Swarm
The people in and around Ecological Memes
We are a "co-heterogenous community" of diverse explorers and leaders who loosely share their enthusiasm for various modes of inter- and transdisciplinary thinking and being
Aimi Sunaga
Aimi Sunaga is a painter and co-director of Ecological Memes. She visualizes the internal dimensions of life in order to give the viewer a deep embodied experience. Her interest in the inner side of mind and body extends to coaching and pilates; she is a professional coach and a student of pilates anatomy. She encountered Ecological Memes just as she saw the dawn of a co-heterogenous world, and has joined the journey ever since.
Fumiya Yamamoto
Fumiya Yamamoto is a flower artist based in Nagano, Japan. After ikenobō introduced him to the Way of the Flower, he learned nageire and tatehana. Currently, he does not belong to a particular school of ikebana. He is the author of Wind Blows, Flower Rustles (Kaze ugoite hiraku hana; 2020). His essays include “Ikebana as genital worship” (2021). In 2020, he co-organized a flower art program, IKEBANA Awareness, with Ecological Memes.
Haruka Saito
Haruka Saito studied soil science at university and conducted fieldwork of over 200 soils. With nine years of experience in agriculture, she manages Haru Farm in Chiba, Japan, where she grows over thirty different organic vegetables every year. She is a lamberjack and hunter in winter, a forest mower in summer. At her farm, she hosts a place dwelled by a bee farmer, pizza cook, hunter, pickled-vegetable grandma, casual visitors, insects, and beasts, where life and living intertwine. She also engages in an online 100-year-long rice bran bed project, composting, bio-composting toilets, and a local project aiming to incorporate hunting in IoT. The book Climate and Culture by Tetsuro Watsuji introduced her to Ecological Memes, a place she finds just as cozy as her own farm.
Haruki Okano
Haruki Okano was born in Germany in 1989 and raised in Kanagawa, Japan. Haruki earned his degree in 2012 from Keio University, Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC). He works as a producer and member of a research institute at Keio University SFC. He lives with his family of five in Gujo, Gifu, the headwaters of the Nagara River. After joining a major advertising agency, Haruki worked on the business development of a newspaper company, the branding of a local municipality, and public relations strategies for government offices. His art project “Nihon mikke tabi,” which produces question-led journeys, was later incorporated as Deep Japan Lab. Connections made from these journeys have led him to pursue various business co-creation projects based on the local environment and culture (fudo). Later, the amazing world of night rivers drew him to move to Gujo. In 2021, he released “Genryu yu-ko,” a project that takes many businesspeople to headwater rivers and forests to offer them life-changing encounters unfolding around the natural and cultural wonders of the Nagara River.
Hillen Oost
Hillen Oost works as a government strategist, educator and entrepreneur, and has a keen interest in nature, arts, science and spirituality. He has an academic background in Egyptology at Leiden University. In recent years, while supporting European municipalities in the digital transition, the impact of digitalisation on society and on the meaning of ‘being human’, has his specific attention. Hillen likes to reinvent himself based on what life’s journey brings and what inspires him, and tries to follow his heart in choosing the next steps on his path. This path has so far led him to live, work and study in Amsterdam, San Francisco, Tokyo and Cairo, recently choosing for a life in the countryside in The Netherlands to enjoy closeness to nature, social cohesion and homegrown foods. Ecological Memes feels to him like a gathering of kindred spirits, all bringing something unique on our collective journey. Hillen is very excited to join in the exploration of a realignment and upliftment of human-nature relations, a holistic worldview, and emergent expressions through arts, science, artisanship and technology.
Hiroshi Yamada
Through his long career in coaching, he was aware of hidden anxieties that lurk within human beings. After the repeated experiences of intuitively immersing himself in the forest, he gained the insight that this anxiety comes from the delusion created by humans themselves that they are disconnected from the logic of life. Since then, he has been guiding people to remember the fundamental senses that all beings are connected to each other. He has resonated deeply with the book Regenerative Leadership and works together with Ecological Memes. He is also a practitioner of Shugendo that has been practised in Japan for over 1400 years.
