Heizo Takenaka

Professor, Toyo University / Professor Emeritus, Keio University / Chairman, Institute for Urban Strategies, The Mori Memorial Foundation /Director, Academyhills

Heizo Takenaka is a Professor at Toyo University and a Professor Emeritus at Keio University. He is also Chairman of the Institute for Urban Strategies at The Mori Memorial Foundation and President of Academyhills.
In 2001, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi named him the Minister of Economic/Fiscal Policy, the Minister of both Financial Services and Economic/Fiscal Policy in 2002, the Minister of both Economic / Fiscal Policy and Privatization of the Postal Services in 2004, the Minister of both Internal Affairs and Communication, and Privatization of the Postal Services in 2005. The following year, he returned to academia, leaving both the Cabinet and the House of Councilors when Prime Minister Koizumi resigned.
He received his B.A. in Economics from Hitotsubashi University and his Ph.D. in Economics from Osaka University. His academic experience is numerous, including Visiting Associate Professor of Harvard University in 1989, and Professor of Faculty of Policy Management at Keio University in 1996.
He is the author of numerous books, including "The Structural Reforms of the Koizumi Cabinet".

Hiroo Ichikawa

Professor Emeritus, Meiji University / Professor, Teikyo University / Executive Director, The Mori Memorial Foundation

He majors in urban and regional policy/planning and emergency management, and has authored numerous books on issues related to Tokyo and metropolitan regions. He has been appointed as a Dean of the Graduate School of Governance Studies, Meiji University in Japan. He has also chaired several public and private organizations including with the Japanese government, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Institute of Metropolitan Policy, and Japan Association of Emergency Qualified Specialists. He graduated from Waseda University with a Bachelor of Architecture and a Master of Urban Planning, and further studied under a Canadian government scholarship at the University of Waterloo where he was granted a Ph.D. in urban and regional planning. He is a chairman of the working committee for the Global Power City Index (GPCI). The GPCI, carried out by the Mori Memorial Foundation, is the sole global city ranking issued in Japan. He is a board member of Future of Urban Development and Innovations at the World Economic Forum.

Fumio Nanjo

Director, Mori Art Museum

Director of Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, since November 2006. He had formerly served as the Museum’s Deputy Director (2002-2006), after working for prominent cultural organizations such as the Japan Foundation (1978-1986). His notable achievements to date include: Commissioner of the Japan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (1997); Commissioner at the Taipei Biennale (1998); Member of Jury Committee of the Turner Prize (1998); Artistic Director of the Yokohama Triennale 2001; and Artistic Director of the Singapore Biennale (both 2006 and 2008). The exhibitions Nanjo was actively involved in curating at the Mori in recent years include: “Japan in Architecture: Genealogies of its Transformation” (2018); “The Universe and Art: Princess Kaguya, Leonardo da Vinci, teamLab” (2016-17); “Metabolism, The City of the Future: Dreams and Visions of Reconstruction in Postwar and Present-Day Japan” (2011-12); and “Medicine and Art: Imagining a Future for Life and Love - Leonardo da Vinci, Okyo, Damien Hirst” (2009-10). He graduated from Faculty of Economics (1972) and Faculty of Letters (Philosophy, Aesthetics and Science of Arts, 1977), Keio University. His recent publications are Asian Contemporary Art Report: China, India, Middle East and Japan (2010) and A Life with Art (2012).

Joichi Ito

Director, MIT Media Lab

Joi Ito is the director of the MIT Media Lab, Professor of the Practice at MIT and the author, with Jeff Howe, of Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future (Grand Central Publishing, 2016).

Ito is a Visiting Professor of Law from Practice at the Harvard Law School.

Ito is chairman of the board of PureTech Health and serves on several other boards, including The New York Times Company, the MacArthur Foundation and the Knight Foundation. He is the former chairman and CEO of Creative Commons, and a former board member of ICANN, The Open Source Initiative, and The Mozilla Foundation.

Ito is a serial entrepreneur who helped start and run numerous companies including one of the first web companies in Japan, Digital Garage, and the first commercial Internet service provider in Japan, PSINet Japan/IIKK. He has been an early-stage investor in many companies, including Formlabs, Flickr, Kickstarter, littleBits, and Twitter.

Ito received a PhD from The Keio University Graduate School of Media and Governance in 2018 for his thesis The Practice of Change.

Ito has received numerous awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oxford Internet Institute and the Golden Plate Award from the Academy of Achievement, and he was inducted into the SXSW Interactive Festival Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2017, he received the IRI Medal.

Ito has been awarded honorary doctorates from The New School and Tufts University and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Timothy Morton

Rita Shea Guffey Chair in English, Rice University

Timothy Morton is Rita Shea Guffey Chair in English at Rice University. Hehas collaborated with Björk, Jennifer Walshe, Olafur Eliasson, Haim Steinbach, and Pharrell Williams. He is the author of Being Ecological (Penguin, 2018), Humankind: Solidarity with Nonhuman People (Verso, 2017), Dark Ecology: For a Logic of Future Coexistence (Columbia, 2016), Nothing: Three Inquiries in Buddhism (Chicago, 2015), Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World (Minnesota, 2013), Realist Magic: Objects, Ontology, Causality (Open Humanities, 2013), The Ecological Thought (Harvard, 2010), Ecology without Nature (Harvard, 2007), eight other books and 200 essays on philosophy, ecology, literature, music, art, architecture, design and food. In 2014 Morton gave the Wellek Lectures in Theory.
Blog：http://www.ecologywithoutnature.blogspot.com
Twitter： @the_eco_thought

Daan Roosegaarde

Artist / Innovator

Dutch artist and innovator Daan Roosegaarde (1979) is a creative thinker and maker of social designs which explore the relation between people, technology and space. Roosegaarde has been driven by nature's gifts such as light emitting fireflies and jellyfishes since an early age. His fascination for nature and technology is reflected in his iconic designs such as Smart Highway (roads which charge from sunlight and glow at night), Waterlicht (a virtual flood) and Smog Free Project (the largest outdoor air purifier in the world which makes jewellery from smog).

Roosegaarde graduated from The Berlage Institute with a master in architecture. He founded Studio Roosegaarde in 2007, where he works with his team of designers and engineers towards a better future. Together they develop ‘Landscapes of the Future’ building smart sustainable prototypes for the cities of tomorrow. Roosegaarde is a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum and named Artist of the Year 2016 in The Netherlands.

Roosegaarde has won the London Design Innovation Medal, the INDEX Design Award, the World Technology Award, two Dutch Design Awards, the Charlotte Köhler Award, and China's Most Successful Design Award. He exhibited at the Design Museum in London, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Tate Modern, Tokyo National Museum, Le Musée des Arts Décoratifs Paris, Victoria & Albert Museum and various public spaces in Europe and Asia. Selected by Forbes and Good 100 as a creative change maker, Daan Roosegaarde shares his visionary ideas frequently at conferences across the world such as TED and Design Indaba.

Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner

Poet, Director

Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner is a poet of Marshallese ancestry. She received international acclaim through her performance at the opening of the United Nations Climate Summit in New York in 2014. Her writing and performances have been featured by CNN, Democracy Now, Huffington Post, and more. In February 2017, the University of Arizona Press published her first collection of poetry, Iep Jāltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter. Her work has recently evolved and begun to inhabit gallery and performance art spaces – her work has been curated by the Honolulu Biennial in Hawai’i in February 2017, then the Smithsonian art lab ‘Ae Kai in July of 2017, and most recently the upcoming Asia Pacific Triennial in Australia in November 2018.

Kathy also co-founded the non-profit Jo-Jikum, dedicated to empowering Marshallese youth to seek solutions to climate change and other environmental impacts threatening their home island. She has been selected as one of 13 Climate Warriors by Vogue in 2015 and the Impact Hero of the Year by Earth Company in 2016. She received her Master’s in Pacific Island Studies from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Hiroaki Kitano Ph.D.

President and CEO, Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc.

Hiroaki Kitano is President and CEO of Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc., Corporate Executive of Sony Corporation, President of The Systems Biology Institute, and Professor at Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University. He is also a Founding President of the Robocup Federation, and Council of World Economic Forum AI & Robotics.

Kitano received The Computers and Thought Award from the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in 1993, Prix Ars Electronica 2000, and Nature Award for Creative Mentoring in Science (Mid Carrier) in 2009, as well as being an invited artist for Biennale di Venezia 2000 and Museum of Modern Art, New York in 2001.

Chiaki Hayashi

Co-founder, Loftwork Inc.

Graduate of Waseda University's School of Commerce and Boston University's graduate program in Journalism. After working at Kao Corporation, she founded Loftwork in 2000. At Loftwork, she oversees over 200 projects every year, in areas including web design, business design, community design, and space design. She is involved in the management of projects including "FabCafe," a "digital fabrication cafe" that has expanded to locations around the world; "MTRL," a creative lounge where participants can work with raw materials; and "AWRD," a platform that promotes collaboration between creators. She also serves as Japan Liaison to the Director at the MIT Media Lab, and on the judging panel for the Good Design Award. Ms. Hayashi founded Hidakuma Co., Ltd., a public-private consortium that seeks to develop local industry through reforestation and manufacturing, in the city of Hida, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. She serves as the company's CEO.

Yusuke Obuchi

Associate Professor in Architecture, The University of Tokyo

Yusuke Obuchi is an Associate Professor in Architecture at the University of Tokyo, where he has directed Obuchi Laboratory at the Department of Architecture since 2010. He is also a founding Co-director of the Advanced Design Studies Program, which consists of Digital Fabrication Lab, Sustainable Prototyping Lab, Media Initiative Lab, Design Think Tank, Design Practice Lab, Social Design Lab, and Computational Unit. Prof. Obuchi was Co-Director of the Design Research Laboratory at the Architectural Association (AA) in London from 2005 to 2010, and Course Master and Unit Master of the Architectural Association from 2003 to 2005. He studied architecture at Princeton University, Southern California Institute of Architecture, and the University of Toronto. He has previously taught at Princeton University, Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, University of Kentucky, and New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Prof. Obuchi teaches design studios, workshops, and seminar courses where he explores the concepts of materiality, design systems, computational design techniques, and fabrication processes in contemporary architecture and design. He has previously worked for Reiser-Umemoto in New York and ROTO Architects in Los Angeles. His research projects have been published and exhibited widely in the U.S. and Europe, and have been included in the National Triennial Exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York City, Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, Architecture Biennial Beijing, Architecture Biennial Rotterdam, Zurich Design Museum, Tokyo Designers Week, and Barcelona Design Museum.

Hanif Kara

Design Director, AKT II / Professor in Practice of Architectural Technology, GSD Harvard

Hanif Kara is a practising engineer and a principal at London-based structural engineering studio AKT II. Their work has gained international recognition for its successful collaborations with renowned developers, architects and academic institutions, driven by a reputation for delivery combined with a penchant for research, speculation and experimentation. Projects vary in scale from innovative building projects such as the Bloomberg European HQ in London and the Heydar Aliyev Centre in Azerbaijan, through to large-scale masterplans of city areas like the King’s Cross redevelopment, the London 2012 Olympics ‘pop-up city’, and Masdar City in Abu Dhabi. Hanif is currently Professor in Practice of Architectural Technology at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard, and has published widely in technical journals and the industry on issues of design and interdisciplinary practice.

Beyond his projects and academic commitments, Hanif’s global footprint has seen success that led to receiving the ACE Engineering Ambassador Award in 2011. He became the first engineer to be a judge for the annual coveted RIBA Stirling Prize in 2011, and was the first structural engineer to be appointed Commissioner for CABE (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, 2008-2012), and more recently he sat on the steering committee of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. The practice has won over 350 design awards, including the Stirling Prize in 2000 and 2012.

Qualifications: BSc (Hons) CEng FIStructE FICE FREng Hon FRIBA FRSA

Xavier De Kestelier

Head of Design Technology & Innovation, HASSELL Studio

Xavier is the Global Head of Design Technology and Innovation at Hassell Studio, a leading international design practice with studios in Australia, China, South East Asia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. At Hassell studio, Xavier leads design technology and innovation across all disciplines and regions.

He was educated in Belgium and the United Kingdom and holds an BArch and MSc in Architectural Engineering from the University of Ghent and an MSc Urban Design from The Bartlett School of Architecture.

He previously co-headed the Specialist Modelling Group at Foster+Partners. Where his team specialized in computational design and digital fabrication. He has also initiated and overseen several cross disciplinary research projects in the fields of large scale 3D printing and worked with NASA and the European Space Agency on several designs for 3D printed Moon and Mars habitats.

In 2010 he became director of Smartgeometry which is a not for profit organization that organizes a yearly international conference and workshop around digital design and fabrication.

Xavier has held academic positions at the University of Ghent, Syracuse University and The Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL)

Specialties: Computational Design, Rapid Prototyping, Parametric Design, Digital Fabrication, Additive Manufacturing, Mixed Reality

Shiho Fukuhara

Artist / Developer / Researcher

In 2001, graduate of London's Central Saint Martins University, finishing degree in 2003 at the Royal College of Art. In 2004, developed an artistic research framework [bcl] alongside Georg Tremmel. Following this, maintaining a focus on water environmental issues, particularly the development of biotechnologies and their impact on society, as well as a mission to think critically about how to open up access to these technologies to those who cannot access them at present. Poiesis Lab Representative.

Amy Karle

Artist / Designer / Futurist

Amy Karle is an internationally award winning bioartist whose work can be seen as artifacts of a speculative future where digital, physical and biological systems merge. She leverages body-based investigation, science and technology to create art that examines material and spiritual aspects of life. Karle’s artwork taps our concepts of what it means to be human and in this body, expressing representations of our internal processes in visual forms. As an artist and designer, Karle is also a provocateur and a futurist, opening future visions of how technology could be utilized to support and enhance humanity while making advancements in the technology towards those goals in the process.

Karle has shown work in 54 international exhibitions, including most recently: “The Body & Technology: A Conversational Metamorphosis” solo show in San Francisco, California; Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria, FILE Electronic Language International Festival in São Paulo, Brazil, and Copernicus Science Center Warsaw, Poland. She is also regularly invited to share her innovations and insights as an expert speaker at prestigious events including the X-Summit, Salzburg Global Seminar, and in think tanks including The Future Innovators Summit. Her work has been featured in Arte, BBC, Bloomberg, The Creators Project, Discovery Channel, Fast Company, Scientific American, Popular Science, Vice, The Verge, Vogue, Wired and more.

She is Co-Founder of Conceptual Art Technologies, has developed registered IP, patents, service marks and trademarks, was Artist in Residence at Autodesk, has been named one of the “Most Influential Women in 3D Printing” (All3DP 2016, 2017) was Grand Prize Winner of the "YouFab Global Creative Award" (2018) (Loftwork). As an Exchange Artist through American Arts Incubator the U.S. Department of State, administered by ZERO1, she is tasked with public diplomacy, social innovation, and Women's Empowerment in STEAM. The long-term goals of her work are to continue to pioneer in the bioart field and make contributions to society, technology and healthcare fields in the process.

www.amykarle.com

Guy Ben-Ary

Artist / Researcher

Guy Ben-Ary, is a Perth based artist and researcher. He currently works at SymbioticA, an artistic laboratory dedicated to the research, learning and hands-on engagement with the life sciences, which is located within the University of Western Australia. Recognised internationally as a major artist and innovator working across science and media arts, Guy specialises in biotechnological artwork, which aims to enrich our understanding of what it means to be alive. Guy’s work has been shown across the globe at prestigious venues and festivals from the Beijing National Art Museum to San Paulo Biennale to the Moscow Biennale. His work can also be seen in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His works cellF & Silent Barrage were awarded an Honorary Mention in Prix Ars Electronica (2017, 2009) and Silent Barrage also won first prize at VIDA, a significant international competition for Art and Artificial Life. Guy’s Main research areas are cybernetics, soft-robotics and the cultural articulation of Bio-technologies. Much of Ben-Ary’s work is inspired by science and nature. His artworks usually utilize motion, growth and big data to investigate technological aspects of today’s culture and the re-use of biological materials and technologies.

Kei Wakabayashi

Director, blkswn publishers Inc.

Kei Wakabayashi spent his childhood in London and New York. After majoring in French Literature at Waseda University, he started his publishing career at Heibonsha and was in charge of ‘Taiyo’, the legendary Japanese cultural magazine.In 2000, he became a freelance editor and produced numerous publications from magazines, books, to exhibition catalogues in a broad range of fields. He was appointed Editor-in-Chief of Wired Japan in 2012, and left the publication in 2017. He is also a music journalist and is Founder of the publishing company, blkswn publishers.

Mitsuhiro Takemura

Scholar of Media Aesthetics / Director, QON Berlin

Mitsuhiro Takemura is a scholar of media aesthetics and director of QON Berlin. He has held a professorial position at the Kyoto University of Art and Design, the University of Tokyo graduate school (media environment research), and the professor at Sapporo City University (media design). Since 2017 he has been appointed as a fellow of Center for the Study of Digital Life (NYC). His research includes the award-winning book "Memory Future, Cultural Economy of Digital Archives" (published by the University of Tokyo Press). Regarding the latest writing, there is "Good-bye, Internet――GDPR how to change the net and data" (Diamond Publishing, 2018), "Berlin・City・ Future" (Ohta Books, 2018). He lives in Berlin.

Tatsuhiko Yamamoto

Professor, Keio University Law School

Professor at Keio University Law School. Assistant Director, Keio Institution for Global Law and Development (KEIGLAD). Graduated from the Keio University Faculty of Law, Department of Law in 1999. Earned a master's degree at the Keio University Graduate School of Law in 2001. In 2005, Mr. Yamamoto completed the doctoral course work at the Keio University Graduate School of Law. Received his Ph.D. (Law, Keio University) in 2007. He served as an associate professor and instructor at the Toin University of Yokohama Faculty of Law before taking his current position as Professor at Keio University Law School.
Dr. Yamamoto has also served as: Bar Examiner (2014, 2015); Guest Lecturer, University of Washington School of Law (2017); Member, Conference Toward AI Network Society, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (since 2017); Director, the People Analytics and HR Technology Association (since 2018); Expert Commissioner, Consumer Commission, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan (since 2018); and Member, Conference on the Improvement of Business Conditions Relating to Digital Platformers, Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (since 2018).
Dr. Yamamoto's major works as an author include The Direction of Constitutional Law (co-editor, Nippon Hyoron Sha, 2016), On Privacy Rights (Shinzansha, 2017), and Ominous Big Data (Asahi Shimbun Publications, 2017).

Daichi Iwata

Intrepreneur / Director, FinTech Business Development Office, NEC Corporation

He founded brees cooperation, joint venture between NEC Corporation and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation as intrepreneur. While he serves as a board member of the company, he keeps driving creating new services around FinTech at NEC Corporation. His prime passion now is to incubate services for digital trust and inclusion needed for coming digital society, and to cultivate innovation culture in traditional companies.

