Manager at VIPO’s Global Business and Business Planning Departments, engaged in talent development and market development to support the Japanese content industry.

Yamaguchi Shin is a Tokyo-based producer and founder of KNOCKONWOOD (est. 2005), with over two decades of experience structuring international co-productions across Japan, Asia, Europe and North America. His career has been defined by an ability to connect visionary directors with the financing and partnerships needed to bring ambitious projects to life on the world stage. His credits include Rental Family (2025, HIKARI), starring Academy Award winner Brendan Fraser, was released by Searchlight Pictures in 73 countries, Love on Trial (2025, Koji Fukada) premiered at Cannes 2025 and IBUKU (2026, Eddie Cahyono) screened in Competition at the 31st Busan IFF.

Co-founder of Dwarf, following the success of Domo-kun and Komaneko, she has led the studio in pioneering high-quality stop-motion production and global streaming collaborations, including Netflix’s Rilakkuma series. Today, she focuses on stop-motion animation and character design, embracing new talent and technologies. Her recent projects include the Oscar-shortlisted Bottle George (2024) and HIDARI, currently in development as a feature film.

Ibe Tomonobu founded Questry in 2022 to make Japanese entertainment the best in the world through the power of finance. A graduate of the University of Tokyo, he spent eleven years at Goldman Sachs in the Securities Division before setting out to build that vision. Questry structures investment funds dedicated to anime, film and IP, arranges project and corporate finance for content businesses, and develops new capital-raising schemes using emerging technology — opening Japanese content to the investors it has never been able to reach.