Kai Yamagami
Kai Yamagami was brought to the realization, after attending an Ecological Memes workshop on embodied intelligence, that he and nature had always been deeply connected. He then began to further explore this sensation in the school forest, where the idea of a free forest as a space of forgetting about commonsense, listening to various voices, and generating discovery and value, emerged. In reintegrating such discovery and value into society, he hypothesizes that the process of creating the complex and the not-yet-visible may find its source in bottom-up development based on life and ecosystem. He plans to go on to university to study the evolution of control systems in emergence as well as the developmental mechanisms of ecological interactions.
Kana Hasebe
Kana Hasebe is a workshop designer, facilitator, and member of JINEN management institute. Her upbringing deep in nature led to her research on gut microbiota at university. After working as a systems engineer at an IT company, she has shifted to working as a service designer. On the side, she is exploring “different forms of being that respect and encourage individual differences to shine”. After stumbling upon Ecological Memes during an event on complex systems network, she co-facilitated Active Book Dialogues on Regenerative Leadership. Through this experience, she resonated deeply with the rich “inner forest” that the participants were cultivating. Since then, she has been joining the initiative to meet more like-minded, Ecological-Memes-minded people.
Kazuha Ogasawara
After majoring in astrophysics in graduate school, She worked as a systems engineer for a major IT vendor in Japan. After that, her awareness of her own health issues led her to focus on the relationship between physical and mental health, and she began her research. She sees the whole human being as a single system and provides education and enlightenment about physicality and physiology for better living according to the needs of each individual and company. Also, she has deepened her academic and clinical research in a wide range of fields from alternative medicine to modern medicine, and is exploring a new view of health - "Health 3.0".
Masaru Tanaka
Profile for Ecological Memes （M.TANAKA）
Born by the Lake Biwa (otsu, Shiga Pref.)in 1943. Emeritus professor of Kyoto University.
He has studied the early life history of fishes for 40 years, finding the early phase of juveniles aggregate near-shore coastal areas. He also recognized the boundary areas are enriched by terrestrial forest ecosystems as well as highly vulnerable to human activities. Based on these backgrounds he proposed a newly integrated studies on the linkage among forest, sato (human habitation) and sea which covers from the headwater to the ocean called as “H to O Studies”.
His recent activities are mainly placed on restoration of Ariake Sea, which was the most productive fishing ground in Japan and it had the highest biodiversity in Japanese coastal waters, under collaboration of citizens, fishermen and researchers. After the massive earthquake and tsunami which occurred on 11 March 2011 along the coast of northern Pacific Ocean of Japan he organized a volunteer research team and has conducted comprehensive researches on the effect of the earthquake and tsunami on coastal marine ecosystem in order to restore local communities under collaboration of H to O Studies and NPO movement catch-copied by“The sea is longing for the forest”
Minori Fujii
Minori Fujii is an oyster meister, skin diver, and aroma therapy advisor. In July, 2021, Minori decided to leave her company where she worked for a long time in order to dedicate herself to the ocean and plants. She plans to put the health- and happiness-inducing energies of the ocean and plants into various forms of expression. Ever since she met Yasuhiro, Minori has felt a sense of resonance with Ecological Memes. Her plant distillation workshop during the Ecological Memes Forum held at the Kenchoji Temple on the winter solstice day of 2019 remains a fond memory for her.
Nobuyoshi Ohmuro
Nobuyoshi Ohmuro is Professor of Global Management at the University of Nagano. He is also chief at the Center for Social Innovation and at Social Innovation Laboratory Kyoto as well as part-time lecturer at Kyoto Sangyo University. He is the author of various books over the topics of social innovation, sustainability, social business, and nonprofit business. He offers advice and lectures all across Japan based on his research on social business as a model for solving social challenges through business practices, particularly at the nexus of the corporate, administrative, and voluntary sectors.
