Change tomorrow by flying today.

2019-03-29 18:02:00

Toward a Society Enabling the Younger Generation to Exercise Leadership in the Nursing Domain The 2025 problem lies just ahead, and there is no doubt that the demand for nursing services is going to increase from now on. For the purpose of building a society in which members of the younger generation taking aim at the nursing domain can exercise leadership in their respective areas and sites as well, ‘KAIGO LEADERS’ is broadening its base of activity, which began in Tokyo, Osaka, and Kanazawa, to the cities of Sapporo, Sendai, Nagoya, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka, for a total of eight, by 2020. We are also working to construct an on-line community. We began collaborating with Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward last year and are looking forward to making more new acquaintances. In my university days, someone once told me, “Choose not on the basis of whether you can or can’t do something, but whether or not you want to do it.” Those words are still encouraging me today. If anyone who reads this article has the desire to take up some challenge, I want to tell that person to prize that feeling. The above is our introduction of Kaai Akimoto. ANA BLUE WING is going to continue backing next-generation ‘Changemaker’ in the future, too. KAIGO LEADERS：http://heisei-kaigo-leaders.com/ https://www.ana-bluewing.com/en/ #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #KAIGOLEADERS

2019-03-29 12:00:02

Linkage and Positive Action for Problem-Solving ‘KAIGO LEADERS’ consists of PRESENT, a platform for learning, and ‘KAIGO MY PROJECT,’ a platform for production. PRESENT features address by leading authorities from inside and outside the nursing business. Each session attracts nearly 100 participants, for an extended total of about 3,000 so far. While people are apt to think that nursing workers merely “take care” of others, the focus now is on the question of how to prepare environments enabling people who require nursing to be active in the community. We are making PRESENT into an opportunity for learning about nursing from all angles, including perspectives on involvement with people who have dementia through first-person experience of it using virtual reality (VR) devices, signs of change in nursing based on technology such as devices for foreknowledge of evacuation, and community design and management. ‘KAIGO MY PROJECT,’ the platform for production, is a workshop-type program. In it, youth interested in nursing come together for a period of three months and give form to their ideas. It generates various types of action, such as a project in which a leader on a nursing site attained a zero-quittance rate for 12 months. So far, 140 people have taken part in this program. Each session is a big success. All the participants are enthusiastic, and some seem reluctant to leave even when the proceedings are over. KAIGO LEADERS：http://heisei-kaigo-leaders.com/ https://www.ana-bluewing.com/en/ #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #KAIGOLEADERS

2019-03-28 12:00:01

Nursing Work is Appealing. That’s Why I Want to Somehow Do It. In 2025, members of Japan’s postwar baby-boomer generation will fall in the category of later-stage elderly, and approximately one-fourth of its citizenry will be aged 75 or over. This is the so-called “2025 problem.” The nursing business also faces not a few other issues, including a shortage of workers and the plight of elderly who must take care of each other. While summed up in the term “nursing,” the related domain spans a wide range of fields including meals, buildings, devices, and education. Nursing is subject of immediate concern that is closely intertwined with the lives of all. I too was not interested in nursing at first. My initial contact with it came in my university days, when I became involved in production of ‘Magokoro,’ a free paper that served as a tool of communication with people with dementia, through an entrepreneurial group I had joined. To learn about dementia, I worked part-time at a nursing facility for two years. At that time, the environment was such that I met almost only the users and staff. And when I returned home, the information about nursing that I saw on the news was almost all negative and concerned with unfortunate incidents etc. I was discontent with the closed atmosphere. At the same time, however, I found the work of nursing itself very interesting, although I saw various issues firsthand. While I was in the university, activities of social contribution quickened due to the influence of the Great East Japan Earthquake. In this situation, I realized that the other students were generally not concerned about nursing issues. I was originally enrolled in the department of commercial science, and I guess that is precisely why I felt that something was wrong and got a sense of mission about it myself. KAIGO LEADERS：http://heisei-kaigo-leaders.com/ https://www.ana-bluewing.com/en/ #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #KAIGOLEADERS

