In Japan's performing arts scene, it's widely believed that 32-year-old Akane Nakamura is one of the country's most famous globally known theater producers. As executive director of the theater production company Precog and the performing arts nonprofit Drifters International — which she founded in 2006 and 2010, respectively — Nakamura's extraordinary enthusiasm for her work is the stuff of legend.
"Day or night, we hardly ever see her taking a rest," said one of her staff recently. "She's always bustling about here and there, flying abroad and having meetings well into the early hours."
For Nakamura this all started after she abandoned her high-school dream of being a professional dancer for fear she'd never be good enough, and instead took theater studies at Nihon University College of Art in her home city of Tokyo. While she was there, she started organizing club-party events with friends and working with the Yokohama arts-event nonprofit organization ST Spot.