About Zapuni

Zapuni unites Japanese visual artists with world-renowned musicians to create and dedicate videos to charities that help children affected by the Great Tohoku Earthquake and Fukushima Nuclear Disaster in Japan with the power of music.

Founded in 2012, Zapuni LLC has assisted in the creation of 3 short movies.

In 2013 we were involved with two videos, Psychedelic Afternoon and Blossom. Psychedelic Afternoon brings together the music of David Bryne and Ryuichi Sakamoto with the animation artists Uruma Delvi, and Hoppípolla by Sigur Ros is the music behind a touching anime by Yutaka Yamamoto called Blossom.

In 2014 we are thrilled to take part in bringing the world By Your Side. The makers of Domo-Kun, Dwarf have joined together to create a stop motion music video with Sade’s Grammy-nominated song. The video is dedicated to El Sistema Japan and their effort to support the children’s orchestra and chorus of Soma, Fukushima.

Tens of thousands of people were killed, injured or have gone missing and as many as 100,000 children were reported to be uprooted from their homes due to the 3-11 earthquake, tsunami and the subsequent nuclear meltdown.

The name “Zapuni” comes from an old Sicilian word for a garden hoe. Zapuni symbolizes the work we do to cultivate awareness and spur people to action in support of children affected by the disaster.

Watch our videos by clicking on each image

By Your Side

Psychedelic Afternoon

blossom

Charity Partner El Sistema Japan

globalgiving

What you can do

Make Fukushima Children Smile

“I love playing music, especially as a part of an orchestra because we create harmony when we play songs together.”— Serena, 5th grader

Who we are

Zapuni members

member photo

Gregory Rood

Producer | Zapuni
member photo

Vince Shortino

Founder | Zapuni
member photo

Sade

Artist | By Your Side
member photo

Tsuneo Goda

Director | By Your Side
member photo

Tetsuya Murayama

Producer | By Your Side
member photo

Mayu Shimizu

Web Director | Zapuni
member photo

Seiji Nagai

Advisor | Zapuni
member photo

David Byrne

Artist | Psychedelic Afternoon
member photo

Ryuichi Sakamoto

Artist | Psychedelic Afternoon
member photo

UrumaDelvi

Animator | Psychedelic Afternoon
member photo

Sigur Rós

Artist | blossom
member photo

Yutaka Yamamoto

Animator | blossom
member photo

Hiroaki Takeuchi

Producer | blossom
member photo

Roland Kelts

Writer | Zapuni
member photo

David Hoppe

Lawyer | Zapuni
member photo

Emily Balistrieri

Translator | Zapuni
member photo

Hiro Wakiyama

Writer | Zapuni
member photo

Patric Macias

Writer | Zapuni
member photo

Mycroft

Chairman | Zapuni