{ "event": { "name": "Ikigai Academy", "dates": [ "2026-10-01", "2026-10-02" ], "venue": "THE LUIGANS Spa & Resort, Uminonakamichi, Fukuoka", "timezone": "Asia/Tokyo", "booking_base": "https://community.colivefukuoka.com/", "venue_map": "https://venue-map.colivefukuoka.com/", "venue_address": "THE LUIGANS Spa & Resort, 18-25 Saitozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 811-0321, Japan", "google_maps": "https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=THE+LUIGANS+Spa+%26+Resort+18-25+Saitozaki+Fukuoka", "before_program": "Before 09:00 · BUS TRANSPORTATION — Check your Academy event page on the community site for the departure point, time, and reservation.", "vip_dinner": "https://community.colivefukuoka.com/vipdinner", "bus_reservations": { "2026-10-01": { "outbound_slug": "oct-1bus-reservation-outbound", "return_slug": "oct-1bus-reservation-return-trip", "outbound_note": "Departures at 08:00 for breakfast or 09:00 for the Academy, from HEARTS Bus Station Hakata or Fukuoka City Hall. Choose your departure point and time on the booking page." }, "2026-10-02": { "outbound_slug": "oct-2bus-reservation-outbound", "return_slug": "oct-2bus-reservation-return-trip", "outbound_note": "Departures at 08:00 for breakfast or 09:00 for the Academy, from HEARTS Bus Station Hakata or Fukuoka City Hall. Choose your departure point and time on the booking page." } }, "lounge": { "name": "Coworking Lounge", "image": "assets/coworking-lounge.png", "free_for": [ "Premium Pass holders", "Business Pass holders", "Co-Creators" ], "price_eur": 6.99, "purchase_url": "https://community.colivefukuoka.com/portal/shop", "access_note": "A 2-day access pass for October 1–2 is available for other participants. Opening hours will be confirmed.", "day2_note": "Morning sessions in the Lounge are being finalized. Coworking is available outside session times; the exact hours will be confirmed." }, "program_updates": [ "Stella Schneider: Moved from October 1, 16:00–16:45 to October 2, 11:30–12:15 (JST).", "Tessei Hosokawa: Moved from October 2, 10:30–11:15 to October 1, 16:00–16:45 (JST).", "Akira Iguchi: Updated session details. Moved from 11:30–12:15 to 10:30–11:15 on October 2 (JST).", "Christian Pedersen: New session in the former Booth Time slot: October 2, 13:30–14:15, Garden (JST)." ] }, "categories": { "japan": { "en": "Messages from Japan", "color": "#EB6100" }, "world": { "en": "Messages from the World", "color": "#3FA9F5" }, "senses": { "en": "Sharpen Your Senses", "color": "#00AF84" }, "local": { "en": "Local Issues, Up Close", "color": "#F4C542" }, "global": { "en": "Global Issues, Up Close", "color": "#C77DFF" } }, "rooms": { "MAIN": "MAIN HALL", "A": "BALLROOM A", "B": "BALLROOM B", "G": "GARDEN", "BEACH": "GRAND GARDEN", "OUT": "OFF-SITE", "LOUNGE": "LOUNGE" }, "sessions": [ { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "plenary", "time": "9:00-10:00", "room": "G", "room_label": "GARDEN", "title": "Gut-Health Breakfast: Elevating IQ and Happiness through Gut Health", "who": "Masaomi Sakata (Koji Ouji) with the Obaachan Shokudo team · 60 servings, first come first served", "category": "senses", "photos": [ "sakata", "obaachan1", "obaachan2" ], "community_slug": "gut-health-breakfast-koji-co-creati", "note": null, "description": "Masaomi Sakata introduces his approach to gut health through food education and conscious choices about what we eat. Rather than focusing only on adding products or supplements, he asks participants to consider what they might leave out of their everyday diets.\n\nThe session explores his philosophy of intentional subtraction: paying attention to unnecessary additives, highly processed foods, and the habits that shape daily eating. He also discusses how he connects food choices with sensory awareness and mental clarity. The emphasis is on reconsidering familiar routines and developing a more intentional relationship with food. Participants are invited to reflect on what conscious eating means in their own lives.", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G2" }, { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "plenary", "time": "10:00-10:15", "room": "MAIN", "room_label": "MAIN HALL", "title": "Opening: Chikuzen Hakata Koma", "who": "Chikushi Shuraku III · 480 years of spinning-top performance · Welcome MC: Nikoleta Kouli", "category": "japan", "photos": [ "shuraku", "nikoleta" ], "community_slug": "chikuzen-hakata-koma", "note": null, "description": "Experience Chikuzen Hakata Koma, a traditional spinning-top performance with a history of 480 years. Recognized as an intangible cultural property of Fukuoka Prefecture, this art brings together craftsmanship, physical skill, and techniques developed through years of practice.\n\nChikushi Shuraku III presents an opportunity to encounter Japanese cultural history through live performance rather than explanation alone. The tradition has been performed for imperial and royal audiences and in countries around the world. Its movements are accomplished through the performer’s technique, without hidden mechanisms. Watching the tops in motion offers a direct encounter with the patience, precision, and accumulated knowledge behind this Fukuoka performing art.", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G28" }, { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "plenary", "time": "10:15-10:20", "room": "MAIN", "room_label": "MAIN HALL", "title": "Welcome Speech by Fukuoka City", "who": "Words of welcome from Fukuoka City", "category": null, "photos": [], "community_slug": null, "note": null }, { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "plenary", "time": "10:20-10:30", "room": "MAIN", "room_label": "MAIN HALL", "title": "Co-founders Opening Talk", "who": "Akina Shu and Ryo Osera, co-founders of Colive Fukuoka", "category": null, "photos": [ "akina", "ryo" ], "community_slug": "opening-talk", "note": null }, { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "plenary", "time": "10:30-11:10", "room": "MAIN", "room_label": "MAIN HALL", "title": "Keynote 1: Why We Came, Why We Stayed, and What Comes Next", "who": "Nick Szasz (FUKUOKA NOW) with Douglas Weber, Jean-Pierre Villeneuve and Micaela Braithwaite", "category": "local", "photos": [ "nick", "douglas", "jeanpierre", "micaela" ], "partner_logo": "assets/fukuoka-now.png", "community_slug": "fukuoka-now-morning-session", "note": null, "description": "What makes someone choose Fukuoka and build a life here? Fukuoka Now founder Nick Szasz brings together Douglas Weber, Jean-Pierre Villeneuve, and Micaela Braithwaite to discuss the decisions and experiences that made a temporary stay become something lasting.\n\nDouglas moved from product design at Apple to creating coffee equipment in Itoshima. Jean-Pierre built a karaoke technology business after arriving for what was meant to be a short visit. Micaela first came as an exchange student and now shares everyday life in Japan with an international audience. Their conversation explores why they arrived, what persuaded them to stay, and how they contribute to the place they now call home.", "description_source": "https://community.colivefukuoka.com/fukuoka-now-morning-session" }, { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "plenary", "time": "11:10-11:50", "room": "MAIN", "room_label": "MAIN HALL", "title": "Keynote 2: Matcha Crisis", "who": "Yumi Imamura · Atsushi Goda · Yasunari Yamashina", "category": "local", "photos": [ "imamura", "goda", "yamashina" ], "community_slug": "matcha-crisis-by-yumi-imamura", "note": null, "description": "Yumi Imamura leads a conversation about the current matcha boom and what it means for Japanese tea. The discussion begins with Matcha Crisis, then turns to Matcha in the Light: the possibilities that growing interest in matcha has created for Yame tea and Yame City in Fukuoka.\n\nThe closing theme, Matcha Bloom, asks what kind of future people want to create through Japanese tea. Yumi brings her perspective as a Japanese tea instructor who grew up in a tea-selling family and now shares tea culture in Japan and overseas. Her work includes mobile tea-room experiences that connect tea with time and place.", "description_source": "https://community.colivefukuoka.com/matcha-crisis-by-yumi-imamura" }, { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "plenary", "time": "11:50-12:30", "room": "MAIN", "room_label": "MAIN HALL", "title": "Destination Pitches (3 mins)", "who": "Local Craftsmen, Nagasaki City, Goto City, Hirado City, Yame City, Buzen City, Koga City, Hyuga City, Tour de Kyushu, Chiang Mai, Taiwan Digital Fest, SDEC (Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation), Co-Lab HAKUBA", "category": "world", "photos": [], "community_slug": null, "note": null }, { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "plenary", "time": "12:35-14:00", "room": "BEACH", "room_label": "GRAND GARDEN", "title": "Lunch Buffet + Sponsor Booth Time in the Garden", "who": "All pass holders · Grand Garden", "category": null, "photos": [], "community_slug": "lunch-buffet", "note": null }, { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "workshop", "time": "14:00-14:45", "room": "A", "room_label": "BALLROOM A", "title": "Where can we build something that matters?", "who": "Jacquie Wortley × Ryu Fujii + local destinations", "category": "local", "photos": [ "jacquie", "ryu" ], "community_slug": "where-can-we-build-something-that-m", "note": null, "description": "Jacquie Wortley and Ryu Fujii lead the launch session for Fukuoka Builders Coliving and its co-creation project. Together with local community managers, they explore practical challenges and opportunities in regional Japan, asking how people arriving from outside can help build something meaningful in each place.