It's said that a Westerner flying into Japan may as well be flying into the future since technologies that we've only caught a glimpse of are already everyday realities there. If we're to assume this makes Japanese culture inaccessible, Kosai Sekine bridges that gap with work that's rooted in Japan but speaks in a universal idiom.

For example, in "Maledict Car", a video for Jemapur through W+K Tokyo Lab's fifth anniversary art project Tokyo 10, the 32-year-old creates a visual montage of the city via simple inversion and split screen effects. He effectively flattens the city's expansiveness into a beautifully hypnotic piece.

His latest for Adidas via TBWA strikes a tragicomic chord as he follows a harbinger of heartache through the streets of Tokyo who delivers break-up messages to unsuspecting soon-to-be exes. He's repped by Blink in the UK, Hybrid in Japan, Bacon in Scandinavia, Les Producers in France and Warm and Fuzzy in Germany and Holland.

If you could have a dinner party with any three people, who would they be and what anecdote would you tell that would completely blow their minds?
The Michael Jordan of 1986, Michael Jordan in 1993, and Michael Jordan now. I used to really love basketball, even though my height meant I couldn't jump as high as I would have liked. To compensate for being short, I used a small stepladder one day so I could try a slam dunk. But the ladder fell over and I broke both my wrists slamming into the gym floor instead. After that I needed to be spoon-fed daily, and had a few problems with the toilet and other tactile matters.

What's the one essential item that you must have on set?
I definitely need a pair of glasses as I have very bad eyesight, but nothing else. That means I could be naked on set if I had vision correction surgery.

What film have you watched recently that impressed you?
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, an animation feature film by Hayao Miyazaki. I was impressed by the ingenious structure of the story, as well as the overwhelming imagery and artwork. I was surprised to realize that if you make a film from a children's point of view, you may not need to coherently explain the details of the story.

What's the one piece of advice you'd been given and are most relieved that you didn't take?
An older director told me, "To be a good director, you should put all you earn into buying expensive things. By putting yourself on the edge of a financial precipice, you will work constantly." But I don't think that way at all!

Blink http://www.blinkprods.co.uk