TEDxTokyo

花いけ ライブ パフォーマンス 「バラの匂い」

生きるとは何か？ 死ぬとは何なのか？
花を通して「生」のあり方を探求する花道家のパフォーマンスです。
会場に立ち込めるバラの香りを想像して下さい。

花を通じて「生」のあり方を探求する 偶然出会った勅使河原宏氏の展覧会に衝撃を受け、華道を学び始めた上野氏。 「はないけ（花生け）」と称する創造と破壊を繰り返すライブ・パフォーマンスは、その­独特のスタイルが各界より注目を集めています。 彼は花道家を、“花を通じて生きるべき道を探求する人間である”と考え、花、器、空間­、光の要素を大切にしながら、“生きる”とはなんなのかという問いの答えを探しつづけ­ています。

Uzman Live

Uzman takes us into another world with his ability to glide around on the guitar.

Born in Pakistan, Usman is an artist, a performing musician, a composer, and a film-maker. His career with playing piano started at the age of six, then he taught himself to play a variety of instruments, while using the internet as a tool. Embodying his own extraordinary world of cinematic imagination, Usman is the storyteller of today.

Art of Life Through Drama

The moment you discover your “role”, is the moment you begin to shine.

Yoko has been involved as a Japanese casting director in an array of impressive Hollywood movies such as “The Last Samurai”, “Sayuri”, “Babel”, and “47 Ronin”.
She not only founded the MLS English language school and UPS, a planning and production company that trains Japanese to take on active roles in an international arena, but she is also active in other fields outside of casting, taking on the role of a bridge between Japan and abroad.
To this day she acts as an intermediary for people around the globe and continues to create new chemical reactions for those with a dream.

Science, art, and design. Crossing borders and hacking society.

Shiho was involved in production activities at Central Saint Martins, Royal College of Arts, and IAMAS etc., and she chose the path of bio-technology and art.

She challenges our common sense with her works such as injecting the genes of a deceased human in to a tree, thus creating a “monument” that inherits human DNA.
We have yet to see how the convergence of science and art will reflect on and influence the society of the 21st Century.
Glimpse into the world she sees as she continues to reveal her research and creations both nationwide and internationally, her theme being “to provide and leave an impact on society”.

Bringing hope to people’s hearts through music.

Hisayo Togashi is the Japan Philharmonic Orchestras Chief Manager for the project “Forest of Music” which was launched to open a window to connect society and the orchestra.

She broadens opportunities to appreciate classical music by creating a space and hosting educational programs where anyone can feel free to participate in and enjoy classical and chamber music.
In recent years they have also been actively involved in traveling to the affected areas of the Great Tokoku Earthquake and helping to provide people with hope for tomorrow through music.

Creating a 21st Century City of Diversity

Shibuya – the city that continuously creates new cultures and sets trends all around the world.

Hasebe, the former congressional deputy for Shibuya, suggested the nations first “same sex partnership ordinance” and has been elected as the new Mayor of Shibuya Ward, Tokyo. This topic is still in the midst of a worldwide debate, and he brought about this movement in the hopes of gaining a deeper understanding of sexual minorities (LGBT) in Japan. What does Hasebe’s vision for the future of a city that places great importance on diversity – look like?

Laughter and Ecstasy

For those who are constantly funny, who constantly encounter interesting things, a similar trait is there.Once you come to realize that, the minus element in life starts its conversion into pleasure.The power of laughter, it will change one’s complex into an attribute in life.

Creating worlds yet unknown from behind the TV screen. Takasu’s career as a TV broadcasting writer began when he got an invite from his childhood friend Matsumoto, a popular comedian in the comedy duo “Downtown”. He is at the origin of Japan’s popular comedy, or “Owarai” programs, and has also established the variety show style. It is because he continues to change the perspectives of those around him and maintained a firm stance despite the many limitations and stereotypes that exist within the world of television that he was able to accomplish these things.

How does Takasu, the man who changed an entire industry, see the future of Japan?

Switch – How changes start

Working to bring a “revolution” to people and companies in this era where change is so fiercely required. Sasaki has been an integral part in the realisation of future-oriented organizations within various enterprises.
Transforming over 500 people a year within corporate human resources and by launching a “chemical reaction” in the field and with management, she reforms business structures, and was also involved with the production of the promotion for Diver City.

The narrowness of artificial intelligence.

Ken Mogi reveals the narrowness of artificial intelligence.

Everything is connected to the “brain”.

Mogi is a brain scientist who focuses on “Qualia (texture with sensation)” as the base for his lectures and writings.
While he is a researcher, in April 2015 he published his first novel titled “The Tale of Tokyo University of the Arts” and is also expanding his range as a writer.
He is the embodiment of the established theory in brain science that “new challenges are the finest nutrition for the brain”.

What does an artistic scientist create?

An “X-Ray for the human heart”

Mitsuyoshi has a unique background which includes becoming a doctor in engineering and pursuing research in bio-robotics at Stanford after graduating from arts college.

He is now involved in research that can analyze people’s mental state and emotions just from the sound of their voice.
By collecting the patients voice data and analyzing it, they are looking for possible ways to utilise it for early detection in the treatment of diseases.

Flashes & Sparks – The beauty of animation

With each note I play, a world is created in my head.

Born in Pakistan, Usman is an artist, a performing musician, a composer, and a film-maker. His career with playing piano started at the age of six, then he taught himself to play a variety of instruments, while using the internet as a tool. Embodying his own extraordinary world of cinematic imagination, Usman is the storyteller of today.

Integration of Art and Science

The fusion of science and art opens doors to possibilities beyond our imagination. Experimental performance and talk by Yoko Shimizu, contemporary artist and biochemistry researcher .

The fusion of science and art open doors to possibilities beyond our imaginations.

Yoko spent her childhood growing up in New York. She studied bio-chemistry at university, and the art that she encountered while in New York left a deep and lasting impression on her.
These two elements were the starting point for her activities in science as well as a contemporary artist.She has won many awards both at home and abroad for her artworks created from her own unique perspective, and has held exhibitions in countries around the globe.
While also active as a DJ and simultaneous interpreter, she has created an art that through the use of various forms of media, gives you a sense of familiarity with her pieces.With all the possibilities encompassing the fusion of science and art, who knows what the future might hold

Musician

Bear Kittay is a musician, tech- entrepreneur, and social alchemist, serving as an international ambassador for Burning Man. Bear has travelled to six continents representing Burning Man Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creative culture. His full-length album, will be released Fall 2014.

Founder and Director of Bella Gaia

Kenji Williams is an award-winning filmmaker, music producer, theatrical show director, and classically trained violinist who fuses music, visual arts, science and storytelling. A prolific artist for over 30 years, Kenji, recently collaborated live with astronaut Koichi Wakata orbiting in space, and has picked up awards at the Canadian Society of Cinematographers and the Sundance Film Festival. One of his recent pieces, Bella Gaia, is a live multi-media performance exploring the connections between humanity and nature using NASA visualisations as well as music and dance from all over the globe.

Social Media Trend-Setter

A mysterious person who caused a sensation on Twitter with a parody bot account of the nationally recognized character. With philosophical remarks and witty jokes, the account exploded to more than 240,000 followers. Nakano Hitoyo has used the account’s popularity to disseminate safety information during the Great East Japan Earthquake. At the end of last year, Nakano Hitoyo organized a hugely successful offline event in Shibuya, mobilizing 500 people. Although the activities are now going offline and into the real world, Nakano Hitoyo’s identity remains a mystery.

Executive Director of Project Drawdown, Professor of Sustainable Business at Presidio Graduate School

Amanda Joy Ravenhill believes in the power of business to tackle social issues, most pressingly climate change. She is a professor at Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco, where she teaches regenerative business and systems thinking to MBA and MPA candidates.

She is Executive Director of Project Drawdown, which defines and describes more than 100 impeccably researched, state-of-the-shelf technologies that reduce and sequester greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Amanda is currently working with Paul Hawken on an accompanying book, “Drawdown,” to be published in 2015.

Amanda co-founded the Hero Hatchery, a fellowship for climate change icons. She is inspired by polymath Buckminster Fuller, who aimed to “make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological offense or disadvantage to anyone.