\n\nThe conversation introduces three regional contexts: Yame’s matcha and artisan heritage, Koga’s shopping streets and community revival, and Buzen’s natural landscapes and resources for mindful living. Jacquie brings experience in UX research and sustainable innovation; Ryu connects experimental communities with local projects. The session places local people and the specific character of each region at the center of potential collaboration.", "description_source": "https://community.colivefukuoka.com/where-can-we-build-something-that-m" }, { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "workshop", "time": "14:00-14:45", "room": "B", "room_label": "BALLROOM B", "title": "Speak Before You're Ready", "who": "Multilingual Matt", "category": "world", "photos": [ "matt" ], "community_slug": "speak-before-youre-ready", "note": null, "description": "Multilingual Matt leads a practical workshop on language learning as a way to connect, rather than a test of perfection. The focus is on finding the confidence to start conversations, communicate before feeling fully prepared, and respond to mistakes without losing the connection with another person.\n\nMatt brings humor, storytelling, and practical language-learning advice from his experience studying and speaking multiple languages. His work explores the awkward, human side of communicating across borders, treating language as a practice in courage and humility. The session invites participants to think less about flawless performance and more about the relationships that become possible when they are willing to speak.", "description_source": "https://community.colivefukuoka.com/speak-before-youre-ready" }, { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "workshop", "time": "14:00-14:45", "room": "G", "room_label": "GARDEN", "title": "Booth Time", "who": "Meet the sponsors in the garden · drop in any time", "category": null, "photos": [], "community_slug": null, "note": null }, { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "workshop", "time": "15:00-15:45", "room": "A", "room_label": "BALLROOM A", "title": "Become Yourself Here: Japan as the Place You Discover Who You Really Are", "who": "Kiki Fukai (Krossing) + immigration specialist Ellie Yamatsu", "category": "japan", "photos": [ "kiki" ], "community_slug": "become-yourself-here-japan-as-the-p", "note": null, "description": "What changes when visiting Japan becomes building a life here? Kiki Fukai explores long-term living as a process of self-discovery, looking at how cultural differences, everyday challenges, and unfamiliar expectations can reveal personal values and strengths.\n\nThe session connects these reflections with personal branding: how a person’s experience of Japan can become part of an authentic story rather than simply a record of travel. It also includes an overview of visa pathways with an immigration specialist, considering how different options relate to individual goals and longer-term plans. Participants can reflect on both the personal meaning and practical planning involved in moving from wanting to live in Japan to building a life here.", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G20" }, { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "workshop", "time": "15:00-15:45", "room": "B", "room_label": "BALLROOM B", "title": "You Can't Outrun Your Life: How to Use Travel as a Catalyst for Reinvention", "who": "Jessica Hagmaier", "category": "world", "photos": [ "jessica" ], "community_slug": "you-cant-outrun-your-life-how-to-us", "note": null, "description": "Travel can change a setting without resolving the questions a person carries into it. Jessica Hagmaier shares what she learned after leaving the United States in 2024 to reset and rebuild her life, only to discover that distance did not remove familiar patterns and expectations.\n\nHer session follows the uneven process of questioning a life that no longer worked and rebuilding around freedom, autonomy, and what mattered to her. Drawing on her experience as a creative strategist, writer, and speaker, Jessica considers how setbacks and intentional decisions can create room for change. The conversation offers a grounded look at reinvention, without presenting travel as an escape or waiting for perfect circumstances to begin.", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G15" }, { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "workshop", "time": "15:00-15:45", "room": "G", "room_label": "GARDEN", "title": "Connection & Collaboration: Turning Networking Into Life Opportunities", "who": "Gil Petersil", "category": "senses", "photos": [ "gil" ], "community_slug": "https://entrytickets.be/colive-fukuoka/connection-collaboration-turning-ne", "note": null, "description": "Networking is not just about meeting more people. It is about creating connections that can lead to meaningful relationships, unexpected opportunities, and long-term collaboration. In this interactive session, Gil Petersil guides participants through practical ways to connect with greater confidence, intention, and authenticity.\n\nThrough guided conversations and live networking exercises, participants learn how to move beyond small talk, discover mutual value, and build relationships across cultures, industries, and communities. The session explores how to start meaningful conversations, identify opportunities for collaboration and mutual support, and communicate your value without making a conversation feel transactional. Participants practice turning new connections into ongoing personal and professional relationships, with an emphasis on genuine curiosity, shared value, and the possibilities that emerge when people connect with intention.", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G4" }, { "day": "2026-10-02", "kind": "workshop", "time": "11:30-12:15", "room": "A", "room_label": "BALLROOM A", "title": "SME Takeover Lab: How to Acquire a Small Business — Tools, Process & Win-Win Thinking", "who": "Stella Schneider (Business Wege) × Ikehiko Corporation", "category": "local", "photos": [ "stella" ], "community_slug": "sme-takeover-lab-how-to-acquire-a-s", "note": null, "description": "Starting a business is not the only route to entrepreneurship. Stella Schneider explores acquiring an existing small or medium-sized business, where customers, operations, and cash flow are already in place.\n\nDrawing on her experience as a German business strategist and founder of Business Wege, she introduces five phases of a business takeover. Participants consider what to look for, which questions to ask, and how to structure an agreement that works for both buyer and seller. The session connects succession challenges faced by business owners with opportunities for people seeking a practical route into ownership. Tools and frameworks from the German SME market provide a starting point for evaluating whether acquisition fits individual goals.", "update_note": "Moved from October 1, 16:00–16:45 to October 2, 11:30–12:15 (JST).", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G5" }, { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "workshop", "time": "16:00-16:45", "room": "B", "room_label": "BALLROOM B", "title": "Content Strategy for Small Businesses", "who": "Daycia", "category": "world", "photos": [ "daycia" ], "community_slug": "content-strategy-for-small-business", "note": null, "description": "Content strategy does not have to mean posting every day. Daycia shares an approach for small-business owners working with limited time and without an agency budget, drawing on her experience at Dentsu and P&G and on building the Daylightful media brand.