2019-03-27 12:00:01

Producing Young Leaders for the Nursing Care Field with the Approach of the 2025 Problem Posting the mission of “Challenging human possibilities from the perspective of nursing,” Join for Kaigo Co., Ltd. is developing business for resolution of issues in the nursing domain with the power of people. Ms. Kaai Akimoto, its Representative Director, was also selected for one of the Youthleader Awards announced this February in a ceremony held by the Development Association for Youthleaders. Join for Kaigo has two major pillars. One is the operation of ‘KAIGO LEADERS,’ Japan’s biggest community of youth who are concerned about nursing. The other is services in consulting for human resource hiring, retention, and development in the nursing domain. For this issue, ANA BLUE WING asked Ms. Kaai about ‘KAIGO MY PROJECT,’ a ‘KAIGO LEADERS’ program. This program is a workshop that brings together people with an interest in nursing from different fields, including nursing care workers, physicians, physical therapists, and other experts as well as students, and is held to generate action. As Japan enters the coming age with a higher demand for nursing services, the circle of parties cooperating with the company’s activities is widening, as exemplified by REJOB Co., Ltd., the company which provided the venue for the program (and operates a website exclusively for recruitment of nursing personnel). The following pages present comments by Ms. Akimoto, whom ANA BLUE WING is watching as a next-generation ‘Changemaker’. KAIGO LEADERS：http://heisei-kaigo-leaders.com/ https://www.ana-bluewing.com/en/ #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #KAIGOLEADERS

2018-01-15 12:04:00

NEXT Changemaker Series: Preservation is not “Avoiding Change”, it’s “Embracing Change” Ohara: Our vision which is about maximizing the power of matsuri can be split into two parts: using matsuri to revitalize towns and communities, and encouraging more people to embody this ethos. Matsurism is the inherent value of matsuri. It’s about deepening one’s love for one’s hometown, about raising your voice as loud as you can and putting you whole body into it; it’s about real interactions between people. Life in the cities is logical and robotic, but I think there is more to humanity than that. And from an educational standpoint, you learn more running your own matsuri than you do sat in front of a desk. I worry that old traditions like this might be lost with the advancement of technology, and with it humanity itself. Matsurism challenges the idea of keeping things the same to protect them. To change is to preserve and it’s that ethos that we want to promote by getting more people involved with matsuri, which I plan to do on a much wider scale by taking matsuri around the country. That wraps up the interview with Manabu Ohara and Kyoji Iwadate and with it another edition of the Next Changemaker series. If these posts have piqued your interest in matsuri, why not join one of Matsurism’s tours. BLUE WING will continue to support Changemakers like these and put them in the spotlight. #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #matsurism

2018-01-14 11:44:00

NEXT Changemaker Series: Matsuri that Resurrect Towns With around 300,000 matsuri in Japan, it would be wrong to generalize, but the decision making system behind matsuri is an outdated one. As the decision making process and people are all part and parcel of the tradition of matsuri, it’s always been this way and it’s hard to change. However, it’s a system that in some regions, puts young people off from joining in, creating a bit of a dilemma and a stalemate between the generations. Matsurism comes in and untangles the knots. As outsiders, we are able to communicate the appeal of matsuri through a more objective lens. The people who join us are attracted by the passion and unity that goes into rural matsuri; it allows them to experience a warm human-interaction not found in the urban sprawl. And in return, seeing the city dweller’s reactions, instills the people in the region with a newfound realization and pride of just how amazing their matsuri are. The focus then switches from lack of money and people to the fulfillment of the matsuri-goer. The more people that are involved with matsuri viewing the challenges of the matsuri as that of the town, the more people there are adopting a proactive attitude towards their region. Iwadate: For 3 years now we have been involved in the Takagi Shrine festival in Tokyo’s Sumida ward. I will never forget what one of the 70 year-old organizers once told me. “This town almost died, but you’ve resurrected it!”, he told me. “But we can’t rely on you forever. We need to think for ourselves from here on”, he added. If we had more people with that mindset, we would have more success in reviving these regions. That’s what we mean by the power of matsuri. #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #matsurism