Akihiro Kubota

Professor, Art and Media Course in the Information Design Department / Director, Art Archive Center, Tama Art University

Born in 1960, he is currently the professor of Art and Media Course in the Information Design Department and the Director of Art Archive Center at Tama Art University. His pioneering interdisciplinary projects include the ARTSAT Project (ARTSAT.JP), Bio art, Software art, investigation of mathematical description of artistic activities and performances by live coding. His team’s very first art satellite ARTSAT1:INVADER won the Award of Distinction in the “Hybrid Art” category at Prix Ars Electronica 2015, and the achievement of ARTSAT Project received the 66th Minister of Education Award for Fine Arts (Media Arts Division). He exhibited "Space-Moere Project" in collaboration with SIAF Lab. at SIAF (Sapporo International Art Festival) 2017. His most recent publications are “Design for Otherness” (BNN, 2017), “Basic Concept of Media Art” (Film Art, Co-ed., 2018) and ”Instagram and Contemporary Visual Culture” (BNN, Co-ed., 2018).
http://hemokosa.com

Takashi Ikegami

Complex Systems Science Researcher / Professor, Department of General Systems Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo

Completed a doctoral course in Physics at The University of Tokyo in 1989. D.Sc. (Physics). After working at Kyoto University's Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics and the Kobe University Graduate School of Natural Science, Dr. Ikegami became Assistant Professor at The University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1994. Since 2008, he has served as Professor at the same institution. His research on complex systems and artificial life has included experiments on self-propelled oil droplets (2008), a study on the World Wide Web as a form of excitable media (2014), and simulations tracking the behavior of 1 million boids, or artificial life programs (2015, 2017). His dynamism and energy have also extended to work that brings together the domains of art and science. In addition to the sound installations Filmachine (Keiichiro Shibuya, Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM), 2006) and Mind Time Machine (YCAM, 2010), recent projects on which Dr. Ikegami has collaborated include the android Alter (Excellence Prize winner, Japan Media Arts Festival, 2017), and the "android opera" ScaryBeauty (Keiichiro Shibuya, 2018), which featured Alter. As an author, Dr. Ikegami's works include The Sandwich Theorem of Life (Kodansha, 2013), Motion Makes Life (Seidosha, 2008), and Between Man and Machine (co-author, Kodansha, 2016).

Memo Akten

Artist

Memo Akten is an artist from Istanbul, currently based in Sussex, UK. His work explores the collisions between nature, science, technology, ethics, ritual, tradition and religion. Combining critical and conceptual approaches with investigations into form, movement and sound he creates data dramatizations of natural and anthropogenic processes. He studies and works with complex systems, behaviour, algorithms and software; and collaborates across many disciplines spanning video, sound, light, dance, software, online works, installations and performances. Alongside his practice, he is currently working towards a PhD at Goldsmiths University of London in artificial intelligence and expressive human-machine interaction, exploring collaborative co-creativity between humans and machines.

Akten received the Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica in 2013 for his collaboration with Quayola, ‘Forms’. Past exhibitions and performances include the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Royal Opera House, London; Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow; La Gaîté lyrique, Paris; Holon Design Museum, Israel and the EYE Film Institute, Amsterdam. His work has also been featured in books, academic papers, magazines and websites such as Wallpaper*, Dazed, Eye magazine, Guardian, BBC, Financial Times, Wired and Dezeen.

Yuichiro Okamoto

Professor, College of Humanities, Research Institute, Tamagawa University

"Yuichiro Okamoto is a Professor of College of Humanities and Research Institute at Tamagawa University.

He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Literature from Kyusyu University. He taught Philosophy and Ethics at Kyusyu University, etc. and is now serving in his current position. His major publications include “Ima Sekai no Tetsugakusya ga Kangaete iru koto( Philosophical Challenges in the 21st Century ) ”（Diamond, Inc.）,“France Gendai Shiso-Shi (A History of Contemporary French Thought)”(Chuokoron-Shinsha, Inc.), “12 Sai kara no Gendai Shiso（Contemporary Thought from age 12）”(Chikuma Shobo Ltd.),“Mono-Sapiens (Thing-Sapiens )”(Kobunsha), and“Hegel to Gendai Shiso no Rinkai (Hegel and the Crisis of Contemporary Thought)”（Nakanishiya, Inc.）."

Hiroshi Ishiguro

Professor, Department of Systems Innovation in the Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University / Visiting Director, Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute

Professor, Department of Systems Innovation in the Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University / Visiting Director, Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute

Hiroshi Ishiguro received a D. Eng. in systems engineering from the Osaka University, Japan in 1991. He is currently Professor of Department of Systems Innovation in the Graduate School of Engineering Science at Osaka University (2009-) and Distinguished Professor of Osaka University (2017-). He is also visiting Director (2014-) (group leader: 2002-2013) of Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute and an ATR fellow. His research interests include sensor networks, interactive robotics, and android science. He received the Osaka Cultural Award in 2011. In 2015, he received the Prize for Science and Technology (Research Category) by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). He was also awarded the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Award in Dubai in 2015.

Ai Hasegawa

Artist / Designer

I use art and design to present a solution to the challenges encountered in our daily lives. At the same time, the solution itself questions our perception of living in this world. Having studied computer graphic animation and interactive media art at IAMAS, Japan. After moving to London, I began working as an animator, character designer and illustrator. At the same time, I worked as a designer for audience participatory interactive public art at Haque Design and Research. In 2012, I graduated with an MA in Interactions Design at The Royal College of Art. Recent works are “The Extreme Environment Love Hotel” series and “I wanna deliver a shark…” series. Assistant researcher at MIT Media Lab, from 2014 Sep until 2016 Sep. From 2017 April, become a special researcher at the University of Tokyo.

Yoshie Kris

Director, SLOW LABEL

While studying art management at Tokyo Zokei University, Ms. Kris also learned the practical aspects of working on international sporting events and stage productions, being involved in running the ceremonies and cultural prograMs. in the athletes' village at the Nagano Winter Olympics. From 2005-6 she studied abroad at Domus Academy in Italy and obtained a master’s degree in Business Design. While traveling the world as a trend researcher for Future Concept Lab, an Italy-based firm which does creative marketing consulting in 30 countries around the world, she was also actively developing on multiple fronts by connecting people from diverse fields and regions with different cultures to create new value. From 2008, Ms. Kris produced public participatory entertainment pieces in regions of Japan suffering from depopulation. In 2010 she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma and lost all function in her right leg, which introduced her to the world of disability welfare. In 2011, she founded SLOW LABEL, which connects artists with welfare facilities and companies in order to create new products and value. In 2014, she launched and became general director of an international art festival, Yokohama Paratriennale, which brings together people with disabilities and creators from various fields in order to create new art expression. Ms. Kris is involved in providing environments for people with disabilities to participate in artistic activities and training personnel to support them. Program Advisor, Performing Arts Division, Nippon Foundation DIVERSITY IN THE ARTS. Recipient of the 65th Yokohama Culture Award "Culture and Art Promotion Award" and the 2016 Timeout Tokyo LOVE TOKYO AWARD "Face of Tokyo."

Dai Tamesue

CEO, Deportare Partners

"Born in Hiroshima in 1978. First Japanese sprinter to win a medal in a track event at a World Competition. Current Japanese record holder for Men’s 400 meter hurdle (as of August 2018).

Currently focusing on collaboration between sports and technology as CEO of Deportare Partners (Founded 2018). Director of Shin-Toyosu Brillia Running Stadium. Author of “Hashiru Tetsugaku (Philosophy for Running)”, “Akirameru Chikara (Power to Give Up)”."

Reiko Tsurumaru

Fashion Designer / Representative Director, General Incorporated Association Clothing Is Wearable Medicine

After working in haute couture at Givenchy, Ms. Tsurumaru founded a private-label company in the city of Oita, Japan. She is certified by Japan's Minister of Health, Labour, and Welfare as a First Grade Skilled Worker, and has been awarded Meister status by the Zengiren (National Federation of Skilled Workers). In addition to serving as Vice President of the National Association for Fashion for Persons with Disabilities, she has also served as a lecturer at institutions such as Tokyo Medical and Dental University. She holds patents for products including road safety (reflective) clothing as well as health care and social welfare-related products. Ms. Tsurumaru is the creator of the Tsurumaru Diagramming Method, in which 46 separate body measurements are taken. This method enables the creation of accurate patterns for clothing for people of all body types, without the need for revisions. In 2011, she opened Clothing is Wearable Medicine, a bespoke clothing workshop in Oita. Over a span of roughly 30 years, Ms. Tsurumaru has made over 1,000 articles of clothing for persons with disabilities. Her experience in developing clothing for persons with disabilities in partnership with medical institutions was the foundation upon which she created the Clothing is Wearable Medicine concept. Today, she also directs considerable energy toward the training of the next generation in her field. Her work has been covered by numerous television and radio programs, including the NHK general-interest TV documentary program “Mokugeki! Nippon Retto (Observing the Japanese Islands)”. She received the Eiji Yoshikawa Cultural Award in 2016, the 50th year of the award's existence. This recognition led to the publication of Tsurumaru Method Medical Fashion (Kodansha Editorial, March 2017). In collaboration with occupational therapists, Ms. Tsurumaru has also created a textbook in which the fashion design terms for the parts of the body that require measurement are replaced with the names of the bones and muscles, with the goal of creating a future framework that would enable clothing to be made by sending measurements taken by occupational therapists to fashion designers. In 2018, Ms. Tsurumaru's clothes for women and children were among the first products to be given authorization to use the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare's Good Skill emblem. She is now working on a variety of fronts toward the goal of gaining national health insurance coverage for clothing for persons with disabilities.
Reiko Tsurumaru's Clothing is Wearable Medicine: https://kirukusuri.exblog.jp/

David Atkinson

Chairman and CEO, Konishi Decorative Arts and Crafts Co., Ltd.

Chairman & CEO, Konishi Decorative Arts and Crafts Co., Ltd. Visiting professor, Nara Prefectural University. Director, Mita Securities. Former chief banking analyst, Goldman Sachs. Mr. Atkinson was born in England in 1965. After graduating from Oxford University (M.A. in Japanese studies), he worked at large consulting and securities firms before joining Goldman Sachs. He was among the first to point out the problem of big banks' bad debt, which led to an opportunity for reorganization. He became a managing director at GS and subsequently a partner (joint investor), but left the firm in 2007. In 2009 he joined Konishi Decorative Arts and Crafts Co.—a company founded more than 300 years ago which repairs national treasures and important cultural artifacts—as a director. In 2011 he became Chairman, President, and CEO, and from 2014 to present he has held the position of Chairman and CEO. In 1999 he began training in the Urasenke school of tea ceremony, and in 2006 he received the tea name of Soshin. In the financial world he received the "Business Person of the Year" award in 2016 and the Japan-British Society Award in 2017. In 2018 he received the "2018 Furusato-zukuri Grand Prize Individual Award" from MEXT as well as the "Japanese Cultural Contribution Award" from the Japan Fashion Association.

His many written works include: New Theory of Tourism-based Nations (Yamamoto Shichihei Award, RECAJ Award, Toyo Keizai Shinpo Sha), New Theory of Income Doubling (Toyo Keizai Shinpo Sha), Japan's Renewal Needs Increased Productivity! (Asukashinsha Publishing Co.), How to Make Japan the Most Visited Place in the World (Toyo Keizai Shinpo Sha), New Theory of Productivity-based Nations, etc.

Even as Mr. Atkinson continues to make proposals to the government, he is ever running hither and yon to promote tourism in Japan. In 2015 he held the following positions: member of the Japan Heritage Review Board; Kyoto Ambassador of International Tourism; and member of the Council for the Conception of a Tourism Vision for the Japan of Tomorrow. In 2016 he held these positions: member of the Council of Experts for the Promotion of Tokyo Tourism; member of the Working Group on the Reform of the Annual Expenditure of the Administrative Reform Council; advisor to the State Guest Houses (Akasaka Palace and Kyoto State Guest House); special advisor to Nijo Castle; expert member of the Tourism Strategy Implementation Task Force; and member of the review committee for the National Parks Enjoyment Project Experts Council.

Takeshi Ito

Professor, School of Cultural and Creative Studies, Aoyama Gakuin University

Dr. Ito was born in Kyoto in 1952. He studied in the Faculty of Engineering's Department of Architecture at the University of Tokyo, and subsequently completed a master’s degree and doctorate at the Graduate School of Engineering at the same university. He held positions as a teaching assistant, associate professor, and professor at the University of Tokyo before moving to his current post as a professor at Aoyama Gakuin University's School of Cultural and Creative Studies in April 2018. Doctor of Engineering (D.Eng) Dr. Ito has been a visiting professor at Columbia University in the US and at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (École des hautes études en sciences sociales) in France.
He specializes in urban and architectural history. His efforts are focused on establishing and broadening research in urban history within the field of architectural history, and on building an international network for such research. In December 2013, Dr. Ito founded the first urban history academic conference in Japan with the aim of building a platform for interdisciplinary research on cities. Recently, he planned and led several field studies of cities and architecture both in Japan and abroad and published his findings. Currently, he is conceiving a new paradigm for the development of urban history which he calls "regional history."

His main written works and compilations include: Illustrations of Japanese Urban History (University of Tokyo Press), Cities, Architecture, and History Series (10 volumes) (ibid), Traditional Cities (4 volumes) (ibid, Architectural Institute of Japan Award), History of Urban Spaces (Yoshikawa Kobunkan, Society of Architectural Historians of Japan Award), Townhouses and Townscapes (Yamakawa Shuppansha), Bastide – A New City and Architecture in Medieval France (Chuokouron Bijyutsu Publishing), Cities and Danger – Along the Water (Sayusha), If Bunkyo Ward Didn't Have the University of Tokyo (NTT Publishing), Hue – Vietnamese Castle Town and Architecture (Chuokouron Bijyutsu Publishing), among others.
Starting in Takehara, Hiroshima, Dr. Ito has conducted urban surveys, townscape preservation surveys, and cultural landscape surveys in: Yamatokoriyama, Nara; Sado, Niigata; Iida, Nagano; Hakusan, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo; Minamisenju, Arakawa-ku, Tokyo; and Shibamata, Katsushika-ku, Tokyo. He has also been involved in urban and regional surveys of locations outside of Japan: Bastide in southern France; Hue, Vietnam; Asolo, Italy; Frisia, Netherlands; Dublin, Ireland; Cuba; the Antilles islands; and Iceland. Various fields have produced many points of discussion: swampland theory, island theory, wasteland theory, endangered city theory. Dr. Ito wishes to establish a new paradigm known as "regional history" to bundle together these disparate theories.
http://itolab.org/professor/works

Ryo Kuroda

Author / Guide specialized in EDO era's historical sites in Tokyo

Born August 5th, 1961. Native of Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Graduated from the Waseda University School of Political Science and Economics in 1985. Mr. Kuroda can often be seen walking through Tokyo's Edo-era historical sites and ruins. He shares his knowledge through guided tours and written works. As he has a passion for walking, his areas of expertise include the changes in land allocation in the 23 special wards of Tokyo, as well as Edo Castle, the mansions of feudal lords, shrines, temples, and former military land. He is also an expert on history and ruins of all kinds. This knowledge extends to subjects including the layout of the streets and alleyways of Edo (as Tokyo was once called) and modern Tokyo, and the birthplaces and stomping grounds of the city's many famous personalities. After working in the journalism and editing fields, including 16 years as a reporter for a major newspaper, Mr. Kuroda discovered the joys of exploring for the vestiges of Edo in modern Tokyo. In 2011, he began an independent career as an author. As of 2018, he expects to dedicate as many as 50 days a year to educate the public through guided tours, as the self-styled "Edo Walking Guide." He has also given lectures at numerous cultural centers. His work has been covered by a wide range of media outlets, including TV and radio outlets such as NHK, as well as newspapers and magazines. Member, Edo Castle Tower Reconstruction Group. His major written works include: Walking Through Edo Castle (2009, Shodensha Shinsho); Walking Through the Feudal Lords' Mansions of Edo (2011, Shodensha Shinsho); Walking Through the Shrines and Temples of Edo (East and West of the Castle Editions) (2012, Shodensha Shinsho); Tales of Tokyo's Famous Places Past and Present (2013, Shodensha Ogon Bunko); Walking Through the Great Military City of Tokyo (2014, Asahi Shinsho); My Alleyways: Exploring the Narrow Lanes of Edo and Tokyo (2015, Art Digest); A Study of Uniquely Japanese Beauty: The Japanese Traditions We've Misunderstood (2016, Business-sha); Walking the Highways of Edo (2016, Shodensha Shinsho); Walking Through Sites of Famous Incidents in Edo and Tokyo (2017, Mynavi Publishing); and Walking Through the Bakumatsu, Restoration, and Westernization in Edo and Tokyo (2018, Kobunsha Chie no Mori Bunko).
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ryo.kuroda.96
Twitter: @kurodaedo
Instagram: edo_kuroda

Rie Azuma

Architect, Azuma Architects & Associates

Born In Osaka, 1959. Graduated from Japan Women’s University, as well as the University of Tokyo’s School of Architecture. After completing graduate school in Architecture at Cornell University in 1986, she established Azuma Architects & Associates. She is now also a part-time teacher at Japan Women's University and Nihon University.

She has designed numerous resort facilities and commercial buildings, most notably the "Hoshinoya" hotels, but also has experience with several residential buildings and private homes.

Her major works include Hoshinoya Karuizawa (2005), Hoshinoya Kyoto (2009), HARUNIRE Terrace (2009), Hoshinoya Taketomi Island (2012), Hoshinoya Fuji (2015), Hoshinoya Tokyo (2016), and Hoshinoya Bali (2017).

Mitchel Resnick

Professor, Learning Research, MIT Media Lab

Mitchel Resnick, Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab, develops new technologies and activities to engage people (especially children) in creative learning experiences. His Lifelong Kindergarten research group develops the Scratch programming software and online community, the world’s largest coding platform for kids. His group also collaborates with the LEGO Company on the development of new educational ideas and products, including LEGO Mindstorms robotics kits. Resnick co-founded the Computer Clubhouse project, an international network of 100 after-school learning centers, where youth from low-income communities learn to express themselves creatively with new technologies. Resnick earned an undergraduate degree in physics from Princeton, and a Masters and PhD degrees in computer science from MIT. He was awarded the McGraw Prize in Education (2011), the AACE EdMedia Pioneer Award (2013), and the ISTE Making IT Happen Award (2018). He is author of the book "Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play", which won the PROSE award for Education Practice in 2018.

Mimi Ito

Director, Connected Learning Lab, University of California, Irvine

Mimi Ito is a cultural anthropologist, learning scientist, entrepreneur, and an advocate for connected learning—learning that is equity-oriented, centered on youth interest, and socially connected. She directs the Connected Learning Lab at the University of California, Irvine and is co-founder of Connected Camps, a non-profit providing online learning experiences for kids in all walks of life. Her co-authored books include Hanging Out, Messing Around and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media and Affinity Online: How Connection and Shared Interest Fuel Learning and the reports, From Good Intentions to Real Outcomes: Equity by Design in Learning Technologies, and Connected Learning: An Agenda for Research and Design.

Masashi Kawashima

Executive Producer and Asia Pacific Director, Niantic, Inc.

