<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img style="aspect-ratio:2550/3300;" src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Subaru_b6c53fccc0_1_c34176d9a0.png" alt="Subaru_b6c53fccc0 1.png" width="2550" height="3300"></figure>Author: Subaru (Ting Yan Wong) is a design lead passionate about crafting impactful solutions through product design and research. Her versatile background spans visual, product, and branding design, with hands-on experience in eCommerce, logistics, and healthcare. Since joining Moon, she has embraced her curiosity and commitment to innovation to create designs that improve lives. Subaru’s professional interests center on design, product innovation, and aligning business strategy with creative solutions.&nbsp;<hr>Throughout my time at Moon, I’ve been fortunate to collaborate with an amazing team on various healthcare projects. These endeavors have been both fascinating and deeply meaningful, as they touch on an area intrinsically connected to everyone’s life. Healthcare is not just a service or a system; it’s a deeply personal and universal experience.“Health is like air,” one participant told us during an interview — a simple statement that perfectly captures the paradox of health. It’s essential yet often invisible, deeply personal but challenging to articulate. It’s this abstract nature of health that makes design research in this space so complex and rewarding.At the heart of every healthcare project lies curiosity: How do people define health? Where does it fit in their lives? What motivates or hinders their well-being? Uncovering these insights requires creativity, empathy, and the willingness to embrace abstraction.So, how can we, as design researchers, translate intangible ideas into tangible insights? In this post, I’ll share strategies that help us understand users’ needs and craft solutions that truly matter.&nbsp;<h3>Ask the Right Questions</h3>To truly grasp people’s thoughts on healthcare, our first instinct is often, “Let’s talk to them.” Qualitative research allows us to go beyond surface-level insights, uncovering rich, personal stories that shape people’s experiences.But when it comes to health — something deeply personal yet shaped by emotional, cultural, and societal layers — the challenges multiply. Asking someone about their health priorities or habits demands more than simple questions. It requires trust, sensitivity, and an environment where people feel comfortable sharing openly.Take the “BEEfficient” project, for example, which aimed to introduce healthy eating habits for busy individuals.&nbsp;The team sought to gain a deep understanding of the participants' eating and cooking habits. However, they knew that directly asking interviewees straightforward questions, such as what they eat or cook, might result in overly predictable and surface-level responses. So, how could they uncover deeper insights? The key was in asking the right questions: thoughtfully crafted ones that encouraged reflection without leading answers.Rather than starting with direct questions about food, we encouraged participants to talk about their daily lives, including work, relationships, and social environments. By exploring how external influences shaped their habits, we gained a more comprehensive view of the factors driving their lifestyles and values. This approach revealed unexpected insights and highlighted the interconnectedness of health behaviors with broader life contexts.In qualitative research, the quality of engagement is just as important as the data itself. By&nbsp;facilitating an open dialogue and digging deep into the participants' lives, we uncover insights that lead to meaningful design solutions.&nbsp;<h3>Make It Fun</h3><img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/image3_5943838812.gif" alt="image3.gif">Speaking isn’t always the best way for people to express their thoughts fully. Often, individuals aren’t entirely aware of their deeper feelings or complex thought processes. As researchers, our goal is to gather diverse perspectives and enable analysis from multiple angles, uncovering hidden layers of meaning.“Interactive Interview Exercises”&nbsp;can transform the research process. These activities create a relaxed, engaging environment that encourages participants to share their experiences more freely.&nbsp;Not only do they provide thoughtful reactions, but they also make the process enjoyable, reducing the formality and pressure often associated with traditional interviews.For the “BEEfficient” project, the team designed “Interactive Interview Exercises” to explore the factors influencing participant’s eating and cooking decisions as an online exercise. Participants were asked to select and prioritize these factors, leading to fascinating insights. For example, while many spoke about their family’s influence on shaping their food and health values, family often didn’t rank highly as a direct influence on immediate food decisions. At first glance, this seemed contradictory. But it revealed an important distinction: family plays a long-term,&nbsp;passive role in shaping habits over time, while immediate food decisions are driven by short-term factors like convenience, cost, or cravings.The interactive exercise not only surfaced these nuanced dynamics but also fostered a fun, collaborative atmosphere. Participants felt less like they were being interrogated and more like they were engaging in a meaningful activity. By creating this relaxed environment, we uncovered deeper, more authentic insights while ensuring the process was positive for everyone involved.&nbsp;<h3>Get Closer to Your Users</h3>We’ve discussed the value of online interviews and remote interactions, but sometimes, the most profound insights come from stepping away from the computer and meeting users where they are. Going offline allows us to observe real-life behaviors and experiences, providing a richer understanding of the user’s world.For instance, a Moon Entrepreneur-In-Residence (EIR), <a href="https://www.mooncreativelab.com/stories/entrepreneurial-mindset?