Our team
Studio Muso a Japanese based multimedia studio bridging the gap between the East and the West.
Harry Tanaka
Founding Partner - CEO
Harry is media/entertainment business executive with experiences in Japan, Korea, the US and Europe. For 20 years, Harry has worked on cross-border, multi-national projects with special focus on strategy, business development and deal making, in relation to creating and marketing content from the West for them to better resonate with local audiences, and the other way around.
His passion in production has led to a number of first of its kind initiatives such as production of the first Disney animated Japan original series “Stitch!” and co-production TV movie “Wish on Stars,” as well as casting of top Japanese talents in “Lost” and “FlashForward.” He worked as an equity member to Japanese animations from Studio Ghibli “When Marnie was There” and Studio Ponoc “Mary and the Witch’s Flower.” In addition, Harry acted as Japan representative to locate and acquire a number of IP rights in Japanese movies and novels for remake into feature movies to be produced in Hollywood.
Harry is founder/president of the Aerial Group, an advisory firm focused on media/entertainment. Client base for Aerial includes top Japanese animation studios, publishers, and broadcasters as well as production studios in the US. He also serves as the board member of Studio Ghibli from September 2020.
Previously, Harry had held General Manager positions within The Walt Disney Company. During his seventeen year run, he was GM of Media where he oversaw streaming, distribution, home video, and mobile businesses, and most recently was GM of Studio Motion Pictures for Japan. Notably, he had supported the launches of streaming services such as Hulu Japan and Disney Deluxe in Japan.
With deep network within movies, television, games and animation industries, Harry was on the boards of major industry associations such as Digital Entertainment Group and Japan Video Software Association. He served as a Juror for International Emmy’s semi-finals, and reviewed scripted and non-scripted series, for three years. Harry started as a lawyer who holds New York State bar and Japan bar, and had practiced in Japan, Washington DC and Brussels on IP cross border policies and dispute cases.
Nicholas Simon
Founding Partner - Executive Producer
An American/Hungarian citizen, Nicholas Simon brings his decades of international production experience to Studio Muso.
In 2010, Simon founded the international film and television production company
Indochina Productions. His vast Asian filmmaking experience dates
back to the early 90’s, when he began producing through Vietnam’s first
international media joint venture. ICP is the only company in South East Asia
able to produce and service big budget Hollywood studio films and Fortune
500 advertising commercial needs in over 14 countries, Indochina operates in
Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, The Philippines,
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, The Maldives, Singapore, Bangladesh, and
Malaysia.
Nicholas pioneered bringing big budget filmmaking to Vietnam with Warner Brothers/Legendary Films’ KONG:SKULL ISLAND starring
Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hiddelston and Brie Larson and Netflix’s DHAKA starring Chris Hemsworth to Bangladesh. Indochina’s recent productions include Spike Lee’s DA 5 BLOODS starring Chadwick Boseman (BLACK PANTHER), and Michael Mann’s (MIAMI VICE, HEAT) adaption of Mark Bowden ’s (BLACK HAWK DOWN) wrenching story of the Tet Offensive HUE 68 for Disney’s FX channel. Indochina’s TV commercial resume includes award winning spots for Apple, Budweiser, Toyota, Samsung among others. Nicholas serves on the Board of Directors for the Luang Prabang Film Festival in Laos.
Tomohito Suga
CFO
Tomo joined Studio Muso with his unparalleled finance and accounting expertise with multinational companies. Tomo has been an IPO advisory for more than 20 companies including 2 successful public listings, While at PricewaterhouseCooperse, Suga engaged in M&A due diligence, statutory audits for clients llisted in the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. He later led the management planning division of SEIKOH GIKEN Co., a JASDAQ listed company with approx. 500 employees, and served as the director of its foreign subsidiary promoting new business development and oversea business expansion. After graduating from Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, he was the deputy general manager of Finance Department of RAKUTEN Inc., a TSE-1 listed company with approx. 20,000 employees, arranging $1 Billion class stock offering and $1 Billion M&A finance and managing M&A transactions. He also served as Global CFO and was a board director for a video streaming company with four dozen employees, overseeing business planning, VC fund raising, business acquisition and its foreign operation management. Currently, he manages his finance and accounting firm and servers as the managing director of a number of established financial institutions and IPO candidate companies in addition to his involvement with Studio Muso.
Gaku Narita
Founding Partner - Executive Producer
Gaku Narita brings to Studio Muso his unique career spanning over 20 years in the Japanese entertainment industry as director/producer of television dramas, feature film, commercials and theater.
Narita started his career working for the in-house production team of the largest television network in Japan, Fuji Television. He directed many of the most popular shows during his tenure, including ‘Proposu Daisakusen’, ‘Galileo’, and ‘Saiyuki’.
Since 2017, Gaku moved to Netflix, handling the creative and content acquisition process for the Japanese service on both production and licensing. He oversaw the acquisition flow from deal negotiations, development through final distribution. He has since moved on to Walt Disney Company, Japan as Head of Local Production. Narita has extensive experience in both the SVOD production and deal space with domestic and global partners along with deep knowledge of the often Byzantine world of the Japanese entertainment industry with strong personal connections within. Gaku has served as a juror for the International Emmy’s scripted drama category.