Japan (Keio University) KMD Forum 2022: “WonderLand”

The Keio University Graduate School of Media Design (KMD) held its open house event, KMD Forum 2022 which was themed after the idea of “WonderLand,” over the weekend of October 29-30. The event was held in the 2nd floor exhibition room of the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center Hamamatsuchō-kan located in Tokyo Port City Takeshiba. The Research Center regularly conducts parts of its activities at this location.

In addition to attendees experiencing KMD “Real Project” exhibits and displays, they were also able to attend special panels with guest speakers. The first, titled “The Future of Learning,” was moderated by KMD faculty member Prof. Keiko Okawa, and joined by panelists Prof. Sandra Okita (Columbia University) and Dr. Karin Forssell (Stanford University). In this session, panelists considered the path that learning and education will follow moving forward. The second session on the topic of “The Future of Society” was moderated by KMD faculty member Senior Assistant Professor Donna Chen, with Prof. Catherine Holloway (University College London) and Dr. Giulia Barbareschi—who studied at UCL and now works as a researcher at KMD—providing their insights into the topic. This session applied an ethnographic lens to discussion of the ideal future society. The final session was about “The Future of the City” and was moderated by KMD Dean Masahiko Inakage as he spoke with Ou Sugiyama (Mori Building Co., Ltd.) and Taizo Sugimura (COCOHARETE Co., Ltd.) on the topic of the future of city planning. KMD also held an admission information session during the event that was livestreamed on YouTube.

This was the first time in several years that the event could be held in person without heavy restrictions. Both days were an incredible success with over 1,500 participants in total. It also provided the chance for KMD to communicate its ongoing projects to the community at large and obtain feedback from a wide range of people about how they might improve future initiatives.