Masashi Kawashima is Executive Producer and Asia Pacific Director of Niantic, Inc. Niantic is initially started as a “startup” within Google to build mobile experiences that foster fun, exploration, discovery and social interaction in the real world, and spun out from Google in October 2015. He joined Niantic Labs in 2013 as a UX/Visual designer and designed Ingress visual and user experiences. Ingress has won several prizes including “Japan Media Art Festival Grand Prize of Entertainment division”, “Japan Game Award, Game Designers Grand Prize”, “AMD Award”, etc. Niantic has partnered with Nintendo and The Pokemon Company on a new ground breaking project for mobile devices called Pokémon GO, that players look for, capture pokemon in the real world. He started the Pokémon GO project.

Masa begun his career while he was a student of Waseda University. In 2000, he moved to Los Angeles, and found his first company in United States.

Masa joined to Google in 2007. He led the Asia Pacific Webmaster team, and produced many websites, and Google Doodles. He is the world’s first “non-US” Google doodle(Google holiday logo) designer, and hosted “Doodle4Google”, an annual competition held by Google to have children create a logo that will be featured on the Google homepage. He also led Crisis Response web team when East Japan Earthquake happened, and had a talk about it at TED Tohoku. Eventually, he moved to United States again in 2011, and led global consumer product web design team as the senior webmaster of Google.

Andre Uhl

Research Associate, MIT Media Lab

Andre Uhl is a PhD candidate at Harvard University’s Department of Visual and Environmental Studies, a research associate at the MIT Media Lab’s director’s office, and project lead at the global Council on Extended Intelligence (CXI). His doctoral research explores participatory design practices for the ethics and governance of Artificial Intelligence.
Andre holds an M.A. from the Tokyo University of the Arts, and a B.A. in Visual Arts and East Asia Studies from Free University, Berlin.
He is a current Fellow at the MIT Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values, and member of the Religions and the Practice of Peace leadership network, a program to integrate spiritual and ethical formation into leadership preparation at Harvard University.

Toshiko Mori

Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice for Architecture, Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture, Harvard University; Principal, Toshiko Mori Architect, New York; work includes urban design, master plans, public and institutional projects. Founder, VisionArc, a think tank promoting strategic analysis through visualization and collaborative design initiatives. Contributor to international publications, exhibitions, symposia, lectures and design juries, Recipient of numerous awards includes ACSA Gold Medal, AD 100 for 2014 and 2016

Akihiko Tobe

General Manager, Society 5.0 Promotion and Urban Solution Development Division, Social Innovation Business Division, Hitachi. Ltd.

Akihiko Tobe joined Hitachi in 1979 and has extensive professional experience as a system engineer of CAD application systems and database management systems for plant drawings. In 1994 he graduated with a Master of Science in Engineering from the University of Michigan. Tobe subsequently gained various system engineering experience in stock exchange information systems, power industry OA systems and such. In 2002 Tobe participated in the ITS Telematics Business and Car Information Systems (CIS) business and was engaged in a project integrating IT into automobiles. In 2010 he assumed the position of Senior Director of the Smart City Business Management Division and was engaged in several smart city development projects around the world. Tobe is currently the General Manager of the Smart Society Division, Society 5.0 Promotion and Urban Solution Development Division, Social Innovation Business Division at Hitachi.

Masato Nakagawa

Executive Fellow, Global Technical Affairs, DENSO Corporation / Guest Professor, Hiroshima University

Born in Aichi, Japan - December 30th 1956
Graduated Hiroshima University in 1980
Entered “Nippondenso”(former DENSO) in 1980
Long-term experiences in overseas
- Iowa, US : 1988-1993 Senior Engineer
- London, UK : 2003-2004 Chief Engineer
- Düsseldorf, DE : 2005-2014 Engineering Head
- Amsterdam, NL: 2014-2015 President & CEO
- Munich, DE : 2016-2017 CTO
- Tokyo, JP : since 2017.4 Global Affair Officer
Guest Professor, Hiroshima University
Established “Aachen Engineering Center”
during working with DENSO Europe

Soichiro Takashima

Mayor, City of Fukuoka

Born on November 1, 1974, Soichiro Takashima served as a TV presenter for variety programs and talk shows on environmental issues from 1997.
In 2010, at the age of 36, he became the youngest mayor in Fukuoka City’s history. He was re-elected in November 2014, securing a record number of votes. In the same year, he was nominated for the 2014 World Mayor Prize, which recognizes the world’s most outstanding mayors. In 2017, he became the first Japanese mayor to participate in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting.
As a young Japanese political leader, Takashima has been active in promoting Fukuoka at home and abroad. Utilizing Fukuoka City’s established status since May 2014 as the National Strategic Special Zone for Global Startups and Job Creation, Mayor Takashima is implementing various deregulations and systematic reforms, including the Startup Visa and corporate tax cuts for startups. He has been a strong force in leading Japan’s startup movement and policies.
He has also been active in the fields of tourism and MICE promotion, and has succeeded in earning Fukuoka the right to host the 2019 Rugby World Cup, the 2019 ISU World Team Trophy in Figure Skating, the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting 2019, and the 2021 World Aquatics Championships.
Nationally, Takashima has also assumed a variety of important leading positions, including as an adviser to the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2020, and as a member of the Cool Japan Strategic Promotion Committee, amongst others.

Alice Charles

Project Lead, Cities, World Economic Forum

Alice Charles leads all Cities and Urban Development work at the World Economic Forum, Geneva, Switzerland. This includes developing the Forum's Fourth Industrial Revolution City Preparedness Protocol, managing the Future of Urban Development and Services Initiative, its Steering and Advisory Committee, the Global Future Council on Cities and Urbanization, the production of all city and urban development related content and cities and urban development events at World Economic Forum Summits (including Davos). She is also an External Board Member of the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA), Ireland.

She has seventeen years’ experience working in the areas of cities and urban development, town planning, real estate, infrastructure, environment, climate change and public policy globally. She previously worked for the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Ireland, Dail Eireann (Irish Parliament), Ireland, Jacobs Engineering (formerly SKM Colin Buchanan) and GVA, London, UK.

She has a Masters in Global Leadership through the World Economic Forum, in conjunction with The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, Cornell Tech, INSEAD, London Business School and the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), a Master’s in Business Administration from University College Dublin Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, a Postgraduate Diploma in Town and Country Planning from Queens University Belfast and a 1st Class Honours Degree in Environmental Planning from Queen’s University Belfast. She is a Chartered Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and a Member of the Irish Planning Institute. In 2017 she was awarded the Irish Echo 40 under 40 Award, which recognizes outstanding global contributions of Irish and Irish Americans, before reaching the age of 40.

Makiko Eda

Chief Representative Officer, World Economic Forum Japan / Member of Executive Committee, World Economic Forum

After graduating from Waseda University, and completing graduate studies in the US, worked as a market research analyst in the US. Returned to Japan, and worked for a market research company, before joining Intel in 2000. Following several roles in upper management, was appointed as General Manager of Marketing Headquarters, responsible for brand strategy, sales promotion planning, market research, and Internet marketing. In 2010, became responsible for Intel’s marketing activities in the Asia-Pacific region, as Director of Marketing and Consumer Sales, based in Hong Kong.
In October 2013, she was appointed as President and Representative Director of Intel Japan K.K., where she worked until March 2018. Makiko was appointed as Chief Representative Officer of World Economic Forum Japan in April 2018.

Works to open up new markets and create demand, by utilizing knowledge and experience gained through implementing and leading a diverse range of marketing activities for over two decades. Also utilizes her far- reaching experience of working in the US, Japan, and Asia to cultivate employees with the skills to succeed in global business. Also, serving on committee for the promotion of regulatory reform by Japan government from September 2016.

Tsubasa Nakamura

Representative, Voluntary Group CARTIVATOR

Born in Tokyo in 1984. As a youth, Mr. Nakamura's imagination was captured by Ferrari, which inspired his desire to become an automotive engineer. While majoring in mechanical engineering at Keio University and in graduate school, he served as the representative of a student race car building team. In recognition of his scholastic and extracurricular achievements, Mr. Nakamura was presented with the Fujiwara Award, named for the founder of what would become Keio University's Faculty of Science and Technology. In 2009, Mr. Nakamura joined a major automotive company, where he worked on the design of production models for both Japan and foreign markets. Meanwhile, in the hope of passing on the inspiration that motor vehicles had given to him, Mr. Nakamura founded Cartivator, a volunteer organization, in 2012. Cartivator is a human network that extends across companies, organizations, and generations. Its goal is to build a flying car that will light the Olympic flame at Tokyo 2020. Mr. Nakamura also serves as a researcher for a project to study the commercialization of flying cars, which was launched at the Keio University Graduate School of System Design and Management in 2017.

Akira Fukabori

AVATAR Program Director, Digital Design Lab, ANA HOLDINGS INC.

Akira has a vision to leverage the strengths of airlines to connect all 7.5 billion people on earth. He belongs to ANA‘s newly established Digital Design Lab and is a prize developer behind the ANA AVATAR XPRIZE concept which won top honors at the XPRIZE Visioneers 2016 Summit.
Akira entered ANA in 2008. His Blue Wing business model, which is a partnership model that bridges for-profit and non-profit organizations, was the grand prize concept of the Tokyo-based 2010 Global Agenda Seminar program. This earned Akira an invitation to the 2011 World Economic Forum. Akira is a serial intrapreneur who has helped to launch multiple initiatives within ANA.

Risako Nakamura

Bunka Fashion College / Fashion Designer / Digital Fabricator

Born November 11th, 1994.
Beginning in 2016, Ms. Nakamura split her post-secondary studies between Bunka Fashion College and the Keio University (Shonan Fujisawa Campus) Faculty of Policy Management, from which she graduated in March 2018. Ms. Nakamura uses digital fabrication to create clothing. Since 2018, she has been among the second group of recipients of the Kuma Foundation's Creator Scholarship.

Shoichi Arisaka

CEO, TechShop Japan

Joined Fujitsu in 1998. As a member of the company's Global Marketing Group, Mr. Arisaka worked on business planning and development for the Americas, Asia, and Europe, before taking part in the launch of an accelerator program promoting the development of collaborative projects between Fujitsu and startups. He became President and Representative Director of TechShop Japan in October 2015. After experiencing the maker movement in its hotbed of San Francisco, Mr. Arisaka opened TechShop Tokyo in April 2016, with the goal of making Japanese society into one where "anyone can bring their ideas to life." As he puts it, "Every idea is a good idea, and worth trying."

Yoshikuni Takashige

Vice President, Marketing Strategy and Vision, Fujitsu Limited

Yoshikuni Takashige joined Fujitsu in 1984. He was engaged in international business, taking strong leadership in developing Fujitsu’s important strategic partnerships and joint ventures with global companies. Throughout his career, he has been exposed to many different people, businesses and cultures, which has helped him shape his thought about transformation of business and society. Since 2012, he has been leading the development of the Fujitsu Technology and Service Vision, which sets out Fujitsu’s vision and its thinking on how organizations can innovate by leveraging digital technologies. He speaks about innovations internationally. He received an MBA from the Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University, and a Bachelor of Law from the University of Tokyo.

Norihiko Sasaki

Chief Content Officer, NewsPicks, Inc.

Born in 1979 in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Graduated from Keio University's Faculty of Policy Management. Earned a master’s degree from Stanford University in the International Political Economy concentration. At the publisher Toyo Keizai Inc., he was responsible for areas including the automobile and IT industries. In November 2012, he became Editor-in-Chief of Toyo Keizai Online. Mr. Sasaki led an overhaul of the website that led to over 53 million page views over a four-month span, making it the top-ranked website in the business magazine category. As an author, his published works include Are Made-in-the-U.S.A. Elites Really That Special?, Will the Media Make Money Five Years from Now?, and Japan 3.0: A Life Strategy for 2020. He also serves as CEO of NewsPicks Studio.

Keiko Hamada

Supervising Editor in Chief of BUSINESS INSIDER JAPAN / former Editor in Chief of AERA

Beginning her career in 1989 at the prestigious newspaper company, the Asahi Shimbun Co., Keiko was transferred to the weekly magazine AERA in 1999 after experiencing branch offices at Maebashi, Sendai and the Weekly Asahi. As a journalist, she has specialized in covering world news and the issues seen of the modern female career and lifestyle. Keiko has been at site for both 9.11 and the Iraq War. Becoming the deputy editor in 2004, deputy editor in chief, Keiko became AERA’s first female editor in chief.
During her term as editor in chief at AERA, she has innovated the classic magazine, collaborating with online media and inviting outside editors to produce special articles.

From May 2016 to March 2017, she has also produced projects “On Career x Childrearing,” “WORKO ! ” and symposiums such as “Career Paths” as producer at the Comprehensive Producing Office at the Asahi Shimbun Co. Starting April 2017 Keiko is now the Japanese supervising editor in chief of an online business news media that spans over 14 countries worldwide. She will be continuing commentary at TV programs “Shinichi Hatori Morning Show” and “the Sunday Morning” and lectures on topics including but not limited to diversity and labor reform.

Ryuichiro Takeshita

Editor-in-Chief, HuffPost Japan

Born in 1979. Graduated from Keio University's Faculty of Law, Department of Politics in 2002. The same year, he joined The Asahi Shimbun Company. After working in the business bureau at the company's Tokyo headquarters, he moved to its Media Lab in 2013. From 2014–2015, he served as a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University (research subject: "Should Human Beings or Computer Algorithms Be the Editors of News?"). He has been Editor-in-Chief at HuffPost Japan since May 1st, 2016.

Daisuke Tsuda

Journalist / Media Activist

Journalist and media activist. Editor-in-Chief, Politas. Born in 1973. Native of Tokyo. Graduate of the Waseda University School of Social Sciences. Professor, Faculty of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, Waseda University. Anchor of TV Asahi Channel 2's Japan Plus with Daisuke Tsuda. News Supervisor for the J-Wave radio program Jam the World. Founder and Representative Director, Movements for Internet Active Users (MIAU). Mr. Tsuda was named to the Davos World Economic Forum's 2013 class of Young Global Leaders. As a writer, he specializes in subjects including media, journalism, intellectual property, content business, and freedom of expression. In recent years, Mr. Tsuda's journalism has focused on the topics of regional challenges and their solutions, and how technology and social entrepreneurship are changing society. His major works as an author include: Changing Politics on the Web (Asahi Shinsho), The Mobilization Revolution (Chuko Shinsho Laclef), How Information Breathes (Asahi Press), The Twitter Society Theory (Yosensha Shinsho), On Future-Proofing Music (Chuko Shinsho Laclef), and The "Post-Truth" Era (Shodensha). Mr. Tsuda's subscription-based weekly email newsletter The Media Shop Floor has been in circulation since September 2011.

Kumi Fujisawa

Co-Founder, Think Tank SophiaBank

Kumi Fujisawa founded Japan’s first investment trust evaluation company in 1996 after working for several investment fund management companies. She sold the company to Standard & Poor’s in 1999 and joined Think Tank SophiaBank to incubate new social systems by fostering social entrepreneurs in 2000, has worked as a co-founder since 2003. She was assigned as one of the Young Global Leaders in 2007 and the member of the Global Agenda Council in 2008 by World Economic Forum.
She was a director of the international conference " World Forum on Sport and Culture " which was organized by the government in 2016.
She is currently a committee member at several government ministries, a board member at Japan Securities Dealers Association, and an external board member at some public-listed companies such as Toyota Tsusho Corporation. She is active in lecturing socially conscious investment strategies and management thorough publications, lectures, television and radio program “Kumi Fujisawa’s Shacho(Executive) Talk”. She has interviewed over 1000 leaders of corporations and ventures. She published more than 20 books on the topics of investment management and social entrepreneurial actions.
Her recent publication is "The Real Essence of Visionary Leadership-Do Nothing and Think All-" in 2016.

Yutaka Matsuo

Project Associate Professor, Department of Technology Management for Innovation, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo

Yutaka Matsuo is a project associate professor at Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo. He received his Ph.D. degrees from the University of Tokyo. After working at National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and Stanford University, he joined the faculty of University of Tokyo in 2007. He served as Editor-in-chief at Japan Society for Artificial Intelligence (JSAI). He was the chair of the Ethical, Legal and Social Issues (ELSI) committee in JSAI between 2014 and 2018. He serves as the head of planning team at AI center of AIST. Since 2017, he assumed the position of Director at Japan Deep Learning Association. His research topics include web mining and big data analysis, and he has been an evangelist of deep learning for the application to robotics and industrial machines in Japan.

Mayu Shono

President, HAPIKIRA FACTORY Corporation

Born in Tokyo in 1991.
While attending Keio University, Ms. Shono founded HAPIKIRA FACTORY, a company that brings cute production touches to regional products, and distributes said products. After graduating from university, she worked at an advertising agency.
Currently, as a two-career woman, she works on smart products at Sony while also managing her own company.
In 2016, she became a member of the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry's "Study Group for Creation of Startups and New Business Through Second Jobs and Side Jobs," in which her experience in developing parallel careers is a valuable asset.
Most recently, as a Project Research Associate at the Keio University Graduate School of Media and Governance, she has been working with students on the creation of new regional businesses.

Katsumi Okuno

Professor, Department of Intercultural Communication, Rikkyo University

Born in 1962 in Shiga Prefecture, Japan.
While attending university, Dr. Okuno traveled to live with the Tepehuán, an indigenous people of Mexico. He would later travel to Southeast and South Asia—becoming a Buddhist monk in Bangladesh—as well as Turkey and Kurdistan. After graduating from university, he would work at a trading company, and spent a year traveling in Indonesia, before returning to school to study cultural anthropology. He completed his doctoral studies at Hitotsubashi University's Graduate School of Social Sciences.
His major published works as sole author is: Deeds of Spirits and Deeds of Men: How the Kalis of Borneo Interpret and Deal with Catastrophe, Imperial Medicine and Anthropology, and An Anthropologist's Thoughts on Life with the Forest People Who Need Neither "Thank You" nor "Sorry."
Dr. Okuno has also authored the compilation Ethnography of People, Animals, and Haggling.
He has contributed to collections including: Lessons of Cultural Anthropology: Departing from the Field, The Anthropology of Sex, An Anthropology of People and Animals, Cultural Anthropology (Revised Edition), and Lexicon: Contemporary Anthropology.
As co-translator, Dr. Okuno has contributed to the Japanese editions of Eduardo Kohn's How Forests Think: Toward an Anthropology Beyond the Human and Rane Willerslev's Soul Hunters: Hunting, Animism, and Personhood Among the Siberian Yukaghirs.

Noriyuki Yanagawa

Professor, Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo

1988: Completed Keio University Correspondence Courses 1993: Completed doctoral program at the Graduate School of Economics, The University of Tokyo and received Doctor of Economics degree
After serving as an associate professor at Keio University, Dr. Yanagawa joined the Graduate School of Economics, The University of Tokyo in 1996 as an associate professor. In 2011, he assumed his current position as a professor.