\n\nThe session focuses on choosing content pillars that fit a business, developing a realistic publishing plan, and understanding the difference between content that attracts likes and content that brings clients. Rather than treating a larger following as the goal, participants consider how content can support their brand and business priorities. The emphasis is on a manageable framework for deciding what to create and why it matters.", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G6" }, { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "workshop", "time": "16:00-16:45", "room": "G", "room_label": "GARDEN", "title": "Connection & Collaboration: Turning Networking Into Life Opportunities (continued)", "who": "Gil Petersil", "category": "senses", "photos": [], "community_slug": null, "note": "cont" }, { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "workshop", "time": "17:00-17:45", "room": "A", "room_label": "BALLROOM A", "title": "YEN TO EN: Turning Money Back into Connection", "who": "Ryotaro Sakurai × Kazuhiro Arai (eumo) × Kotaro Motoshima × Kiyoko Mii (KIBOTCHA)", "category": "japan", "photos": [ "sakurai", "arai", "motojima", "mitsui" ], "community_slug": "yen-to-en-turning-money-back-into-c", "note": null, "description": "What does wealth mean when the conversation moves beyond earning money? Ryotaro Sakurai facilitates a discussion about connection, reciprocity, and forms of value rooted in Japanese perspectives on community.\n\nThe panel brings together Kazuhiro Arai of eumo, lawyer Kotaro Motoshima, and Kiyoko Mii of KIBOTCHA. Their work spans empathy-based economic ideas, support for a circular society, and a place developed through post-disaster recovery. Using the relationship between yen, money, and en, human connection, they explore how resources and relationships can circulate together. The session invites participants to reconsider what they accumulate, what they share, and how a sense of richness can emerge through relationships rather than financial measures alone.", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G34" }, { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "workshop", "time": "17:00-17:45", "room": "B", "room_label": "BALLROOM B", "title": "Breaking Conceptions: From Nomadic Couple to Nomadic Family", "who": "Yarden Avirav & Roza Gavrilov (NomadsTwoGo)", "category": "world", "photos": [ "nomads2go" ], "community_slug": "breaking-conceptions-from-nomadic-c", "note": null, "description": "After six years of traveling as a couple, Yarden Avirav and Roza Gavrilov became parents and began reconsidering assumptions about freedom, home, relationships, and themselves. They share what happened when a life organized around movement had to make room for a baby.\n\nThe session compares the ideas they held before parenthood with the reality they encountered. Some expectations proved wrong; others became more complicated. Alongside meaningful moments, they discuss exhaustion, frustration, changes in identity, and pressures on their relationship. This is not a claim that traveling with a baby is easy. It is a conversation about adapting a life you love when the people and responsibilities within it change.", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G7" }, { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "workshop", "time": "17:00-17:45", "room": "G", "room_label": "GARDEN", "title": "Latino Dance: Bachata for Everyone", "who": "Nika Ray", "category": "senses", "photos": [ "nika" ], "community_slug": "latino-dance", "note": null, "description": "Join Nika Ray for a bachata workshop introducing basic movements for both leaders and followers. The session combines explanation and practice, with attention to body movement, musicality, and connection.\n\nNika is an international dance instructor and event organizer whose work encourages people to move with music. This workshop offers a chance to explore the relationship between rhythm, movement, and dancing with another person through the foundations of bachata.", "description_source": "https://community.colivefukuoka.com/latino-dance" }, { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "evening", "time": "17:45-18:00", "room": "MAIN", "room_label": "MAIN HALL", "title": "Day 1 Closing", "who": "Nikoleta Kouli (MC)", "category": null, "photos": [ "nikoleta" ], "community_slug": null, "note": null }, { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "evening", "time": "18:30-18:45", "room": "OUT", "room_label": "OFF-SITE", "title": "Bus Transportation", "who": "Reserve on the community event page. The Co-Creators' Gathering shuttle leaves THE LUIGANS at 18:15.", "category": null, "photos": [], "community_slug": null, "note": null }, { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "evening", "time": "19:00-22:00", "room": "OUT", "room_label": "OFF-SITE", "title": "Co-Creator's Gathering (INVITATION ONLY)", "who": "Co-Creator, Premium and Business Pass holders · POSS COFFEE · Dedicated shuttle from THE LUIGANS at 18:15", "category": null, "photos": [], "community_slug": "https://entrytickets.be/colive-fukuoka/vipdinner", "note": null, "banner": "assets/gathering-banner-no-confidential.png", "presentation": "invitation", "description": "An evening gathering at POSS COFFEE for Co-Creator, Premium and Business Pass holders. A dedicated shuttle leaves THE LUIGANS at 18:15. Please check the booking page for attendance details and the performance lineup.", "description_source": "https://community.colivefukuoka.com/vipdinner" }, { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "evening", "time": "19:00-", "room": "OUT", "room_label": "OFF-SITE", "title": "Community Dinner Motsunabe", "who": "Note: No vegan option. Check the community event page for booking and location.", "category": null, "photos": [], "community_slug": "https://entrytickets.be/colive-fukuoka/community-dinner-motsunabe-2", "note": null, "banner": "assets/motsunabe-banner.png" }, { "day": "2026-10-02", "kind": "plenary", "time": "9:00-10:00", "room": "G", "room_label": "GARDEN", "title": "Gut-Health Breakfast, Day 2", "who": "Masaomi Sakata (Koji Ouji) with the Obaachan Shokudo team · 60 servings", "category": "senses", "photos": [ "sakata", "obaachan1", "obaachan2" ], "community_slug": "elevating-iq-and-happiness-through", "note": null, "description": "Masaomi Sakata introduces his approach to gut health through food education and conscious choices about what we eat. Rather than focusing only on adding products or supplements, he asks participants to consider what they might leave out of their everyday diets.\n\nThe session explores his philosophy of intentional subtraction: paying attention to unnecessary additives, highly processed foods, and the habits that shape daily eating. He also discusses how he connects food choices with sensory awareness and mental clarity. The emphasis is on reconsidering familiar routines and developing a more intentional relationship with food. Participants are invited to reflect on what conscious eating means in their own lives.", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G2" }, { "day": "2026-10-01", "kind": "workshop", "time": "16:00-16:45", "room": "A", "room_label": "BALLROOM A", "title": "The \"Death\" of Digital Nomads — Zen, Impermanence, and Living in the Moment", "who": "Tessei Hosokawa", "category": "japan", "photos": [ "tessei" ], "community_slug": "en-the-death-of-digital-nomads-zen", "note": null, "description": "Digital nomads live by constantly leaving — familiar cities, close friends, old identities. In a sense, we experience repeated \"small deaths.\" This session explores Buddhist and Zen views on death, impermanence, and rebirth, and how they resonate with the nomadic life. We'll look at reincarnation, karma, and the Zen idea of the \"Great Death\" — completely letting go of the ego so that a freer self can be reborn. Drawing on the landscape of Katsuura and Nachi Falls, we'll reflect on what it means to live fully in this very moment. You'll leave with a gentler, more grounded way of seeing change, loss, and the freedom found in letting go.", "update_note": "Moved from October 2, 10:30–11:15 to October 1, 16:00–16:45 (JST).", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G36" }, { "day": "2026-10-02", "kind": "workshop", "time": "10:30-11:15", "room": "B", "room_label": "BALLROOM B", "title": "Build Wealth. Find Your Purpose. Design a Life You Don't Need to Retire From.", "who": "Diego Taira (Wealth Angels)", "category": "world", "photos": [ "diego" ], "community_slug": "build-wealth-find-your-purpose-des", "note": null, "description": "Diego Taira shares his journey from nearly two decades in Japan’s corporate world to financial independence at 40 and a life organized around purpose. This interactive workshop asks what freedom means beyond the idea of early retirement.