Born in 1988, Rurihiko Hara is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and a special researcher at the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. His areas of expertise are Japanese gardens and Noh and Kyogen theater, and he is particularly focused on researching the descent of archetypal representations of coastlines (beaches) in both of these fields of traditional Japanese arts. Hara has been in charge of dramaturgy for performances including "Life-Well" (2013), a Noh collaboration among composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, Noh master Mansai Nomura, and stage director Shiro Takatani, and Yuko Hirai’s "The Face of Strangers" (2014).