Dr. Yanagawa also serves as executive vice president at Nippon Institute for Research Advancement (NIRA), director general of the panel on “Future of Work 2035: For Everyone to Shine,” under the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, and chairman of the “Study Group for Creation of Startups and New Business through Second Jobs and Side Jobs” under the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI). In addition, he is a member of councils and study groups under the Cabinet office, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism, METI, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, etc. He also serves as head of the Fintech Research Forum under the Center for Advanced Research in Finance at The University of Tokyo.

Major publications:
Ho to kigyo kodo no keizai bunseki (Economic Analysis of Law and Corporate Behavior), Nihon Keizai Shimbun Keiyaku to soshiki no keizaigaku (Economics of Contracts and Organizations), Toyo Keizai Shinposha
Kaishaho no keizaigaku, Tokyo Daigaku Shuppankai (co-authored with Yoshiro Miwa and Hideki Kanda)
Nihon seicho senryaku yonjissai teinensei, Sakurasha
Yonjissai kara no kaisha ni tayoranai hatarakikata, Chikumashobo
Todai kyoju ga oshieru dokugaku benkyoho, Soshisha

Anju Ishiyama

Secretariat of the Sharing Economy Association Japan / Sharing Economy Evangelist, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of Japan

As General Manager of Public Affairs for the Sharing Economy Association, Japan, Ms. Ishiyama is responsible for public and government relations. As a public-private intermediary between startups and governments, she is involved in pursuits including regulatory reform and policy promotion, working to accomplish the organization's mission to "realize an innovative society." Her other roles include: Sharing Economy Evangelist at the Government of Japan's Cabinet Secretariat; Regional Informatization Adviser for Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications; committee member for the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare's Seminar on the Impact of the Sharing Economy on Employment and the Labor Market; and committee member at Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications planning conferences. As a tri-sector leader, Ms. Ishiyama is also involved in lifestyle media work focused on the sharing economy, gaining recognition as the "Sharing Girl." Named a Key Opinion Leader by Nikkei's Comemo. NewsPicks ProPicker. Appears regularly on the NewsPicks livestream series Weekly Ochiai. Born in 1989. Graduate of International Christian University (ICU). While attending university, she worked as an assistant on an NHK program. Upon graduation, she joined Recuit Co., Ltd. After working in the HR field for three years, she joined CrowdWorks Inc., where she was responsible for administrative planning, public relations, and policy outreach before moving to her current post. 2010 Japan Semifinalist and 2012 Yokohama Finalist, Miss Universe.

Naoki Aoyagi

CEO, Merpay, Inc.

Aoyagi worked in IPO support and M&A advisory for technology companies at the main investment banking office of Deutsche Bank.
At GREE, he led the company’s pre-IPO financing and managed the IPO as CFO.
He also led business development activities at GREE, including the launch of the company’s game platform, and held such positions as GREE International CEO and SVP of Global Operations. In November of 2017, he assumed the role of Merpay, Inc. CEO. Aoyagi is a graduate of Keio University.

Haruka Mera

Founder and CEO, READYFOR, Inc.

Haruka is a founder of READYFOR, Inc. Readyfor is the first and biggest crowd funding service ever in Japan, targeting every kind of entrepreneurs including local and social. Through Readyfor, she aspires to realize a world where every individual achieves whatever he/she wants regardless of financial status. Currently, she is a member of Global Shapers from World Economic Forum. She attended in World Economic Forum in 2012 as a youngest member from Japan. She holds a Master’s degree in media design from Keio University.

Yuji Mizoguchi

Founder & CEO, FiNC Technologies Inc.

Mr. Mizoguchi has worked as a trainer since high school. To date, he has worked with hundreds of elite athletes and celebrities, including professional baseball and basketball players as well as entertainers, helping them to maximize their physical fitness. In addition to his work as a trainer, Mr. Mizoguchi has also made his mark as one of the youngest consultants in the business world, playing a key role in the launches of numerous new businesses and helping to rebuild a multitude of once-struggling companies. All of the companies that have placed their turnarounds in Mr. Mizoguchi's capable hands have since set new performance records. Mr. Mizoguchi founded FiNC in April 2012. Director, Japan Society of Anti-Aging. Named to Nikkei Business's "Best Company Presidents as Chosen by Young Company Presidents" and "30 People Who Are Creating the Japan of Tomorrow" lists.

Tomohiro Sawada

Total Producer, World YURU Sports Association

Copywriter / Social Welfare Creator. After spending his childhood in Paris, Chicago, and London, Mr. Sawada returned to Japan at age 17. In 2004, he joined an advertising agency. As a copywriter, his accomplishments include creating the tagline for the Japanese release of the 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises. He has also provided creative direction for a wide range of businesses. In his capacity as Total Producer for the World YURU Sports Association, he has invented over 50 new sports over a three-year span. In 2017, his efforts were recognized with a "HEROs Award." These awards have been called the Academy Awards of the Japanese sports world. Under the unifying concept of "the innovation of perceived flaws," Mr. Sawada has also provided planning and production for projects including: "NIN_NIN," a service robot for people with visual impairments; "041 Fashion," which approaches the creation of new clothing from the perspectives of individuals and the challenges they face; "Amputee Venus Show," a fashion show in which the models are women who use prosthetic limbs; and "Jiji-Pop," a senior-citizen boy band.

Tasuku Mizuno

Attorney, City Lights Law Office

Attorney at City Lights Law Office in Tokyo, his area of specialty include IP Law, Entertainment Law, Art Law, Internet Law, Information Law and so forth. He is also the co-director of “Creative Commons Japan (currently Commonsphere)”, the co-director of “Arts and Law” and a senior researcher of KEIO University Research Institute at SFC (Legal Design Lab). He is a “GOOD DESIGN AWARD” judge and is the member of “Fab Commons” (FabLab Japan), and is quite active in Open Source, Sharing and new copyright definition for digital economy and culture.

Shunichi Maruyama

Executive Producer, Program Development Production Headquarters, NHK Enterprises, Inc. / Lecturer, Waseda University and Tokyo University of the Arts

In recent years, Mr. Maruyama has developed and overseen the production of a diverse succession of documentaries that put modern society under the microscope, placing a particular focus on the concept of "desire" with Japanese-language programs such as The Capitalism of Desire: When the Rules Change/When the Power of Darkness Awakens, The Democracy of Desire: When the Global Landscape Changes, The Economic History of Desire, and The Philosophy of the Age of Desire: Markus Gabriel on Japan. Meanwhile, he continues to work as a producer of documentary and edutainment programming in a variety of genres, from the serious to the lighthearted. These programs include AI Beginner: What is Human? , Earth Taxi: a series that follows taxi drivers in locations around the world, the cat documentary series Nekommentary, and Japan's Dilemmas.

After graduating from the Keio University Faculty of Economics, Mr. Maruyama joined NHK, serving in capacities including Director of Educational Programming and Chief Producer before becoming Executive Producer at the broadcaster's Program Development Production Headquarters. His career in program development has included work on the long-running English language education series Eigo de Shabera Night, the variety show Bakusho Mondai's Japanese Education, the game show Socrates's Human Resources, the workplace reality series Shigoto Hakkenden, and J-Literature, a series in which English was taught through translated Japanese literature.

As author, his published works include You Don't Need to Have a Conclusion (Kobunsha Shinsho), Every Job Starts with an Affirmation (Daiwashobo), The Capitalism of Desire, The Capitalism of Desire 2 (both Toyo Keizai, as co-author with production team), and The Democracy of Desire (Gentosha Shinsho, as co-author with production team).

Takashi Kishida

CTO, LITALICO lnc.

Dr. Kishida obtained his doctorate (information engineering) in March 2006.
After working at a large network integrator, he joined Gree, Inc., in May 2009.
He worked as an engineer and business manager before holding positions at the Japan Studio as Director of Management and Assistant General Manager of Development.
In October 2013, Dr. Kishida became an executive officer at Gree. Thereafter, he was involved in developing new titles and creator training.
In November 2015, he joined LITALICO Inc. as CTO.
With the goal of promoting the use of technology in education and welfare, Dr. Kishida has been involved in starting up engineering organizations and developing applications in the education and welfare sectors.
Currently, he is focusing his attention on projects which involve people from inside and outside his company, such as holding SOCIAL FIGHTER AWARD, a contest for solving social problems.

Megumi Sasaki

Producer / Director

Filmmaker Megumi Sasaki directed and produced her first feature-length documentary film HERB & DOROTHY (2008) about legendary New York art collectors Herb and Dorothy Vogel, winning top honors at many international film festivals including the Hamptons International Film Festival, Philadelphia Film Festival, SILVERDOCS. The film was selected for a season’s opener for PBS’s Independent Lens series in 2009, and was voted #1 by the Huffington Post for “10 Documentaries About Artists in Love You Need to Watch”.

In 2013, Megumi completed the highly anticipated follow-up documentary to HERB & DOROTHY titled HERB & DOROTHY 50X50, focusing on the next (and final) chapter in the lives of Herb and Dorothy Vogel. The both film had a nationwide theatrical release in US and Japan and continues to screen in theaters, museums and art fairs around the globe.

Her third feature length documentary A WHALE OF A TALE took 6 years for completion setting a camera in a small fishing town of Taiji, Japan that was featured in the Oscar winning film, The Cove. The film had a world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea and selected for the feature documentary competition in October 2016. In 2017 the film has won the best feature documentary award at Rhode Island International Film Festival and Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival.

In August 2017, Sasaki published her first book, OKUJIRASAMA, depicting behind the scenes of the film’s production as well as the in-depth historical and religious analysis of the whaling controversy. The book won the science journalist award 2018 in Japan.

Prior to becoming a filmmaker, Sasaki was an anchor, reporter, and news director for NHK, Japan's public broadcasting network. She lives in NYC since 1987.

Tran Anh Hung

Filmmaker

Born in Vietnam and living in France since 1975, Tran Anh Hung studied filmmaking in Paris at l’École Nationale Louis Lumière from 1985 to 1987.

He made 6 feature films.

THE SCENT OF GREEN PAPAYA (1993), in Official Selection at Cannes International Film Festival, won the Caméra d’Or and the Prix de la Jeunesse at Cannes. Won the César for Best 1rst Feature Film and Nominee at the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.

CYCLO (1995), won the Golden Lion at the Venise International Film Festival.

THE VERTICAL RAY OF THE SUN (2000), in Official Selection at Cannes International Film Festival.

I COME WITH THE RAIN (2008)

NORWEGIAN WOOD (2010), in competition at Venise International Film Festival.

ETERNITY (2016)

Hiraku Ogura

Fermentation Designer

Mr. Ogura seeks to "make visible through design the workings of the invisible microorganisms that are involved in fermentation." To that end, he develops products with brewers from across Japan, creates picture books and animated works, and holds workshops.
After studying the science of fermentation as a research student at the Tokyo University of Agriculture, he built a fermentation lab on a mountain in the city of Koshu, Yamanashi Prefecture, where he spends his days raising bacteria and exploring the microbial world. In 2014, he won a Good Design Award for the picture book and animated short The Homemade Miso Song. In 2015, in time for the release of his new picture book Making Malted Rice at Home the Easy Way, he launched the "Malted Rice-Making Workshop."
He has taught koji mold (Aspergillus oryzae, the fungus used in the making of Japanese-style malted rice) culturing techniques to over 1,000 people in total. In addition to serving as a lecturer for fermentation science courses for the general public at institutions including Freedom University and J. F. Oberlin University, Mr. Ogura is also active outside of Japan as a fermentation culture evangelist. His other duties have included writing a series on "Fermentation Cultural Anthropology" for the magazine Sotokoto, and appearing as a personality on the YBS Radio program The Fermentation Siblings' Cozytalk. His latest book is Fermentation Cultural Anthropology.

Duangjai Lorthanavanich

Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Thammasat Business School

Duangjai Lorthanavanich is Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Thammasat Business School. Specializes in tourism management and performed many kinds of research abroad as well as at home: “The Social Practices in making Washoku(Japanese Cuisinary) in making Washoku as Intangible Cultural Heritage”(2016-2017), “Survey Research on World Heritage Management in South Asia focusing on India, Sri Lanka and Nepal” (2012) and “Communities of Becoming: Negotiation on Resource Management of three Karen Villages in Northern Thailand” (2010).

EDUCATION:
2007 Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies (Sociology, Anthropology, Japanese Studies, Tourism), Thammasat University, Thailand. Dissertation title is “State, Capital and the Community in Tourism Management: the case studies of Yomitan town in Okinawa, Japan and Pai town in Mae Hong Son, Thailand ”
1992 Master Degree in Japanese, Faculty of Literature, Keio University, Japan
1989 Bachelor Degree in Japanese, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Thammasat University


ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS:
2016-present Current Position
2015-2017 Editing Committee of Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences
2011-2014 Chief Editor, Journal of Human Resource Intelligence, Thammasat University
2010-2011 Director of Southeast Asian Studies Program, Thammasat University
2007-2010 Board of Southeast Asian Studies Program, Thammasat University
1999-2001 Head, Japanese Department, Thammasat University

Masayoshi Shigeta

Director, Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University / Professor, Graduate School of Asian African Area Studies, Kyoto University / Fellow, Research Association of Sleep and Society

Masayoshi Shigeta is professor of Graduate School of Asian African Area Studies, Kyoto University. Director of Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University. Fellow of Research Association of Sleep and Society. Doctor of Agriculture. Born in 1956 in Kyoto, Japan. His Major is Anthropology/ Relationship between man and plants in indigenous agriculture in Africa/ Development and Education/ Research on sleep culture. He has examined various aspects of African agriculture from the standpoint of human-plant relations (agricultural science, anthropology, ecology, the origins of plant domestication, ethnobotany, and theory of domestication, etc.). He studies the challenges faced by communities as they undergo development through the analysis of useful plants as cultural resources that have been cultivated by African peoples and local knowledge related thereto. He also engages in the study of sleep and society from cultural behavioral perspectives employing multidisciplinary approaches. He organized an exhibition on sleep and society at Kyoto University Museum in 2016.

Popo Danes

Architect

From private homes and restaurants to starred hotels and luxury resorts, the renowned Balinese architect Nyoman Popo Danes is known for his exemplary designs that showcase a distinct flair of being in harmony with the local culture and nature. This green-conscientious architect always integrates ecofriendly aspects of Bali’s traditional architecture into his designs. He is one of Bali’s most prominent and acclaimed architects, and in 1993, formally established his own architectural design firm, ‘Popo Danes Architect’. An advocate for the long-term future of Bali, his style is classic and unpretentious; he designs buildings that are aesthetically beautiful and in keeping with the environment.

As an award-winning architect in both national and international domains, Popo is also often invited as guest speakers at design forums in Bali, Asia, Europe and America. Popo is a multifaceted, modern individual. While some architects are very focused on making their buildings look stunning from the outside, Popo main concern has always been the functionality of each aspect of the building. He always make sure that the designs are in harmony with their natural surroundings; that each room has a function; that a strong connection between the architecture, landscape, and interior is established.

Sadao Tsuchiya

Lifestyle Expert / President of SADAO Co., Ltd. / Architect / Researcher about life / Consultant / HOUSE VISION coordinator

1960 born in tokyo
1985 Nihon University master graduate
1985 University Rome scholarship of government Italy
1994 start to work in construction company as architect
2001 begin consultant for housing
2004 MUJI house director
2007 MUJI house board member
2008 SADAO Co.ltd
2010 start project HOUSE VISION

I conduct research and product development on life through online research and door-to-door survey. I have so far offered comprehensive support to a number of various enterprises such as developers and home builders in Japan concerning planning, design, sales, advertisement and communication.

In 2010, I established HOUSE VISION project together with Mr. Kenya Hara, and have been engaged in the operation as a facilitator since then. At present, I am positively conducting establishment of research groups in many areas in Asia.

Chatpong Chuenrudeemol

Architect / Principal, CHAT architects

Chatpong “Chat” Chuenrudeemol obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from U.C. Berkeley in 1994 and his Masters of Architecture at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design in 2000. His work experience includes positions at Berkeley-based firm Fernau and Hartman Architects and at office dA (currently NADAAA).

After his extensive studies and work experience in the United States, Chat returned to his birthplace of Bangkok, and in 2012, formed CHAT architects, a practice that creates innovative designs rooted in local vernacular conditions and programmed to stimulate community life. In 2015, he formed CHAT lab, a research think tank aimed at discovering new Thai vernacular architectures and “street” typologies, affectionately called Bangkok Bastards.

Aside from his practice and research, CHAT also considers pedagogy as a vital component of design. He has taught at various universities in Thailand, including KMUTT (King Mongkut University of Technology, Thonburi), Rangsit University, and Chulalongkorn University.

Chat’s work has been exhibited both at home and abroad, including an exhibition at Japan’s TOTO Gallery Ma in 2015. Most recently, he will be exhibiting his research-based designs at National University of Singapore (NUS) in an exhibition entitled, “Construe and Construct”.

Heizo Takenaka

Professor, Toyo University / Professor Emeritus, Keio University / Chairman, Institute for Urban Strategies, The Mori Memorial Foundation /Director, Academyhills

Heizo Takenaka is a Professor at Toyo University and a Professor Emeritus at Keio University. He is also Chairman of the Institute for Urban Strategies at The Mori Memorial Foundation and President of Academyhills.
In 2001, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi named him the Minister of Economic/Fiscal Policy, the Minister of both Financial Services and Economic/Fiscal Policy in 2002, the Minister of both Economic / Fiscal Policy and Privatization of the Postal Services in 2004, the Minister of both Internal Affairs and Communication, and Privatization of the Postal Services in 2005. The following year, he returned to academia, leaving both the Cabinet and the House of Councilors when Prime Minister Koizumi resigned.
He received his B.A. in Economics from Hitotsubashi University and his Ph.D. in Economics from Osaka University. His academic experience is numerous, including Visiting Associate Professor of Harvard University in 1989, and Professor of Faculty of Policy Management at Keio University in 1996.
He is the author of numerous books, including "The Structural Reforms of the Koizumi Cabinet".

Hiroo Ichikawa

Professor Emeritus, Meiji University / Professor, Teikyo University / Executive Director, The Mori Memorial Foundation

He majors in urban and regional policy/planning and emergency management, and has authored numerous books on issues related to Tokyo and metropolitan regions. He has been appointed as a Dean of the Graduate School of Governance Studies, Meiji University in Japan. He has also chaired several public and private organizations including with the Japanese government, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Institute of Metropolitan Policy, and Japan Association of Emergency Qualified Specialists. He graduated from Waseda University with a Bachelor of Architecture and a Master of Urban Planning, and further studied under a Canadian government scholarship at the University of Waterloo where he was granted a Ph.D. in urban and regional planning. He is a chairman of the working committee for the Global Power City Index (GPCI). The GPCI, carried out by the Mori Memorial Foundation, is the sole global city ranking issued in Japan. He is a board member of Future of Urban Development and Innovations at the World Economic Forum.