\n\nThrough reflection, practical ideas, and conversation, participants explore how they want to spend their time, what they want their work to support, and the contribution they hope to make. The session connects questions of wealth with personal ikigai rather than treating money as an isolated goal. It is intended for entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, and anyone reconsidering a next chapter, offering space to identify priorities and consider practical first steps toward a more intentional life.", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G9" }, { "day": "2026-10-02", "kind": "workshop", "time": "10:30-11:15", "room": "G", "room_label": "GARDEN", "title": "Ask a Digital Nomad: Open Roundtables with JDNA", "who": "Moe Nakano × Vitto Christaldi × Maria Kinoshita · runs 10:30-12:15", "category": "local", "photos": [ "moe", "vitto" ], "community_slug": "ask-a-digital-nomad", "note": null, "description": "The Garden becomes a space for open roundtable conversations between digital nomads and people working in Japanese regions. Facilitated by Moe Nakano, Vitto Christaldi, Maria Kinoshita, and the Japan Digital Nomad Association, the session connects visitors with regional operators, city officers, educators, founders, and students.\n\nSmall-group rounds explore digital nomadism in relation to tourism, startups, education, and nature, with support for conversation in Japanese and English. Questions collected in advance help participants move directly into the issues they want to discuss. Japanese participants can ask how nomads choose places and what makes them stay; visiting Co-Creators can hear what local communities are trying to build. The format prioritizes direct conversation rather than slides or a keynote.", "description_source": "https://community.colivefukuoka.com/ask-a-digital-nomad" }, { "day": "2026-10-02", "kind": "workshop", "time": "10:30-11:15", "room": "A", "room_label": "BALLROOM A", "title": "IKIGAI MANIFESTATION: How to Turn Your Ikigai into an Extraordinary Life — The 5-Step Formula to Live the Life You Truly Want", "who": "Akira Iguchi", "category": "japan", "photos": [ "iguchi" ], "community_slug": "ikigai-manifestation-how-to-turn-yo", "note": null, "description": "Akira Iguchi introduces his Ikigai Manifestation Method, connecting personal purpose with practical action. He describes manifestation as a process in which action changes results and those results can change beliefs about what is possible.\n\nThe session follows five steps: Ikigai, Gift, Purpose, Monetization, and Impact and Scaling. Participants are invited to identify something they currently consider impossible and apply the 1mm Rule: a small action within 24 hours, shared with one witness. Other exercises explore an ikigai hypothesis, learning from a role model, and a year-end Kaizen review. Drawing on his experience building businesses and writing books, Akira considers how individual strengths can become meaningful work and how that contribution might grow.", "update_note": "Updated session details. Moved from 11:30–12:15 to 10:30–11:15 on October 2 (JST).", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G40" }, { "day": "2026-10-02", "kind": "workshop", "time": "11:30-12:15", "room": "B", "room_label": "BALLROOM B", "title": "Align and Connect with Your Ikigai Through Soul", "who": "Roland Tokko (Becoming International, Estonia)", "category": "world", "photos": [ "roland" ], "community_slug": "align-and-connect-with-your-ikigai", "note": null, "description": "Roland Tokko brings stories, music, singing, and guided visualization into a shared circle focused on ikigai. Participants are invited to connect with their own sense of purpose while also making space for connection with the people around them.\n\nA speaker, facilitator, and singer-songwriter from Estonia, Roland combines spoken reflection with live musical and guided experiences. His approach explores leadership through listening to an inner sense of direction, rather than relying only on external expectations. The session offers a different mode of participation from a conventional talk: an opportunity to reflect, listen, sing, and consider the vision participants want to bring into their lives and work.", "description_source": "https://community.colivefukuoka.com/align-and-connect-with-your-ikigai" }, { "day": "2026-10-02", "kind": "workshop", "time": "11:30-12:15", "room": "G", "room_label": "GARDEN", "title": "Ask a Digital Nomad (continued)", "who": "Japan Digital Nomad Association", "category": "local", "photos": [], "community_slug": "ask-a-digital-nomad", "note": "cont" }, { "day": "2026-10-02", "kind": "plenary", "time": "12:15-13:30", "room": "BEACH", "room_label": "GRAND GARDEN", "title": "Lunch Buffet", "who": "Academy lunch buffet", "category": null, "photos": [], "community_slug": "lunch-buffet-2", "note": null }, { "day": "2026-10-02", "kind": "workshop", "time": "13:30-14:15", "room": "A", "room_label": "BALLROOM A", "title": "Wakachiai: From Everyday Talk to Deep Connection", "who": "Mikiko Sudo & Hidehiko Sudo (Kokoro Academy)", "category": "japan", "photos": [ "sudo" ], "community_slug": "wakachiai-from-everyday-talk-to-dee", "note": null, "description": "Mikiko and Hidehiko Sudo explore why people who care about each other can still become caught in distance and misunderstanding. Drawing on patterns they experienced in their own marriage, they use a simple map to show how one person’s pursuit of connection can meet another’s withdrawal.\n\nParticipants then experience Wakachiai, a heart-sharing practice that moves from everyday conversation into feelings and the stories behind reactions. The workshop involves sharing, receiving, and listening without interrupting, offering advice, or trying to fix another person. It offers a first step participants can try with a partner, friend, or colleague, considering how small, regular conversations can help build trust and support co-creation.", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G10" }, { "day": "2026-10-02", "kind": "workshop", "time": "13:30-14:15", "room": "B", "room_label": "BALLROOM B", "title": "Travel Smarter, Work Safer: Everyday Security for Digital Nomads", "who": "Adam Curnow (KarasuSec)", "category": "global", "photos": [ "adam" ], "community_slug": "travel-smarter-work-safer-everyday", "note": null, "description": "Working while traveling creates everyday security decisions, from connecting to public Wi-Fi to handling client information or responding to urgent messages. Adam Curnow, founder of KarasuSec, introduces a practical approach to recognizing and managing these risks without relying on technical jargon.\n\nParticipants use a four-part routine—See it, Size it, Secure it, Review it—to assess a travel-and-work scenario and develop a personal security plan. The session covers protecting accounts and devices, keeping backups and recovery options ready, and identifying useful contacts before a problem occurs. It also considers how to respond when something goes wrong, limit the damage, and use that experience to improve preparations for the next trip.", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G11" }, { "day": "2026-10-02", "kind": "workshop", "time": "13:30-14:15", "room": "G", "room_label": "GARDEN", "title": "Why Being Yourself Is Your Superpower", "who": "Christian Pedersen", "category": null, "photos": ["christian-pedersen"], "community_slug": "https://entrytickets.be/colive-fukuoka/why-being-yourself-is-your-superpow", "note": null, "description": "Most of us spend our lives performing for others: chasing approval, likes, or money, and hiding the parts of ourselves we think people won't accept. It's exhausting, and I want us to challenge that. \n\nI used to create content for views and money, and it felt like work. When I started doing it for myself, everything changed. I connected deeper and learned to feel free to be silly. \n\nIn this conversational workshop, we'll explore together:\n• What changes when we act for ourselves instead of for approval\n• How to show up on camera as the real you in a digital world\n• How to speak to an audience and truly connect, whether it's one person or thousands", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G41" }, { "day": "2026-10-02", "kind": "workshop", "time": "14:30-15:15", "room": "A", "room_label": "BALLROOM A", "title": "Peace: One Conversation at a Time", "who": "Oren Chazan × Yeji Cheon × Cihan Boz", "category": "global", "photos": [ "oren", "yeji", "cihan" ], "community_slug": "peace-one-conversation-at-a-time", "note": null, "description": "Oren Chazan, Yeji Cheon, and Cihan Boz introduce a conversation-centered strand of the program that gives people space to listen and be heard. The emphasis is on practicing attention so that another person feels genuinely met, rather than discussing connection only as an idea.\n\nTheir wider approach includes small circles and opportunities to make sense of experiences as the festival unfolds. Within a busy schedule of talks, tours, and social events, the aim is to create room to process what participants are encountering. Oren brings experience in coliving and Nonviolent Communication. The session offers an introduction to a slower, more deliberate form of conversation and its place in community life.", "description_source": "https://community.colivefukuoka.com/peace-one-conversation-at-a-time" }, { "day": "2026-10-02", "kind": "workshop", "time": "14:30-15:15", "room": "B", "room_label": "BALLROOM B", "title": "The Power of a Smile: Creating Connection and Joy Within and Around You", "who": "Carlyn Shaw", "category": "world", "photos": [ "carlyn" ], "community_slug": "the-power-of-a-smile-creating-conne", "note": null, "description": "Carlyn Shaw explores two sides of a smile: the expression that opens a connection with someone else and the choice to meet an unexpected turn in life with a different perspective. She draws on her own experience of choosing to smile again after losing her front teeth.