Issue two of Partners Magazine shows the importance of communication in interpersonal relationships

Now in its second issue, Partners Magazine delivers a series of interviews that delve into interpersonal relationships and connections – whether they be romantic, platonic, familial or professional. Editor in chief Takuhito Kawashima states: “I came up with the concept while in a long distance relationship. My girlfriend was living in Berlin, I was living in Tokyo. Keeping in touch was easy: we could FaceTime, chat on messaging apps, talk on the phone or on Skype. However, as soon as we hung up, I would feel really lonely. The distance was suddenly real. Technology makes communication extremely easy but it can alter the ‘reality’ of a relationship. This is the principal idea behind Partners: modern relationships and bonds between people.”

Partner’s second instalment takes for its focus the theme of “Communication”, looking at the ways in which we relate to and understand one another, and the verbal and non-verbal – as well as the online and the offline – methods of sharing and expressing. As Takuhito puts it: “Relationships cannot exist or be maintained without communication. I believe that the biggest challenge in life is to meet, understand and get along with other people. After breaking up with my girlfriend, I really wanted to know how people maintain their beautiful relationships. This new issue of the magazine satisfied my personal interest – but didn’t give any precise answers. So I became interested in studying the different ways people communicate.”

We’re particularly intrigued by Mark II, a series of photographs across a double page spread taken by Japanese photographer Motoyuki Daifu of his younger brother Motohiro. The photographs are candid, with one fantastic moment of unrestrained delight as Motohiro grins at his older brother through a mouthful of hamburger. Takuhito says: “Mark Ⅱ is a story about Motoyuki Daifu and his younger brother who used his customised car for racing. Like a lot of brothers, they don’t often message or talk on the phone – but photography connects them. This is a very personal story. I feel like Motohiro doesn’t smile like in the magazine when he isn’t with his brother, only when they are together.”

Burt Bacharach was right, it seems, when he said: “What the world needs now is love, sweet love.” And Takuhito agrees: “Communication cannot work without love. Love can solve all the problems we are facing. We can’t live alone or work alone – and I don’t want to spend a loveless life. I am not entirely sure about the ‘sweet’ part.” What the world really needs, then, is love, sweet, ugly, reckless, impassioned, aching, irrepressible, soppy, unashamed love. (We’re not songwriters like Burt, but you get the idea.)

We wanted to know what personal learnings Takuhito took away from this issue, and what advice he might, in turn, give to our readers when it comes to maintaining precious relationships. He tells us: “Our writer Isaiah Yhero wrote about David Hockney’s double portrait paintings for this second issue – referencing relationship therapist Esther Perel’s text, Knowing Isn’t Everything. Before reading this text, I was really into spending as much time as possible with my partner, trying to understand her as much as I could. This text made me realise that a healthier relationship might also include elements of ambiguity, mystery and silence.”