On 25 July, the fifth Omoro Talk took place at Kyoto University's International Science Innovation Building with around 300 attending from the University and elsewhere. The series began last year as part of the University's renewed focus on arts and culture, providing a forum for faculty, staff, and students working on omoshiroi (intriguing, exciting, unique, and fun) projects to exchange ideas with accomplished artists involved in omoshiroi activities.
The fifth Talk focused on "human faces" and featured three speakers: Mr Hisanori Kongo, the 26th Grand Master of the Kongo School of Noh, Mr Keiichi Makino, a manga artist and board member of the Japan Cartoonists Association, and Associate Professor Hiroaki Kawashima of the KU Graduate School of Informatics. Joining them in a panel discussion and audience Q&A were President Juichi Yamagiwa and Professor Naoko Tosa of the Academic Center for Computing and Media Studies (ACCMS).
Mr Kongo's presentation explored how Noh masks convey human emotions. Pointing to two types of female masks -- the small ko-omote and demonic hannya -- the actor demonstrated how each contains multiple expressions, and how each of these expressions emerges when viewed from particular angles.
Next, Mr Makino spoke on cartoon depictions of facial expressions. He drew human faces on a whiteboard and highlighted the critical role they played in interpersonal communications.
Informatics scientist Professor Kawashima explained the elements of facial expressions that computer programs focus on in trying to decipher underlying emotions.
The three speakers then took part in a panel session with President Yamagiwa and Professor Tosa to expand on the points they had just raised, first discussing Noh masks, pondering questions such as why they had remained largely unchanged since the Muromachi period (1336-1573), and why each was designed to convey more than one emotion.
On the topic of manga, they debated whether the absence of taboos in comic expressions had helped expand the readers' "digestive capacity", and whether this had contributed to the emergence of the global pop culture phenomenon commonly known as "Cool Japan".
A discussion on facial recognition technology touched on the possibilities of computers comprehending mixed emotions and recognizing cartoon characters' facial expressions, as well as the relative difficulties of reading Japanese versus African faces.
The animated conversations elicited an enthusiastic response from the audience, who left comments such as: "Thanks for the fascinating talks and discussion," "I enjoyed the opportunity to think about various aspects of human faces," and "I'd love this series to continue for years to come."
From left: Mr Kongo, Professor Kawashima, and Mr Makino
Panel session
The venue
Related link
- KYOTO-U OpenCourseWare: Kyoto University Omoro Talk
http://ocw.kyoto-u.ac.jp/ja/omoro-talk (in Japanese)