Planning Director, McCann Erickson Japan
Executive Director, END ALS Association

Before he turned 30, Hiro Fujita lived in New Jersey, Hawaii, Zurich, London, and Tokyo, was an all-star athlete and an advertising professional who “drank and partied like a rock star.” Just before his 30th birthday, he was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. As a result, Hiro started the END ALS Association, which aids research to help find a cure for the ALS as well as supporting people living with the disease. Despite his loss of motor function, Hiro was able to write a book, “99% Thank You: Things Even ALS Can’t Take Away”, with the aid of eye-tracking software. His dream is to get cured, retire in Hawaii, and save the world from the beach whilst getting drunk every, single, night.

Photographer

Leslie Kee was born in Singapore. After graduating from photography school in Tokyo, Kee spent five years working in New York City before returning to Tokyo in 2006. His work as both a fashion and art photographer has been widely published in magazines and ads. His published “Super Stars” photo collection showcases approximately 300 top Asian artists in support of survivors of the tsunami in Sumatra; Kee held a related exhibit at Omotesando Hills. For his Great Eastern Japan Earthquake charity photo collection, Tiffany Supports Love & Hope, Kee received the 40th APA METI Minister’s Award; and for his cover of AKB48’s single Koisuru Fortune Cookie he received the 42nd APA Beautiful Japan Award. He is gaining attention nationally and internationally not only for his cross-genre works of art but also for his thought leadership.

Music Producer, MC, Designer

VERBAL is a hiphop MC who has collaborated with a variety of musicians, including m-flo . He is a member of the famous rap group TERIYAKI BOYS® and has worked closely with Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, and will.i.am. He is also a distinguished DJ, a designer for ANTONIO MURPHY & ASTRO® and AMBUSH®, a film director, and a representative of WHATIF, which provides the latest film technology such as 3D projection mapping and motion capture suits.

Media Artist, Researcher

If Edison is an inventor, Yoichi Ochiai is a wizard. He integrates science and art, combining digital and analog media such as electronic circuits and soap bubbles. His works have received a number of world renowned awards, with notable installations including “Alice’s Time” (Fuchu Museum), “Monadology“ (MMM/TokyoDesignersWeek) , and “Colloid Display” (ACM SIGGRAPH). He has previously performed at TEDxTokyo yz and the TED talent search. Prepare yourself to be mesmerized by his magic!

CEO, Burning Man

Inspired by the world renowned annual arts event in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, Burning Man has become a global cultural movement with more than 200 representatives on six continents. As the organization’s recently named first CEO, Marian oversees Burning Man’s year-round staff of 65 employees and its annual operating budget of roughly $27 million. Marian first attended the event in 1995 and has been a leader in its production since 1997. She developed the Burning Man Regional Network and is a founding board member of the Burning Man Project, the Black Rock Arts Foundation, and Black Rock Solar. Marian is currently leading her organization’s efforts to facilitate and extend the Burning Man ethos around the globe.

Band

“Music has nationalities, but does not have borders.” It was this notion that started Kohei Inoue’s journey to explore the potential of Japanese musical instruments, and to transmit their sound to the world. Together with his twin brother, Kohei gives energetic performances on the Japanese drum, shamisen and shinobue flute under the stage name AUN. In 2009, Kohei started the AUN J Classic Orchestra, a project that brings together young musicians in the world of Japanese music. The orchestra gives performances both nationally and internationally to widen the appeal of traditional Japanese instruments in a way that is accessible, simple and stylish. By fusing the sound of traditional Japanese instruments with the tastes of a modern audience, Kohei is leading the way in creating a new chapter in music history.

Shojin Cuisine Chef

At the age of 27, Toshio Tanahashi quit the rat race and became an apprentice at the Zen Buddhist Gesshin Temple in Shiga Prefecture. Through three years of training, he learned of the depth and richness of traditional Buddhist monks’ vegetarian cuisine, known as “shojin ryori”. Since then, he has been working hard nationally and internationally to promote a fulfilling lifestyle that purifies body and mind. Toshio instructs people on how best to prepare vegetables to draw out their natural deliciousness. Based on his belief that his cookery should not become “restaurant food”, he spends an hour every morning grinding sesame to make sesame tofu. Toshio has founded the Zecoow Culinary Institute, which promotes food education through traditional Buddhist vegetarian cuisine.

Founder of Cinemacraft

An early advocate of mobile video and established expert in the field of digital media, Sandeep Casi worked for large corporations for the best part of a decade before going it alone and starting Cinemacraft. Free from the constraints of a bigger company, Sandeep was able to launch Videogram, Videogram Live, and Oixshr. Doing things on his own terms seems to work for Sandeep and he is now looking at ways of changing the way media is advertised, consumed and monetized.

Mellow Club executive

At the age of 60, Masako Wakamiya (also known as Ma-chan) decided that she would teach herself how to use a computer so that she could stay connected after retirement. In 1999, she and her friends established a website for seniors called Mellow Club. She now runs the Mellow Denshoukan, a digital archive of personal experiences as told by those who lived through World War II and the post-war period. The site was recognized at the United Nations World Summit Awards in the E-Culture category for Japan. Ma-chan now carries out online and offline activities with seniors’ computer clubs around the world.

Sony Computer Science Laboratories researcher, Xiborg founder

While many people have started preparing Tokyo for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, engineer Ken Endo has been working to prepare paralympic athletes to sprint to the finish line. Starting when he was a PhD student at MIT, and now at Sony Computer Science Laboratories in Japan, Ken works on robotic prosthetic legs. By reducing the number of motors and increasing the use of springs in his prosthetic legs, Ken hopes to develop prosthetic legs that function close to as well as real ones.
Ken is also part of World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders 2014, MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35 (2012), and Japan’s Impact Fellows. You can connect with Ken @kenendo on twitter, or visit his new wearable technology company, Xiborg (pronounced Cyborg), at http://xiborg.jp.

Science, Technology and Social Researcher

As a science researcher who questions science as a social foundation, Osamu Sakura takes a unique look at the emotional impact of science and technology. His goal? Examine science in a way that makes us all a little happier. For example, while researching the widespread human fear of radiation, Osamu studied the evolutionary foundation of human risk recognition and communicated with low-dose radiation exposure experts and community members to create a bridge between our emotions and scientific phenomena. In 2011, Osamu received a Science Agora Prize for his work in promoting a philosophy of science communication. Through his books and research activities, he gives us a cue to continually re-examine our human connection with science.

Software Engineer, Hacker

The mass production of DNA amplifiers, which are essential in gene testing, has become cheap and stable enough that no longer do we have to rely on big corporations or research institutes. DNA amplifiers are now being provided to biohackers and educational institutions the world over to carry out their own independent testing. Through these kinds of daring activities, Shingo Hisakawa is attempting to improve people’s literacy in the areas of gene recombination and gene therapy. Hisakawa’s unusual talents have seen him as a software engineer, hacker, and as runner-up in the Japan International Birdman Rally. Through the mobilization of all his machinery and know-how, he is now creating an environment in which anyone can make their ideas into products, without the need for a large up-front investment.

Founder of Kesennuma Knitting

Tamako Mitarai has always focused on doing work in places where her efforts can make a real difference. While she was a student, she worked with NGOs and international volunteer associations. She went on to work at a foreign consulting firm and then became a Bhutan Prime Minister Fellow. She now lives in Kesennuma, having moved there after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake with the intention of helping in the town’s recovery. There, she established Kesennuma Knitting, a company that produces knitwear such as sweaters and cardigans. Through her efforts, Kesennuma will soon be known worldwide as an area that produces high-quality knitwear.

Medical Scientist

Masayo Takahashi is a researcher in the area of visual disorders. After carrying out a pioneering iPS cell clinical study in summer 2013, she was named by the scientific journal Nature as one of “five to watch” scientists in 2014. In addition to her research involving the transplantation of iPS cell-derived retinal cells, Dr. Takahashi is also a clinician in the area of retinal degenerative disease. From her base in Kobe, Dr. Takahashi is building a medical system that offers total support to sufferers of retinal disease through both regenerative medicine and rehabilitation. The idea of this retinal disease center—making medical treatment economically self-sufficient while maximizing patient satisfaction—will be sure to spur new innovation within Japan’s embattled medical care system.

