Creating Ikebana for a Netflix Drama “Romantics Anonymous”

I had the pleasure of creating ikebana arrangements for the Netflix drama “Romantics Anonymous.”

The series stars Shun Oguri and Han Hyo-joo, and tells a romantic comedy set around a chocolate boutique run by a mysterious genius chocolatier and a young heir.
It is a Netflix original production created through a collaboration between Japan and Korea.

The art director for this project was Lee Ha-jun, one of Korea’s leading production designers.
He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Production Design for the film Parasite and also received the Art Directors Guild (ADG) Award.
It was truly an honor to meet him. He was very warm and approachable, and we had a wonderful conversation together.

At one point I pulled out a bit of Korean I had learned long ago and said, “Oppa, meosisseoyo!” — and luckily it made him laugh.

The ikebana arrangement I created appears in Episode 4, “Bonbon Sakura.”
The scene is set in a traditional family home, with the flowers placed in the tokonoma alcove.

The filming location was Toyama Memorial Museum in Saitama, a place that feels quite nostalgic to me.
I had visited it many times while working on the television drama Takane no Hana, and I have arranged flowers in that very alcove countless times before.
Returning there felt a little like coming home.

For filming purposes, I prepared two versions of the arrangement—one extending to the right and another to the left—so that the composition could work from different camera angles.

Outside the house, the set designers had prepared beautiful cherry blossoms, creating a gentle and poetic atmosphere for the scene.
I arranged the flowers to harmonize with that softness.