Chief of Judges

Shotaro Kobayashi
Former Editor in Chief of "Car Graphic" magazine, he is renowned as the man who established car journalism in Japan. A classic car lover himself, he has ten years experience serving as a judge at Italy's Villa d'Este Concorso d'Eleganza as well as numerous Japanese and other foreign events.

Judges

Leonardo Fioravanti
Car Designer
Legendary car designer who designed Ferrari Daytona, 288GTO etc as the chief stylist of Pininfarina.

Ken Okuyama
Held the prestigious position at Pininfarina as Chief Director until 2006. Under his direction the striking Enzo Ferrari was created, one of which we have on display at this year's event. More recently Mr Okuyama keeps himself busy at his own design office "Ken Okuyama Design", where he channels his energetic design activities, as well as being a representative of "Yamagata Carrozzeria Collegium" and teaching at an art school and university as an affiliate professor.

Kaoru Kanetaka
Chairperson of the Japan Travel Writers Association, she played a prominent role as a reporter, narrator and producer of the TV programme "Kaoru Kanetaka's worldwide travels" which ran for more than 30 years between 1959 and 1990, visiting more than 150 countries. She received the prestigious award "Shijuhousho" from the Japanese government in 1991 for contributions to social actiyities in Japan.

Hideyuki Kataoka
Financial Consultant to the CCCJ (Classic Car CIub of Japan) he is one of the founders of this first club for classic car enthusiasts, founded in l956. He is a seasoned enthusiast with abundant knowledge and insight of classic cars.

Aritsune Tokudaiji
A well-known car critic for the past 30 years having started publishing acclaimed books from 1976 entitled "Car choices filled with mistakes". He is considered one of Japan's highest authorities on car culture.

Kenji Sasamoto
CEO of Neko Publishing Co., Ltd. and Editor in Chief of Car Magazine he has created many highly successful classic car events and made the general public aware of the pleasures of car related hobbies. He is a highly experienced judge at numerous car events.

Masafumi Suzuki
Editor in Chief of "ENGINE" magazine and previously Editor in Chief of "NAVI" magazine from Nigensha Company, he has fused cars, fashion and lifestyle in his current magazine. He advocates a new outlook on car culture by criticizing established social and cultural values.

Shiro Nakamura
A truly modern Japanese car designer, responsible for the design renaissance at Nissan Motor Co. when he took over as Chief of Nissan's design department assisting Carlos Ghosn, CEO, succeed with the Nissan V recoyery project. In 2003 he was voted "Best Dresser" in Japan.

Akira Fujimoto
Car Design Authority
After Vice Editor in Chief of "AUTOSPORTS" magazine, he launched "CAR STYLINE" magazine which is sole Japanese car design specialized magazine in 1972.

Shizuo Takashima
Car Historian
Co-founder of "Car Graphic" magazine.

Hideo Kodama
Is known as a pioneering Japanese designer who was one of the first car designers to work outside Japan, spending 40 years as a designer for OPEL in Germany. His design of a concept compact car elevated OPEL to the top aschelon in the automobile world. He is famous as a painter of automobiles and was also a special judge at "The Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este" in Italy in 2008.

Rowland Kirishima
Multi Creator
Started his carrier as a photographer in New York in 1991. Recently, we can see his works in multiple medium such as magazines, adverts, TV CF, promotion videos etc.