Fumio Nanjo

Director, Mori Art Museum

Director of Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, since November 2006. He had formerly served as the Museum’s Deputy Director (2002-2006), after working for prominent cultural organizations such as the Japan Foundation (1978-1986). His notable achievements to date include: Commissioner of the Japan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (1997); Commissioner at the Taipei Biennale (1998); Member of Jury Committee of the Turner Prize (1998); Artistic Director of the Yokohama Triennale 2001; and Artistic Director of the Singapore Biennale (both 2006 and 2008). The exhibitions Nanjo was actively involved in curating at the Mori in recent years include: “Japan in Architecture: Genealogies of its Transformation” (2018); “The Universe and Art: Princess Kaguya, Leonardo da Vinci, teamLab” (2016-17); “Metabolism, The City of the Future: Dreams and Visions of Reconstruction in Postwar and Present-Day Japan” (2011-12); and “Medicine and Art: Imagining a Future for Life and Love - Leonardo da Vinci, Okyo, Damien Hirst” (2009-10). He graduated from Faculty of Economics (1972) and Faculty of Letters (Philosophy, Aesthetics and Science of Arts, 1977), Keio University. His recent publications are Asian Contemporary Art Report: China, India, Middle East and Japan (2010) and A Life with Art (2012).

Joichi Ito

Director, MIT Media Lab

Joi Ito is the director of the MIT Media Lab, Professor of the Practice at MIT and the author, with Jeff Howe, of Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future (Grand Central Publishing, 2016).

Ito is a Visiting Professor of Law from Practice at the Harvard Law School.

Ito is chairman of the board of PureTech Health and serves on several other boards, including The New York Times Company, the MacArthur Foundation and the Knight Foundation. He is the former chairman and CEO of Creative Commons, and a former board member of ICANN, The Open Source Initiative, and The Mozilla Foundation.

Ito is a serial entrepreneur who helped start and run numerous companies including one of the first web companies in Japan, Digital Garage, and the first commercial Internet service provider in Japan, PSINet Japan/IIKK. He has been an early-stage investor in many companies, including Formlabs, Flickr, Kickstarter, littleBits, and Twitter.

Ito received a PhD from The Keio University Graduate School of Media and Governance in 2018 for his thesis The Practice of Change.

Ito has received numerous awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oxford Internet Institute and the Golden Plate Award from the Academy of Achievement, and he was inducted into the SXSW Interactive Festival Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2017, he received the IRI Medal.

Ito has been awarded honorary doctorates from The New School and Tufts University and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Timothy Morton

Rita Shea Guffey Chair in English, Rice University

Timothy Morton is Rita Shea Guffey Chair in English at Rice University. Hehas collaborated with Björk, Jennifer Walshe, Olafur Eliasson, Haim Steinbach, and Pharrell Williams. He is the author of Being Ecological (Penguin, 2018), Humankind: Solidarity with Nonhuman People (Verso, 2017), Dark Ecology: For a Logic of Future Coexistence (Columbia, 2016), Nothing: Three Inquiries in Buddhism (Chicago, 2015), Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World (Minnesota, 2013), Realist Magic: Objects, Ontology, Causality (Open Humanities, 2013), The Ecological Thought (Harvard, 2010), Ecology without Nature (Harvard, 2007), eight other books and 200 essays on philosophy, ecology, literature, music, art, architecture, design and food. In 2014 Morton gave the Wellek Lectures in Theory.
Blog：http://www.ecologywithoutnature.blogspot.com
Twitter： @the_eco_thought

Daan Roosegaarde

Artist / Innovator

Dutch artist and innovator Daan Roosegaarde (1979) is a creative thinker and maker of social designs which explore the relation between people, technology and space. Roosegaarde has been driven by nature's gifts such as light emitting fireflies and jellyfishes since an early age. His fascination for nature and technology is reflected in his iconic designs such as Smart Highway (roads which charge from sunlight and glow at night), Waterlicht (a virtual flood) and Smog Free Project (the largest outdoor air purifier in the world which makes jewellery from smog).

Roosegaarde graduated from The Berlage Institute with a master in architecture. He founded Studio Roosegaarde in 2007, where he works with his team of designers and engineers towards a better future. Together they develop ‘Landscapes of the Future’ building smart sustainable prototypes for the cities of tomorrow. Roosegaarde is a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum and named Artist of the Year 2016 in The Netherlands.

Roosegaarde has won the London Design Innovation Medal, the INDEX Design Award, the World Technology Award, two Dutch Design Awards, the Charlotte Köhler Award, and China's Most Successful Design Award. He exhibited at the Design Museum in London, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Tate Modern, Tokyo National Museum, Le Musée des Arts Décoratifs Paris, Victoria & Albert Museum and various public spaces in Europe and Asia. Selected by Forbes and Good 100 as a creative change maker, Daan Roosegaarde shares his visionary ideas frequently at conferences across the world such as TED and Design Indaba.

Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner

Poet, Director

Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner is a poet of Marshallese ancestry. She received international acclaim through her performance at the opening of the United Nations Climate Summit in New York in 2014. Her writing and performances have been featured by CNN, Democracy Now, Huffington Post, and more. In February 2017, the University of Arizona Press published her first collection of poetry, Iep Jāltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter. Her work has recently evolved and begun to inhabit gallery and performance art spaces – her work has been curated by the Honolulu Biennial in Hawai’i in February 2017, then the Smithsonian art lab ‘Ae Kai in July of 2017, and most recently the upcoming Asia Pacific Triennial in Australia in November 2018.

Kathy also co-founded the non-profit Jo-Jikum, dedicated to empowering Marshallese youth to seek solutions to climate change and other environmental impacts threatening their home island. She has been selected as one of 13 Climate Warriors by Vogue in 2015 and the Impact Hero of the Year by Earth Company in 2016. She received her Master’s in Pacific Island Studies from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Hiroaki Kitano Ph.D.

President and CEO, Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc.

Hiroaki Kitano is President and CEO of Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc., Corporate Executive of Sony Corporation, President of The Systems Biology Institute, and Professor at Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University. He is also a Founding President of the Robocup Federation, and Council of World Economic Forum AI & Robotics.

Kitano received The Computers and Thought Award from the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in 1993, Prix Ars Electronica 2000, and Nature Award for Creative Mentoring in Science (Mid Carrier) in 2009, as well as being an invited artist for Biennale di Venezia 2000 and Museum of Modern Art, New York in 2001.

Chiaki Hayashi

Co-founder, Loftwork Inc.

Graduate of Waseda University's School of Commerce and Boston University's graduate program in Journalism. After working at Kao Corporation, she founded Loftwork in 2000. At Loftwork, she oversees over 200 projects every year, in areas including web design, business design, community design, and space design. She is involved in the management of projects including "FabCafe," a "digital fabrication cafe" that has expanded to locations around the world; "MTRL," a creative lounge where participants can work with raw materials; and "AWRD," a platform that promotes collaboration between creators. She also serves as Japan Liaison to the Director at the MIT Media Lab, and on the judging panel for the Good Design Award. Ms. Hayashi founded Hidakuma Co., Ltd., a public-private consortium that seeks to develop local industry through reforestation and manufacturing, in the city of Hida, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. She serves as the company's CEO.

Yusuke Obuchi

Associate Professor in Architecture, The University of Tokyo

Yusuke Obuchi is an Associate Professor in Architecture at the University of Tokyo, where he has directed Obuchi Laboratory at the Department of Architecture since 2010. He is also a founding Co-director of the Advanced Design Studies Program, which consists of Digital Fabrication Lab, Sustainable Prototyping Lab, Media Initiative Lab, Design Think Tank, Design Practice Lab, Social Design Lab, and Computational Unit. Prof. Obuchi was Co-Director of the Design Research Laboratory at the Architectural Association (AA) in London from 2005 to 2010, and Course Master and Unit Master of the Architectural Association from 2003 to 2005. He studied architecture at Princeton University, Southern California Institute of Architecture, and the University of Toronto. He has previously taught at Princeton University, Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, University of Kentucky, and New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Prof. Obuchi teaches design studios, workshops, and seminar courses where he explores the concepts of materiality, design systems, computational design techniques, and fabrication processes in contemporary architecture and design. He has previously worked for Reiser-Umemoto in New York and ROTO Architects in Los Angeles. His research projects have been published and exhibited widely in the U.S. and Europe, and have been included in the National Triennial Exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York City, Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, Architecture Biennial Beijing, Architecture Biennial Rotterdam, Zurich Design Museum, Tokyo Designers Week, and Barcelona Design Museum.

Hanif Kara

Design Director, AKT II / Professor in Practice of Architectural Technology, GSD Harvard

Hanif Kara is a practising engineer and a principal at London-based structural engineering studio AKT II. Their work has gained international recognition for its successful collaborations with renowned developers, architects and academic institutions, driven by a reputation for delivery combined with a penchant for research, speculation and experimentation. Projects vary in scale from innovative building projects such as the Bloomberg European HQ in London and the Heydar Aliyev Centre in Azerbaijan, through to large-scale masterplans of city areas like the King’s Cross redevelopment, the London 2012 Olympics ‘pop-up city’, and Masdar City in Abu Dhabi. Hanif is currently Professor in Practice of Architectural Technology at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard, and has published widely in technical journals and the industry on issues of design and interdisciplinary practice.

Beyond his projects and academic commitments, Hanif’s global footprint has seen success that led to receiving the ACE Engineering Ambassador Award in 2011. He became the first engineer to be a judge for the annual coveted RIBA Stirling Prize in 2011, and was the first structural engineer to be appointed Commissioner for CABE (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, 2008-2012), and more recently he sat on the steering committee of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. The practice has won over 350 design awards, including the Stirling Prize in 2000 and 2012.

Qualifications: BSc (Hons) CEng FIStructE FICE FREng Hon FRIBA FRSA

Xavier De Kestelier

Head of Design Technology & Innovation, HASSELL Studio

Xavier is the Global Head of Design Technology and Innovation at Hassell Studio, a leading international design practice with studios in Australia, China, South East Asia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. At Hassell studio, Xavier leads design technology and innovation across all disciplines and regions.

He was educated in Belgium and the United Kingdom and holds an BArch and MSc in Architectural Engineering from the University of Ghent and an MSc Urban Design from The Bartlett School of Architecture.

He previously co-headed the Specialist Modelling Group at Foster+Partners. Where his team specialized in computational design and digital fabrication. He has also initiated and overseen several cross disciplinary research projects in the fields of large scale 3D printing and worked with NASA and the European Space Agency on several designs for 3D printed Moon and Mars habitats.

In 2010 he became director of Smartgeometry which is a not for profit organization that organizes a yearly international conference and workshop around digital design and fabrication.

Xavier has held academic positions at the University of Ghent, Syracuse University and The Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL)

Specialties: Computational Design, Rapid Prototyping, Parametric Design, Digital Fabrication, Additive Manufacturing, Mixed Reality

Shiho Fukuhara

Artist / Developer / Researcher

In 2001, graduate of London's Central Saint Martins University, finishing degree in 2003 at the Royal College of Art. In 2004, developed an artistic research framework [bcl] alongside Georg Tremmel. Following this, maintaining a focus on water environmental issues, particularly the development of biotechnologies and their impact on society, as well as a mission to think critically about how to open up access to these technologies to those who cannot access them at present. Poiesis Lab Representative.

Amy Karle

Artist / Designer / Futurist

Amy Karle is an internationally award winning bioartist whose work can be seen as artifacts of a speculative future where digital, physical and biological systems merge. She leverages body-based investigation, science and technology to create art that examines material and spiritual aspects of life. Karle’s artwork taps our concepts of what it means to be human and in this body, expressing representations of our internal processes in visual forms. As an artist and designer, Karle is also a provocateur and a futurist, opening future visions of how technology could be utilized to support and enhance humanity while making advancements in the technology towards those goals in the process.

Karle has shown work in 54 international exhibitions, including most recently: “The Body & Technology: A Conversational Metamorphosis” solo show in San Francisco, California; Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria, FILE Electronic Language International Festival in São Paulo, Brazil, and Copernicus Science Center Warsaw, Poland. She is also regularly invited to share her innovations and insights as an expert speaker at prestigious events including the X-Summit, Salzburg Global Seminar, and in think tanks including The Future Innovators Summit. Her work has been featured in Arte, BBC, Bloomberg, The Creators Project, Discovery Channel, Fast Company, Scientific American, Popular Science, Vice, The Verge, Vogue, Wired and more.

She is Co-Founder of Conceptual Art Technologies, has developed registered IP, patents, service marks and trademarks, was Artist in Residence at Autodesk, has been named one of the “Most Influential Women in 3D Printing” (All3DP 2016, 2017) was Grand Prize Winner of the "YouFab Global Creative Award" (2018) (Loftwork). As an Exchange Artist through American Arts Incubator the U.S. Department of State, administered by ZERO1, she is tasked with public diplomacy, social innovation, and Women's Empowerment in STEAM. The long-term goals of her work are to continue to pioneer in the bioart field and make contributions to society, technology and healthcare fields in the process.

www.amykarle.com

Guy Ben-Ary

Artist / Researcher

Guy Ben-Ary, is a Perth based artist and researcher. He currently works at SymbioticA, an artistic laboratory dedicated to the research, learning and hands-on engagement with the life sciences, which is located within the University of Western Australia. Recognised internationally as a major artist and innovator working across science and media arts, Guy specialises in biotechnological artwork, which aims to enrich our understanding of what it means to be alive. Guy’s work has been shown across the globe at prestigious venues and festivals from the Beijing National Art Museum to San Paulo Biennale to the Moscow Biennale. His work can also be seen in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His works cellF & Silent Barrage were awarded an Honorary Mention in Prix Ars Electronica (2017, 2009) and Silent Barrage also won first prize at VIDA, a significant international competition for Art and Artificial Life. Guy’s Main research areas are cybernetics, soft-robotics and the cultural articulation of Bio-technologies. Much of Ben-Ary’s work is inspired by science and nature. His artworks usually utilize motion, growth and big data to investigate technological aspects of today’s culture and the re-use of biological materials and technologies.

Kei Wakabayashi

Director, blkswn publishers Inc.

Kei Wakabayashi spent his childhood in London and New York. After majoring in French Literature at Waseda University, he started his publishing career at Heibonsha and was in charge of ‘Taiyo’, the legendary Japanese cultural magazine.In 2000, he became a freelance editor and produced numerous publications from magazines, books, to exhibition catalogues in a broad range of fields. He was appointed Editor-in-Chief of Wired Japan in 2012, and left the publication in 2017. He is also a music journalist and is Founder of the publishing company, blkswn publishers.

Mitsuhiro Takemura

Scholar of Media Aesthetics / Director, QON Berlin

Mitsuhiro Takemura is a scholar of media aesthetics and director of QON Berlin. He has held a professorial position at the Kyoto University of Art and Design, the University of Tokyo graduate school (media environment research), and the professor at Sapporo City University (media design). Since 2017 he has been appointed as a fellow of Center for the Study of Digital Life (NYC). His research includes the award-winning book "Memory Future, Cultural Economy of Digital Archives" (published by the University of Tokyo Press). Regarding the latest writing, there is "Good-bye, Internet――GDPR how to change the net and data" (Diamond Publishing, 2018), "Berlin・City・ Future" (Ohta Books, 2018). He lives in Berlin.

Tatsuhiko Yamamoto

Professor, Keio University Law School

Professor at Keio University Law School. Assistant Director, Keio Institution for Global Law and Development (KEIGLAD). Graduated from the Keio University Faculty of Law, Department of Law in 1999. Earned a master's degree at the Keio University Graduate School of Law in 2001. In 2005, Mr. Yamamoto completed the doctoral course work at the Keio University Graduate School of Law. Received his Ph.D. (Law, Keio University) in 2007. He served as an associate professor and instructor at the Toin University of Yokohama Faculty of Law before taking his current position as Professor at Keio University Law School.
Dr. Yamamoto has also served as: Bar Examiner (2014, 2015); Guest Lecturer, University of Washington School of Law (2017); Member, Conference Toward AI Network Society, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (since 2017); Director, the People Analytics and HR Technology Association (since 2018); Expert Commissioner, Consumer Commission, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan (since 2018); and Member, Conference on the Improvement of Business Conditions Relating to Digital Platformers, Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (since 2018).
Dr. Yamamoto's major works as an author include The Direction of Constitutional Law (co-editor, Nippon Hyoron Sha, 2016), On Privacy Rights (Shinzansha, 2017), and Ominous Big Data (Asahi Shimbun Publications, 2017).

Daichi Iwata

Intrepreneur / Director, FinTech Business Development Office, NEC Corporation

He founded brees cooperation, joint venture between NEC Corporation and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation as intrepreneur. While he serves as a board member of the company, he keeps driving creating new services around FinTech at NEC Corporation. His prime passion now is to incubate services for digital trust and inclusion needed for coming digital society, and to cultivate innovation culture in traditional companies.

Akihiro Kubota

Professor, Art and Media Course in the Information Design Department / Director, Art Archive Center, Tama Art University

Born in 1960, he is currently the professor of Art and Media Course in the Information Design Department and the Director of Art Archive Center at Tama Art University. His pioneering interdisciplinary projects include the ARTSAT Project (ARTSAT.JP), Bio art, Software art, investigation of mathematical description of artistic activities and performances by live coding. His team’s very first art satellite ARTSAT1:INVADER won the Award of Distinction in the “Hybrid Art” category at Prix Ars Electronica 2015, and the achievement of ARTSAT Project received the 66th Minister of Education Award for Fine Arts (Media Arts Division). He exhibited "Space-Moere Project" in collaboration with SIAF Lab. at SIAF (Sapporo International Art Festival) 2017. His most recent publications are “Design for Otherness” (BNN, 2017), “Basic Concept of Media Art” (Film Art, Co-ed., 2018) and ”Instagram and Contemporary Visual Culture” (BNN, Co-ed., 2018).
http://hemokosa.com

Takashi Ikegami

Complex Systems Science Researcher / Professor, Department of General Systems Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo

Completed a doctoral course in Physics at The University of Tokyo in 1989. D.Sc. (Physics). After working at Kyoto University's Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics and the Kobe University Graduate School of Natural Science, Dr. Ikegami became Assistant Professor at The University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1994. Since 2008, he has served as Professor at the same institution. His research on complex systems and artificial life has included experiments on self-propelled oil droplets (2008), a study on the World Wide Web as a form of excitable media (2014), and simulations tracking the behavior of 1 million boids, or artificial life programs (2015, 2017). His dynamism and energy have also extended to work that brings together the domains of art and science. In addition to the sound installations Filmachine (Keiichiro Shibuya, Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM), 2006) and Mind Time Machine (YCAM, 2010), recent projects on which Dr. Ikegami has collaborated include the android Alter (Excellence Prize winner, Japan Media Arts Festival, 2017), and the "android opera" ScaryBeauty (Keiichiro Shibuya, 2018), which featured Alter. As an author, Dr. Ikegami's works include The Sandwich Theorem of Life (Kodansha, 2013), Motion Makes Life (Seidosha, 2008), and Between Man and Machine (co-author, Kodansha, 2016).

