Today at Chiba Tech, we held our first tea gathering of the year at Seitōtei, the university’s tea room. Faculty, staff, and students came together to serve tea to guests and welcome the new year. Thank you to everyone who joined us!
本日は、千葉工業大学・青灯亭にて初釜を開催しました。私および教職員による青灯亭席、ならびに学生による広間席において、お茶を差し上げました。新しい年の始まりを、この青灯亭にて皆さんと共にお祝いできたことを、大変嬉しく思います。皆さん、今年もどうぞよろしくお願いいたします。
Back in Japan. Today, I met with @zhaslanmadiyev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of AI and Digital Development of Kazakhstan, and his team. 🇰🇿
I’m currently working with him as a member of the Artificial Intelligence Development Council.
カザフスタンの副首相兼AI・デジタル開発大臣であるZhaslan Madiyev氏とそのチームの皆さんと会談しました。現在、人工知能開発評議会のメンバーとして彼と協力しています。
118th National Day of Bhutan in Bumthang. 🇧🇹
exploring thimphu for a new project.
Chiba Tech and Henkaku Center team @joiito, @umipo and @sosr worked with @pentagramdesign partner @giorgialupi and her team to redesign the visual identity of the Chiba Institute of Technology, now reintroduced to the world as Chiba Tech.
To highlight Chiba Tech’s long-standing contributions, the identity draws from a core character dating back to 1942, reimagined as the foundation of the system. This character functions as typography, logo, mascot, and structural grid, modernized through clean geometric forms inspired by the ichimatsu moyo (市松模様) pattern—symbolizing continuity and growth. The result bridges heritage and digital expression, with modular forms that evoke pixels in motion.
Chiba Tech’s new identity also expresses respect for its past while embracing forward-looking imagination. Structured, modular, and culturally grounded, it reflects the clarity, rigor, and innovation that define the institution, serving as both a celebration of its heritage and a statement of its ambitions as an international center for technology education.
Thank you to the Pentagram team for their sensibility and creativity, and to everyone at @chibakoudai who contributed to and supported this journey!
千葉工大茶道部定例茶会を青灯亭で初めて行われました。茶道部の皆様おめでとうございます。お招きありがとうございます。
The Chiba Institute of Technology Tea Club held their regular tea ceremony at our new tea room. Seitoutei, for the first time. Congratulations and thank you for inviting me.
古美術・骨董の専門誌『目の眼』( @menome1977 #伊藤穰一 #podcast #茶道 #)、とJoi Ito’s Podcast( @joiitopodcast )による特別コラボ企画が実現です。
テクノロジーと古美術。対極にある二つが、「あるキーワード」で繋がりました。
大学のトップとして「変わった天才」たちをどうマネジメントするか。 その答えが、まさか「茶道具」の中にあったとは。
伊藤穰一が語る、組織論と骨董の意外すぎる共通点。 キーワードは「パターン認識」です。
なぜITの最前線にいる人間が、今あえてアナログな世界に没頭するのか。 その全貌は、プロフィールのリンクから
In Toranomon, there is Ohashi Charyō, a sukiya-style teahouse and Registered Tangible Cultural Property. Stepping inside shifts you into an older, quieter rhythm.
Ohashi Charyō also carries the history of Tantansai, the 14th Urasenke Grand Master, who used it as his Tokyo dōjō before the current Urasenke center existed. The neighborhood has changed, but the building still reflects the presence and practice of those who worked there before.
Last week, I had the honor of joining the fourth “Sukimonomusuhi” held at Ohashi Charyō.
After the war, chanoyu (the Japanese way of tea) became closely tied to the Senke teaching system—structured procedures, formal practice, certificates. This expanded access to tea but also pushed another tradition aside: the culture of the sukisha.
Sukimonomusuhi is a gathering created to revive that connoisseur tradition, the world of sukisha who meet as equals and value objects, history, and beauty for their own sake.
At the fourth Sukimonomusuhi, I prepared koicha (thick tea) in all six sessions, using pieces from my collection alongside works brought by the hosts. Tea bowls with centuries of history showed their character only through use, through touch, weight, and the way they hold tea.
Nothing was kept behind glass; everything was meant to be used.
Photos: Naoto Kishi
Henkaku Center hosted an Open House for the @chibatechsds! 🚀
At our first Open House, joined by the Chiba Tech community, @joiito opened the session with an overview of SDS’s vision, followed by faculty members @miz_oka, Hiroki Kojima, Joe Austerweil, and @umipo, who introduced details of the SDS curriculum - Chiba Tech’s first English-only graduate program - and explained its role as the academic arm of the Henkaku Center.
