but he asked me to create all the poses and moves for an MTV music video. I found my calling, thanks to him. I shone because I did what others didn't: I loved and encouraged the artist from the first second we met, so she performed a lot better than ever before. This made me famous and has kept me busy in the industry.