Memo Akten

Artist

Memo Akten is an artist from Istanbul, currently based in Sussex, UK. His work explores the collisions between nature, science, technology, ethics, ritual, tradition and religion. Combining critical and conceptual approaches with investigations into form, movement and sound he creates data dramatizations of natural and anthropogenic processes. He studies and works with complex systems, behaviour, algorithms and software; and collaborates across many disciplines spanning video, sound, light, dance, software, online works, installations and performances. Alongside his practice, he is currently working towards a PhD at Goldsmiths University of London in artificial intelligence and expressive human-machine interaction, exploring collaborative co-creativity between humans and machines.

Akten received the Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica in 2013 for his collaboration with Quayola, ‘Forms’. Past exhibitions and performances include the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Royal Opera House, London; Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow; La Gaîté lyrique, Paris; Holon Design Museum, Israel and the EYE Film Institute, Amsterdam. His work has also been featured in books, academic papers, magazines and websites such as Wallpaper*, Dazed, Eye magazine, Guardian, BBC, Financial Times, Wired and Dezeen.

Yuichiro Okamoto

Professor, College of Humanities, Research Institute, Tamagawa University

"Yuichiro Okamoto is a Professor of College of Humanities and Research Institute at Tamagawa University.

He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Literature from Kyusyu University. He taught Philosophy and Ethics at Kyusyu University, etc. and is now serving in his current position. His major publications include “Ima Sekai no Tetsugakusya ga Kangaete iru koto( Philosophical Challenges in the 21st Century ) ”（Diamond, Inc.）,“France Gendai Shiso-Shi (A History of Contemporary French Thought)”(Chuokoron-Shinsha, Inc.), “12 Sai kara no Gendai Shiso（Contemporary Thought from age 12）”(Chikuma Shobo Ltd.),“Mono-Sapiens (Thing-Sapiens )”(Kobunsha), and“Hegel to Gendai Shiso no Rinkai (Hegel and the Crisis of Contemporary Thought)”（Nakanishiya, Inc.）."

Hiroshi Ishiguro

Professor, Department of Systems Innovation in the Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University / Visiting Director, Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute

Professor, Department of Systems Innovation in the Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University / Visiting Director, Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute

Hiroshi Ishiguro received a D. Eng. in systems engineering from the Osaka University, Japan in 1991. He is currently Professor of Department of Systems Innovation in the Graduate School of Engineering Science at Osaka University (2009-) and Distinguished Professor of Osaka University (2017-). He is also visiting Director (2014-) (group leader: 2002-2013) of Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute and an ATR fellow. His research interests include sensor networks, interactive robotics, and android science. He received the Osaka Cultural Award in 2011. In 2015, he received the Prize for Science and Technology (Research Category) by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). He was also awarded the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Award in Dubai in 2015.

Ai Hasegawa

Artist / Designer

I use art and design to present a solution to the challenges encountered in our daily lives. At the same time, the solution itself questions our perception of living in this world. Having studied computer graphic animation and interactive media art at IAMAS, Japan. After moving to London, I began working as an animator, character designer and illustrator. At the same time, I worked as a designer for audience participatory interactive public art at Haque Design and Research. In 2012, I graduated with an MA in Interactions Design at The Royal College of Art. Recent works are “The Extreme Environment Love Hotel” series and “I wanna deliver a shark…” series. Assistant researcher at MIT Media Lab, from 2014 Sep until 2016 Sep. From 2017 April, become a special researcher at the University of Tokyo.

Yoshie Kris

Director, SLOW LABEL

While studying art management at Tokyo Zokei University, Ms. Kris also learned the practical aspects of working on international sporting events and stage productions, being involved in running the ceremonies and cultural prograMs. in the athletes' village at the Nagano Winter Olympics. From 2005-6 she studied abroad at Domus Academy in Italy and obtained a master’s degree in Business Design. While traveling the world as a trend researcher for Future Concept Lab, an Italy-based firm which does creative marketing consulting in 30 countries around the world, she was also actively developing on multiple fronts by connecting people from diverse fields and regions with different cultures to create new value. From 2008, Ms. Kris produced public participatory entertainment pieces in regions of Japan suffering from depopulation. In 2010 she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma and lost all function in her right leg, which introduced her to the world of disability welfare. In 2011, she founded SLOW LABEL, which connects artists with welfare facilities and companies in order to create new products and value. In 2014, she launched and became general director of an international art festival, Yokohama Paratriennale, which brings together people with disabilities and creators from various fields in order to create new art expression. Ms. Kris is involved in providing environments for people with disabilities to participate in artistic activities and training personnel to support them. Program Advisor, Performing Arts Division, Nippon Foundation DIVERSITY IN THE ARTS. Recipient of the 65th Yokohama Culture Award "Culture and Art Promotion Award" and the 2016 Timeout Tokyo LOVE TOKYO AWARD "Face of Tokyo."

Dai Tamesue

CEO, Deportare Partners

"Born in Hiroshima in 1978. First Japanese sprinter to win a medal in a track event at a World Competition. Current Japanese record holder for Men’s 400 meter hurdle (as of August 2018).

Currently focusing on collaboration between sports and technology as CEO of Deportare Partners (Founded 2018). Director of Shin-Toyosu Brillia Running Stadium. Author of “Hashiru Tetsugaku (Philosophy for Running)”, “Akirameru Chikara (Power to Give Up)”."

Reiko Tsurumaru

Fashion Designer / Representative Director, General Incorporated Association Clothing Is Wearable Medicine

After working in haute couture at Givenchy, Ms. Tsurumaru founded a private-label company in the city of Oita, Japan. She is certified by Japan's Minister of Health, Labour, and Welfare as a First Grade Skilled Worker, and has been awarded Meister status by the Zengiren (National Federation of Skilled Workers). In addition to serving as Vice President of the National Association for Fashion for Persons with Disabilities, she has also served as a lecturer at institutions such as Tokyo Medical and Dental University. She holds patents for products including road safety (reflective) clothing as well as health care and social welfare-related products. Ms. Tsurumaru is the creator of the Tsurumaru Diagramming Method, in which 46 separate body measurements are taken. This method enables the creation of accurate patterns for clothing for people of all body types, without the need for revisions. In 2011, she opened Clothing is Wearable Medicine, a bespoke clothing workshop in Oita. Over a span of roughly 30 years, Ms. Tsurumaru has made over 1,000 articles of clothing for persons with disabilities. Her experience in developing clothing for persons with disabilities in partnership with medical institutions was the foundation upon which she created the Clothing is Wearable Medicine concept. Today, she also directs considerable energy toward the training of the next generation in her field. Her work has been covered by numerous television and radio programs, including the NHK general-interest TV documentary program “Mokugeki! Nippon Retto (Observing the Japanese Islands)”. She received the Eiji Yoshikawa Cultural Award in 2016, the 50th year of the award's existence. This recognition led to the publication of Tsurumaru Method Medical Fashion (Kodansha Editorial, March 2017). In collaboration with occupational therapists, Ms. Tsurumaru has also created a textbook in which the fashion design terms for the parts of the body that require measurement are replaced with the names of the bones and muscles, with the goal of creating a future framework that would enable clothing to be made by sending measurements taken by occupational therapists to fashion designers. In 2018, Ms. Tsurumaru's clothes for women and children were among the first products to be given authorization to use the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare's Good Skill emblem. She is now working on a variety of fronts toward the goal of gaining national health insurance coverage for clothing for persons with disabilities.
Reiko Tsurumaru's Clothing is Wearable Medicine: https://kirukusuri.exblog.jp/

David Atkinson

Chairman and CEO, Konishi Decorative Arts and Crafts Co., Ltd.

Chairman & CEO, Konishi Decorative Arts and Crafts Co., Ltd. Visiting professor, Nara Prefectural University. Director, Mita Securities. Former chief banking analyst, Goldman Sachs. Mr. Atkinson was born in England in 1965. After graduating from Oxford University (M.A. in Japanese studies), he worked at large consulting and securities firms before joining Goldman Sachs. He was among the first to point out the problem of big banks' bad debt, which led to an opportunity for reorganization. He became a managing director at GS and subsequently a partner (joint investor), but left the firm in 2007. In 2009 he joined Konishi Decorative Arts and Crafts Co.—a company founded more than 300 years ago which repairs national treasures and important cultural artifacts—as a director. In 2011 he became Chairman, President, and CEO, and from 2014 to present he has held the position of Chairman and CEO. In 1999 he began training in the Urasenke school of tea ceremony, and in 2006 he received the tea name of Soshin. In the financial world he received the "Business Person of the Year" award in 2016 and the Japan-British Society Award in 2017. In 2018 he received the "2018 Furusato-zukuri Grand Prize Individual Award" from MEXT as well as the "Japanese Cultural Contribution Award" from the Japan Fashion Association.

His many written works include: New Theory of Tourism-based Nations (Yamamoto Shichihei Award, RECAJ Award, Toyo Keizai Shinpo Sha), New Theory of Income Doubling (Toyo Keizai Shinpo Sha), Japan's Renewal Needs Increased Productivity! (Asukashinsha Publishing Co.), How to Make Japan the Most Visited Place in the World (Toyo Keizai Shinpo Sha), New Theory of Productivity-based Nations, etc.

Even as Mr. Atkinson continues to make proposals to the government, he is ever running hither and yon to promote tourism in Japan. In 2015 he held the following positions: member of the Japan Heritage Review Board; Kyoto Ambassador of International Tourism; and member of the Council for the Conception of a Tourism Vision for the Japan of Tomorrow. In 2016 he held these positions: member of the Council of Experts for the Promotion of Tokyo Tourism; member of the Working Group on the Reform of the Annual Expenditure of the Administrative Reform Council; advisor to the State Guest Houses (Akasaka Palace and Kyoto State Guest House); special advisor to Nijo Castle; expert member of the Tourism Strategy Implementation Task Force; and member of the review committee for the National Parks Enjoyment Project Experts Council.

Takeshi Ito

Professor, School of Cultural and Creative Studies, Aoyama Gakuin University

Dr. Ito was born in Kyoto in 1952. He studied in the Faculty of Engineering's Department of Architecture at the University of Tokyo, and subsequently completed a master’s degree and doctorate at the Graduate School of Engineering at the same university. He held positions as a teaching assistant, associate professor, and professor at the University of Tokyo before moving to his current post as a professor at Aoyama Gakuin University's School of Cultural and Creative Studies in April 2018. Doctor of Engineering (D.Eng) Dr. Ito has been a visiting professor at Columbia University in the US and at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (École des hautes études en sciences sociales) in France.
He specializes in urban and architectural history. His efforts are focused on establishing and broadening research in urban history within the field of architectural history, and on building an international network for such research. In December 2013, Dr. Ito founded the first urban history academic conference in Japan with the aim of building a platform for interdisciplinary research on cities. Recently, he planned and led several field studies of cities and architecture both in Japan and abroad and published his findings. Currently, he is conceiving a new paradigm for the development of urban history which he calls "regional history."

His main written works and compilations include: Illustrations of Japanese Urban History (University of Tokyo Press), Cities, Architecture, and History Series (10 volumes) (ibid), Traditional Cities (4 volumes) (ibid, Architectural Institute of Japan Award), History of Urban Spaces (Yoshikawa Kobunkan, Society of Architectural Historians of Japan Award), Townhouses and Townscapes (Yamakawa Shuppansha), Bastide – A New City and Architecture in Medieval France (Chuokouron Bijyutsu Publishing), Cities and Danger – Along the Water (Sayusha), If Bunkyo Ward Didn't Have the University of Tokyo (NTT Publishing), Hue – Vietnamese Castle Town and Architecture (Chuokouron Bijyutsu Publishing), among others.
Starting in Takehara, Hiroshima, Dr. Ito has conducted urban surveys, townscape preservation surveys, and cultural landscape surveys in: Yamatokoriyama, Nara; Sado, Niigata; Iida, Nagano; Hakusan, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo; Minamisenju, Arakawa-ku, Tokyo; and Shibamata, Katsushika-ku, Tokyo. He has also been involved in urban and regional surveys of locations outside of Japan: Bastide in southern France; Hue, Vietnam; Asolo, Italy; Frisia, Netherlands; Dublin, Ireland; Cuba; the Antilles islands; and Iceland. Various fields have produced many points of discussion: swampland theory, island theory, wasteland theory, endangered city theory. Dr. Ito wishes to establish a new paradigm known as "regional history" to bundle together these disparate theories.
http://itolab.org/professor/works

Ryo Kuroda

Author / Guide specialized in EDO era's historical sites in Tokyo

Born August 5th, 1961. Native of Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Graduated from the Waseda University School of Political Science and Economics in 1985. Mr. Kuroda can often be seen walking through Tokyo's Edo-era historical sites and ruins. He shares his knowledge through guided tours and written works. As he has a passion for walking, his areas of expertise include the changes in land allocation in the 23 special wards of Tokyo, as well as Edo Castle, the mansions of feudal lords, shrines, temples, and former military land. He is also an expert on history and ruins of all kinds. This knowledge extends to subjects including the layout of the streets and alleyways of Edo (as Tokyo was once called) and modern Tokyo, and the birthplaces and stomping grounds of the city's many famous personalities. After working in the journalism and editing fields, including 16 years as a reporter for a major newspaper, Mr. Kuroda discovered the joys of exploring for the vestiges of Edo in modern Tokyo. In 2011, he began an independent career as an author. As of 2018, he expects to dedicate as many as 50 days a year to educate the public through guided tours, as the self-styled "Edo Walking Guide." He has also given lectures at numerous cultural centers. His work has been covered by a wide range of media outlets, including TV and radio outlets such as NHK, as well as newspapers and magazines. Member, Edo Castle Tower Reconstruction Group. His major written works include: Walking Through Edo Castle (2009, Shodensha Shinsho); Walking Through the Feudal Lords' Mansions of Edo (2011, Shodensha Shinsho); Walking Through the Shrines and Temples of Edo (East and West of the Castle Editions) (2012, Shodensha Shinsho); Tales of Tokyo's Famous Places Past and Present (2013, Shodensha Ogon Bunko); Walking Through the Great Military City of Tokyo (2014, Asahi Shinsho); My Alleyways: Exploring the Narrow Lanes of Edo and Tokyo (2015, Art Digest); A Study of Uniquely Japanese Beauty: The Japanese Traditions We've Misunderstood (2016, Business-sha); Walking the Highways of Edo (2016, Shodensha Shinsho); Walking Through Sites of Famous Incidents in Edo and Tokyo (2017, Mynavi Publishing); and Walking Through the Bakumatsu, Restoration, and Westernization in Edo and Tokyo (2018, Kobunsha Chie no Mori Bunko).
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ryo.kuroda.96
Twitter: @kurodaedo
Instagram: edo_kuroda

Rie Azuma

Architect, Azuma Architects & Associates

Born In Osaka, 1959. Graduated from Japan Women’s University, as well as the University of Tokyo’s School of Architecture. After completing graduate school in Architecture at Cornell University in 1986, she established Azuma Architects & Associates. She is now also a part-time teacher at Japan Women's University and Nihon University.

She has designed numerous resort facilities and commercial buildings, most notably the "Hoshinoya" hotels, but also has experience with several residential buildings and private homes.

Her major works include Hoshinoya Karuizawa (2005), Hoshinoya Kyoto (2009), HARUNIRE Terrace (2009), Hoshinoya Taketomi Island (2012), Hoshinoya Fuji (2015), Hoshinoya Tokyo (2016), and Hoshinoya Bali (2017).

Heizo Takenaka

Professor, Toyo University / Professor Emeritus, Keio University / Chairman, Institute for Urban Strategies, The Mori Memorial Foundation /Director, Academyhills

Heizo Takenaka is a Professor at Toyo University and a Professor Emeritus at Keio University. He is also Chairman of the Institute for Urban Strategies at The Mori Memorial Foundation and President of Academyhills.
In 2001, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi named him the Minister of Economic/Fiscal Policy, the Minister of both Financial Services and Economic/Fiscal Policy in 2002, the Minister of both Economic / Fiscal Policy and Privatization of the Postal Services in 2004, the Minister of both Internal Affairs and Communication, and Privatization of the Postal Services in 2005. The following year, he returned to academia, leaving both the Cabinet and the House of Councilors when Prime Minister Koizumi resigned.
He received his B.A. in Economics from Hitotsubashi University and his Ph.D. in Economics from Osaka University. His academic experience is numerous, including Visiting Associate Professor of Harvard University in 1989, and Professor of Faculty of Policy Management at Keio University in 1996.
He is the author of numerous books, including "The Structural Reforms of the Koizumi Cabinet".

Hiroo Ichikawa

Professor Emeritus, Meiji University / Professor, Teikyo University / Executive Director, The Mori Memorial Foundation

He majors in urban and regional policy/planning and emergency management, and has authored numerous books on issues related to Tokyo and metropolitan regions. He has been appointed as a Dean of the Graduate School of Governance Studies, Meiji University in Japan. He has also chaired several public and private organizations including with the Japanese government, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Institute of Metropolitan Policy, and Japan Association of Emergency Qualified Specialists. He graduated from Waseda University with a Bachelor of Architecture and a Master of Urban Planning, and further studied under a Canadian government scholarship at the University of Waterloo where he was granted a Ph.D. in urban and regional planning. He is a chairman of the working committee for the Global Power City Index (GPCI). The GPCI, carried out by the Mori Memorial Foundation, is the sole global city ranking issued in Japan. He is a board member of Future of Urban Development and Innovations at the World Economic Forum.

Fumio Nanjo

Director, Mori Art Museum

Director of Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, since November 2006. He had formerly served as the Museum’s Deputy Director (2002-2006), after working for prominent cultural organizations such as the Japan Foundation (1978-1986). His notable achievements to date include: Commissioner of the Japan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (1997); Commissioner at the Taipei Biennale (1998); Member of Jury Committee of the Turner Prize (1998); Artistic Director of the Yokohama Triennale 2001; and Artistic Director of the Singapore Biennale (both 2006 and 2008). The exhibitions Nanjo was actively involved in curating at the Mori in recent years include: “Japan in Architecture: Genealogies of its Transformation” (2018); “The Universe and Art: Princess Kaguya, Leonardo da Vinci, teamLab” (2016-17); “Metabolism, The City of the Future: Dreams and Visions of Reconstruction in Postwar and Present-Day Japan” (2011-12); and “Medicine and Art: Imagining a Future for Life and Love - Leonardo da Vinci, Okyo, Damien Hirst” (2009-10). He graduated from Faculty of Economics (1972) and Faculty of Letters (Philosophy, Aesthetics and Science of Arts, 1977), Keio University. His recent publications are Asian Contemporary Art Report: China, India, Middle East and Japan (2010) and A Life with Art (2012).

Joichi Ito

Director, MIT Media Lab

Joi Ito is the director of the MIT Media Lab, Professor of the Practice at MIT and the author, with Jeff Howe, of Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future (Grand Central Publishing, 2016).

Ito is a Visiting Professor of Law from Practice at the Harvard Law School.

Ito is chairman of the board of PureTech Health and serves on several other boards, including The New York Times Company, the MacArthur Foundation and the Knight Foundation. He is the former chairman and CEO of Creative Commons, and a former board member of ICANN, The Open Source Initiative, and The Mozilla Foundation.