By sharing ongoing research projects at the Center, we highlighted our mission to build an antidisciplinary environment where SDS students collaborate closely with faculty on real research initiatives. Program Manager @fizarazik provided an overview of the upcoming admissions process.
We also introduced several SDS courses that Chiba Tech undergraduate and graduate students (and even faculty members!) can join, including Principles of Awareness, the Entrepreneurship course, and Human & Machine Learning.
Next application phase for SDS starts in December!
Fall in Kyoto - Saihoji Temple
Last month, we attended a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of a new archaeological excavation at the Aynalar Höyük site in Şanlıurfa Province, Türkiye. The excavation is fully supported by our university @chibakoudai. The ceremony was honored by the presence of Her Imperial Highness Princess Akiko of Mikasa.
This excavation is part of the large-scale “Taş Tepeler” project, led by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Türkiye, which explores a pivotal era in human history—around 12,000 years ago, just before the emergence of agriculture and animal husbandry.
Together with the Japanese Institute of Anatolian Archaeology (JIAA), this initiative places Japan at the forefront of global research into early Neolithic civilizations and the origins of monumental stone culture.
I am deeply saddened by the passing of Masataka Hata on August 9 at age 71. While many knew him as President of Shoyeido Incense Company, I was blessed to know him as mentor and friend.
During some of my toughest periods, Hata-san offered compassion and guidance that helped light my way forward. He introduced me to kōdō—the Way of Incense—during my visits to Kyoto, connecting me to the deep history and culture of his beloved city. His patience and warmth made learning from him a profound gift.
Beyond his many professional honors and 300-year family legacy, what I'll remember most is his extraordinary kindness—his ability to sense when someone needed encouragement and his gentle humor.
To his family and colleagues at Shoyeido, I offer my deepest condolences. Those of us fortunate enough to know him personally have lost a guiding light whose influence will continue burning gently in our hearts, like the finest incense he so lovingly shared with the world.
8月9日、71歳で畑正高様がご逝去されたことを深い悲しみとともにお伝えいたします。多くの方々には松栄堂の社長として知られていた畑様ですが、私にとっては恩師であり、友人でもありました。
人生の最も困難な時期に、畑さんは私に寄り添い、導いてくださいました。京都を訪れた際には香道を教えてくださり、愛する京都の深い歴史と文化に私を結びつけてくださいました。畑さんの忍耐強さと温かさは、学びを深い贈り物に変えてくださいました。
数々の栄誉や300年の家業の伝統を超えて、私が最も心に残るのは畑さんの並外れた優しさです。人が励ましを必要としている時を察する力、そして穏やかなユーモアのセンスでした。
ご家族様、松栄堂の皆様に心よりお悔やみ申し上げます。畑さんを個人的に知る幸運に恵まれた私たちは、世界中と分かち合った最高のお香のように、心の中で静かに燃え続ける導きの光を失いました。
鵬雲斎大宗匠のご逝去の報に接し、謹んでお悔やみ申し上げます。
茶道へと導いてくださり、私の茶道への姿勢を認めてくださった大宗匠。より深い茶の道へと導いてくださった大切な方でした。
教えを胸に、精進してまいります。
心よりご冥福をお祈りいたします。
I offer my deepest condolences on the passing of Hounsai Daisosho, the 15th Grand Tea Master of Urasenke.
He guided me to the way of tea and recognized my dedication to this path. He was a precious figure who led me deeper into the way of tea.
I will continue to devote myself to practice, carrying his teachings in my heart.
May he rest in peace.
矢野直人が唐津から送ってくれた僕の数茶碗の窯焼きと仕上がり。皮鯨、掘唐津と自分で絵描きをさせていただいた絵唐津。お茶会で使うのが楽しみです。
Potter Naoto Yano sent me videos of my tea bowls showing the kiln firing and the finished results from Karatsu. Kawakujira, Hori-Karatsu, and E-Karatsu that I was allowed to paint myself. I’m looking forward to using them at the a tea ceremony.
We visited Tonoyama Kiln in Saga Prefecture, near Nagoya Castle, where tea bowls and potters from China and Korea often entered Japan.
