21, Aug, 2026
Tamachi, Tokyo. Just a short walk from the station, the Minato City Industrial Promotion Center welcomes a wide range of people every day.
Business leaders. Startups. Creators. Students. Researchers. Government officials.
At first glance, they may all seem to be coming for different reasons.
But the center is aiming to become much more than simply “a place where people gather.”
Whenever I speak with Deputy Director Atsushi Nishioka, I come away with the same impression:
What he is looking at is not the facility itself, but rather what can emerge between people inside it.
“If this person spoke with that person, something interesting might happen.”
“If this company connected with this person, perhaps something new could begin.”
Nishioka-san believes that creating these small points of connection is one of the center’s most important roles.
When people hear “Industrial Promotion Center,” they may imagine: “A place where businesses come for advice.” “A place where seminars and events are held.”
“A place that supports startups.” Of course, all of these are important functions.
But the potential Nishioka-san sees in the center goes much further.
→ Connecting companies with companies.
→ Connecting companies with students.
→ Connecting startups with government.
→ Connecting creators with business leaders.
And connecting people who otherwise might never have crossed paths.
Rather than “doing something for someone,” the goal is to create relationships between people.
From those relationships, work, ideas, projects, and new challenges can begin. This is slightly different from simple business matching.
It is not about exchanging business cards and moving on.It is about connecting people deeply enough that they begin to feel:
“I’d like to talk with this person more.”I’d like to try building this idea together.”
To me, that is where the real essence of community lies.
During a recent conversation with Nishioka-san, one idea stood out in particular.
He spoke about wanting the center to become a place where people think: “Maybe next time, I should try doing something myself.”
I think this is an incredibly important perspective.
A community does not truly become a living ecosystem simply because the organizers continue hosting events.
Someone participates. They meet someone. Something resonates with them. An idea emerges.
And then they decide:“Maybe I should try something too.”
Others see that person taking action, and new people begin to gather. When this cycle starts, the community finally begins to move on its own.
Perhaps what matters most is not the number of events being held.
It is the moment when people shift from being “participants” to becoming “builders.”
Through my own work in community building, I have come to believe that simply saying,
“Let’s co-create,” does not automatically create co-creation. Something needs to come before it. Empathy.
You hear someone speak and think: “I understand that.” “I’ve been thinking about the same thing.” “I want to do something about that problem too.”
That is where the conversation begins.
And eventually, it can turn into: “Why don’t we try doing this together?”
In other words: Empathy → Connection → Co-Creation → Challenge
The Minato City Industrial Promotion Center already has so many of the ingredients needed to create this flow.
Companies are here. Startups are here. Government is here. Students are here. Researchers are here. People with international networks are here.
What is needed may not be to bring something completely new from scratch.
It may simply be to draw new lines between the people, knowledge, and ideas that already exist here.
Sakura Tai will now be working together with the Minato City Industrial Promotion Center on a Community Building Proof of Concept (PoC).
There are two main directions we are exploring.
🦋 Inside: Creating more small points of connection in the everyday life of the center.
🦋 Outside: Bringing in startups, companies, creators, students, researchers, and international players from outside the center, introducing new perspectives and energy.
But the goal is not simply to increase the number of events.
Events are only the entrance. What matters is what happens afterward. A business opportunity emerges. An idea is born. A project begins. A new collaborator appears.
And then, another challenge starts.
We want all kinds of things to be born from this place.
Not: “There’s an event today, so let’s go.”
But instead: “If I go there, something interesting might begin.”
That is the kind of place we want to create.
Listening to Nishioka-san, I keep coming back to one idea. A valuable place is not defined by an impressive building.
It is defined by who is there. Who meets whom. What conversations begin. And what happens afterward.
The accumulation of those moments is what gives a place its real value.
The Minato City Industrial Promotion Center is already a place where diverse people gather.
What we will work on together from here is making sure that diversity does not stop at simply “being in the same place.”
We want to turn it into: connection, empathy, co-creation, and ultimately, action.
People gather. They connect. Something resonates. Someone says, “Let’s try this together.” And then another person begins to move.
If that cycle continues, I believe the Minato City Industrial Promotion Center can grow beyond being an industrial support facility.
It can become an innovation hub for Minato City — a place where people feel that “something new starts here.”
I am genuinely excited about that future.
And from here, together with Nishioka-san and the team at the center, we will begin testing this idea in the real world.
From empathy to co-creation. From co-creation to new challenges.
A place where anything can begin.
That is what we are going to build together. 🦋
19, Aug, 2026
Today, I finally met someone I had wanted to meet for a very long time.
Haruaki Deguchi, former President of my alma mater, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU).
Before the meeting, I thought carefully about what I wanted to ask him.
But once we sat down and started talking, most of that preparation stopped mattering.
As I listened, something began connecting in my mind.