2018-01-13 12:00:00

NEXT Changemaker Series: Matsuri that Transcends Borders, Changes Lives Ohara: “This year will be my third year of involvement in Chichibu’s Yomatsuri (night festival) which came about through a friend at university who lived in the area. I met current Vice President, Kyoji Iwadate, in the University’s Yosakoi Dance club. Coming all the way from rural Kanagawa, the hustle and bustle of Tokyo was a huge culture shock for me, and failure to immediately adapt to university life was getting me down, but that’s when a friend, unfazed by my somewhat withdrawn personality, took me along to the school festival where I made the chance encounter with the Yosakoi dance troupe. Seeing them perform with such energy made me want to join in and before long I had become a member of the club. Dancing with them was so much fun. I still remember that reassuring feeling of acceptance. This was in my 2nd year of university. I spent my third year on a year abroad in America, and decided to use the opportunity to spread some Japanese Festival culture. I taught Yosakoi dance to foreigners, showing off my skills everywhere from the local nursery and retirement home, to the graduation ball, anywhere I could. “Your so cool!” they would tell me. The wealth of compliments helped alleviate the inevitable loneliness of being in a foreign country and filled me with happiness. Inspired by this positive feedback, on my return to Japan, I began working towards creating a place where both expats and international students alike could share their country’s culture. My slogan was “matsuri transcends borders”. Yosakoi and matsuri had given me so many moving, almost tearful moments that stayed with me even after entering the world of work. I never forgot the wonder of matsuri and how it had the power to change lives. And then, on 30th November 2016, I setup Matsurism. #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #matsurism

2018-01-12 12:00:00

NEXT Changemaker Series: Community Reviving Matsuri “Matsuri (Japanese festivals) have the power to revive communities and people”, explains Manabu Ohara, about the concept of his organization, Matsurism. “The mere mention of the word matsuri will make many people tingle with excitement”, and yet in many parts of rural Japan, an ageing population problem means that there are a lack of people to put on the show. That’s where Matsurism comes in. They are helping to connect people who are interested in matsuri but have never had the chance to experience it, like people living in the cities and people from outside Japan, as well as young people, getting them involved and forging bonds that keep the tradition and culture of matsuri alive for future generations. ANA caught up with Mr.Ohara and vice president Kyoji Iwadate to see them in action and learn more. And where better to conduct the interview than Japan’s third largest Hikiyama (float) festival, “The Chichibu Yomatsuri (Night Festival)”. Be sure to check out the next posts for the full interview. #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #matsurism

2017-10-31 12:00:01

NEXT Changemaker Series: A temporal and physical link between the past and future Townscapes are being transformed in the blink of an eye by privacy orientated modern planning that tears down old buildings and replaces them with apartment blocks that are disconnected from the outside world. But there is a value to just leaving something as it is. Wooden apartments consigned to the scrap heap can become social resources that reverse this cycle. I want to build towns that incorporate a temporal and physical link between the past and future into their design. And that concludes the interview with Yutaro Muraji. Give BLUE WING your support as we continue to shine the spotlight on more up and coming Next Generation Changemakers. #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #murajiyutaro

2017-10-30 12:00:00

NEXT Changemaker Series: Recipe for a Full House! It would take more than one architect to renovate 200,000 Mokuchin. That’s why I devised the “Moku-chin Recipes”, an all-purpose recipe book of design ideas for either full or partial renovation of multiple properties that has the added benefit of optimizing the work we do. Members can download the blueprints needed for architects to make the ideas reality and while small in scale, ideas are open source so that they can be monetized to provide a vital source of capital for specialists (not volunteers) to play a sustainably active role in solving social problems. “Moku-chin Recipes” is all about raising the potential of these buildings, even at low cost, leveraging their inherent uniqueness to create, bright, highly functional, comfortable living spaces. For example, the recipe for a property with a completely vacant first floor due to its proximity to the street was to add special louvers and lattices to the apertures and decking around the outside which lent the entire building a sense of identity. Costing 800,000 yen, the renovation set the property back from the street enhancing the appeal of the lower floor rooms and within no time at all, the house was full. #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #murajiyutaro