Rei Kono
Rei Kono studies at the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies at Keio University. She has been learning “pattern language” in the Natural and Creative Living Lab. Her research has looked at different forms of living based on well-being and environmental protection. She is also a member of the pattern language project at Ecological Memes. She is currently in an online exchange program at Aarhus University. She seeks to incorporate digital design into human and environmental well-being in the digital age. Further, she has been deeply interested in the world of zen ever since she visited the Daisenin Temple at the age of 17; since then, she continues her learning by attending zazen and meditation sessions as well as domestic and international conferences. She has also worked as a volunteer at Zen 2.0 since 2018. She holds the upper tier (jodan) in Urasenke Tea Ceremony and level three (sandan) in kendo. Her passion is the classical piano.
Saki Hibino
Saki Hibino is an independent Project & PR manager, Coordinator, Experience Designer, Journalist based in Berlin and Tokyo.
She is involved in various international projects at the intersection of art, design, technology and social innovation. Saki is constantly looking out for hidden connections and stories between seemingly unrelated subjects, and strives to turn them into viable and impactful innovation - be it new business models and vision, human experiences or social and cultural projects.
Her interests are related to cultivating the ecosystem that lives with all kinds of life forms and developing “Trans” thought of humans as spread beyond the differences to survive on the Earth in the 21st century through art, design and the latest technology science.
She is also developing experiments and collaborating with international artists interested in art,technology, and science through her projects with Ecological Memes.
Shuhei Tashiro
Shuhei Tashiro is a social entrepreneur and aspiring anthropologist. His current graduate research in Anthropology and Transcultural Studies at Heidelberg University probes human-nonhuman relations from a global perspective, within his thematic interests of multispecies ethnography, Anthropocene, and intellectual history. He also co-directs Ecological Memes, a Japan-based community of regenerators. As co-founder of Sustainable Ocean Alliance Japan, he has coordinated various projects and campaigns to advance the agenda of ocean sustainability. His passions include scuba diving, camping, and writing on topics such as activism, history, and philosophy.
Taishi Hatayama
Taishi Hatayama was born in Kanagawa, Japan in 1992. Hatayama completed a MFA in painting at Tama Art University in 2017. Hatayama explores the idea of the unseen “atmosphere” and “presence” that we feel in places of nature, and attempts to turn these physical sensations into concrete visuals. His works represent an intangible world, guided by what he calls “primordial perception”, a form of sensory perception our physical bodies are inherently equipped with. In 2014, Hatayama received both the Outstanding Performance Award and the special jury prize (Kohei Nawa Award) at the inaugural CAF ART AWARD for his signature white-toned paintings. The artist’s practice incorporates a range of motifs including the idea of umwelt, or the world as experienced by particular organisms, in relation to various natural phenomena; networks formed by plants and diverse bio life; and a new form of nature in the contemporary era that incorporates digitality and AI. Hatayama’s recent solo exhibitions include ‘Primordial Perception’ (2020, EUKARYOTE, Tokyo), and ‘Astray in Time’ (2017, SEZON ART GALLERY, Tokyo). Recent group exhibitions include ‘Demonstrations of Rejoicing’ (2020, Akibatamabi 21, Tokyo), ‘attunement’ (2020, The 5th Floor, Tokyo), Meiji Jingu Forest Festival of Art (2020, Meiji Shrine Museum, Tokyo), and ‘Memory of Retina −Mythology−’ (2018, Sezon Museum of Modern Art, Nagano, Japan).
Tokushu Inamura
Tokushu Inamura is a Designer/Engineer, Assistant Professor of Design Strategy at the Faculty of Design and Center for Designed Futures of Kyushu University. He holds a double Masters degree in Innovation Design Engineering from the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London. Current research focuses on Post Human Centered Design and Circular Design. These research interests became a point of connection, becoming the inaugural speaker of Ecological Memes. He engages in teaching international transdisciplinary teams to become strategic and holistic designers. Born in New Zealand, he has lived in the US, Switzerland and the UK, he currently resides in Fukuoka City Japan.