“I’m allowed to do more.” “I’m allowed to think bigger.” “Maybe the things that have always felt wrong to me are worth questioning after all.”
The thoughts came one after another.
I have always struggled with phrases like: “This is just how things are.” “Everyone does it this way.”
Whenever I hear them, part of me immediately asks: Could there be another way? Could this be more interesting?
Should we be questioning the assumption itself before trying to improve the system built on top of it?
But trying to change something almost always creates friction.
People resist change. The familiar feels safer.
So organizations and societies often leave things untouched, even when many people quietly know something is not working.
Today, while listening to Deguchi-san, I made a decision.
◼︎ I want to start using stronger words.
Pleasant words alone do not always move people. Sometimes, a message needs to be uncomfortable.
Sometimes, it needs to hit the core of the issue.
Make people think. Make them question. Then allow them to decide for themselves whether they want to move.
Perhaps I will become even more of a “radical” from here.
And I think I am comfortable with that. I do not need everyone to like me.
If some people strongly connect with what I say while others strongly disagree, that may be a sign that the message actually means something. Real change rarely begins with universal approval.
There was another realization that stayed with me. I have been trying to do too much by myself.
I thought: If I work harder, I can make it happen. If I move faster, I can make it happen.
If I connect every person and every opportunity myself, somehow it will all work. But the bigger the ambition becomes, the less realistic that approach is.
You need other people. You need allies. You need to delegate. You need to connect people who are stronger than you in areas where you are not.
That is not weakness.
It may be one of the most important conditions for creating something truly significant.
I cannot change the world alone. And the world probably will not change as easily as I sometimes wish it would.
Still, someone has to bite first. Even if I cannot leave teeth marks,
I would at least like to leave a trace of red lipstick.
Enough for someone to stop and ask: “Wait. Is this really how things should be?”
If that question causes one more person to move, that matters. I want to help change Japan from both the outside and the inside.
To connect Japan with the world.
To connect people with people.
To pull hidden potential into the light.
To create environments where new challenges can begin.
And to help build a society where more people feel confident enough to trust themselves and live in their own way.
Until today, I thought of these as things I wanted to do. After this conversation, they feel closer to something else.
A mission.
At the end of our conversation, Deguchi-san, someone I had wanted to meet for years, told me:
“Do it.”
So I will.
The bigger the mountain, the more often I will probably want to give up.
There will be days when I am afraid. There will be days when I think: “Maybe I can’t do this.”
But somehow, this no longer feels like something I can simply choose to stop.
I have a feeling that someday, when I look back on today, I will think: “That was the day something changed.”
The excitement has not faded yet. So rather than polishing this into a perfect conclusion, I want to leave it with the same energy I feel right now.
This is where I begin.
15, Jul, 2026
Google for Developers × TapNow: Why AI Learning Must Move Beyond Prompts
More than 250 participants signed up in Tokyo to experience a new model of AI education: team building, learning, and creating in one evening.
Artificial intelligence is changing rapidly. But one thing is becoming increasingly clear: The future isn't defined by who knows the most AI tools.
It's defined by who can turn ideas into reality.
That philosophy was at the heart of the recent Google for Developers × TapNow AI Creator Challenge, held at Google Japan's Shibuya office. With over 250 registrations, the event brought together students, creators, entrepreneurs, marketers, and developers, not simply to learn AI, but to create with it.
◼︎More Than Another AI Workshop
Unlike traditional AI seminars, the event wasn't designed around passive learning.
Participants experienced an entire creative journey in a single evening:
Understanding how AI is changing creative work through an expert panel discussion.
Learning image and video generation during a beginner-friendly Nano Banana workshop.
Exploring AI video production using TapNow.
Building an AI-generated commercial addressing real social challenges in Japan.
Instead of ending with "Now you know how AI works," the event challenged participants to ask, "Now, what can you create?"
◼︎The Most Interesting Moment
During the Nano Banana workshop, participants often started from the same prompt.
Yet every output was different. Some imagined playful stories. Others focused on emotional branding. Some approached the challenge like filmmakers. Others thought like marketers. The technology was identical. The creativity wasn't. AI didn't replace imagination. It amplified it.
◼︎AI Education Is Changing
For years, technology education focused on learning tools. Today's challenge is different.
The barrier to creating images, videos, and content is becoming lower every month. The real competitive advantage is no longer access to AI. It is the ability to combine creativity, storytelling, collaboration, and execution. This event reflected that shift. Participants didn't simply watch demonstrations. They built something together.
◼︎Why This Matters
Events like this show that the future of AI education isn't about producing more AI users.
It's about producing more creators. The ability to transform an idea into something meaningful, whether a campaign, a product, or a story, may become one of the most valuable skills in the AI era. And perhaps that's the biggest lesson from the Google for Developers × TapNow AI Creator Challenge. AI isn't replacing creativity. It's giving more people the opportunity to express it.