Musician, BBC Click host

LJ Rich has a remarkable and rare condition called synaesthesia. A kind of ‘mingling of the senses’ that can manifest itself in a number of ways. In LJ’s case, when she tastes food she hears music, when she hears sound she sees color, and when she feels texture she hears sounds. A naturally gifted musician, she won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music at just 11 and has since gone on to make regular features for the BBC focusing on how technological innovation affects wider society as well as bridging the gap between cultures. ‘Imagine being able to play a painting or taste your favourite song. It’s not that far fetched.’ A very apt addition to this year’s lineup.

Director General of the Japan Blind Football Association

Blind football is a universal sport that was originally conceived for the visually impaired, but can be taken part in by anyone through the use of an eye mask. The sport is gaining popularity in Japan, and the country will play host to the 2014 World Blind Football Championship, to be held in Shibuya in November. Eigo Matsuzaki was involved in Tokyo’s bid to host the tournament, thanks to his dream to “change society through blind football.” He now helps manage a sustainable non-profit sport organization for people with disabilities. In 2010 he started Supo-iku, a diversity program for children. The program is now also being used for corporate training and has helped promote awareness of the issue of employment for people with disabilities.

Doctor of Science

Plants are under constant environmental stress throughout the year, meaning that more intense sunlight or a rise in temperature due to global warming would cause them serious problems. Detailed research is required into photosynthesis’s ability to adjust to the environment and make functional enhancements; this will allow us to create plants that have both high photosynthetic ability and the strength to tolerate a harsh environment. Nishimura Miho has been conducting research into the mechanism of photosynthesis at the cellular and molecular level. She is also engaged in volunteer work, visiting high schools and junior high schools to speak about her leading-edge research. Through her activities to nurture our future and to create a new energy system—both of which are deeply linked—she is working to make our world a greener place.

Ukulele Master

In just a few short years, thirteen year old ukulele virtuoso Rio Saito has played festivals throughout Asia and as far afield as New York City and Honolulu. He has already come away with the top prize at the Annual Duke’s Ukulele Contest in Hawaii, and the Royal Hawaiian Annual International Ukulele Contest. His keen interest in developing his own style of music has also seen him get an award of excellence for the Diner’s Club Social Jazz Session 2013-2014. Having graced the stages of TEDxYouth@Tokyo and the 2014 TEDxTeachers Conference, Rio is no stranger to TEDx and is sure to captivate the audience again this time around.

Home Coordinator

Jun Aoki is known as a leader in customized rental properties, but started his career working in regular real estate brokerage and managing an internet property portal. Jun has proven that there is scope for a major change in modern rental properties by taking a property with a high vacancy rate, customizing it in a resident-focused way and building a core community of residents, transforming it into a highly sought-after place to live. Royal Annex is a “shared work/life place” that embodies the modern version of home working and may point to a new, better, symbiotic way of living. Dwellings are—and must be—defined by the way people live with their city, their era, and other people.

Calligrapher

At some point in history, the Japanese stopped writing vertically. Nowadays, it may be rare to find people who write by hand at all. Aoi Yamaguchi is a San Francisco-based calligrapher who aims to liberate the calligraphic arts from the static page. She puts on live calligraphy performances in collaboration with dancers and fashion models, giving three-dimensional expression to writing’s sense of time, passion, emotion, stillness and motion. Yamaguchi reminds us what it is like to write. The letters pulse with a beating rhythm and the written word lives on.

Tea ceremony practitioner, Owner of Shuhally

There are some things about Japan that only become obvious to the Japanese once they leave the country. When Souryou Matsumura was wandering around Europe, he became keenly aware of his ignorance about Japanese culture. As soon as he returned home, he launched himself into the world of Japanese tea ceremony.

After graduating from a school specializing in the Urasenke school of tea ceremony, Matsumura started the Shuhally project with the purpose of making tea ceremony more accessible and enjoyable. He has received high acclaim both nationally and internationally for his use of a creative and original style while also preserving the ceremony’s fundamentals, as set down by tea master Sen no Rikyu.

His tearoom, Bunsai-an (which was given its name by the current Grand Master of the Urasenke Tea School), has also won a Good Design Award. Through these and other activities, Matsumura continues to challenge the stereotypes of traditional Japanese culture.

Professor of Business Studies

Yoko Ishikura is reinvigorating education and Japan’s economy through various channels to foster creativity, innovation, and learning. With a focus on developing global talent and young leaders, Yoko spearheads programs ranging from the Global Agenda Seminars, the Davos Experience in Tokyo, and workshops for high school students. With the belief that anyone who wants to learn should be able to, regardless of race, gender, age, background, or location; she develops learning experiences that nurture individuals and communities both on and offline, so people with aspirations to collaborate on a global scale have the resources and technology to do so.

Optimist & explorer of the Japanese economy

An “explorer of all things Japan, from high finance to low-level politics”, Jesper Koll has over two decades of experience at major financial institutions in Japan and has written two books about finance, both in Japanese (Towards a New Japanese Golden Age and The End of Heisei Deflation). Jesper describes himself as “Japan’s Last Japan Optimist.” That optimism has motivated him to mentor the country’s next generation of entrepreneurs and startups, to promote Japan to policymakers and investors around the world, and to help start a Special Economic Zone in Fukuoka.

Entrepreneur

Nobu Okada discovered his passion for all things space after attending NASA space camp in high school. Now, as founder of Singapore start-up ASTROSCALE, he is attempting to solve a little-known problem that affects our entire communications infrastructure, namely removing the hundreds of thousands of pieces of “space debris” that threaten to disrupt satellite operations. In contrast, Nobu’s second company, MIKAWAYA21, provides nursing services to the elderly in a growing number of areas in Japan. Nobu is concerned with issues that often arise when governments have too strong an influence in sectors such as healthcare, which is why both ASTROSCALE and MIKAWAYA21 are run without any government subsidy.

Kalimba (Thumb Piano) Player

Often called the thumb piano, the kalimba is the world’s simplest keyboard instrument, African-born and with a pure, uncomplicated sound. HIROYUKI’s unique kalimba tones, however, blow away such preconceptions and hint at the infinite ways in which this small instrument can be played. No one else seems able to mimic his fiery passion, the raindrop-clear silences, that express the ultimate rhythms of life. Although HIROYUKI primarily performs solo, he actively mixes it up in experiments with other musicians at dances, plays, recitals, art installations and concerts that go beyond genre. Live houses, clubs, cafés and festivals are where he can be spotted performing—and even on Tokyo’s streets, depending on his mood.

Digital Media Entertainment Artist, Producer, Professor and Strategist

In the entertainment realm, you’d call Masa Inakage a supreme hyphenate, as in “producer-director-creator-artist-storyteller.” And he actually wears more hats than that. Masa conjured up visual FX for 1997’s dark superhero epic Spawn, produced 144 episodes of an animated series called Fukushima Folklore “Listen Children . . .” and is a past master at fusing computer graphics with live action. He has also delved into game design, musicals and other stage performances, social media, and smart products and environments. His artworks and animations have appeared internationally at galleries and festivals. Both a professor and the dean at Keio University’s Graduate School of Media Design, Masa’s current core interest is storytelling for entertainment, experience design, and business organizations as well as innovation in learning. He’s also investigating the phenomenon of synesthesia, which mixes our five senses in intriguing ways. The Adventure of Multimedia, a book Masa wrote in 1994, predicted how digital technologies such as the Internet and multimedia would influence our digital future.

Design Guru

You see Taku Satoh’s design handiwork virtually every shopping day, wrapping consumables like Calpis drinks, Lotte gum and S&B black pepper. But there’s so much more—from corporate identity to books to posters and beyond. After getting his master’s degree in structural design from the graduate school at the Tokyo University of Arts, Taku worked for Dentsu until 1984, when he left to open Taku Satoh Design Office. Over the years he has garnered numerous design honors, including the Mainichi Design Award, Tokyo ADC Award and New York ADC Award.

Involved in the planning and art direction for NHK’s Nihongo de Asobo show, Taku currently serves as a director at 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT and is a visiting professor in the Department of Design Informatics at Musashino Art University. Between his product work and major exhibitions, he is a pivotal speaker in the never-ending dialogue between society and design.