2017-10-29 12:00:02

NEXT Changemaker Series: Bringing the Town Closer Data tells us just how important a role wooden housing once played in Tokyo. In fact, up until the late 1960s, 40% of dwellings in 23 wards in the capital were made of wood. While even today, in those same wards, 200,000 wooden houses still stand, most are creaky, vacant abodes playing little or no function. But with a little innovation, and a complete overhaul, what might first appear as devices of urban demise itself, can be turned into town-revitalizing cornerstones; social resources that give towns back their charm — although perhaps I am getting a little too romantic (laughs). The real benefit of “Moku-chin” is that unlike the ever prevalent hotel-style one room apartments that are all about reinforced privacy, you can actually hear the voices of your next-door neighbors and the people on the streets outside making you feel more like you are actually living in the town rather than being separate from it. #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #murajiyutaro

2017-10-28 12:00:02

NEXT Changemaker Series: Regenerating Wooden Rental Apartments into Social Resources Tucked away within most Japanese towns, are wooden rental apartments called “Moku-chin”. Most go largely unnoticed, but an identically named NPO is making it their mission to turn them into cornerstones that help rebuild communities. Mokuchin’s office itself is a converted wooden house located in a housing estate, a 15-minute walk from the hustle and bustle of Kamata station in Tokyo. Even if their office doesn’t take you by surprise, the ping-pong table in the front garden will. “It’s part of an experiment to see how we can change relations with the people in the area”, explains representative director, Yutaro Muraji— before that, we tried an office cat. Be sure to check out the next post to learn more about Mr.Muraji’s work as ANA BLUE WING puts another NEXT Changemaker in the spotlight. #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #murajiyutaro

2017-08-31 12:00:00

NEXT Changemakers Series：Community Development, the Way We See it. While Founding Base is of course a business, on a basic level, it’s really about creating new possibilities for people living out in the country and motivating them. Local people are given a pivotal role in reshaping their community to allow them to feel how their actions are changing the town. They make more friends through this process which, in turn, ensures a multifaceted growth. People celebrating how fun Tsuwano is to live in over a drink or two, that’s the shape of success. Happy towns attract both money and people. We want to live in a Japan where more and more people go to sleep at night looking forward to what the next day will bring. We believe that for the key to the future of Japan’s rural areas we must look beyond the country and out into the wider world where we can attract new people, and because our business is all about inhabiting those areas, that includes not just tourists and inbound business, but more long term devices to bring in business on a global scale. That concludes our interview with Hayashi Kenji. We look forward to seeing where his work will take him next. Give BLUE WING your support as we continue to shine the spotlight on more up and coming Next Generation Changemakers. https://www.ana-bluewing.com/en #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #hayashikenji

2017-08-30 12:00:00

NEXT Changemakers Series：Gaining Trust, Slowly but Surely The program’s early days were fraught with problems… Even with the Mayor’s support not everyone understood when a load of students rolled in from Tokyo and said they were going to “revitalize the region”. It’s not like we know all the correct answers. It’s how you solve the problem that matters. “Never run away” we always told them. If people get angry at you, take it in good faith, bow your head and try them again later. Trust isn’t gained over night; you earn it through little everyday actions. For some, this meant responding to a call in the middle of the night to fix a PC which then turned into a drinking session even though they had to work early the next morning. (laughs) Well that’s just one example. What I am trying to say is that there are no shortcuts; you have to deal with people head on. Sometimes you have to deliver harsh truths to people such as teaching people that in 10 years’ time, due to depopulation, their village will be a ghost town and that they are the only ones who can do anything about it. Imagine if that person is an aggressive-looking, middle-aged man. Honestly, it’s a nerve racking task (laughs). Whatever the task, I strongly believe that it’s important to stay firm to your beliefs. You have to go in there with the determination to tell them that if that’s the way they want it, then fine, you will leave, but if they want their village to have a future, they must work together with you. It’s then that the debates can be had and the work can start. In one homestead in Tsuwano, the work has turned into a long term project to engage the townspeople with many people participating every year. Some participants even try to set up a business in residence there afterwards. https://www.ana-bluewing.com/en #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #hayashikenji