\n\nThis interactive session considers how everyday choices, curiosity, and a willingness to be present can influence relationships and opportunities. Carlyn connects these ideas with her long-held belief that people create possibilities. Rather than treating a smile as a superficial gesture, the conversation looks at what it can mean in work, personal life, and encounters with strangers, including moments when circumstances are not what we hoped for.", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G27" }, { "day": "2026-10-02", "kind": "workshop", "time": "14:30-15:15", "room": "G", "room_label": "GARDEN", "title": "HEARIM: Building Trust Across Cultures at Work", "who": "Tressia H. Lee", "category": "global", "photos": [ "tressia" ], "community_slug": "hearim-building-trust-across-cultur", "note": null, "description": "Working across cultures involves more than sharing a language. Expectations about timing, hierarchy, responsibility, silence, and communication can differ even when everyone understands the words being spoken.\n\nTressia H. Lee introduces HEARIM, a Korean-inspired framework for recognizing these unspoken expectations and building trust. Drawing on more than 14 years of experience with Korean and global teams, she shares examples of how small communication choices affect collaboration and professional relationships. Participants consider how to notice assumptions, express expectations more clearly, and use the framework with clients, colleagues, partners, and international communities. The focus is on practical choices that can support cross-cultural work and everyday professional communication.", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G12" }, { "day": "2026-10-02", "kind": "workshop", "time": "15:30-16:15", "room": "A", "room_label": "BALLROOM A", "title": "Beneath Ikigai & Zen: Discovering the Hidden Worldview of Japan, and Your Own", "who": "Sanae Akima (La torche / Nashite Fukuoka)", "category": "japan", "photos": [ "sanae" ], "community_slug": "beneath-ikigai-zen-discovering-the", "note": null, "description": "Ikigai and Zen are widely recognized, but what lies beneath them? Sanae Akima explores the worldview that has shaped aspects of Japanese culture, including relationships with nature and other people, harmony, purpose, and ma—the space in between.\n\nA short experiential exercise invites participants to notice automatic reactions to difference, uncertainty, and unfamiliar perspectives. From there, the session examines the often invisible assumptions that influence what people regard as normal, right, or possible. Japan becomes a mirror for looking at one’s own worldview rather than simply a subject to learn about. Participants consider how noticing these patterns can make room for greater curiosity and more intentional choices in everyday life.", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G33" }, { "day": "2026-10-02", "kind": "workshop", "time": "15:30-16:15", "room": "B", "room_label": "BALLROOM B", "title": "Beyond Social Media: Grow a Business Through Relationships, Trust and Community", "who": "Lawrence Tuazon (Be Extraordinary Publishing)", "category": "world", "photos": [ "lawrence" ], "community_slug": "beyond-social-media-how-to-grow-a-b", "note": null, "description": "Lawrence Tuazon shares how relationships, trust, referrals, partnerships, and community helped him grow his coaching and publishing businesses without relying heavily on social media, websites, or paid advertising.\n\nThe session examines what relationship-driven business development looks like in practice: building trust before asking for a sale, offering value without expecting an immediate return, and allowing conversations to develop into collaborations and referrals. Lawrence draws on lessons from his own entrepreneurial experience to consider how these connections can support long-term growth. Participants are invited to shift attention from collecting followers toward developing relationships with people and communities, and to think about how that approach could fit their own work.", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G17" }, { "day": "2026-10-02", "kind": "workshop", "time": "15:30-16:15", "room": "G", "room_label": "GARDEN", "title": "Anywhere, But Where?", "who": "Rei Lee", "category": "world", "photos": [ "gen" ], "community_slug": "anywhere-but-where", "note": null, "description": "If work can happen anywhere, how do you choose where to live, and how do you begin to belong after arriving? This participatory workshop considers digital nomadism through the lens of ikigai, looking beyond what mobility offers an individual.\n\nThe discussion explores how a visitor’s presence can matter to the places they choose, as well as how those places support the life they hope to build. East Asia provides the context for examining changing relationships between local communities, remote workers, long-stay visitors, and people who maintain connections with more than one place. Participants are invited to reflect on the relationship between choosing a destination and finding a meaningful place within it.", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G25" }, { "day": "2026-10-02", "kind": "workshop", "time": "16:30-18:00", "room": "A", "room_label": "BALLROOM A", "title": "Rain Won't Stop You, Wind Won't Stop You: Live Music, Picture Books and Miyazawa Kenji in Two Languages", "who": "Arthur Binard × Visions (Miki Tsukamoto, Kiyoshi Mamura) · 90 min", "category": "senses", "photos": [ "binard", "miki", "mamura" ], "community_slug": "an-evening-of-live-musicpicture-bo", "note": null, "description": "Arthur Binard and Visions bring literature, picture-book imagery, and live music together in a performance centered on the work of Miyazawa Kenji. Binard’s English translations and spoken reflections are accompanied by piano, bass, and percussion from Miki Tsukamoto and Kiyoshi Mamura.\n\nImages from picture-book work illustrated by Koji Yamamura add a visual dimension to the words and music. Binard’s commentary draws on Japanese history, landscapes, and language, combining close attention to meaning with humor. The performance offers an opportunity to encounter familiar and unfamiliar words through more than one language and art form, considering how translation, illustration, and musical interpretation can open different ways of experiencing a literary work.", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G13" }, { "day": "2026-10-02", "kind": "workshop", "time": "16:30-18:00", "room": "B", "room_label": "BALLROOM B", "title": "What Keeps a Community Alive? From Shared Spaces to Shared Purpose", "who": "Marco Traina (BeetCommunity · Italia Nomad Fest) · 90 min", "category": "global", "photos": [ "marco" ], "community_slug": "what-keeps-a-community-alive-from-s", "note": null, "description": "Sharing a building does not automatically create a community. Marco Traina draws on BeetCommunity, Italia Nomad Fest, and COFO – Coliving Founders to explore the relationships and practices that turn shared space into a place of belonging.\n\nUsing examples of successes and failures, he examines movement from guest to participant, contributor, and community member. The session connects trust, shared experiences, and purpose with sustainability, the circular economy, and the sharing of resources and knowledge. It also introduces temporary citizenship: participating in and taking responsibility for a place rather than experiencing it only as a visitor. A short video brings in perspectives from coliving founders in different countries on what keeps a community alive.", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G26" }, { "day": "2026-10-02", "kind": "workshop", "time": "16:30-18:00", "room": "G", "room_label": "GARDEN", "title": "Closing Meditation & Coming Home to Yourself", "who": "Freeman Fung (Travel To Transform) · 16:30-18:00", "category": "senses", "photos": [ "freeman" ], "community_slug": "a-conscious-pause-closing-meditatio", "note": null, "description": "After two days of ideas, conversations, and new connections, Freeman Fung guides a pause to reflect on what participants want to carry forward. This integration session focuses on making room for experience rather than adding more information.