Digital Marketing Maven

Fujiyo Ishiguro preaches the mechanics of digital marketing to companies who make great products but can’t create the sales systems needed to retail them. Fujiyo moved to the US in 1992 to earn an MBA at Stanford University, and followed that up by starting a consulting and technology transfer firm in Silicon Valley advising giants like Yahoo!, Oracle, NTT and Toyota. Fujiyo joined integrated online marketing provider Netyear Group Corporation in 1999, becoming its president the following year. The company grew to 3.5 billion yen in annual sales within a decade, and as its CEO she powered the firm’s IPO in March 2008.

Fujiyo’s book Don’t try the work that your boss ordered (published by Asahi Sensho) shot to the top of Nikkei Woman magazine’s leader’s section in 2009. A commentator on various TV shows, Fujiyo also serves as a member of several advisory committees within the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Dimitri Vassilakis
Jazz Saxophonist, Composer and Singer

Greek saxophone virtuoso Dimitri Vassilakis began his musical life singing and playing bass in a popular new-wave group called Art of Parties. Segueing into studying saxophone, piano and composition at the London College of Music and Royal Academy of Music, he won UK-wide competitions and the LCM Society prize. Dimitri has made five award-winning albums for respected jazz label Candid Records, including Daedalus Project—Labyrinth, named the number two jazz album of 2002 in a BBC internet poll. BBC Music Magazine calls him “a rhapsodic stylist of immense power and authority.” On Across the Universe (2011), recorded in New York with a cosmopolitan lineup of top jazzmen from every continent, he sings and plays songs from the repertoires of the Beatles, Doors, Nina Simone and Chet Baker to celebrate Candid Records’ fiftieth anniversary.

When he isn’t playing at major venues like Ronnie Scott’s, Dizzy’s Club at Lincoln Center and Birdland New York, Dimitri teaches and authors prizewinning educational books on saxophone and jazz.

Makoto Kuriya
Jazz Pianist

Struggling people probably need music more than others. What makes Makoto Kuriya such a distinctive pianist are the soulful groove he developed while living among the Appalachian black community and clarity. After graduating from high school, Makoto moved to the US and started playing live shows while studying linguistics at West Virginia University. He worked as a jazz teacher after graduation, and later shared stages with jazz giants such as Chuck Mangione.

Upon returning to Japan, Makoto formed his own group and played with Herbie Hancock at Tokyo Jazz, Japan’s largest jazz festival, and in Paris for “International Music Day” with such greats as Billy Cobham, John Faddis, and Jonny Griffin. Makoto has over a dozen music releases, did the soundtrack for the platinum-winning Neo Genesis Evangelion, and produces not only jazz but pop music and classical orchestral compositions.

System Design Master

A master of system design specializing in mechanics and natural language processing, Google’s Hideto Kazawa dove into the development of disaster recovery systems after the Great East Japan Earthquake as a member of the crisis response team. He called on a deep background in the field: a degree from the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Science, research work at NTT Communication Science Laboratories, the PhD program at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology, and his work as a senior engineering manager at Google.

Hideto joined Google as an engineer in 2006, charged with overseeing the development of machine translation and web search. Now he also participates in a roundtable IT revival symposium sponsored by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and continues to support reconstruction efforts from the system end.

Contemporary Artist

Makoto Aida’s scenes of skewed eroticism—obsessively detailed, leaning toward the violent and grotesque, and humorous in the very darkest sense—drive provocative motifs that intelligently yet blatantly challenge our preconceived ideas of moral and social norms. Makoto suddenly blossomed as a painter in the realism mode while at Tokyo University of the Arts, and his art has been labeled “handle with care” ever since. At his fall 2012 exhibition “Aida Makoto: Monument for Nothing” held at Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum, the museum had to label the room “R-18” when viewers deemed his works immoral. The documentary film Aida: A Natural-Born Artist depicts Makoto’s life with family and the creative process behind his masterpieces. The Canadian international documentary film festival Hot Docs selected Aida for showing in its Art and Artists category in 2012.

Photo: MATSUKAGE
Courtesy Mizuma Art Gallery

Planetarium Builder

“You can prove possible, but you can’t prove impossible” is Takayuki Ohira’s favorite saying. As a child, Takayuki built his own planetarium, and later at Nihon University created another called Astroliner that utilized a lens projector—a feat considered beyond the capabilities of amateur planetarium builders.

In 1998, he surprised the world by inventing MEGASTAR, a planetarium capable of displaying 1.7 million stars. In 2004, his MEGASTAR-Ⅱ-Cosmos—made in cooperation with The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation and projecting 5.6 million stars—entered the Guinness World Records. In 2011, Takayuki devised and built a 360-degree full-sphere planetarium installation in Estonia. Later, he invented and installed MEGASTAR Fusion, a new concept in planetariums, at Kawasaki Municipal Science Museum. Takayuki continues to stretch humanity’s perception of the cosmos and help us discover skies we have never seen before.

Think Tank Driver, Entrepreneur and Author

Kumi Fujisawa is convinced that we can transform the world when we think, vocalize and act at the grassroots level. Getting people to realize the worth of a participatory society is her mission, and she’s a living example of how it’s done. Kumi worked for Japanese and foreign investment fund management companies before leaving to launch Japan’s first investment trust trading company in 1996.

In 2000, she was instrumental in establishing the SophiaBank think tank, and has served as its vice president since 2003. As a broadcaster for NHK Education, she has presented the stories of over a thousand companies, and her books on investment and startup businesses are now widely translated and published abroad. A visiting professor at the graduate school of Hosei University, she is also a vice president of the Japan Social Entrepreneur Forum.

Kumi’s “socio-incubation” efforts aim to support social business enterprises by linking mass media and online media.

Economist and Independent Filmmaker

Why did an Irish economist working for the EU in Tokyo end up making a powerful and incisive film about suicide in Japan? Simple: a friend and neighbor took her own life, and a deep sense of regret inspired Rene Duignan to attempt a grassroots counterattack against the causes of suicide. For the next three years, suicide prevention became his preoccupation, and the result is a documentary called Saving 10,000—Winning a War on Suicide in Japan. Extensive media coverage led to countless screenings all over Japan. That alerted politicians to the movie, which in March 2013 was screened at the Japanese Parliament. In April 2013, the film won an Award for Excellence at the International Film Festival for Health, Environment and Culture in Indonesia, the Gold Kahuna Award at the Honolulu Film Awards, and was shortlisted for “”Best Asian Documentary”” at the Singapore Endeavours Documentary Film Festival. Saving 10,000 can be viewed in full online at www.saving10000.com, and Rene will provide DVDs free to any organization willing to raise awareness on this taboo topic.

Social Entrepreneur, Author, and Chief Toilet Hacker

Everyone poops. The problem, says John Kluge, is that 2.5 billion of us have no clean place to go, and that lack is generating massive troubles with global health, economic growth, and even education. John cofounded impact investment and business development firm Eirene, which regularly confronts ugly realities like poor sanitation, aging and illiteracy. Now he and his nonprofit group Toilet Hackers are putting the poop problem squarely on the socioeconomic agenda. The man knows what he’s doing. The co-author of Charity and Philanthropy for DummiesThe Philanthropunk Manifesto—will reveal how social entrepreneurs are employing the hard-edged ethos of punk rock to drive change.

Catalyst, Innovation Driver and Blue Economist

Batteries made from wood. Stone transformed into paper. Coffee turned in biochemicals to absorb odors and protect our skin from UV rays. Bioplastics and biochemicals derived from agro-waste—and processed in defunct petrochemical plants. All are elements of the bright blue economy envisioned by serial entrepreneur Gunter Pauli, who since 1994 has been gathering the science to drive practical business models that use natural systems, renewable energy and the power of intelligent conversion. His 2010 book The Blue Economy presented a hundred real-life innovations with the potential to create a hundred million jobs within a decade and make life on our planet more sustainable. That influential volume has since been translated into over thirty languages, including Japanese. Gunter’s ZERI Foundation and its program have received numerous awards for their program that uses waste from harvesting coffee to grow mushrooms. The blue economy concepts have also been converted into fables for younger audiences—the ones who will ultimately have to survive in the world we leave behind.