2017-08-29 12:00:00

NEXT Changemakers Series：The Project’s Birth, 4 Students off to Tsuwano Founding Base’s business model was inspired by Wendy Kopp’s “Teach for America”. Rated as the most popular NPO among job seekers by Google and Apple in 2010, it was a recruitment model placing top graduates from America in to 2 year teaching programs in schools in poorer regions. The credit it added to the graduates resume and the high regard it was given by top companies are what made the program so popular. Given that Founding Base’s mission was the circulation of people, information and finance within society, we thought that we could emulate this example. Our target would be young people aspiring to join top-tier companies. For a student, 1-2 years’ experience would give them a valuable leg up on the employment ladder and improve their future prospects. It started with four students. Originally we were only planning to take on one, but with so many enthusiastic candidates, it increased. They were selected based on how much they could grit their teeth and rack their brains in the face of unsolvable problems. We started the four off with a task to design a tourist map to improve communication with the locals. After all, in a town of 8,500 people you can’t just go around making friends with everyone (laughs). From there, they were left to devise their own ways to revitalize the area and methods to implement them. Despite the unaccepting, challenging nature of the environment, the four were too excited to let that bother them and had a great deal of energy. Two of the four are now company employees. Another set up a business there in April this year and spends half of the month living in the town. https://www.ana-bluewing.com/en #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #hayashikenji

2017-08-28 12:00:00

NEXT Changemakers Series：A Momentous Encounter It’s not that I had an interest in “Regional Revitalization” to begin with, I just developed the desire at some point to effect change; change that would make others happy. My mother was always telling me from a young age to: “live for others”. Actually, I think it was a culmination of lots of things: a year abroad in Belgium that exposed me to environmental problems and various other stimuli, university research and of course my experience working for Ashoka Japan. In my 4th year at university where I was studying for a community studies major, I was invited to take part in a regeneration program for guesthouses in Nagano’s Shirauma. It was some time shortly after that, and a chance meeting with a Tsuwano resident who was friends with the mayor, that my connection with the town began. They set me up with an opportunity to pitch my Regional Revitalization initiative to him, whose response was, “this is great, go do it!”. This set up the meeting with the manager of the town’s city hall, Miyauchi Shuwa (presently Vice Chief of the town’s Tokyo office). Meeting him really was fate. To me Mr. Miyauchi is Tsuwano — that’s how important he was. It’s also around about this time that I met the person who set up Founding Base together with me, Sasaki Takashi and that the project set sail. In 2011, the year that the project got underway, Tsuwano’s population had shrunk to 8,500 people. Even in Shimane, a prefecture with the worst case of depopulation in the country, this was low. The fall had come as a shock to the town’s mayor who had resolved that something out of the ordinary had to be done. For me, the timing was perfect. Mr. Miyauchi was so passionate and focused that he easily got the townspeople onboard and was soon driving things forward. Hearing Mr. Miyauchi’s desire to create a town that his son would want to return to, I could no longer just sit on the sidelines. https://www.ana-bluewing.com/en #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #hayashikenji

2017-08-27 12:00:01

NEXT Changemakers Series： Japan at Regional Level That’s the objective of an initiative sending teams of young people out into the country to help build communities. It’s the brainchild of Founding Base, co-founded by Hayashi Kenji in 2014. It all started in 2011, in Shimane Prefecture’s Tsuwano. The phrase “Regional Revitalization” had yet to catch on. Mr.Hayashi dispatched volunteer students to the town to work with the townspeople to improve its education and agriculture, etc. As well as Tsuwano, they now work with 5 local governments in Okayama, Iwate, Shimane, Kochi and Oita Prefecture. Tsuwano is actually one of the places he calls home; the other being two in Tokyo including Tsuwano’s twin, Bunkyo-Ku, the location of the company’s office “TSUWANO T-SPACE”. With his ethos that, slowly but surely, their daily efforts are bringing the society they yearn for and fulfillment in life just that little closer, he enters the ANA BLUE WING spotlight as the Next Generation of Changemaker. Be sure to check out the next posts to hear the story form the man himself. https://www.ana-bluewing.com/en #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #hayashikenji