Tomoko Ikenoue
Tomoko is a UI/UX designer, care worker, and chair of PLAYERS. Having worked on various design projects with manufacturers and startups in and outside of Japan, Tomoko has a specialty in the creation and strategization of customer value. Currently, Tomoko works as design director for the inclusive fashion brand SOLIT! while also engaging in another project on female empowerment. Tomoko is not only a supporter of Ecological Memes, but oversees all its webpage design and production to help the community expand on a global scale.
Toshie Tokuyoshi
Moved to Iwate from Tokyo 25 years ago, encountered horses, then
started living with a horse. By the art of nonviolence, years of
seeking ways to liberate horses from industrial labor, to connect with
them with subtlest aids, and to provide a new field for both horses
and humans to live along harmoniously.
In a forest where horses and humans live together, a gathering was
held to share ideas for making a place to learn from each other. First
met Ecological Memes’ｓKobayashi-san in this workshop, with the idea of Regenerative Leadership.
A member of Translation-Studio Rubia, and Mokumoku picure books Lab..
Live in Tono, Iwate.
Toshiyuki Kawashima
Buddhist priest at the Koufukuin Temple
B.A. in Economics at Keio University, M.A. in Esoteric Studies at Koyasan University. Experiences at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu LLC, Sanwa Research Institute Corporation, and Global Brain Corporation. Adjunct instructor of the Theory of New Business Creation at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Visiting professor of venture business and innovation at NUCB Business School. He currently organizes philosophy-related events. As for Ecological Memes, he connects its embodiment of “co-heterogeneity” with Shingon Esotericism and the Minakata Mandala.
Yasuhiro Kobayashi
"Eco-systemic Catalyst and intrapreneurship enabler. Founder of Ecological Memes. Partner at strategic design firm BIOTOPE.
After engaged in empowerment and business acceleration for social entrepreneurs at impact HUB Tokyo, he supports corporate R&D, new business development and vision design towards a circular and regenerative future. Specialized in equipping individuals and groups with tools to unleash their creative potential as human beings and igniting entrepreneurship, he creates regenerative flow and conditions for emergence and catalyze transformation at individual, organizational and eco-systemic level, by combining his expertise in co-creative facilitation, vision design, change management and authentic leadership. His work navigates one’s journey reconnecting to sense of life, wholeness, and rhythm of nature, and enable organizations and its eco-system to revitalize as living systems.
He is a founder of Ecological Memes - a Japan-based community of regenerators- and explores inter-relationality between individual, society and planet by interweaving East and West philosophy and practices towards a co-thriving future. 行雲流水（Flowing like cloulds and water as it is） is his motto. Father-of-one.
Yu Kato
Founder at Harch Inc.
Yu is the CEO at Harch Inc., the Japanese online media company founded in 2015. The company’s most iconic media brand is “IDEAS FOR GOOD”, an online magazine covering creative sustainability ideas around the world, which won the Journalism X award in 2020. Harch also has “IDEAS FOR GOOD Business Design Lab”, a creative business unit supporting client's sustainability transformation, while running an online circular economy platform “Circular Economy Hub” and a local circular city initiative “Circular Yokohama”. Yu was invited as a guest speaker at the "Journey of Regeneration" program in 2020 hosted by Ecological Memes. After graduating the University of Tokyo, he was involved in developing an online news website focusing on sustainability.
Yumi Komori
Yumi Komori is the designer of a brand of plant-dyed lingerie called "Liv:ra" and is exploring her own self-expression. She also runs a practical laboratory "TSUNAGU" for essential social change that happens from the transformation of the individual mind. Following the intuitive inspiration that comes from a sense of happiness, she works in many fields, including product design, system design, lectures and talks, with a focus on ethical fashion.