Renewable Energy Visionary and Writer

Affordable renewable energy is still science fiction, right? Dead wrong, says Dr. Eric Martinot, and he should know. A former senior energy specialist with the World Bank in Washington, DC from 1999 to 2003 and affiliated with the Worldwatch Institute, Eric created an annual compendium on renewable power in 2005 called the REN21 Renewables Global Status Report. The author of that and dozens of other influential publications on renewable and sustainable energy since 1990, he’s also an editorial board member of the journal Energy Policy. Currently a senior research director with the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies in Tokyo and teaching fellow at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, Eric shuttles between Japan, China, Europe and New Zealand researching real-life examples of renewable energy to track our long-term energy future to 2050. He’ll be spending most of 2013 and 2014 on a global tour speaking about his pioneering REN21 Renewables Global Futures Report, issued in January 2013.

Bruce Huebner
Shakuhachi Player

Bruce Huebner’s shakuhachi sound is unbounded by musical convention, flowing from freeform to jazz to Japanese traditional music to Celtic to Western classical. His concert resume includes appearances with Vancouver’s VICO Orchestra and performances at the Toronto Jazz Festival, New York Blue Note and Kyoto Concert Hall. In 2008, as half of the duo Curt and Bruce (with Curtis Patterson on koto), he joined in the Sakura Zensen Tour in Japan featuring transcendent vocalist Susan Osborn. Curt and Bruce have released two CDs, Going Home (2007) and Tracings (2009). Bruce and Curt’s musical and personal roots in Tohoku—particularly Fukushima, where they developed as performers and composed much of their music, including The Fukushima Suite—led the pair and other musicians to give over sixty concerts in the disaster area and throughout Japan. Bruce has dedicated his life to conveying the transcendent value of the shakuhachi.

Curtis Patterson
Koto Player

Curtis Patterson earned a master’s license from the Sawai Koto Institute—studying under Tadao Sawai himself—and is the first non-Japanese national to graduate from NHK’s training program for young performers of traditional Japanese instruments. A member of the Sawai Tadao Koto Ensemble, Soemon and US–based Koto Phase, Curtis has also performed with actress Keiko Matsuzaka and popular singer-songwriter Kei Ogura, among others, and was the musical director for the 2005 documentary Magnificent Obsession: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Buildings and Legacy in Japan. Curtis produced a solo CD, Oto No Wa—Circles, in 2002. He regularly jams with shakuhachi player Bruce Huebner as part of the duo Curt and Bruce, which has put out two CDs to date. They play their original compositions and arrangements at venues in North America and all over Japan—most recently to aid their beloved but battered Tohoku.

Jazz Pianist

Struggling people probably need music more than others. What makes Makoto Kuriya such a distinctive pianist are the soulful groove he developed while living among the Appalachian black community and clarity. After graduating from high school, Makoto moved to the US and started playing live shows while studying linguistics at West Virginia University. He worked as a jazz teacher after graduation, and later shared stages with jazz giants such as Chuck Mangione.

Upon returning to Japan, Makoto formed his own group and played with Herbie Hancock at Tokyo Jazz, Japan’s largest jazz festival, and in Paris for “International Music Day” with such greats as Billy Cobham, John Faddis, and Jonny Griffin. Makoto has over a dozen music releases, did the soundtrack for the platinum-winning Neo Genesis Evangelion, and produces not only jazz but pop music and classical orchestral compositions.

Architect, Author, Artist and Designer

Creating love through design has been Yu Jordy Fu’s goal since she was six, when she had her first solo art exhibition at the Beijing Capital Museum—a feat she followed a year later by publishing her first book. After studying at the prestigious Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design London and the Royal College of Art in London, Jordy trained as both an artist and architect before working for the influential London designers Future Systems and the London office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. In 2005, the British Council selected Jordy as one of ten young designers sent to represent British creativity in China. Major awards for architecture, drawing and environmental design have followed. Jordy is the creative director of the world’s biggest fashion media company, FashionTV, and for the past five years has also headed her own design company, Marques and Jordy, in London, Bangkok, Hongkong and Quanzhou.

Street Photographer and Style Blogger

What you can get from the photos Rei Shito takes on the streets of Tokyo are glimpses into the lives and mindsets of impromptu models on the move articulated through their attire. Rei posts the stunning shots that she grabs of Tokyo fashion on her blog, disseminating highly visual clues on style trends current and nascent.

The renowned style website Fashionista has recognized Rei as one of the world’s most influential bloggers in the realm of street style. Her photography book STYLE from TOKYO offers shots from her blog, and she’s also written a unique city guidebook called Tokyo 100 Fashion Guide. Both have received a great response from Japan and overseas, proving that fashion is a borderless phenomenon that can be shared with anyone on the globe. When she isn’t shooting, Rei acts as an on-air navigator for radio station J-WAVE.

Critic and Author

If politics and the economy are the world’s day, then the Internet and its subculture are its night. In the latest issue of Planets Critic Magazine, pundit Tsunehiro Uno rewrites the relationship between politics and literature, equating society and the individual with day and night in a ringing declaration. Planets began publishing in 2005. From subcultures to politics, Tsunehiro has discussed various topics with the people of the times. He has also written several books, The Imagination of the 2000s, (Hasegawa Shoten), The Age of the Little People (Gentosha), Theory of Hope (coauthored by Satoshi Hamano; NHK Publishing), and I Want to Create This Kind of Japan (with Shigeru Ishiba; Ota Publishing). Currently he is writing an in-depth analysis of food, culture, life, clothing and shelter titled The New White-Collar Class.

Butoh Dancer

The source of Taketeru Kudo’s combustive physical artistry lies in a never-fulfilled quest to discover the core of human existence. His expressionist, creative butoh erupts from primitive emotions and sensuality rather than calculated muscular movements. While studying French literature at Keio University, Taketeru originally devoted himself to acting, modern dance and nichibu—a traditional Japanese dance form—before meeting his artistic destiny in butoh. After appearing on stage with butoh pioneers Koichi Tamano and Yukio Waguri, he began dancing solo in 1992. He also worked with butoh dance troupe Sankai Juku prior to establishing his own troupe, Tokyo Gien-kan, which channels the spirits of Jean-Louis Barrault, Vaslav Fomich Nijinsky and Yukio Mishima. Preserving the fire within that makes him a butoh dancer, Taketeru keeps dancing solo while frequently collaborating with artists and companies of various genres internationally.

Eco-Architect and Three-Dimensional Poet

Shigeru Ban’s practical philosophy of architecture involves nothing less than redefining aesthetics, space, materials and structure. His unusual modular shelter design using recycled paper and cardboard shipping tubes, for example, provided evacuees with sturdy havens after the Great East Japan Earthquake. Shigeru graduated from Cooper Union’s Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, worked at Arata Isozaki’s atelier, and in 1985 founded Shigeru Ban Architects. His notable works include Curtain Wall House, the Japanese Pavilion at Expo 2000 in Hannover, Germany, and the Centre Pompidou-Metz museum of modern and contemporary arts in France. Shigeru has received a wealth of awards, including the Architectural Institute of Japan Prize, Auguste Perret Prize, and the Ministry of Education’s Award for Fine Arts. Currently on the faculty at the Kyoto University of Art and Design, he has also taught at Harvard, Cornell and Keio University.

Editor and Media Aggregator

Japan has approximately 430 inhabited islands. It took Atsuko Isamoto, though, to create a website called Ritokei linking them all together. With the aid of local magazine editors, business advertising directors, and illustrators, she established Ritokei in 2010 to consolidate news from remote islands, operating under the theme “Let’s light a fire under Japan’s remote islands.” Updated daily, Ritokei offers insights into island events, economies, products and more.

Since the current Internet environment tends to be light on information geared toward remote islanders, there is now a beautifully laid-out quarterly print version of Ritokei as well.

In 2012, Ritokei won a Lohas Design Award from the LOHAS Club. Atsuko’s current pursuit, called the Island Books Project, involves assembling a collection of publications on Japan’s remote atolls. She hopes this will result in a bookshelf dedicated to these islands in hundreds of bookstores nationwide.