2017-06-13 12:00:00

NEXT Changemakers Series：Looking ahead, 10, 20 Years in the Future Every year’s rice planting project has a different theme. Last year, we asked the children to try and sell. With little or no sales training some kids went home with zero sales even after discounting down to 100 yen, but I wanted them to understand how unfair the reality of agriculture is; that you can’t just name your price. This year’s theme is the difference in yield between natural and conventional cultivation. The commonly accepted theory is that omitting pesticides from the equation does not lead to a drop in yield even after the third year of production. However, the object of this theme is not about ascertaining which is better. Looked at through an agricultural economics lens, Japan has such a low self-sufficiency rate that at some point we are going to have to start thinking about which is the more efficient. Is it really so healthy to have such an obsession for naturally grown produce? At any rate, I don’t want these children to grow into adults who dismiss the use of pesticides without having ever seen or touched a plant before. Food education is all about sharing ideas and experiences with the potential farmers of tomorrow. Thank you for reading our interview with Ueda . We will be introducing more next generation Changemakers soon so be sure to follow BLUE WING. https://www.ana-bluewing.com/en #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #uedaharuka [MOTHERNET] Food Education https://www.food-edu.com/en-home/

2017-06-13 06:47:50

NEXT Changemakers Series：Nurturing the Farmers of Tomorrow Through Food Education Another of my projects is all about teaching children how to grow rice organically which I started about 3 years ago. Kids learn a bit of planting at primary school of course, but nothing more than one seedling each. That isn’t enough to give a sense of ownership. Machines have made rice planting by hand all but obsolete, so it’s only a matter of time before this element of our culture disappears forever. Fundamentally, I believe that just like any culture or tradition it should be given a chance to survive. Children should be given at least one chance to experience it. That is our mission. It’s anyone’s guess what state these kinds of farmsteads will be in when these children are 10 or 20 years older, but first-hand experiences like this are sure to grow future generations that look at them in a positive away and not just discard them. After all, these kids could be the politicians, farmers of the future. https://www.ana-bluewing.com/en #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #uedaharuka [MOTHERNET] Food Education https://www.food-edu.com/en-home/

2017-06-10 12:00:47

NEXT Changemakers Series：Leveraging Crowdfunding for Stability and Sustainability They are not professional farmers, so working with the old women was quite a challenge. “We know it’s delivery day, but we need to go to the onsen” they would say or someone would suddenly claim that their driving license had expired (laughs). I knew that stable logistics and customer feedback was essential to moving things forward and getting them motivated. And so, last year, with the town’s blessing, I turned to crowdfunding. By leveraging advanced payment systems like that of the representative CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) we were able to provide the old women with the money they needed to buy seeds, pesticides, and other supplies. We often forget that the most obvious risk with farming is the weather. At first to instill this in the company mindset, we took less of a share when the harvest was bad and more when it was good, but as demand increased the old women struggled to secure enough produce for their own livelihoods. The burden is now shared between 30 farmers each making 6 deliveries, a combined total of 200 a year. Keeping this business running is our main priority. https://www.ana-bluewing.com/en #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #uedaharuka [MOTHERNET] Food Education https://www.food-edu.com/en-home/

2017-06-09 12:00:00

NEXT Changemakers Series：Getting Family Around the Table Again, Every Once in a While I first realised the need for food education while studying in the Faculty of Agriculture at Kyoto University. I wasn’t overly interested in food until then, but the more I studied the more I identified problems with the current food system. The search for ways to give my ideas shape lead me to my mother’s hometown and to an encounter with some old ladies — and a bit of a wake-up call. My studies at university had probably been too heavily focused on pesticide and food additive safety, but down on their farms, the vegetables I tasted were the real thing. 90% of Japan’s countryside is mountainous and in towns like Chidu with restricted arable land space, farming is barely an effective way of life. Nevertheless, for many of its residents, farming has a purpose. Even from a social welfare perspective, using agriculture to improve their way of life is very important. Chidu ’s slogan “We Don’t Need Your Regional Revitalisation Here” tells you that this town has always been full of wit and energy. I share the town’s spirit to look after the wellbeing of its life and soul — the old women. A lot of our customers are working mothers for who getting a plate on the table is a big enough struggle. It would be a stretch to ask them to use our grocery delivery service every day. But when, on special occasions, they do, we want them to enjoy our produce with the entire family. Even if it’s only once a month, we want to get the family around the table again. It’s not about food economics, even though that’s the core of my study, it’s about sharing some of the happiness of the old women to create happy families. It’s less about scale and more about longevity. https://www.ana-bluewing.com/en #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #uedaharuka [MOTHERNET] Food Education https://www.food-edu.com/en-home/

