DIJ Business& Economics Study Group on June 13

We would like to invite you to the next meeting of the DIJ Business& Economics Study Group of the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ).

It will take place on

Monday, June 13th, 2011, 6.30 PM

at the German Institute for Japanese Studies.
(For a map refer tohttp://www.dijtokyo.org/access).

Our speaker will be
Morinosuke Kawaguchi, Arthur D. Little (Japan) Inc.

He will offer a presentation on:

"Geeky-Girly Innovation: A Japanese Subculturist's Guide to Technology and Design"

Analyzing everything from super-toilets to cute character stationery goods, from Kabuki to manga and anime, from bikes to robots, strategy expert and conceptor Morinosuke Kawaguchi supplies a road map for the future of international technology and design.

Japanese contemporary subculture such as manga, anime, TV games and girls' fashion are full of unique functionalities. Through a myriad of examples tha t people in any country can understand, Kawaguchi explains how to translate the anthropological features into industrial product specifications.

Kawaguchi's message is universal: one can leverage the power of subcultures , especially the childlike, feminine and cute aspects so characteristic of J apanese otaku (geek) culture, into developing top-tier products for the worl d market.

Kawaguchi's unique approach is to connect monozukuri (excellence in manufac turing and design) and emotional design to bring product development to a ne w level. His search is to recognize the future of technology and artifact de sign. For that it is essential to understand human nature in great depth, si nce any future design is bound to require more than mere efficiency and purp ose. Subculture has always reflected human nature, and Japanese subculture, like few else today, is a great indicator of what the future of technology i s going to be like. And, more importantly, how people will use and relate to electrical artifacts. In this sense, the future car will not be insp ired by Knight Rider, but by Kokuo-go. And the mobile phone will have better
chances to succeed if it can transmit a feeling comparable to Linus' secur ity blanket.

Morinosuke Kawaguchi is Principal, Associate Director at Arthur D. Little,
(Japan) Inc. He is a lecturer in the postgraduate program at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

Kawaguchi is renowned as a strategy expert in Management of Technology (MOT), intellectual property management (IPM) and also technology& innovation management (TIM) in various industries such as telecommunications, electronics and the car industry.
In Japan, he is considered the inventor of a new concept in product engineering and technology development that draws from Japanese culture, especially from the concepts of monozukuri and otaku subcultures.
He is an award-winning author whose books are translated into Korean and Chinese and soon available in Thai and English.

Links:
TEDxTokyo:
http://tedxtokyo.com/events/tedxtokyo-2010/program/mori
nosuke-kawaguchi/
YouTubehttp://www.youtube.com/user/JapanTechLessons
Wikipediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morinosuke_Kawagu
chi
Linkedinhttp://jp.linkedin.com/in/morinosukekawaguchi

The presentation will be given in English.

Everybody is welcome to attend, but kindly asked to register by June 10th with Dr. Florian Kohlbacher (kohlbacher@dijtokyo.org).