Notable Roles | - Artist & Co-Founder, Shinsei Galverse |
Key Recognition | - Featured Artist at NFT NYC, Art Basel Miami, and SXSW |
Background and Early Foundations
Raised in Tokyo, Emi Kusano grew up on a steady diet of retro Japanese pop culture, early web design, and arcade aesthetics. She studied environmental design at Tokyo University of the Arts, where she began experimenting with multimedia installations that fused nostalgia and futurism. Her side career as a techno-pop musician under the name “Satellite Young” reflected her desire to blend eras, genres, and platforms. These formative experiences seeded the creative ethos that would later drive her success in the NFT and Web3 art space.
Career Milestones and Impact
Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
2016 | Launched retro-futurist band Satellite Young, blending J-pop and cyber nostalgia |
2021 | Co-founded Shinsei Galverse, a 8,888-piece anime NFT collection that sold out in 48 hours |
2022 | Exhibited at NFT NYC and became a rising voice in the global crypto-art scene |
2023 | Expanded Galverse into a multimedia IP project with storytelling, animation, and music |
2024 | Appointed creative advisor for Web3 strategy firms across Asia-Pacific |
- NFT Collection (Galverse): 8,888 pieces sold out
- Twitter/X Reach (2025): 100,000+ followers
- Creative Collaborations: 30+ global artists and coders
- Art Events Featured: 15+ international exhibitions
- Ecosystem Projects: 4+ multimedia extensions launched
Leadership Style and Influence
Kusano leads by pushing genre boundaries and platform limits. Her aesthetic is bold, her voice is distinctly feminine yet subversive, and her work creates bridges between legacy media and emerging tech. She often uses storytelling as a creative protest — channeling 80s Japanese pop culture into blockchain-native formats. Collaborators cite her ability to unify coders, animators, and fans into emotionally resonant communities of shared vision.
Legacy and Future Focus
Emi Kusano is actively shaping the future of Japanese creativity through the lens of digital autonomy, retro identity, and multimedia expression. Her next focus includes building educational infrastructure for artists in the crypto space, launching an animated series from the Galverse IP, and serving as a cultural translator between Japan’s deep history and its decentralized future.