Designer and Crowdsourcer

Eisuke Tachikawa launched his Wiki web project OLIVE just forty hours after the Great East Japan Earthquake struck. The crowdsourcing database gathered and shared DIY tips and tutorials from all over the planet to aid the disaster’s survivors. The info was later published as the OLIVE Handbook.

This altruistic activity should come as no surprise: While at graduate school at Keio University in 2006, Eisuke started his interdisciplinary design agency NOSIGNER, whose avowed purpose is to identify and solve problems. NOSIGNER has received scores of international design prizes, including a Platinum Pentaward in 2009, a Design for Asia Award in 2011, and a Smart Design Award in 2012.

Eisuke himself was named one of the fifty top designers in the ADC’s Young Guns competition in 2009. Through his Grammar of Design workshop, he hopes to create a future in which everyone can design.

Art Director and Designer

Cook, preserve, store, serve—the core sequence of events in any kitchen—is simpler now thanks to the OSORO smart tableware system from chief designer Manabu Tago of MTDO and Narumi Corporation. Pairing porcelain dishes of varying sizes with silicone lids to simplify storage, reheating and cleaning when dealing with leftovers, OSORO products are microwave-safe, stackable and elegant. The system has received numerous design awards internationally since its 2012 debut, and is the creative distillation of nearly three years of solving technical and material difficulties. Manabu studied design management at Tokyo Zokei University and worked at the Toshiba Design Center and Real Fleet before founding his company MTDO in 2008. The theorist teaches at Keio University, Hosei University, and his alma mater, and serves as a committee member and judge for the Good Design Awards. He and MTDO provide comprehensive design, direction and management from conception to manufacture in a diverse range of industries.

MC and Music Producer

Known in the music realm as Shing02, bilingual rapper Shingo Annen spent his childhood in Tanzania, London and Japan. At the age of 15, he moved to the San Francisco Bay area. While studying at the University of California at Berkeley, he felt a powerful resonance with the themes and energy of hip hop and developed an appreciation for sending messages to society through music. Conceptual words from both Japanese and English are fused in his unique sound and flavored with beats from reggae, jazz and Japanese music. His discography includes several albums and EPs, and he’s also known for rapping “Battlecry,” the theme song of the hip hop-influenced chanbara anime Samurai Champloo. Shingo has recently been directing and producing short videos such as Petals of Fire and then-n-now. In addition to being part of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Soundcloud project, he also pursues antinuclear activities.

Edo Magic Master

Classic Edo magic, known as tezuma, is the captivating integration of illusion, traditional Japanese acting, musical performance, costumes and stories. Kohtaro Fujiyama, a product of Chiba University’s Magic Circle and the eldest son of tezuma legend Shintaro Fujiyama, followed his father onto the professional stage in 2006. In 2012, he won the Japan Magic Association award for best magician for the third straight year, and recently took the grand prize at the Agency for Cultural Affairs Arts Festival. Kohtaro showcases his unique skills overseas as well, at venues that include Hollywood’s Walk of Fame and the famed Magic Castle. In addition to performing, he passes on the secrets of the art as a tezuma instructor and practices acrobatics.

Song, Dance and Signing Group

Formed by a group of five in 2005, HANDSIGN are known for their buoyant performances that blend dance, song and original sign language. Here in Japan they spread the joy through live shows and school visits, and internationally they have won New York City’s Apollo Theater Amateur Night competition twice. Currently HANDSIGN is working up a fight song to spur the Japan team to victory at Deaflympic 2013 (the Olympics for the hearing-impaired), set for this summer in Sophia, Bulgaria, and to pump up public awareness of that event in Japan. The group joined Oscar Promotion this year, and now performs original songs featuring sign language and dance monthly on NHK’s education channel.

Adventurer, Author and Naturalist

When he was just 17, C. W. Nicol journeyed from his homeland of Wales to the North Pole and across Canada. A decade later, he was struggling desperately against poachers as an officer in Ethiopia’s Ministry of Wildlife Conservation. After a long life of adventuring and devotion to the martial arts, he settled down in the wilds of Satoyama, Nagano Prefecture. In 1986, he began to preserve and restore the woodlands on a rough patch of land on the Kurohime Plateau now known as the C. W. Nicol Afan Woodland. The author of multiple works in many languages, frequently on things natural, C. W. took Japanese nationality in 1995. His ecotourism work, including establishing the Afan Forest Foundation in 2002, aims to expand public initiatives and awareness, and he has often served as the environmental conscience of Japan’s government. Particularly after the Great East Japan Earthquake, no one has a stronger desire to see people living in harmony with nature.

Lacquer (Urushi) Artist and National Living Treasure

In 2008, lacquer artist and Living National Treasure Kazumi Murose began to focus on preserving intangibly important Japanese culture and heritage through the preservation of National Treasures. He had been crafting his own intricate works since graduating from the Graduate School of Fine Arts and Music at Tokyo University of the Arts, including Enable in Kotohira Shrine’s main hall and the Yutenji Auditorium mural entitled Lacquer Cherry Trees. Kazumi produces pieces for traditional Japanese craft exhibitions and participates in countless exhibitions both at home and abroad, including one at the British Museum in 2002 called “The Culture of Lacquer—Japanese Beauty Inherited” that was later captured in a volume by publisher Kadokawa Shoten. In his work and blog, Kazumi conveys the timeless value of lacquerware that persists even in the twenty-first century. He encourages people to preach the beauties of traditional lacquerware, produced since the early Jomon period.

Improvisational Artist, Poet and Storyteller

Mistubako Matsuo inhabits an utterly poetic world humming with the mysteries of the honeybee. Fieldwork and frequent visits to local beekeepers across Japan in 1994 led her to learn beekepping and the habits of honeybees. Mistubako began crafting poems and photography influenced by honeybees and giving poetry readings and storytelling performances. In 2006, she founded Studio Abejas e Colmenas and expanded her bee-centric collaborations with painters and architects. One ongoing project is improvisational poetry produced with a combination of pollen, flower petals, seeds and words. Dreaming of someone becoming a “beekeeping poet,” Mistubako confers constantly with beekeepers all over the planet that still produce traditional organic honey.

Toy Creator

The man responsible for developing Bandai Co., Ltd.’s wildly popular capsule toys, Shimpei Takahashi, is in love with the idea of ideas. His most notable work, called the “∞ Endless series” (Mugen Puchi Puchi, Mugen Edamame), received the first-ever Japan Toy Grand Prize “Trendy Toy” Award from the Japan Toy Association and achieved remarkable global sales of over five million units. Back in 2005, he even invented a board game called Simpei—named after himself—that’s been described as “tic-tac-toe on steroids.” His brand-new social gaming app Onedari Wanko (Fawning Puppy) already has many devotees. Shimpei revealed his unique cogitation methods in a book called Ways to Develop ∞ (Mugen) Ideas (East Press, 2012). He continues to research simple methods of imaginative thinking, determined to turn all of us into idea people.

Pop Culture Expert and Musician

Since he was a teenager, Eddie Ugata has been drawn to sixties American pop culture, collecting original comics, records, vintage guitars and clothes, and remains well-versed in European records influenced by that electric era. He lives the culture, too, fronting a surf music group called The El Caminos that reached number one on the American college charts with Eddie on lead guitar. His day job is making and selling Akiba figures and other kitsch goods through his firm Pink Company, feeding Japan’s apparently infinite appetite for cute. Not content with collecting original productions/editions and otaku anime goods, Eddie is a pop renaissance man of exquisite taste who also assembles hot rod cars from vintage rolling stock, including Ford Model Ts.

Rhythmic Gymnast, Dancer and Magician

Shizuka Yabuuchi has fused rhythmic gymnastics, dance and magic to conjure up an entirely new style of performance art. Shizuka began exploring her own ideal form of dance after placing second at the National Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in high school. She later performed as a lead dancer at an Eikichi Yazawa concert and in the production of Magic Revolution! Cero!!. Staying true to her rhythmic roots, Shizuka has performed at exhibitions and competitions for the Rhythmic Gymnastics Performance Association. In 2012, with a piece that fused rhythmic gymnastics and dance, she won the Audience Award at Japan’s largest dance event, Worldwide.