\n\nThrough self-reflection and meditation outdoors, Freeman invites participants to turn their attention inward and connect the Academy’s activities with their own sense of purpose. The group slows down to consider what has resonated and how those experiences might inform life beyond the event. The session is open to people without meditation experience. Participants may bring a journal if they have one, using the time to gather their thoughts before the conversations and experiences still ahead in Fukuoka.", "description_source": "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m0d4lzHzt6f5BnLd-RWxCClrYlrsBthnSuB9Xk2fsec/edit#gid=1971872080&range=G14" }, { "day": "2026-10-02", "kind": "evening", "time": "18:30-18:45", "room": "OUT", "room_label": "OFF-SITE", "title": "Bus Transportation", "who": "Reserve on the community event page. This bus passes the Synapse Festival venue.", "category": null, "photos": [], "community_slug": null, "note": null }, { "day": "2026-10-02", "kind": "evening", "time": "19:00-", "room": "OUT", "room_label": "OFF-SITE", "title": "Synapse Festival", "who": "INN THE PARK Fukuoka, Uminonakamichi · music, art, sauna, food · 2-4 October", "category": null, "photos": [], "community_slug": "synapse-festivalpass-holders", "note": null } ], "speakers": [ { "photos": [ "nikoleta" ], "name": "Nikoleta Kouli", "role": "MC", "session": "Opening: Chikuzen Hakata Koma", "category": "world", "when": "Day 1 · 10:00", "bio": "Nikoleta is a community leader, writer, and podcast host who moved from chemical engineering into community building. Her work in coliving focuses on helping people find connection and a sense of belonging.", "search_aliases": [ "Nikoletta", "Nikoletta Kouli" ] }, { "photos": [ "akina" ], "name": "Akina Shu", "role": "Co-founder, Colive Fukuoka", "bio": "Akina co-founded Colive Fukuoka to connect international visitors and local communities in Japan.", "session": "Co-founders Opening Talk", "category": "local", "when": "Day 1 · 10:20" }, { "photos": [ "ryo" ], "name": "Ryo Osera", "role": "Co-founder, Colive Fukuoka", "bio": "Ryo is a co-founder of Colive Fukuoka and CEO of yugyo inc.", "session": "Co-founders Opening Talk", "category": "local", "when": "Day 1 · 10:20" }, { "photos": [ "sakata" ], "name": "Masaomi Sakata", "session": "Gut-Health Breakfast: Elevating IQ and Happiness through Gut Health", "category": "senses", "when": "Day 1 & 2 · 9:00", "bio": "Masaomi, also known as Koji Prince, develops foods and sweets using fermentation. He launched the 15% brand to make food more inclusive, beginning with an ice cream project that grew from his own exploration of food and well-being.", "role": "Fermentation entrepreneur" }, { "photos": [ "shuraku" ], "name": "Chikushi Shuraku III", "session": "Opening: Chikuzen Hakata Koma", "category": "japan", "when": "Day 1 · 10:00", "bio": "Chikushi Shuraku III is the twentieth-generation head of Chikuzen Hakata Koma, a traditional spinning-top performance recognized as an intangible cultural property of Fukuoka Prefecture. He also performs Hakata Kinshishi taiko and brings these traditions to audiences in Japan and overseas.", "role": "Traditional performing artist" }, { "photos": [ "imamura" ], "name": "Yumi Imamura (matchabae)", "session": "Keynote 2: Matcha Crisis", "category": "local", "when": "Day 1 · 11:10", "bio": "Yumi grew up in a tea-selling family and shares Japanese tea culture with audiences in Japan and overseas. She leads Chajiyuukan, offering tea experiences through a mobile tea room that brings tea, time, and place together.", "role": "Japanese tea instructor" }, { "photos": [ "goda" ], "name": "Atsushi Goda", "session": "Keynote 2: Matcha Crisis", "category": "local", "when": "Day 1 · 11:10", "bio": "Atsushi Goda is the representative of Goda Seicha and a tea producer. He joins Matcha Crisis to share a producer's perspective on Japanese tea.", "role": "Representative / Tea Producer, Goda Seicha" }, { "photos": [ "yamashina" ], "name": "Yasunari Yamashina", "session": "Keynote 2: Matcha Crisis", "category": "local", "when": "Day 1 · 11:10", "bio": "Yasunari Yamashina is the representative of Yamashina Chaho and a Japanese tea appraiser. He joins Matcha Crisis to share an appraiser's perspective on Japanese tea.", "role": "Representative / Japanese Tea Appraiser, Yamashina Chaho" }, { "photos": [ "kiki" ], "name": "Kiki Fukai", "session": "Become Yourself Here: Japan as the Place You Discover Who You Really Are", "category": "japan", "when": "Day 1 · 15:00", "bio": "Kiki is a personal branding coach and content creator. Having lived abroad and worked alongside international residents in Japan, she brings perspectives from both sides of cross-cultural life. She helps people find their own voice and build a sense of belonging without losing who they are.", "role": "Personal branding coach" }, { "photos": [ "sakurai" ], "name": "Ryotaro Sakurai", "session": "YEN TO EN: Turning Money Back into Connection", "category": "japan", "when": "Day 1 · 17:00", "bio": "Ryotaro founded Life Bridge in 2006. He works with local governments and tourism businesses on inbound tourism, regional development, and travel experiences. Through Ryotaro’s Japan, he introduces places and people across Japan to English-speaking audiences.", "role": "Founder, Life Bridge" }, { "photos": [ "arai" ], "name": "Kazuhiro Arai", "session": "YEN TO EN: Turning Money Back into Connection", "category": "japan", "when": "Day 1 · 17:00", "bio": "Kazuhiro co-founded Kamakura Investment Management in 2008 and established eumo in 2018. Following a career in banking and investment management, he explores economic models built around empathy, human connection, and well-being.", "role": "Founder, eumo" }, { "photos": [ "motojima" ], "name": "Kotaro Motoshima", "session": "YEN TO EN: Turning Money Back into Connection", "category": "japan", "when": "Day 1 · 17:00", "bio": "Kotaro is a lawyer whose work has included DAO development and legal frameworks with the Japan DAO Association and RuleMakers DAO. At IVS2024, he discussed how legal structures can support communities working toward shared goals.", "role": "Lawyer" }, { "photos": [ "mitsui" ], "name": "Kiyoko Mii", "session": "YEN TO EN: Turning Money Back into Connection", "category": "japan", "when": "Day 1 · 17:00", "bio": "Kiyoko leads the KIBOTCHA Smart Eco-Village initiative in Higashimatsushima. Her work connects disaster-prevention education, the reuse of a former school, and community development, exploring ways for people to learn and build a sustainable future together.", "role": "Community development, KIBOTCHA" }, { "photos": [ "sudo" ], "name": "Mikiko & Hidehiko Sudo", "session": "Wakachiai: From Everyday Talk to Deep Connection", "category": "japan", "when": "Day 2 · 13:30", "bio": "Mikiko and Hidehiko are relationship specialists, educators, and founders of Kokoro Academy. Mikiko brings a background in university teaching and communication; Hidehiko holds a PhD in Sport Science and works with behavior change. Together, they developed Wakachiai, a practical approach to sharing feelings and building trust.", "role": "Founders, Kokoro Academy" }, { "photos": [ "sanae" ], "name": "Sanae Akima", "session": "Beneath Ikigai & Zen: Discovering the Hidden Worldview of Japan, and Your Own", "category": "japan", "when": "Day 2 · 15:30", "bio": "Sanae is a practitioner-researcher and founder of La torche. She develops projects that help people and communities turn differences into new possibilities. These include Nashite Fukuoka, a community and media initiative exploring why people from different backgrounds are drawn to the city. She is also the author of Brain Management.", "role": "Founder and CEO, La torche" }, { "photos": [ "miki" ], "name": "Miki Tsukamoto (Visions)", "session": "Rain Won't Stop You, Wind Won't Stop You: Live Music, Picture Books and Miyazawa Kenji in Two Languages", "category": "senses", "when": "Day 2 · 16:30", "bio": "Miki is a pianist and co-founder of Visions with bassist and percussionist Kiyoshi Mamura. Formed in 2000, the duo uses jazz improvisation as a foundation for collaborations with picture-book readings, film, theater, dance, and traditional performing arts.", "role": "Pianist, Visions" }, { "photos": [ "mamura" ], "name": "Kiyoshi Mamura (Visions)", "session": "Rain Won't Stop You, Wind Won't Stop You: Live Music, Picture Books and Miyazawa Kenji in Two Languages", "category": "senses", "when": "Day 2 · 16:30", "bio": "Kiyoshi is a bassist and percussionist who formed Visions with pianist Miki Tsukamoto in 2000. Their work combines jazz improvisation with other art forms, including storytelling, film, theater, dance, and traditional performance.", "role": "Bassist and percussionist, Visions" }, { "photos": [ "matt" ], "name": "Multilingual Matt", "session": "Speak Before You're Ready", "category": "world", "when": "Day 1 · 14:00", "bio": "Matt creates content about language learning, travel, culture, and cross-cultural connection. His work combines humor, storytelling, and practical advice, treating language as a way to practice courage and humility while connecting with people across borders.", "role": "Language and travel creator" }, { "photos": [ "gil" ], "name": "Gil Petersil", "session": "Connection & Collaboration: Turning Networking Into Life Opportunities", "category": "senses", "when": "Day 1 · 15:00", "bio": "Gil Petersil is a strategic facilitator, keynote speaker, and co-founder of ChaTea. His work brings together Quantum Networking, human-centered communication, and shared experiences to help people build trust and turn connections into collaboration.