Ito is a serial entrepreneur who helped start and run numerous companies including one of the first web companies in Japan, Digital Garage, and the first commercial Internet service provider in Japan, PSINet Japan/IIKK. He has been an early-stage investor in many companies, including Formlabs, Flickr, Kickstarter, littleBits, and Twitter.

Ito received a PhD from The Keio University Graduate School of Media and Governance in 2018 for his thesis The Practice of Change.

Ito has received numerous awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oxford Internet Institute and the Golden Plate Award from the Academy of Achievement, and he was inducted into the SXSW Interactive Festival Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2017, he received the IRI Medal.

Ito has been awarded honorary doctorates from The New School and Tufts University and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Mitchel Resnick

Professor, Learning Research, MIT Media Lab

Mitchel Resnick, Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab, develops new technologies and activities to engage people (especially children) in creative learning experiences. His Lifelong Kindergarten research group develops the Scratch programming software and online community, the world’s largest coding platform for kids. His group also collaborates with the LEGO Company on the development of new educational ideas and products, including LEGO Mindstorms robotics kits. Resnick co-founded the Computer Clubhouse project, an international network of 100 after-school learning centers, where youth from low-income communities learn to express themselves creatively with new technologies. Resnick earned an undergraduate degree in physics from Princeton, and a Masters and PhD degrees in computer science from MIT. He was awarded the McGraw Prize in Education (2011), the AACE EdMedia Pioneer Award (2013), and the ISTE Making IT Happen Award (2018). He is author of the book "Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play", which won the PROSE award for Education Practice in 2018.

Mimi Ito

Director, Connected Learning Lab, University of California, Irvine

Mimi Ito is a cultural anthropologist, learning scientist, entrepreneur, and an advocate for connected learning—learning that is equity-oriented, centered on youth interest, and socially connected. She directs the Connected Learning Lab at the University of California, Irvine and is co-founder of Connected Camps, a non-profit providing online learning experiences for kids in all walks of life. Her co-authored books include Hanging Out, Messing Around and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media and Affinity Online: How Connection and Shared Interest Fuel Learning and the reports, From Good Intentions to Real Outcomes: Equity by Design in Learning Technologies, and Connected Learning: An Agenda for Research and Design.

Masashi Kawashima

Executive Producer and Asia Pacific Director, Niantic, Inc.

Masashi Kawashima is Executive Producer and Asia Pacific Director of Niantic, Inc. Niantic is initially started as a “startup” within Google to build mobile experiences that foster fun, exploration, discovery and social interaction in the real world, and spun out from Google in October 2015. He joined Niantic Labs in 2013 as a UX/Visual designer and designed Ingress visual and user experiences. Ingress has won several prizes including “Japan Media Art Festival Grand Prize of Entertainment division”, “Japan Game Award, Game Designers Grand Prize”, “AMD Award”, etc. Niantic has partnered with Nintendo and The Pokemon Company on a new ground breaking project for mobile devices called Pokémon GO, that players look for, capture pokemon in the real world. He started the Pokémon GO project.

Masa begun his career while he was a student of Waseda University. In 2000, he moved to Los Angeles, and found his first company in United States.

Masa joined to Google in 2007. He led the Asia Pacific Webmaster team, and produced many websites, and Google Doodles. He is the world’s first “non-US” Google doodle(Google holiday logo) designer, and hosted “Doodle4Google”, an annual competition held by Google to have children create a logo that will be featured on the Google homepage. He also led Crisis Response web team when East Japan Earthquake happened, and had a talk about it at TED Tohoku. Eventually, he moved to United States again in 2011, and led global consumer product web design team as the senior webmaster of Google.

Andre Uhl

Research Associate, MIT Media Lab

Andre Uhl is a PhD candidate at Harvard University’s Department of Visual and Environmental Studies, a research associate at the MIT Media Lab’s director’s office, and project lead at the global Council on Extended Intelligence (CXI). His doctoral research explores participatory design practices for the ethics and governance of Artificial Intelligence.
Andre holds an M.A. from the Tokyo University of the Arts, and a B.A. in Visual Arts and East Asia Studies from Free University, Berlin.
He is a current Fellow at the MIT Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values, and member of the Religions and the Practice of Peace leadership network, a program to integrate spiritual and ethical formation into leadership preparation at Harvard University.

Toshiko Mori

Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice for Architecture, Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture, Harvard University; Principal, Toshiko Mori Architect, New York; work includes urban design, master plans, public and institutional projects. Founder, VisionArc, a think tank promoting strategic analysis through visualization and collaborative design initiatives. Contributor to international publications, exhibitions, symposia, lectures and design juries, Recipient of numerous awards includes ACSA Gold Medal, AD 100 for 2014 and 2016

Akihiko Tobe

General Manager, Society 5.0 Promotion and Urban Solution Development Division, Social Innovation Business Division, Hitachi. Ltd.

Akihiko Tobe joined Hitachi in 1979 and has extensive professional experience as a system engineer of CAD application systems and database management systems for plant drawings. In 1994 he graduated with a Master of Science in Engineering from the University of Michigan. Tobe subsequently gained various system engineering experience in stock exchange information systems, power industry OA systems and such. In 2002 Tobe participated in the ITS Telematics Business and Car Information Systems (CIS) business and was engaged in a project integrating IT into automobiles. In 2010 he assumed the position of Senior Director of the Smart City Business Management Division and was engaged in several smart city development projects around the world. Tobe is currently the General Manager of the Smart Society Division, Society 5.0 Promotion and Urban Solution Development Division, Social Innovation Business Division at Hitachi.

Masato Nakagawa

Executive Fellow, Global Technical Affairs, DENSO Corporation / Guest Professor, Hiroshima University

Born in Aichi, Japan - December 30th 1956
Graduated Hiroshima University in 1980
Entered “Nippondenso”(former DENSO) in 1980
Long-term experiences in overseas
- Iowa, US : 1988-1993 Senior Engineer
- London, UK : 2003-2004 Chief Engineer
- Düsseldorf, DE : 2005-2014 Engineering Head
- Amsterdam, NL: 2014-2015 President & CEO
- Munich, DE : 2016-2017 CTO
- Tokyo, JP : since 2017.4 Global Affair Officer
Guest Professor, Hiroshima University
Established “Aachen Engineering Center”
during working with DENSO Europe

Soichiro Takashima

Mayor, City of Fukuoka

Born on November 1, 1974, Soichiro Takashima served as a TV presenter for variety programs and talk shows on environmental issues from 1997.
In 2010, at the age of 36, he became the youngest mayor in Fukuoka City’s history. He was re-elected in November 2014, securing a record number of votes. In the same year, he was nominated for the 2014 World Mayor Prize, which recognizes the world’s most outstanding mayors. In 2017, he became the first Japanese mayor to participate in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting.
As a young Japanese political leader, Takashima has been active in promoting Fukuoka at home and abroad. Utilizing Fukuoka City’s established status since May 2014 as the National Strategic Special Zone for Global Startups and Job Creation, Mayor Takashima is implementing various deregulations and systematic reforms, including the Startup Visa and corporate tax cuts for startups. He has been a strong force in leading Japan’s startup movement and policies.
He has also been active in the fields of tourism and MICE promotion, and has succeeded in earning Fukuoka the right to host the 2019 Rugby World Cup, the 2019 ISU World Team Trophy in Figure Skating, the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting 2019, and the 2021 World Aquatics Championships.
Nationally, Takashima has also assumed a variety of important leading positions, including as an adviser to the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2020, and as a member of the Cool Japan Strategic Promotion Committee, amongst others.

Alice Charles

Project Lead, Cities, World Economic Forum

Alice Charles leads all Cities and Urban Development work at the World Economic Forum, Geneva, Switzerland. This includes developing the Forum's Fourth Industrial Revolution City Preparedness Protocol, managing the Future of Urban Development and Services Initiative, its Steering and Advisory Committee, the Global Future Council on Cities and Urbanization, the production of all city and urban development related content and cities and urban development events at World Economic Forum Summits (including Davos). She is also an External Board Member of the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA), Ireland.

She has seventeen years’ experience working in the areas of cities and urban development, town planning, real estate, infrastructure, environment, climate change and public policy globally. She previously worked for the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Ireland, Dail Eireann (Irish Parliament), Ireland, Jacobs Engineering (formerly SKM Colin Buchanan) and GVA, London, UK.

She has a Masters in Global Leadership through the World Economic Forum, in conjunction with The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, Cornell Tech, INSEAD, London Business School and the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), a Master’s in Business Administration from University College Dublin Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, a Postgraduate Diploma in Town and Country Planning from Queens University Belfast and a 1st Class Honours Degree in Environmental Planning from Queen’s University Belfast. She is a Chartered Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and a Member of the Irish Planning Institute. In 2017 she was awarded the Irish Echo 40 under 40 Award, which recognizes outstanding global contributions of Irish and Irish Americans, before reaching the age of 40.

Makiko Eda

Chief Representative Officer, World Economic Forum Japan / Member of Executive Committee, World Economic Forum

After graduating from Waseda University, and completing graduate studies in the US, worked as a market research analyst in the US. Returned to Japan, and worked for a market research company, before joining Intel in 2000. Following several roles in upper management, was appointed as General Manager of Marketing Headquarters, responsible for brand strategy, sales promotion planning, market research, and Internet marketing. In 2010, became responsible for Intel’s marketing activities in the Asia-Pacific region, as Director of Marketing and Consumer Sales, based in Hong Kong.
In October 2013, she was appointed as President and Representative Director of Intel Japan K.K., where she worked until March 2018. Makiko was appointed as Chief Representative Officer of World Economic Forum Japan in April 2018.

Works to open up new markets and create demand, by utilizing knowledge and experience gained through implementing and leading a diverse range of marketing activities for over two decades. Also utilizes her far- reaching experience of working in the US, Japan, and Asia to cultivate employees with the skills to succeed in global business. Also, serving on committee for the promotion of regulatory reform by Japan government from September 2016.

Tsubasa Nakamura

Representative, Voluntary Group CARTIVATOR

Born in Tokyo in 1984. As a youth, Mr. Nakamura's imagination was captured by Ferrari, which inspired his desire to become an automotive engineer. While majoring in mechanical engineering at Keio University and in graduate school, he served as the representative of a student race car building team. In recognition of his scholastic and extracurricular achievements, Mr. Nakamura was presented with the Fujiwara Award, named for the founder of what would become Keio University's Faculty of Science and Technology. In 2009, Mr. Nakamura joined a major automotive company, where he worked on the design of production models for both Japan and foreign markets. Meanwhile, in the hope of passing on the inspiration that motor vehicles had given to him, Mr. Nakamura founded Cartivator, a volunteer organization, in 2012. Cartivator is a human network that extends across companies, organizations, and generations. Its goal is to build a flying car that will light the Olympic flame at Tokyo 2020. Mr. Nakamura also serves as a researcher for a project to study the commercialization of flying cars, which was launched at the Keio University Graduate School of System Design and Management in 2017.

Akira Fukabori

AVATAR Program Director, Digital Design Lab, ANA HOLDINGS INC.

Akira has a vision to leverage the strengths of airlines to connect all 7.5 billion people on earth. He belongs to ANA‘s newly established Digital Design Lab and is a prize developer behind the ANA AVATAR XPRIZE concept which won top honors at the XPRIZE Visioneers 2016 Summit.
Akira entered ANA in 2008. His Blue Wing business model, which is a partnership model that bridges for-profit and non-profit organizations, was the grand prize concept of the Tokyo-based 2010 Global Agenda Seminar program. This earned Akira an invitation to the 2011 World Economic Forum. Akira is a serial intrapreneur who has helped to launch multiple initiatives within ANA.

Risako Nakamura

Bunka Fashion College / Fashion Designer / Digital Fabricator

Born November 11th, 1994.
Beginning in 2016, Ms. Nakamura split her post-secondary studies between Bunka Fashion College and the Keio University (Shonan Fujisawa Campus) Faculty of Policy Management, from which she graduated in March 2018. Ms. Nakamura uses digital fabrication to create clothing. Since 2018, she has been among the second group of recipients of the Kuma Foundation's Creator Scholarship.

Shoichi Arisaka

CEO, TechShop Japan

Joined Fujitsu in 1998. As a member of the company's Global Marketing Group, Mr. Arisaka worked on business planning and development for the Americas, Asia, and Europe, before taking part in the launch of an accelerator program promoting the development of collaborative projects between Fujitsu and startups. He became President and Representative Director of TechShop Japan in October 2015. After experiencing the maker movement in its hotbed of San Francisco, Mr. Arisaka opened TechShop Tokyo in April 2016, with the goal of making Japanese society into one where "anyone can bring their ideas to life." As he puts it, "Every idea is a good idea, and worth trying."

Yoshikuni Takashige

Vice President, Marketing Strategy and Vision, Fujitsu Limited

Yoshikuni Takashige joined Fujitsu in 1984. He was engaged in international business, taking strong leadership in developing Fujitsu’s important strategic partnerships and joint ventures with global companies. Throughout his career, he has been exposed to many different people, businesses and cultures, which has helped him shape his thought about transformation of business and society. Since 2012, he has been leading the development of the Fujitsu Technology and Service Vision, which sets out Fujitsu’s vision and its thinking on how organizations can innovate by leveraging digital technologies. He speaks about innovations internationally. He received an MBA from the Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University, and a Bachelor of Law from the University of Tokyo.

Norihiko Sasaki

Chief Content Officer, NewsPicks, Inc.

Born in 1979 in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Graduated from Keio University's Faculty of Policy Management. Earned a master’s degree from Stanford University in the International Political Economy concentration. At the publisher Toyo Keizai Inc., he was responsible for areas including the automobile and IT industries. In November 2012, he became Editor-in-Chief of Toyo Keizai Online. Mr. Sasaki led an overhaul of the website that led to over 53 million page views over a four-month span, making it the top-ranked website in the business magazine category. As an author, his published works include Are Made-in-the-U.S.A. Elites Really That Special?, Will the Media Make Money Five Years from Now?, and Japan 3.0: A Life Strategy for 2020. He also serves as CEO of NewsPicks Studio.

Keiko Hamada

Supervising Editor in Chief of BUSINESS INSIDER JAPAN / former Editor in Chief of AERA

Beginning her career in 1989 at the prestigious newspaper company, the Asahi Shimbun Co., Keiko was transferred to the weekly magazine AERA in 1999 after experiencing branch offices at Maebashi, Sendai and the Weekly Asahi. As a journalist, she has specialized in covering world news and the issues seen of the modern female career and lifestyle. Keiko has been at site for both 9.11 and the Iraq War. Becoming the deputy editor in 2004, deputy editor in chief, Keiko became AERA’s first female editor in chief.
During her term as editor in chief at AERA, she has innovated the classic magazine, collaborating with online media and inviting outside editors to produce special articles.

From May 2016 to March 2017, she has also produced projects “On Career x Childrearing,” “WORKO ! ” and symposiums such as “Career Paths” as producer at the Comprehensive Producing Office at the Asahi Shimbun Co. Starting April 2017 Keiko is now the Japanese supervising editor in chief of an online business news media that spans over 14 countries worldwide. She will be continuing commentary at TV programs “Shinichi Hatori Morning Show” and “the Sunday Morning” and lectures on topics including but not limited to diversity and labor reform.

Ryuichiro Takeshita

Editor-in-Chief, HuffPost Japan

Born in 1979. Graduated from Keio University's Faculty of Law, Department of Politics in 2002. The same year, he joined The Asahi Shimbun Company. After working in the business bureau at the company's Tokyo headquarters, he moved to its Media Lab in 2013. From 2014–2015, he served as a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University (research subject: "Should Human Beings or Computer Algorithms Be the Editors of News?"). He has been Editor-in-Chief at HuffPost Japan since May 1st, 2016.

Daisuke Tsuda

Journalist / Media Activist

Journalist and media activist. Editor-in-Chief, Politas. Born in 1973. Native of Tokyo. Graduate of the Waseda University School of Social Sciences. Professor, Faculty of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, Waseda University. Anchor of TV Asahi Channel 2's Japan Plus with Daisuke Tsuda. News Supervisor for the J-Wave radio program Jam the World. Founder and Representative Director, Movements for Internet Active Users (MIAU). Mr. Tsuda was named to the Davos World Economic Forum's 2013 class of Young Global Leaders. As a writer, he specializes in subjects including media, journalism, intellectual property, content business, and freedom of expression. In recent years, Mr. Tsuda's journalism has focused on the topics of regional challenges and their solutions, and how technology and social entrepreneurship are changing society. His major works as an author include: Changing Politics on the Web (Asahi Shinsho), The Mobilization Revolution (Chuko Shinsho Laclef), How Information Breathes (Asahi Press), The Twitter Society Theory (Yosensha Shinsho), On Future-Proofing Music (Chuko Shinsho Laclef), and The "Post-Truth" Era (Shodensha). Mr. Tsuda's subscription-based weekly email newsletter The Media Shop Floor has been in circulation since September 2011.

Kumi Fujisawa

Co-Founder, Think Tank SophiaBank

Kumi Fujisawa founded Japan’s first investment trust evaluation company in 1996 after working for several investment fund management companies. She sold the company to Standard & Poor’s in 1999 and joined Think Tank SophiaBank to incubate new social systems by fostering social entrepreneurs in 2000, has worked as a co-founder since 2003. She was assigned as one of the Young Global Leaders in 2007 and the member of the Global Agenda Council in 2008 by World Economic Forum.
She was a director of the international conference " World Forum on Sport and Culture " which was organized by the government in 2016.
She is currently a committee member at several government ministries, a board member at Japan Securities Dealers Association, and an external board member at some public-listed companies such as Toyota Tsusho Corporation. She is active in lecturing socially conscious investment strategies and management thorough publications, lectures, television and radio program “Kumi Fujisawa’s Shacho(Executive) Talk”. She has interviewed over 1000 leaders of corporations and ventures. She published more than 20 books on the topics of investment management and social entrepreneurial actions.
Her recent publication is "The Real Essence of Visionary Leadership-Do Nothing and Think All-" in 2016.

Yutaka Matsuo

Project Associate Professor, Department of Technology Management for Innovation, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo

Yutaka Matsuo is a project associate professor at Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo. He received his Ph.D. degrees from the University of Tokyo. After working at National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and Stanford University, he joined the faculty of University of Tokyo in 2007. He served as Editor-in-chief at Japan Society for Artificial Intelligence (JSAI). He was the chair of the Ethical, Legal and Social Issues (ELSI) committee in JSAI between 2014 and 2018. He serves as the head of planning team at AI center of AIST. Since 2017, he assumed the position of Director at Japan Deep Learning Association. His research topics include web mining and big data analysis, and he has been an evangelist of deep learning for the application to robotics and industrial machines in Japan.