Naoto Yano, a potter, introduced us to his five-chamber climbing kiln, perched quietly above the bay. Many ceramic techniques arrived around the time of Hideyoshi’s campaigns in the 1590s, revolutionizing everyday vessels with glazed finishes. Tea masters began working with Korean potters to shape bowls that reflected both function and beauty. This combination of Korean craftsmanship, Japanese aesthetics, and Karatsu clay soon spread across Japan.
Thank you for hosting us Yano-san!
I’m excited to announce that sound artist and performer @chrisunkim has been awarded the first-ever Radical Transformation Award (変革賞) at the 2025 @chibatechsds Symposium!
Presented by the Henkaku Center at Chiba Tech, the Radical Transformation Award celebrates those who have brought about a positive societal shift (変革) through radical and elegant action. We honor individuals, teams, or initiatives that challenge authority and push us in initially uncomfortable directions, which, in retrospect, are clearly the right direction for our values and aesthetics.
The Radical Transformation Award includes a 10 million yen prize. It recognizes changemakers across all disciplines who advance human flourishing through masterful interventions at critical leverage points.
🏆 For the inaugural Radical Transformation Award, we honor sound artist and performer Christine Sun Kim for fundamentally reimagining how society understands sound, language, and power. Her work challenges dominant modes of communication through art and activism.
Through musical notation, American Sign Language (ASL), infographics, and humor, Christine creates new interfaces for understanding that expand Disability identity, using it as an advantage while welcoming the audience to join a new kind of design dialogue. She does not merely critique how oral and auditory norms marginalize Deaf communities, but constructs alternative systems.
Her work exemplifies elegant disruption by challenging assumptions about communication, access, and belonging. Through drawing, performance, video, and large-scale murals, she generates cultural resonance that transcends disciplines and borders, and inspires new ways of thinking about language.
By bridging art and activism, linguistics and technology, personal narrative and systemic critique, Christine embodies what we seek to celebrate with this award.
Congratulations!
GMC hosted a powerful conversation on “Powering the Future: AI, Energy, and the Economic Engine,” featuring @reidhoffman, @joiito, Ujjwal Deep Dahal (CEO, Druk Holding & Investments), and Jigme Tenzing (Secretary, GovTech Bhutan).
The session explored how Bhutan’s clean energy advantage can serve as the foundation for a digital and AI-driven economy—and what it takes to build a national strategy that weaves together data infrastructure, innovation, and sustainability.
In this conversation, we discussed:
– Hydropowered AI and digital infrastructure as a new economic engine
– Investment perspectives on AI and value creation
– Bhutan’s unique positioning in the global tech landscape
– The role of young entrepreneurs, policy, and infrastructure in shaping the future
The event brought together Bhutanese government secretaries, DHI leadership, private sector entrepreneurs, university students, and members of GMC for a forward-looking exchange on harnessing energy and technology to shape Bhutan’s economic transformation.
📹 The full conversation is now available on our YouTube channel!
昨日の花のお稽古。 Yesterday’s flower lesson. With @shiho_yokokawa
Rest in peace, Pope Francis. Meeting him in 2017 during our AI ethics discussions at the Vatican revealed a man of genuine humor, wisdom and warmth. His ability to engage with complex technological and moral questions showed a forward-thinking mind despite his traditional role. The world has lost a humble bridge-builder when we need such voices most.
フランシスコ教皇安らかに。2017年、AIの倫理について議論するためにバチカンを訪問した際、彼に会う幸運に恵まれました。公人の背後には、驚くほどのユーモア、率直さ、そして知恵を持つ人がいました。複雑な技術的問題への彼の真摯な取り組みは、先見性のある思考を示していました。短い時間の中で、彼の温かさと歓待は深い印象を残しました。彼の声は私たちが最も必要としている時に、分断を橋渡ししました。世界は、古代の知恵と現代の課題の両方を理解していた謙虚な奉仕者を失いました。私たちには、彼のように注意深く耳を傾ける指導者がもっと必要です。特に今は。
桜の下での小さな野点で茶歌舞伎を開催。友人たちとお気に入りの酒器と様々な抹茶の味と香りを当て合い、茶道の遊び心を自然の中で楽しむ素敵な時間でした。この14世紀から続く闘茶の伝統を現代に蘇らせる機会に感謝。#茶歌舞伎 #野点 #茶道
Hosted a cha-kabuki at a small outdoor tea gathering under cherry blossoms. Guessed different matcha tastes and aromas, and experienced the joy of the tea ceremony in nature. Grateful for the opportunity to revive this toucha tradition that dates back to the 14th century.