2017-06-08 12:00:00

NEXT Changemakers Series：A Grocery Delivery Service Like No Other That’s perhaps the only way to describe a unique service delivering fresh vegetables from a little corner of Tottori Prefecture to the inner cities. Surrounded by the lush greenery of the Sendai River Headwaters, Chidu Town is one of the most beautiful villages in Japan, but it’s largely mountainous topography is hardly suited to running an effective farming business. But it’s here that Mother Net sources the produce for its grocery delivery service. And the farmers? the town’s old ladies, by no means professional farmers, but you wouldn’t think it. The values and objectives of this service are clearly different from the bigger companies. That much is clear when you meet its Food Education Business Manager Ueda Haruka, who having majored in Food Science Biology at Kyoto University of Agriculture, graduated to its Graduate School of Agriculture & Life Sciences where he is currently juggling his food education work with a master’s degree in Agricultural Economics. His work has so far taken him to Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe; even as far as France. He also runs a project mentoring young children in the ways of food cultivation raising awareness of the problems that shrinking towns like Chidu face. Join us in the next post as we catch up with Ueda, one of the next generation of Changemaker, to learn more. https://www.ana-bluewing.com/en #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #uedaharuka [MOTHERNET] Food Education https://www.food-edu.com/en-home/

2017-03-24 11:55:00

NEXT Changemakers Series：Message From Masaru Nakajima "I believe that the seeds of tomorrow’s businesses are there in our everyday lives hiding somewhere close-by. The formative experience that lead to Bikestartup & Co is a great example of that. I now look at things with a different perspective, no longer taking things at face value, changing the angle at which I view them. While the current scale of the business may not be that grand, I am proud to have created a business that clearly does some good and helps others. Going forward, I am hoping to take advantage of the business’s scalability and branch out into cycle tourism etc." https://www.ana-bluewing.com/en/ #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #nakajimamasaru PEDALRest https://pedalrest.jp/

2017-03-23 11:59:00

NEXT Changemakers Series："A business that is both worthwhile and socially significant. I set my company up knowing full well that we would not achieve success over night, and that we would need to build up a large network of spaces which currently stands at 10. So, to provide extra capital for the business, I setup an informative bicycle insurance comparison site with experience gained managing a similar project in the past, and directed traffic into the site though various media. Bicycle related businesses with both personal appeal and real potential help to motivate me in my work. On top of that, it is kind to the environment, and as a sharing economy is socially significant. This kind of remarkably simple universal business model that is not just following trends but finding a solution to one of society’s problems is one that feels worthwhile." https://www.ana-bluewing.com/en/ #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #nakajimamasaru PEDALRest https://pedalrest.jp/

2017-03-22 11:45:00

NEXT Changemakers Series："A formative experience can be turned into a business idea. My motivation for setting up Bikestartup & Co was precisely that. During the setup of my former company, Sugolog.inc, because I was a bit short of cash, I decided to save money by doing all my city commutes by bicycle. I quickly discovered many other merits to this method of commutation other than the fact that it was quicker and cheaper than public transport. However, there were never any places to park near my business meetings. More often than not, I would end up parking on the street, only to come back later and find that my bike had been towed away. It became something of a regular occurrence; I think about 10 times. Once you factored in the time and money it would take to go and retrieve it each time, the merits of commuting this way quickly evaporated. But that’s when I got thinking; that it was probably a much bigger problem being faced by society as a whole. It’s that thinking that gave birth to a new business idea." https://www.ana-bluewing.com/en/ #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #nakajimamasaru PEDALRest https://pedalrest.jp/