\n\nThrough tea ceremonies, Social Fascial Maneuver circles, and intentional networking spaces, he works with wellness movements, festivals, and communities to create opportunities for authentic relationships and mutual support. His approach moves beyond exchanging contacts, focusing on deeper human connection and real-world collaboration.", "role": "Co-founder, ChaTea" }, { "photos": [ "stella" ], "name": "Stella Schneider", "session": "SME Takeover Lab: How to Acquire a Small Business — Tools, Process & Win-Win Thinking", "category": "local", "when": "Day 2 · 11:30", "bio": "Stella Schneider is a German business strategist, solopreneur, and founder of Business Wege — with more than 9 years of experience helping founders and entrepreneurs find their right business model and path forward.\n\nShe's known for cutting through complexity: her framework covers everything from freelancing and solopreneurship to startups, SMEs, and Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA). At Nomad Summit Chiang Mai 2026, she walked a room full of digital nomads through the 5 business models that actually work for location-independent life — grounded in radical self-awareness before strategy.\n\nAt CoLive Fukuoka, she's going deeper: into the practical process of acquiring an existing SME — with direct tools from the German market and a Win-Win mindset for buyers and sellers alike.", "role": "Founder, Business Wege" }, { "photos": [ "daycia" ], "name": "Daycia", "session": "Content Strategy for Small Businesses", "category": "world", "when": "Day 1 · 16:00", "bio": "Daycia created Daylightful, a media brand focused on human connection, intentional travel, and slow cultural immersion. Previously, she worked on content and campaign strategy at Dentsu and P&G. She now shares practical content strategies with small-business owners.", "role": "Creator, Daylightful" }, { "photos": [ "nomads2go" ], "name": "Yarden Avirav & Roza Gavrilov", "session": "Breaking Conceptions: From Nomadic Couple to Nomadic Family", "category": "world", "when": "Day 1 · 17:00", "bio": "Yarden and Roza are the couple behind NomadsTwoGo. After years of living and working as digital nomads, becoming parents in 2025 changed how they think about travel, freedom, and home. They share their ongoing experience of finding a nomadic lifestyle that works for a family.", "role": "Creators, NomadsTwoGo" }, { "photos": [ "nika" ], "name": "Nika Ray", "session": "Latino Dance: Bachata for Everyone", "category": "senses", "when": "Day 1 · 17:00", "bio": "Nika is an international dance instructor and event organizer who encourages people to move, connect, and enjoy music through dance.", "role": "Dance instructor and event organizer" }, { "photos": [ "diego" ], "name": "Diego Taira", "session": "Build Wealth. Find Your Purpose. Design a Life You Don't Need to Retire From.", "category": "world", "when": "Day 2 · 10:30", "bio": "Diego is the co-founder and CEO of Wealth Angels.", "role": "Co-founder and CEO, Wealth Angels" }, { "photos": [ "roland" ], "name": "Roland Tokko", "session": "Align and Connect with Your Ikigai Through Soul", "category": "world", "when": "Day 2 · 11:30", "bio": "Roland is an Estonian speaker, facilitator, and singer-songwriter, and co-founder of Becoming International. He combines speaking, live music, singing, and guided experiences to help people explore purpose and leadership in their own lives.", "role": "Speaker and singer-songwriter" }, { "photos": [ "adam" ], "name": "Adam Curnow", "session": "Travel Smarter, Work Safer: Everyday Security for Digital Nomads", "category": "global", "when": "Day 2 · 13:30", "bio": "Adam founded KarasuSec and works in IT and cybersecurity. A digital nomad himself, he focuses on making security understandable and practical for people who work from anywhere.", "role": "Founder, KarasuSec" }, { "photos": [ "oren" ], "name": "Oren Chazan", "session": "Peace: One Conversation at a Time", "category": "global", "when": "Day 2 · 14:30", "bio": "Oren co-owns Montino Coliving and works as an advertising consultant and business coach. Trained in Nonviolent Communication and related practices, he creates coliving and conversation experiences that encourage connection, community, and a more peaceful way of living.", "role": "Co-owner, Montino Coliving" }, { "photos": [ "yeji" ], "name": "Yeji Cheon", "session": "Peace: One Conversation at a Time", "category": "global", "when": "Day 2 · 14:30", "bio": "Yeji founded Seoul Nooks, an intentional coliving and coworking community. Her work connects local Asian cultures with global nomad communities, using workshops and conversations to explore cultural differences, diversity, and how people live together.", "role": "Founder, Seoul Nooks" }, { "photos": [ "cihan" ], "name": "Cihan Boz", "session": "Peace: One Conversation at a Time", "category": "global", "when": "Day 2 · 14:30" }, { "photos": [ "carlyn" ], "name": "Carlyn Shaw", "session": "The Power of a Smile: Creating Connection and Joy Within and Around You", "category": "world", "when": "Day 2 · 14:30", "bio": "Carlyn is a speaker, writer, and creator of the Whoever Smiles First Wins movement and Live In Joy community. Through travel and everyday encounters, she encourages people to trust themselves, build connections, and make room for joy.", "role": "Speaker and community builder" }, { "photos": [ "tressia" ], "name": "Tressia H. Lee", "session": "HEARIM: Building Trust Across Cultures at Work", "category": "global", "when": "Day 2 · 14:30", "bio": "Tressia is a global marketing and Korean cultural strategist from Seoul. She created HEARIM, a Korean-informed communication framework for understanding unspoken expectations and building trust across cultures. Her background spans marketing, localization, education, and cultural strategy, alongside a remote-working career that began in 2014.", "role": "Creator, HEARIM" }, { "photos": [ "lawrence" ], "name": "Lawrence Tuazon", "session": "Beyond Social Media: Grow a Business Through Relationships, Trust and Community", "category": "world", "when": "Day 2 · 15:30", "bio": "Lawrence is an author, speaker, coach, and co-founder of Be Extraordinary Publishing. He helps people turn their experiences into meaningful work and grow businesses through relationships, partnerships, referrals, and community.", "role": "Co-founder, Be Extraordinary Publishing" }, { "photos": [ "gen" ], "name": "Rei Lee", "session": "Anywhere, But Where?", "category": "world", "when": "Day 2 · 15:30", "bio": "Rei founded LocalNomad and explores the future of work, play, and belonging in legacy cities.", "role": "Founder, LocalNomad" }, { "photos": [ "marco" ], "name": "Marco Traina", "session": "What Keeps a Community Alive? From Shared Spaces to Shared Purpose", "category": "global", "when": "Day 2 · 16:30", "bio": "Marco is an entrepreneur and community builder who founded BeetCommunity in Palermo and Italia Nomad Fest. He also co-founded COFO – Coliving Founders. His work connects remote workers and local residents, encouraging visitors to participate in local life and contribute to the communities that host them.", "role": "Founder, BeetCommunity" }, { "photos": [ "freeman" ], "name": "Freeman Fung", "session": "Closing Meditation & Coming Home to Yourself", "category": "senses", "when": "Day 2 · 16:30", "bio": "Freeman is a speaker, author, mindset coach, and meditation facilitator. He founded Travel To Transform and combines personal development with travel and conscious global citizenship. His work encourages people to cultivate presence, self-understanding, and meaningful connections.", "role": "Founder, Travel To Transform" }, { "photos": [ "binard" ], "name": "Arthur Binard", "session": "Rain Won't Stop You, Wind Won't Stop You: Live Music, Picture Books and Miyazawa Kenji in Two Languages", "category": "japan", "when": "Day 2 · 16:30", "bio": "Arthur is an American-born poet and translator who began writing poetry in Japanese after moving to Japan in 1990. His work spans poetry, essays, picture books, and kamishibai storytelling, including translations between Japanese and English.", "role": "Poet and translator" }, { "photos": [ "nick" ], "name": "Nick Szasz (FUKUOKA NOW)", "session": "Keynote 1: Why We Came, Why We Stayed, and What Comes Next", "category": "local", "when": "Day 1 · 10:30", "bio": "Nick founded Fukuoka Now in 1998. Through English-language publishing, he introduces Fukuoka and Kyushu to international readers and