Sasha is a twelfth-grade student living in Japan. Through experiences in her own personal life, Sasha intends to redefine the term 'volunteering’. Her selflessness knows no bounds and can clearly be exhibited in her relationship with Owada San, an apple farmer in Kumamoto. Much like the apples that eventually blossomed in Owada San’s field, her quirky anecdote will plant the seed of thought in our heads.
Where do you belong in this world? In an engaging and personal talk, blind Judo player Genki Ishibashi will be sharing his idea on the significance of seeing and understanding your possibilities you, yourself may have turned your eyes away from. He himself went through a difficult time trying to find a place where he could belong and find what he could do being visually impaired. Seeing and learning what his friends were accomplishing at the school for the blind was what made him realize what he too was capable of. As he aims for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, he will be talking on stage to inspire the youth.
Before coming to Japan, Eduardo had spent his entire life on the other side of the planet, in Mexico. Naturally, he submerged himself in questions of the why's and how's of adapting to a new environment. Around the same time, he developed an interest in social development and world history. These factors gradually grew into a network of ideas that lead him to a general theory. Eduardo will be sharing how we can grow to become the ideal leaders of the future by recognizing that our society functions on similar principles that we all learn from our daily lives.
What do you think you see after mastering to lie? We have all lied before. But have we actually mastered the art of lying? Yuichi has.
Yuichi dropped out of Keio University this year and is currently taking a marketing internship at Cogent Labs. During his time at school, he spent his years building a persona lie upon lie, and eventually learned how to lie without being noticed. In his talk, he will be discussing the truths he discovered from his what one might take as a 'deceptive' way of living.
​Sometimes, life can be overwhelming. Justin knows this just as well anyone. However, he has found the key to take things one step at a time -- sentences. In his talk, he will be guiding us through the process of feeling more in control of our lives without making time-consuming commitments.
​Can you imagine how you'd live your life on Mars? Luciana is an acclaimed architect currently doing research on technology application in architecture, to develop better living environments for people in the future. In her talk, she will guide us through her ideas of building a UV insulating greenhouse to grow fresh food in an environment like Mars that she tested out at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah.
​Succeeding in life is not easy. But there are things you could do to get closer to being successful. 16-year-old high schooler Darshan, from his experiences has found tips and tricks to being a step closer to having a prosperous life. Which is to look at events and situations you face in your life, from a “positive perspective”. Today, he will be talking about what a positive perspective is, How you can find positive perspectives and Why positive perspectives are important. What is your perspective? How do YOU see the situations in your life right now?
​'Bunkasai' is a school festival held in many Japanese schools that gives students an opportunity to exhibit their talents and express their school pride. Each school has its own set of traditions that are passed on for generations. Shikoh, on the other hand, saw an opportunity to show the world what high schoolers are capable of and revolutionize his school's annual event. On this stage today, Shikoh will be sharing his story of how he expanded a local event into a nation-wide scale project that attracted the attention of the governor of Kanagawa, television companies, and even renown authors.
Have you ever tried solving a lateral thinking riddle? Currently working as a filmmaker for the WakuPro foundation in Tokyo, 18 year old Australian Chris Clayton will talk about how his experience trying to solve one such riddle lead him to discover an important question: ‘what am I missing?’ From his background as a storyteller and debater, Chris will discuss the things he has missed, the things we collectively miss, as well as invite us on a search that may help us find the missing pieces in our own riddle-like lives.
​Tink is a third culture kid who’s lived in 8 different countries. With the constant moving, Tink was forced to either donate or dispose of her belongings. She eventually came to the realization that there is one thing she has that can never be taken away from her: her music. Even if she couldn’t carry her CD’s around, the impact of the music and the way the music made her feel always stayed with her. In her talk, Tink will be sharing the story of how she fell back on music as a safety net and how we all have an often overlooked, maybe even unconventional safety net to fall back on.