◼︎Why The World Should Pay Attention
Around the world, many conversations about AI focus on efficiency. Tokyo is adding something different to that conversation.
Creativity. Community. Collaboration.
As AI lowers the barrier to creating products, videos, campaigns, and businesses, the real competitive advantage will no longer be access to technology. It will be imagination. Events like this prove that the future belongs not to the people who simply know AI......but to the people who know what to build with it. Tokyo is quietly becoming a place where those creators are gathering. And I believe this is only the beginning.
#AI #GoogleForDevelopers #TapNow #Tokyo #Innovation #GenerativeAI #Hackathon #Startups #Community #Creativity
21, Jul, 20262026
Communities are the real infrastructure of innovation.
When people think about startup ecosystems, they often focus on funding, accelerators, or technology. But after spending years building communities across universities, startups, corporations, and local governments, I've come to believe something different.
Without communities, ideas remain isolated. Without them, opportunities never happen.
◼︎Tokyo is changing.
Tokyo has long been recognized as one of the world's largest economic centers. Today, however, something new is happening.
Beyond government initiatives and corporate innovation programs, a growing number of community-led ecosystems are connecting founders, students, researchers, investors, and global talent. These communities are quietly becoming one of Tokyo's greatest strengths.
◼︎Community is not an event.
It is infrastructure. This week perfectly illustrated that idea. On the same day, I hosted two completely different communities.
One brought together entrepreneurs and alumni from one of Japan's most international universities.
The other gathered researchers, startup founders, local government, and ecosystem builders to discuss regional innovation and Fukushima's recovery.
Different audiences, different themes, yet both had the same purpose: creating opportunities that otherwise wouldn't exist.
◼︎Rebuilding the APU spirit in Tokyo
Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) is unlike almost any university in Japan.
With students from over 100 countries and regions and nearly half of its student body coming from overseas, diversity is part of everyday life. Yet graduation creates a challenge. Graduates scatter across the world. The community becomes global but also fragmented.
As an alumna, every time I returned to APU as a guest speaker, one question stayed with me.
How can I recreate that environment in Tokyo?
Together with Francisco Dalla Rosa Soares and the international community he has built through the Tokyo Startup Lunch Club, we are connecting two ecosystems: one shaped by a globally minded university, and another shaped by Tokyo's international startup scene.
The Tokyo Startup Lunch Club is a weekly community where entrepreneurs, investors, engineers, and startup enthusiasts gather over lunch to exchange ideas and build meaningful relationships. Instead of formal presentations or pitches, the community encourages open conversations that often lead to unexpected collaborations.
By bringing this community together with APU's global network, we are creating a space where people from different cultures, industries, and backgrounds can connect naturally.
Later that same day, we gathered at the Minato City Industrial Promotion Center, one of Tokyo's newest hubs for entrepreneurship, business support, and cross-sector collaboration. Designed as a place where companies, entrepreneurs, researchers, and local communities can connect, the center reflects an important shift in how Tokyo is fostering innovation, not only by supporting startups, but by creating spaces where different sectors can work together.
Our discussion was led by Professor Saja Kesht Kar from Tokyo Metropolitan University, who shared his experiences visiting Fukushima and explored how community can become a driving force for regional revitalization.
As we listened, we held peaches brought from Fukushima. It was a simple gesture, but one that transformed the conversation. Rather than discussing regional recovery as an abstract policy topic, we were reminded that every community has its own stories, people, and identity.
What struck me most was not only the discussion itself, but the diversity of the people around the table. Researchers, entrepreneurs, community organizers, and professionals from different backgrounds were exchanging ideas as equals.
This is exactly the kind of environment where innovation begins. Universities contribute knowledge and long-term research.
Entrepreneurs bring speed and experimentation. Local governments create the conditions that allow new ideas to grow.
Communities connect them all.
In many ways, the Minato City Industrial Promotion Center represents something larger than a venue. It represents Tokyo's growing recognition that innovation does not happen inside a single organization—it emerges when academia, industry, government, and local communities are brought into the same conversation.
◼︎Why this matters
Many people assume international ecosystems are built through large conferences or government programs. Those certainly help.
But sustainable ecosystems are created through consistent, trusted relationships. A weekly lunch, a monthly meetup, and shared conversation. These seemingly small moments accumulate into partnerships, startups, and cross-border collaboration.
Communities are not a by-product of innovation.
◼︎My mission
As a Japanese entrepreneur working across startups, universities, corporations, and local governments, I see my role as connecting these worlds. Not simply organizing events. But designing environments where people from different languages, cultures, and industries can meet naturally. Because Tokyo has all the ingredients to become one of Asia's most international startup ecosystems.
The challenge is not talent. It is connection. And communities are how we build those connections.
Communities are built around people, not places. And the people who build communities shape the future of startup ecosystems.