Food Artist

Ayako Suwa is intent on spreading a new concept of food that evades labels such as gourmet and nutritional. She believes that to eat is to live, but we must taste to truly evolve, and those tastes include happiness, regret, anger and more. Ayako founded her company Food Creation in 2006 after graduating from the Kanazawa College of Art, and has been putting on gastro-events incorporating sound, sight, smell and touch on themes such as instinctive human desires, curiosity and evolution ever since. One such performance—employing ingredients as a medium of sensuous communication—garnered critical attention and resulted in her first exhibition, titled “Design of Appetite,” at Kanazawa’s 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in 2008. Her “Guerilla Restaurant” events—akin to culinary flash mobs—have popped up in Singapore, Paris, Hong Kong, Berlin, Fukuoka and Tokyo. Ayako donates a portion of the profits to the Tohoku Earthquake Relief Fund.

Inventor and President of Spiber Inc.

Suppleness and steely toughness—two seemingly incompatible attributes—describe a supermaterial many have dreamed of. Now Kazuhide Sekiyama and Spiber Inc. have created one, in the form of synthetic spider silk. To do that, Spiber synthesized spider genes related to silk and manipulated the amino acid sequences. Because spider silk can be produced through low-energy microbial fermentation, the process also has minimal impact on the environment. Kazuhide established Spiber with fellow Keio University graduate students in 2007, racing to be the first to spin out this technology. The company subsequently earned a prize in 2010 for “Outstanding Contributions to Science and Technology (NISTEP scientists)” from MEXT’s National Institute of Science and Technology Policy Research, and has an excellent reputation both in Japan and abroad. Perhaps an airplane with a frame made of spider silk fibers is in our not-so-distant future.

Green Growth Proponent and Conflict Transformer

Alvaro Cedeno believes that social innovation can and should bypass governments to solve public woes. Costa Rica’s ambassador to Japan, Alvaro studied law at the University of Costa Rica and holds master’s degrees from the University of Tromsø (Norway) and Carnegie Mellon University (Australia)—including one in peace and conflict transformation—and has published a blog on the latter since 2006. Alvaro’s current passion is to heal our planet’s wounded ecology, and he’s intent on implanting a green growth agenda in our minds as a comprehensive solution to climate change. Conservation, he declares, can become a source of income. Costa Rica’s national business model proves that, generating greater income as its natural habitat expands, and the nation is on track to generate 95 percent of its power needs from renewable resources by 2015.

Industrial Design Master and Mento

Ken Okuyama has spent a lifetime fashioning exotic yet practical things of surpassing beauty. The prizewinning car designer has shaped models for General Motors, Porsche and Italy’s famed Pininfarina, including the Enzo Ferrari and Maserati Quatroporte. Ken left Pininfarina in 2006 and established KEN OKUYAMA DESIGN in 2007. Breaking free of the automotive sphere, he now designs everything from eyewear to theme parks to furniture to humanoid robots. The latter include Nuvo, the world’s first home-use robotic companion. Through KEN OKUYAMA CARS, he unveiled two limited-edition concept Cars—the k.o7 Spider and its all-electric sibling, the k.o8—at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show. Ken is a visiting professor at the Art Center College of Design in the U.S. and design colleges in Japan.

A zany kingdom inhabited by lithe denizens in lush, unearthly plumage. A troupe of master acrobats, mimes, comics and storytellers offering vignettes full of grace, slapstick, pathos and danger in equal measures. Cirque du Soleil draws you in, and makes you forget any other realm exists.

Formed in 1984 by twenty street performers, Cirque du Soleil’s mission is to invoke the imagination, provoke the senses and evoke the emotions. Based in Quebec, the group now has over four thousand employees from over forty countries, including a thousand artists. Their shows have brought wonder and delight to almost a hundred million spectators in over two hundred cities on five continents. The company has garnered such prestigious awards as the Emmy, Drama Desk, Bambi, ACE, Gémeaux, Félix, and Rose d’Or de Montreux.

The late, great Isaac Asimov would love robotics pioneer Dr. Yoshiyuki Sankai. The good doctor, who grew up reading futuristic fare such as Asimov’s classic “I, Robot” and the comic book Cyborg 009, has merged science fiction and reality in his cyborg-inspired “robot suit HAL,” (HAL = Hybrid Assistive Limb). HAL reads faint bio-signals appearing on the skin when the human brain attempts to move.

Dr. Sankai hopes that HAL will one day help the disabled and elderly to move freely and boost the physical capabilities of all humans. He expressly creates technologies designed to benefit humankind, refusing to design for military use and other destructive purposes.

In 2004, Dr. Sankai established a venture firm called Cyberdyne Inc. through the University of Tsukuba as part of a plan to commercialize HAL.

What kind of entertainment would Neo see in the Matrix? No need to imagine, kids̶ just watch Shiro-A. The troupe’s ingenious pop-cerebral antics are reminiscent of the Blue Man Group, but their music, dance and visuals are cyberpunked and way past hyperkinetic.

Shiro-A whose name means “white” in the sense of nothingness̶formed up in 2002, and later took the Bronze Award at the Venice Biennale. Performance pieces like Bar Code Man, Peacock, Human Layers and Twinkle Man are the psychedelia of the 21st century, and the troupe is also skilled at improvisation, including audience participation. Shiro-A appears frequently on TV and in clubs and theaters, and has wowed audiences at events that include the Shanghai World Expo, Sado Earth Celebration 2010 and Summer Sonic Osaka 2010. The troupe is off to dazzle Berlin this August as it begins a three-month circuit of Germany, Denmark and Austria.

Learn more about MARO

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Wanna see magic or new technology? How about some beat-boxing? Well, we have it all here, at TEDxYouth@Tokyo. This is a place where many intelligent, articulate and precocious young students are going to gather together, to show inventions, generate innovative ideas, and seek inspiration!

Over 100 cities around the world will celebrate TEDxYouth events on universal children’s day, appreciating what children do and have to express to the world. This is YOUR opportunity to reveal your hidden talents, or even an interesting idea, you have to your community!

This event will be held in Tokyo, on November 18th, 2012, at Tokyo International School (TIS – see the map here) from 10am-3pm. If you can’t make it, or you’re in another country, that’s OK, we have you covered. TEDxYouth@Tokyo will be live streaming here on the TEDxTokyo page (a link will be given on the Facebook page), using Livestream. If you still can’t make it, we will be updating Facebook and Twitter non-stop with awesome information and the latest news about who is performing or speaking and about what.

This event is open to all youth, ages 13-18 and its all FREE! So if you want to come over to TIS and watch this event live, go to our Facebook page, like the page, and sign up to attend the event, so we know you are coming. And also, how much pizza to order!

If you are excited, go right now to sign up and tell all your friends about it!!!
See you soon.

www.flickr.com   tedxtokyo’s TEDxYouth@Tokyo 2010 photoset

Learn more about Hans Reitz:

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Learn more about Jakob Lusensky:

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Learn more about Noriko Kawamura:

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Learn more about Azby Brown:

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• Review of “Just Enough” at New Yorker
• Kodansha Int.: Just enough

Learn more about Kentaro Toyama:

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• Organization website
• Article on Change
• Article in the NY Times
• Article in the NY Times
• Talks
• IPA – Innovations for Poverty Action
• Digital Green
• iicd

Learn more about Drue Kataoka:

• Art of Drue Kataoka
• Twitter
• ValleyZen
• Drue Kataoka’s TEDx Silicon Valley talk on “Art as a Social Bridge”
• CNET News Blog

Learn more about Jin Tatsumura:

• Company website
• Bio & Filmography
• Company blog

Learn more about Jesper Koll:

• ACCJ Journal
• Articles by Jesper Koll

Learn more about Lara Stein:

• TED profile
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

Learn more about Jake Shimabukuro:

• Personal site
• Youtube
• human2stay

Learn more about Magnus Jonsson

• Website

Learn more about Bill Hall

• Links to follow

Learn more about James Curleigh

• Website
• Blog
• Twitter
• Keen Facebook Page

Learn more about Kyung Lah

• Website
• Twitter
• Wikipedia
• LinkedIn

Learn more about Junko Edahiro

• Japan for Sustainability
• Website
• Blog
• Twitter
• YouTube

Learn more about Patrick Chamusso:

• Wikipedia Entry
• Patrick’s Community ‘Dancing4Kids’
• Two Sisters

Learn more about SMILY

• Website
• Blog
• Twitter
• Myspace

Learn more about Dr. Tetsunari Iida

• Website
• Twitter

Learn more about Dr. Yuichi Mori

• Website
• Company Profile
• Research Profile
• Video

Learn more about ABC-Tokyo Ballet Company

• Website
• Blog
• Twitter

Learn more about Sungene Ryang

• Website
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

Learn more about Masaki Takeuchi

• Website
• YouTube

Learn more about Dr. Naotaka Fujii

• Website
• Blog
• Twitter

Learn more about Gunter Pauli

• Zero Emissions Research & Initiatives (ZERI)
• The Blue Economy
• Twitter
• Presentation at the Lift Conference (Video)

Learn more about Michael Maher King

• Website
• LinkedIn

Sherry Strong is a food rebel. The controversial publisher of RealFoodRealWomen.com and the creator of the Anti-Diet system, Sherry says most items in your local market are either toxic, addictive, or designed to make you more hungry. The former Victorian chair of Nutrition Australia and Melbourne head of Slow Food, Sherry has spent over two decades studying nutrition, health and behavioral science, food and wellness. The consumption concept she developed, Nature’s Principle, answers the perpetual question “What and how am I meant to be eating?” After hearing her, you’ll never look at food and your body in the same way.

People love working for Ricco DeBlank. Two years after he took over the Ritz-Carlton Osaka in 2003, for example, an industry survey ranked it as Japan’s most preferred hotel employer. Travel and linguistic skills have honed Ricco’s acute sensitivity to the needs of employees and customers: he has visited over a hundred countries, and speaks five languages fluently. He has handled Ritz-Carlton properties in Indonesia, China, Egypt and elsewhere, and opened hotels in Florida and Europe. Now the general manager of the Ritz-Carlton Tokyo and The Park Residences, Ricco is often called on describe how he had made Ritz-Carlton hotels the finest in Japan.

Dr. Mario Tokoro has long moved adeptly between the worlds of academia and industry. While an associate professor of computer science at Keio University, he founded Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc. He made it a world-renowned research facility (and remains its president and CEO). In 1997, he became a corporate SVP at Sony and in 2000 assumed the role of co-CTO. Since 2004, Mario has headed Innovation Strategy Office, which creates mid- and long-term corporate business strategies based on technology. Over the years he has also written several books, including Concurrent Object-Oriented Computing, The Future of Learning, and Creativity and the Brain. Based on his extensive R&D and management experience, Mario is advocating a new scientific methodology called “Open Systems Science.” This paradigm drives beyond reductionism to posit fresh principles and solve problems affecting our health, life and Earth’s ultimate sustainability.

Marco Tempest’s masterful blend of digital media and magic presents audiences jaw-dropping dreams of our future. Marco was launched into international prominence when he captured the prestigious New York World Cup of Magic at the age of 22. His award-winning TV series The Virtual Magician currently airs in over forty-eight countries, and his theatrical shows and appearances on numerous television specials have enthralled hundreds of millions all over the globe. Marco’s Internet videos have also been showcased on Jay Leno’s Tonight show as well as dozens of NBC and MSNBC broadcasts. As new technologies evolve, Marco finds captivating ways of turning them into compelling illusions. In 2006, the United Nations commissioned him to create a special viral video to promote its Millennium Campaign against poverty.

Learn more about Marco Tempest:

• Personal Website
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Vimeo
• TED

According to David Rock, better brainwork makes better leaders. He coined the term “NeuroLeadership” to define the concept. The author of two books, Quiet Leadership and Personal Best, he has been called a “human neurotransmitter.” David’s two ventures—global coaching and consulting firm Results Coaching Systems and the NeuroLeadership Summit and Institute—help individuals and organizations reach their potential by showing them how the human brain functions at an individual, team and systemic level. In addition to being a guest lecturer at Oxford, David is on the faculty of CIMBA, an international business school in Europe. He divides his time between New York and Sydney, Australia.

Corporations and governments regularly ask Chandran Nair how to do business the right way in Asia. Chandran—who built Asia’s top environmental consulting firm, Environmental Resources Management—has spoken widely on sustainability, corporate social responsibility, investment geopolitics, leadership development and ethics at forums in London, New York, Sydney and every major Asian capital. He has worked with governments and business leaders to incorporate sustainable development principles in their decision-making processes. In 2004 he founded the Global Institute For Tomorrow, an independent social ventures think tank dedicated to advancing an understanding of the the impacts of globalization through positive action to affect change. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Legions of photographers are grateful that Bruce Livingstone left his punk-rock band, The Bittermen, in 1996. That’s because the Canadian entrepreneur later founded iStockphoto, which pioneered the microstock photography business model and a vibrant new market for images. Getty Images bought iStockphoto from Bruce in 2006, and in 2007 he sold Getty two other companies, Paper Thin Walls Inc. and Evolvs Media Inc. The staff at Evolvs Media became the new LIFE.com technology team. In 2007, Getty Images named Bruce its senior vice president of technology and consumer products, while he retained his CEO post at iStockphoto. Bruce left both Getty and iStockphoto in April this year on a two-year tour of Europe with his fiancée and son to pursue their shared passion for photography.

Bill Werlin was born in Colorado mountain territory and grew up working at his family’s ski area, surrounded by the majestic Rockies and untainted skies. A lifelong skier, outdoorsman and fisherman, Bill wants us all to enjoy the same bounty. He has devoted his life to preserving the natural environment in executive positions that include president of The North Face, general manager at Patagonia Japan, his current post as Japan GM of snowboard maker Burton Corp., and past president of the Outdoor Industry Conservation Alliance. As the current Chairman of Yokohama International School’s board of directors, Bill is also heavily involved in promoting international education.

Tokyo-based but global in mindset, architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Klein Dytham architecture design everything from public spaces to private places for clients such as Uniqlo, Selfridges, Virgin Atlantic and Bloomberg. Known for their astute eye for the fresh, in 2003 they gave Tokyo’s design community Pecha Kucha Night, a networking forum where young creatives can interact and show their work. Pecha Kucha’s potent conversation about things creative has gone viral; now running in 180 cities, it spawned over 350 events in 2008 alone.

Raised in Africa and schooled in the UK and the U.S., Anthony Willoughby was 22 when he bought a one-way ticket on the Trans-Siberian Express to Japan in search of inspiration, adventure and opportunities. He has ridden Nile paddle steamers, was briefly a bullfighter, and has scaled massive peaks such as China’s 7,546-meter Mount Mustagh Ata without porters or oxygen. Anthony’s experiences with a persistent complainer on his expedition across Papua New Guinea led him to establish his I Will Not Complain team-building and leadership development programs in Japan in 1989, and in China in 1992. Over the past decade he has developed a visualizing process called “Territory Mapping,” inspired by conversations with tribal chiefs in remote villages in Papua New Guinea and Kenya. The Independent recently described it as a method “that enables you to crash through civilization and see where you are and where you are going with new clarity.”

Every well-run NPO needs caring, dynamic and versatile executives like Miho Walker and Amy Moyers. Before joining Living Dreams, Amy spent ten years handling global marketing and executive-level events for major publishing and software firms such as Osborne McGraw-Hill, CMP Media, and Oracle Corp. At Living Dreams, she determines our objectives, infrastructure, finances and fundraising—among many other roles—and develops partnerships with foreign corporations. Miho is a former interpreter at UK global retail chain Tesco who recently established her own translation company. Now the project lead for all Living Dreams initiatives, Miho also oversees communications, volunteers and activities at the Living Dreams children’s homes as well as our outreach to Japanese firms and organizations.

Tia Johnston Brown is committed to inspiring young people to alter their lives and communities in a constructive way. After empowering youth in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, Tia brought her passion and expertise to Ashoka’s Youth Venture in 2004. She assisted in the global launch of David Bornstein’s book How to Change the World and later expanded the Youth Venture program to 19 countries. Along the way, Tia’s team has helped over 100,000 youths link their passion to a problem in their community and create their own solutions for positive change. Tia believes this grassroots movement—including a youth entrepreneurship program—will produce more dedicated problem-solvers and innovators with the drive to transform global society.