helps connect visitors and residents with local places, people, and culture.", "role": "Founder and publisher, Fukuoka Now" }, { "photos": [ "douglas" ], "name": "Douglas Weber", "session": "Keynote 1: Why We Came, Why We Stayed, and What Comes Next", "category": "local", "when": "Day 1 · 10:30", "bio": "Douglas is a designer and engineer who studied at Stanford and worked on product design at Apple. At Weber Workshops, he brings that experience to the design and engineering of coffee equipment.", "role": "Founder, Weber Workshops" }, { "photos": [ "jeanpierre" ], "name": "Jean-Pierre Villeneuve", "session": "Keynote 1: Why We Came, Why We Stayed, and What Comes Next", "category": "local", "when": "Day 1 · 10:30", "bio": "Jean-Pierre is the founder and CEO of New Town Technologies, the company behind the Seratone karaoke system.", "role": "Founder and CEO, New Town Technologies" }, { "photos": [ "micaela" ], "name": "Micaela Braithwaite", "session": "Keynote 1: Why We Came, Why We Stayed, and What Comes Next", "category": "local", "when": "Day 1 · 10:30", "bio": "Micaela is a Canadian-born creator who calls Fukuoka home. Through Fukuoka Eats, she shares local food, travel, and everyday discoveries from the region.", "role": "Food and travel creator" }, { "photos": [ "obaachan1" ], "name": "Obaachan Shokudo", "session": "Gut-Health Breakfast: Elevating IQ and Happiness through Gut Health", "category": "senses", "when": "Day 1 & 2 · 9:00", "bio": "Ukiha no Takara is a social enterprise in Ukiha, Fukuoka. Its Grandma’s Café initiative creates meaningful paid work for older women, allowing them to share a lifetime of cooking skills, local recipes, hospitality, and wisdom. The team brings generations together through food, community, and a sense of purpose. At the Academy breakfast, the grandmothers share handmade onigiri and Japanese home cooking.", "role": "Grandma’s Café · Ukiha, Fukuoka" }, { "photos": [ "obaachan2" ], "name": "Obaachan Shokudo", "session": "Gut-Health Breakfast: Elevating IQ and Happiness through Gut Health", "category": "senses", "when": "Day 1 & 2 · 9:00", "bio": "Ukiha no Takara is a social enterprise in Ukiha, Fukuoka. Its Grandma’s Café initiative creates meaningful paid work for older women, allowing them to share a lifetime of cooking skills, local recipes, hospitality, and wisdom. The team brings generations together through food, community, and a sense of purpose. At the Academy breakfast, the grandmothers share handmade onigiri and Japanese home cooking.", "role": "Grandma’s Café · Ukiha, Fukuoka" }, { "photos": [ "jacquie" ], "name": "Jacquie Wortley", "session": "Where can we build something that matters?", "category": "local", "when": "Day 1 · 14:00", "bio": "Jacquie draws on a decade of UX and product research in her work on sustainable innovation. Working with rural tea farmers, she explores how projects can support local people and regenerate the places they depend on.", "role": "Researcher and sustainable innovation practitioner" }, { "photos": [ "ryu" ], "name": "Ryu Fujii", "session": "Where can we build something that matters?", "category": "local", "when": "Day 1 · 14:00", "bio": "Ryu co-founded 369meteor and co-organizes ZōVillage. He is involved with Fracton Ventures and Network School, connecting experimental global communities with grassroots initiatives.", "role": "Community builder" }, { "photos": [ "moe" ], "name": "MOE Nakano (JDNA)", "session": "Ask a Digital Nomad: Open Roundtables with JDNA", "category": "local", "when": "Day 2 · 10:30", "bio": "Moe, also known as Tomoe Nakano, moved from design into community building through Asia’s coworking movement. She founded TAOHUB in Thailand, TANEHUB in Akita, and the Japan Digital Nomad Association, where she leads the Community Manager Academy.", "role": "Representative Director, Japan Digital Nomad Association" }, { "photos": [ "vitto" ], "name": "Vitto Christaldi (JDNA)", "session": "Ask a Digital Nomad: Open Roundtables with JDNA", "category": "local", "when": "Day 2 · 10:30", "bio": "Vitto is a coworking and community strategist whose experience includes Hubud, Dojo, Tribal, and BWork. His work brings people together through shared workplaces and community experiences, including CU Asia.", "role": "Coworking and community strategist" }, { "photos": [], "name": "Maria Kinoshita", "session": "Ask a Digital Nomad: Open Roundtables with JDNA", "category": "local", "when": "Day 2 · 10:30", "bio": "Maria is the owner and founder of Nomad Coliving in Montreal. Her remote-work and coliving experience spans Asia, Europe, and North America. She creates welcoming communities through shared experiences, collaboration, and cultural exchange.", "role": "Facilitator · Founder, Nomad Coliving", "bio_source": "https://community.colivefukuoka.com/ask-a-digital-nomad" }, { "photos": [ "tessei" ], "name": "Tessei Hosokawa", "session": "The \"Death\" of Digital Nomads — Zen, Impermanence, and Living in the Moment", "category": "japan", "when": "Day 1 · 16:00", "bio": "Tessei Hosokawa is a serial entrepreneur based in Kyoto, and the founder and CEO of NEWSON&COMPANY and Immersive Lab. As a university student, he spent six months in monastic training at Chōkokuji (Eiheiji Betsuin), a Sōtō Zen temple in Tokyo — rising before dawn for zazen, an experience that still shapes how he moves through a life of constant change. He later founded TABICA (now \"aini\"), one of Japan's early local-guide platforms connecting travelers with people and place. Through his companies he now works across community-building, regional revitalization, and immersive experiences. He serves as a director of the Japan Digital Nomad Association, an advisor to Japan's Digital Agency and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and is in his third year supporting the Japan Tourism Agency's digital nomad promotion program. As an advisor to the town of Nachikatsuura in Wakayama, he runs a nomad project hosted at a local Zen temple. In this session, he brings Zen's view of impermanence into dialogue with the modern nomadic life.", "role": "Founder, NEWSON&COMPANY and Immersive Lab" }, { "photos": [ "iguchi" ], "name": "Akira Iguchi", "session": "IKIGAI MANIFESTATION: How to Turn Your Ikigai into an Extraordinary Life — The 5-Step Formula to Live the Life You Truly Want", "category": "japan", "when": "Day 2 · 10:30", "bio": "Akira Iguchi \nEntrepreneur, Bestselling Author & International Speaker\n\nAkira Iguchi is a Japanese entrepreneur, bestselling author, international speaker, and high-performance strategist dedicated to helping people reach their full potential and create extraordinary lives.\n\nFor more than two decades, Akira has studied and taught the principles of personal growth, entrepreneurship, high performance, and biohacking. As the founder of Human Plus Inc., he has built multimillion-dollar businesses and helped entrepreneurs and leaders transform their performance, businesses, health, and lives.\n\nAkira is the author of 12 books, including the bestselling Lifestyle Millionaire, with more than 300,000 copies sold. He has spoken internationally across 12 countries and shared stages and events with some of the world’s most recognized entrepreneurs and thought leaders, including Richard Branson and Tony Robbins.\n\nHis work brings together business strategy, high performance, biohacking, and his signature Ikigai Manifestation Method, a framework designed to help people discover what they are uniquely meant to contribute, turn that potential into meaningful work, and create greater freedom, impact, and fulfillment.\n\nToday, Akira works with entrepreneurs, founders, and high achievers around the world to help them elevate their health, wealth, performance, and purpose, while becoming the best version of themselves.\n\nHis mission is simple but ambitious:\n\nHelp 1 Billion People live their Ikigai and manifest all their dreams come true.", "role": "Entrepreneur, author, and speaker" }, { "photos": [ "jessica" ], "name": "Jessica Hagmaier", "role": "Co-Creator, Colive Fukuoka", "bio": "Jessica is a creative strategist, brand designer, and travel writer whose work explores reinvention and intentional living.", "session": "You Can't Outrun Your Life: How to Use Travel as a Catalyst for Reinvention", "category": "world", "when": "Day 1 · 15:00" }, { "name": "Christian Pedersen", "photos": ["christian-pedersen"], "role": "Content creator and speaker", "session": "Why Being Yourself Is Your Superpower", "category": null, "when": "Day 2 · 13:30", "bio": "Christian is traveling the world making content that entertains and inspires millions of people, but it was not always like that.\n\nHe used to hate being in front of a camera, and had to make all the mistakes in the process of learning how to become the version of himself you see today.\n\nNow he speaks and coaches on exactly that: how to get in front of a camera, be yourself, and really connect with people." } ] }