Mayu Shono

President, HAPIKIRA FACTORY Corporation

Born in Tokyo in 1991.
While attending Keio University, Ms. Shono founded HAPIKIRA FACTORY, a company that brings cute production touches to regional products, and distributes said products. After graduating from university, she worked at an advertising agency.
Currently, as a two-career woman, she works on smart products at Sony while also managing her own company.
In 2016, she became a member of the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry's "Study Group for Creation of Startups and New Business Through Second Jobs and Side Jobs," in which her experience in developing parallel careers is a valuable asset.
Most recently, as a Project Research Associate at the Keio University Graduate School of Media and Governance, she has been working with students on the creation of new regional businesses.

Katsumi Okuno

Professor, Department of Intercultural Communication, Rikkyo University

Born in 1962 in Shiga Prefecture, Japan.
While attending university, Dr. Okuno traveled to live with the Tepehuán, an indigenous people of Mexico. He would later travel to Southeast and South Asia—becoming a Buddhist monk in Bangladesh—as well as Turkey and Kurdistan. After graduating from university, he would work at a trading company, and spent a year traveling in Indonesia, before returning to school to study cultural anthropology. He completed his doctoral studies at Hitotsubashi University's Graduate School of Social Sciences.
His major published works as sole author is: Deeds of Spirits and Deeds of Men: How the Kalis of Borneo Interpret and Deal with Catastrophe, Imperial Medicine and Anthropology, and An Anthropologist's Thoughts on Life with the Forest People Who Need Neither "Thank You" nor "Sorry."
Dr. Okuno has also authored the compilation Ethnography of People, Animals, and Haggling.
He has contributed to collections including: Lessons of Cultural Anthropology: Departing from the Field, The Anthropology of Sex, An Anthropology of People and Animals, Cultural Anthropology (Revised Edition), and Lexicon: Contemporary Anthropology.
As co-translator, Dr. Okuno has contributed to the Japanese editions of Eduardo Kohn's How Forests Think: Toward an Anthropology Beyond the Human and Rane Willerslev's Soul Hunters: Hunting, Animism, and Personhood Among the Siberian Yukaghirs.

Noriyuki Yanagawa

Professor, Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo

1988: Completed Keio University Correspondence Courses 1993: Completed doctoral program at the Graduate School of Economics, The University of Tokyo and received Doctor of Economics degree
After serving as an associate professor at Keio University, Dr. Yanagawa joined the Graduate School of Economics, The University of Tokyo in 1996 as an associate professor. In 2011, he assumed his current position as a professor.

Dr. Yanagawa also serves as executive vice president at Nippon Institute for Research Advancement (NIRA), director general of the panel on “Future of Work 2035: For Everyone to Shine,” under the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, and chairman of the “Study Group for Creation of Startups and New Business through Second Jobs and Side Jobs” under the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI). In addition, he is a member of councils and study groups under the Cabinet office, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism, METI, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, etc. He also serves as head of the Fintech Research Forum under the Center for Advanced Research in Finance at The University of Tokyo.

Major publications:
Ho to kigyo kodo no keizai bunseki (Economic Analysis of Law and Corporate Behavior), Nihon Keizai Shimbun Keiyaku to soshiki no keizaigaku (Economics of Contracts and Organizations), Toyo Keizai Shinposha
Kaishaho no keizaigaku, Tokyo Daigaku Shuppankai (co-authored with Yoshiro Miwa and Hideki Kanda)
Nihon seicho senryaku yonjissai teinensei, Sakurasha
Yonjissai kara no kaisha ni tayoranai hatarakikata, Chikumashobo
Todai kyoju ga oshieru dokugaku benkyoho, Soshisha

Anju Ishiyama

Secretariat of the Sharing Economy Association Japan / Sharing Economy Evangelist, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of Japan

As General Manager of Public Affairs for the Sharing Economy Association, Japan, Ms. Ishiyama is responsible for public and government relations. As a public-private intermediary between startups and governments, she is involved in pursuits including regulatory reform and policy promotion, working to accomplish the organization's mission to "realize an innovative society." Her other roles include: Sharing Economy Evangelist at the Government of Japan's Cabinet Secretariat; Regional Informatization Adviser for Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications; committee member for the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare's Seminar on the Impact of the Sharing Economy on Employment and the Labor Market; and committee member at Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications planning conferences. As a tri-sector leader, Ms. Ishiyama is also involved in lifestyle media work focused on the sharing economy, gaining recognition as the "Sharing Girl." Named a Key Opinion Leader by Nikkei's Comemo. NewsPicks ProPicker. Appears regularly on the NewsPicks livestream series Weekly Ochiai. Born in 1989. Graduate of International Christian University (ICU). While attending university, she worked as an assistant on an NHK program. Upon graduation, she joined Recuit Co., Ltd. After working in the HR field for three years, she joined CrowdWorks Inc., where she was responsible for administrative planning, public relations, and policy outreach before moving to her current post. 2010 Japan Semifinalist and 2012 Yokohama Finalist, Miss Universe.

Naoki Aoyagi

CEO, Merpay, Inc.

Aoyagi worked in IPO support and M&A advisory for technology companies at the main investment banking office of Deutsche Bank.
At GREE, he led the company’s pre-IPO financing and managed the IPO as CFO.
He also led business development activities at GREE, including the launch of the company’s game platform, and held such positions as GREE International CEO and SVP of Global Operations. In November of 2017, he assumed the role of Merpay, Inc. CEO. Aoyagi is a graduate of Keio University.

Haruka Mera

Founder and CEO, READYFOR, Inc.

Haruka is a founder of READYFOR, Inc. Readyfor is the first and biggest crowd funding service ever in Japan, targeting every kind of entrepreneurs including local and social. Through Readyfor, she aspires to realize a world where every individual achieves whatever he/she wants regardless of financial status. Currently, she is a member of Global Shapers from World Economic Forum. She attended in World Economic Forum in 2012 as a youngest member from Japan. She holds a Master’s degree in media design from Keio University.

Yuji Mizoguchi

Founder & CEO, FiNC Technologies Inc.

Mr. Mizoguchi has worked as a trainer since high school. To date, he has worked with hundreds of elite athletes and celebrities, including professional baseball and basketball players as well as entertainers, helping them to maximize their physical fitness. In addition to his work as a trainer, Mr. Mizoguchi has also made his mark as one of the youngest consultants in the business world, playing a key role in the launches of numerous new businesses and helping to rebuild a multitude of once-struggling companies. All of the companies that have placed their turnarounds in Mr. Mizoguchi's capable hands have since set new performance records. Mr. Mizoguchi founded FiNC in April 2012. Director, Japan Society of Anti-Aging. Named to Nikkei Business's "Best Company Presidents as Chosen by Young Company Presidents" and "30 People Who Are Creating the Japan of Tomorrow" lists.

Tomohiro Sawada

Total Producer, World YURU Sports Association

Copywriter / Social Welfare Creator. After spending his childhood in Paris, Chicago, and London, Mr. Sawada returned to Japan at age 17. In 2004, he joined an advertising agency. As a copywriter, his accomplishments include creating the tagline for the Japanese release of the 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises. He has also provided creative direction for a wide range of businesses. In his capacity as Total Producer for the World YURU Sports Association, he has invented over 50 new sports over a three-year span. In 2017, his efforts were recognized with a "HEROs Award." These awards have been called the Academy Awards of the Japanese sports world. Under the unifying concept of "the innovation of perceived flaws," Mr. Sawada has also provided planning and production for projects including: "NIN_NIN," a service robot for people with visual impairments; "041 Fashion," which approaches the creation of new clothing from the perspectives of individuals and the challenges they face; "Amputee Venus Show," a fashion show in which the models are women who use prosthetic limbs; and "Jiji-Pop," a senior-citizen boy band.

Tasuku Mizuno

Attorney, City Lights Law Office

Attorney at City Lights Law Office in Tokyo, his area of specialty include IP Law, Entertainment Law, Art Law, Internet Law, Information Law and so forth. He is also the co-director of “Creative Commons Japan (currently Commonsphere)”, the co-director of “Arts and Law” and a senior researcher of KEIO University Research Institute at SFC (Legal Design Lab). He is a “GOOD DESIGN AWARD” judge and is the member of “Fab Commons” (FabLab Japan), and is quite active in Open Source, Sharing and new copyright definition for digital economy and culture.

Shunichi Maruyama

Executive Producer, Program Development Production Headquarters, NHK Enterprises, Inc. / Lecturer, Waseda University and Tokyo University of the Arts

In recent years, Mr. Maruyama has developed and overseen the production of a diverse succession of documentaries that put modern society under the microscope, placing a particular focus on the concept of "desire" with Japanese-language programs such as The Capitalism of Desire: When the Rules Change/When the Power of Darkness Awakens, The Democracy of Desire: When the Global Landscape Changes, The Economic History of Desire, and The Philosophy of the Age of Desire: Markus Gabriel on Japan. Meanwhile, he continues to work as a producer of documentary and edutainment programming in a variety of genres, from the serious to the lighthearted. These programs include AI Beginner: What is Human? , Earth Taxi: a series that follows taxi drivers in locations around the world, the cat documentary series Nekommentary, and Japan's Dilemmas.

After graduating from the Keio University Faculty of Economics, Mr. Maruyama joined NHK, serving in capacities including Director of Educational Programming and Chief Producer before becoming Executive Producer at the broadcaster's Program Development Production Headquarters. His career in program development has included work on the long-running English language education series Eigo de Shabera Night, the variety show Bakusho Mondai's Japanese Education, the game show Socrates's Human Resources, the workplace reality series Shigoto Hakkenden, and J-Literature, a series in which English was taught through translated Japanese literature.

As author, his published works include You Don't Need to Have a Conclusion (Kobunsha Shinsho), Every Job Starts with an Affirmation (Daiwashobo), The Capitalism of Desire, The Capitalism of Desire 2 (both Toyo Keizai, as co-author with production team), and The Democracy of Desire (Gentosha Shinsho, as co-author with production team).

Takashi Kishida

CTO, LITALICO lnc.

Dr. Kishida obtained his doctorate (information engineering) in March 2006.
After working at a large network integrator, he joined Gree, Inc., in May 2009.
He worked as an engineer and business manager before holding positions at the Japan Studio as Director of Management and Assistant General Manager of Development.
In October 2013, Dr. Kishida became an executive officer at Gree. Thereafter, he was involved in developing new titles and creator training.
In November 2015, he joined LITALICO Inc. as CTO.
With the goal of promoting the use of technology in education and welfare, Dr. Kishida has been involved in starting up engineering organizations and developing applications in the education and welfare sectors.
Currently, he is focusing his attention on projects which involve people from inside and outside his company, such as holding SOCIAL FIGHTER AWARD, a contest for solving social problems.

Megumi Sasaki

Producer / Director

Filmmaker Megumi Sasaki directed and produced her first feature-length documentary film HERB & DOROTHY (2008) about legendary New York art collectors Herb and Dorothy Vogel, winning top honors at many international film festivals including the Hamptons International Film Festival, Philadelphia Film Festival, SILVERDOCS. The film was selected for a season’s opener for PBS’s Independent Lens series in 2009, and was voted #1 by the Huffington Post for “10 Documentaries About Artists in Love You Need to Watch”.

In 2013, Megumi completed the highly anticipated follow-up documentary to HERB & DOROTHY titled HERB & DOROTHY 50X50, focusing on the next (and final) chapter in the lives of Herb and Dorothy Vogel. The both film had a nationwide theatrical release in US and Japan and continues to screen in theaters, museums and art fairs around the globe.

Her third feature length documentary A WHALE OF A TALE took 6 years for completion setting a camera in a small fishing town of Taiji, Japan that was featured in the Oscar winning film, The Cove. The film had a world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea and selected for the feature documentary competition in October 2016. In 2017 the film has won the best feature documentary award at Rhode Island International Film Festival and Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival.

In August 2017, Sasaki published her first book, OKUJIRASAMA, depicting behind the scenes of the film’s production as well as the in-depth historical and religious analysis of the whaling controversy. The book won the science journalist award 2018 in Japan.

Prior to becoming a filmmaker, Sasaki was an anchor, reporter, and news director for NHK, Japan's public broadcasting network. She lives in NYC since 1987.

Tran Anh Hung

Filmmaker

Born in Vietnam and living in France since 1975, Tran Anh Hung studied filmmaking in Paris at l’École Nationale Louis Lumière from 1985 to 1987.

He made 6 feature films.

THE SCENT OF GREEN PAPAYA (1993), in Official Selection at Cannes International Film Festival, won the Caméra d’Or and the Prix de la Jeunesse at Cannes. Won the César for Best 1rst Feature Film and Nominee at the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.

CYCLO (1995), won the Golden Lion at the Venise International Film Festival.

THE VERTICAL RAY OF THE SUN (2000), in Official Selection at Cannes International Film Festival.

I COME WITH THE RAIN (2008)

NORWEGIAN WOOD (2010), in competition at Venise International Film Festival.

ETERNITY (2016)

Hiraku Ogura

Fermentation Designer

Mr. Ogura seeks to "make visible through design the workings of the invisible microorganisms that are involved in fermentation." To that end, he develops products with brewers from across Japan, creates picture books and animated works, and holds workshops.
After studying the science of fermentation as a research student at the Tokyo University of Agriculture, he built a fermentation lab on a mountain in the city of Koshu, Yamanashi Prefecture, where he spends his days raising bacteria and exploring the microbial world. In 2014, he won a Good Design Award for the picture book and animated short The Homemade Miso Song. In 2015, in time for the release of his new picture book Making Malted Rice at Home the Easy Way, he launched the "Malted Rice-Making Workshop."
He has taught koji mold (Aspergillus oryzae, the fungus used in the making of Japanese-style malted rice) culturing techniques to over 1,000 people in total. In addition to serving as a lecturer for fermentation science courses for the general public at institutions including Freedom University and J. F. Oberlin University, Mr. Ogura is also active outside of Japan as a fermentation culture evangelist. His other duties have included writing a series on "Fermentation Cultural Anthropology" for the magazine Sotokoto, and appearing as a personality on the YBS Radio program The Fermentation Siblings' Cozytalk. His latest book is Fermentation Cultural Anthropology.

Duangjai Lorthanavanich

Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Thammasat Business School

Duangjai Lorthanavanich is Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Thammasat Business School. Specializes in tourism management and performed many kinds of research abroad as well as at home: “The Social Practices in making Washoku(Japanese Cuisinary) in making Washoku as Intangible Cultural Heritage”(2016-2017), “Survey Research on World Heritage Management in South Asia focusing on India, Sri Lanka and Nepal” (2012) and “Communities of Becoming: Negotiation on Resource Management of three Karen Villages in Northern Thailand” (2010).

EDUCATION:
2007 Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies (Sociology, Anthropology, Japanese Studies, Tourism), Thammasat University, Thailand. Dissertation title is “State, Capital and the Community in Tourism Management: the case studies of Yomitan town in Okinawa, Japan and Pai town in Mae Hong Son, Thailand ”
1992 Master Degree in Japanese, Faculty of Literature, Keio University, Japan
1989 Bachelor Degree in Japanese, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Thammasat University


ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS:
2016-present Current Position
2015-2017 Editing Committee of Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences
2011-2014 Chief Editor, Journal of Human Resource Intelligence, Thammasat University
2010-2011 Director of Southeast Asian Studies Program, Thammasat University
2007-2010 Board of Southeast Asian Studies Program, Thammasat University
1999-2001 Head, Japanese Department, Thammasat University

Masayoshi Shigeta

Director, Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University / Professor, Graduate School of Asian African Area Studies, Kyoto University / Fellow, Research Association of Sleep and Society

Masayoshi Shigeta is professor of Graduate School of Asian African Area Studies, Kyoto University. Director of Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University. Fellow of Research Association of Sleep and Society. Doctor of Agriculture. Born in 1956 in Kyoto, Japan. His Major is Anthropology/ Relationship between man and plants in indigenous agriculture in Africa/ Development and Education/ Research on sleep culture. He has examined various aspects of African agriculture from the standpoint of human-plant relations (agricultural science, anthropology, ecology, the origins of plant domestication, ethnobotany, and theory of domestication, etc.). He studies the challenges faced by communities as they undergo development through the analysis of useful plants as cultural resources that have been cultivated by African peoples and local knowledge related thereto. He also engages in the study of sleep and society from cultural behavioral perspectives employing multidisciplinary approaches. He organized an exhibition on sleep and society at Kyoto University Museum in 2016.

Popo Danes

Architect

From private homes and restaurants to starred hotels and luxury resorts, the renowned Balinese architect Nyoman Popo Danes is known for his exemplary designs that showcase a distinct flair of being in harmony with the local culture and nature. This green-conscientious architect always integrates ecofriendly aspects of Bali’s traditional architecture into his designs. He is one of Bali’s most prominent and acclaimed architects, and in 1993, formally established his own architectural design firm, ‘Popo Danes Architect’. An advocate for the long-term future of Bali, his style is classic and unpretentious; he designs buildings that are aesthetically beautiful and in keeping with the environment.

As an award-winning architect in both national and international domains, Popo is also often invited as guest speakers at design forums in Bali, Asia, Europe and America. Popo is a multifaceted, modern individual. While some architects are very focused on making their buildings look stunning from the outside, Popo main concern has always been the functionality of each aspect of the building. He always make sure that the designs are in harmony with their natural surroundings; that each room has a function; that a strong connection between the architecture, landscape, and interior is established.

Sadao Tsuchiya

Lifestyle Expert / President of SADAO Co., Ltd. / Architect / Researcher about life / Consultant / HOUSE VISION coordinator

1960 born in tokyo
1985 Nihon University master graduate
1985 University Rome scholarship of government Italy
1994 start to work in construction company as architect
2001 begin consultant for housing
2004 MUJI house director
2007 MUJI house board member
2008 SADAO Co.ltd
2010 start project HOUSE VISION

I conduct research and product development on life through online research and door-to-door survey. I have so far offered comprehensive support to a number of various enterprises such as developers and home builders in Japan concerning planning, design, sales, advertisement and communication.

In 2010, I established HOUSE VISION project together with Mr. Kenya Hara, and have been engaged in the operation as a facilitator since then. At present, I am positively conducting establishment of research groups in many areas in Asia.

Chatpong Chuenrudeemol

Architect / Principal, CHAT architects

Chatpong “Chat” Chuenrudeemol obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from U.C. Berkeley in 1994 and his Masters of Architecture at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design in 2000. His work experience includes positions at Berkeley-based firm Fernau and Hartman Architects and at office dA (currently NADAAA).

After his extensive studies and work experience in the United States, Chat returned to his birthplace of Bangkok, and in 2012, formed CHAT architects, a practice that creates innovative designs rooted in local vernacular conditions and programmed to stimulate community life. In 2015, he formed CHAT lab, a research think tank aimed at discovering new Thai vernacular architectures and “street” typologies, affectionately called Bangkok Bastards.

Aside from his practice and research, CHAT also considers pedagogy as a vital component of design. He has taught at various universities in Thailand, including KMUTT (King Mongkut University of Technology, Thonburi), Rangsit University, and Chulalongkorn University.

Chat’s work has been exhibited both at home and abroad, including an exhibition at Japan’s TOTO Gallery Ma in 2015. Most recently, he will be exhibiting his research-based designs at National University of Singapore (NUS) in an exhibition entitled, “Construe and Construct”.