2017-03-21 12:00:00

NEXT Changemakers Series：Making bike towing a thing of the past. That’s the slogan of PEDALRest, a new service creating bicycle parking spaces from idle properties and renting them via the power of the internet. This new innovation is the brainchild of Bikestartup & Co headed by CEO Nakajima Masaru. PEDALRest is just one of a number of ventures that Nakajima has pioneered since graduating university, starting with Sugolog which he forged from early work experience. But It was his adoption into the KDDI∞Labo5 program that provided him with the platform from which to create this new endeavor. In addition to PEDALRest, he also manages FRAME (a leisurely online read about bicycles) and a bicycle insurance comparison site. The spotlight moves to Nakajima, the next generation of Changemaker. Be sure to check the next few articles for an exclusive interview with the innovator himself. https://www.ana-bluewing.com/en/ #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #nakajimamasaru PEDALRest https://pedalrest.jp/

2016-12-30 20:29:00

NEXT Changemakers Series：Message From Yu Tazawa The BnA Hotel Koenji comprises of a 1st floor with front desk / bar that integrates a check-in function, 2nd & 3rd floor with art rooms and a basement that serves as an event space. The hotel supports artists through an ecosystem where artists receive a portion of the profits from the booking fee every time someone stays in one of the art rooms. This new art experience has already caught the attention of members of the international creative community such as designers, producers, art dealers, etc. This in turn is spawning a network that debuts Japanese artists on the international stage. The future development of the “Bed & Art Project - BnA hotel” is certainly one to keep an eye on. https://www.ana-bluewing.com/en/ #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #tazawayu Bed & Art Project bna-hotel.com

2016-12-29 12:00:00

NEXT Changemakers Series：Expansion & The Future "Roughly 70% of the guests are from Australia and Europe. They include art dealers, fellow artists, photographers and producers, people with a good eye, looking for some inspiration on their journey. Encounters with them have led to Japanese artists being commissioned to create murals and invited to exhibit their work in places like Sydney and San Francisco. I am really happy that this project is providing a networking opportunity to connect with the world. Going forward, I plan to create another 40 art spaces expanding deeper into Koenji and forming alliances with local bathhouses, restaurants and bars. The ideal would be to convert the entire town itself into a sort of hotel resort from a series of smaller projects. I can also see another hotel with 30 rooms and a base overseas. In June, I participated in the first ChangemakerXchange which was held in Hiroshima and Shimane Prefecture. The event was an invaluable experience to mingle with aggressive people with a clear business plan. Experiences like this continue on both a domestic and international level. " https://www.ana-bluewing.com/en/ #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #tazawayu 　 Bed & Art Project bna-hotel.com

2016-12-28 13:18:00

NEXT Changemakers Series：The inspiration behind the Bed & Art Project - BnA hotel "While in Europe or America, art is an intimate part of the culture, in Japan, artists struggle to make ends meet. I find this very frustrating. And that’s what inspired me to join forces with artists to create hotel rooms showcasing their work and supporting them with a share of the profits. After all, the story behind the art is just as important. I wanted to create a way to interact with Koenji’s creative community which in turn would create a deeper art experience. The creative scene and vibe in Koenji is as deep as that which courses through New York’s Bushwick and San Francisco’s Mission Districts. Lately, I hear people put more of an emphasis on experiences than material things, but in a sense, isn’t living inside art a bit like buying a piece of it." https://www.ana-bluewing.com/en/ #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #tazawayu 　 Bed & Art Project bna-hotel.com

2016-12-27 12:00:00

NEXT Changemakers Series：Bed & Art Project - BnA hotel Introducing Mr. Tazawa, social entrepreneur, and the next generation of Changemaker. Born in Kobe and raised in Spain, UK and America, he spent a tenure at Boston Consulting before going solo. His business resume includes a high class hair salon in Jakarta, development of a health care application and B&Bs in Kyoto and Ikebukuro. He is now working on a new venture the “Bed & Art Project” BnA. It all began in March of this year with the opening of an art hotel conceptualizing “art that you can live in” in Tokyo. It's a new art movement that involves the local creative community. https://www.ana-bluewing.com/en/ #nextcm #ANABLUEWING #tazawayu 　 Bed & Art Project bna-hotel.com