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=subarublog250207en&amp;utm_id=subarublog250207en">Serene Li</a>, exemplified this approach during her work on the venture “Vital Grit,” a product designed to boost workout habits and performance. She was particularly interested in how her product could serve families with young children. Serene wanted to explore the challenges and joys of exercising with toddlers aged 1-3 and the potential hidden benefits of family workouts.To gain these insights, Serene visited participant’s homes to observe their weekend routine. She examined the living environment, interactions between family members, and how parents guided their child through workout activities under her in-person guidance. As a professional trainer, Serene offered guidance, making the experience both observational and participatory.This hands-on approach uncovered valuable insights. For example, the team discovered that parents faced difficulties in guiding their toddler’s exercises due to their lack of motor control and short attention spans. But they also found&nbsp;a significant opportunity: family workouts could not only serve as a way to encourage healthy habits but also act as a prompt for building emotional bonds and strengthening relationships with a shared focus on wellbeing. On the flip side, the research provided deeper insights into the challenges of designing effective workout programs for kids and the difficulties parents face in managing their children during exercise sessions. These findings reframed the productʻs value proposition, highlighting emotional connection as an essential benefit of exercising together as a social activity. Additionally, the team gained a clearer understanding of the productʻs feasibility, allowing them to refine their concept to explore opportunities that connect individuals, workouts, and their environment through social elements.By immersing ourselves in users’ lives and observing their realities, we uncover challenges and opportunities early in the process. Sometimes, the best way to understand your users is simply to step into their shoes, or in this case, their living room, for a workout session.&nbsp;<h3>Turning Abstract Idea Into Measurable Understanding</h3>Design research is collecting tangible insight that bridges the gap between abstract ideas and actionable solutions. Whether it’s asking the right questions, making the process fun, or immersing ourselves in users’ lives, each step deepens our understanding of what truly matters to people. In healthcare, this journey is particularly meaningful because it touches one of the most personal and universal aspects of life.By embracing curiosity, empathy, and creativity in our research practices, we uncover the hidden layers of human behavior and values. These insights guide the development of impactful solutions and foster deeper connections between teams and the people they serve.Ultimately, understanding users isn’t just about collecting data; it’s about telling their stories, respecting their experiences, and designing with their needs at heart. As we continue exploring the intricate world of healthcare, let’s remember that every question, every exercise, and every observation brings us one step closer to creating solutions that truly make a difference.&nbsp;<hr>Moon Creative Lab offers several programs to support startups. If you are interested in transforming your own business idea and growth, please check out the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mooncreativelab.com/?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=CTA2502&amp;utm_id=storytelling+by+subaru">top page</a>.

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<figure class="image"><img style="aspect-ratio:4200/2801;" src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/mcl_Dr_Conway_Ai_In_Healthcare_047_a767a7faad.jpg" alt="mcl_DrConway_AiInHealthcare_047.jpg" width="4200" height="2801"><figcaption>Moon’s Chief Creative Officer, Mike Peng, leading a Fireside Chat with Dr. Allan Conway.</figcaption></figure>A part of Moon Creative Lab’s Speaker Series events, AI in Healthcare: Pioneering Precision was an insightful talk on how artificial intelligence is emerging in the healthcare industry.Dr. Allan Conway, Clinical Associate Professor of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, UCSF and MarinHealth, was the first surgeon to use AI technology in a vascular surgical procedure for aneurysm repair. In a Fireside Chat with Moon’s Chief Creative Officer, Mike Peng, he shared his insights on how AI enables medical professionals to perform complex procedures with greater precision, and how AI can improve healthcare and patient outcomes.<figure class="image"><img style="aspect-ratio:4200/2801;" src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/mcl_Dr_Conway_Ai_In_Healthcare_019_9a783f7378.jpg" alt="mcl_DrConway_AiInHealthcare_019.jpg" width="4200" height="2801"></figure>Opportunities for AI in Healthcare Allan discussed how AI can play a significant part in making healthcare professionals’ jobs much more efficient. By optimizing workflow and reducing the daily tasks that are part of medical professionals’ jobs, such as charting patient data and documentation, healthcare can become more accessible. More efficient operations and automated tasks would allow doctors to see more patients and spend more time interacting with them than on paperwork. Relieving some of the administrative burden that doctors face daily could lead to improved patient communication, wider availability of healthcare, and better access to care for underserved communities.Not only would AI make daily administrative tasks more efficient, but it would also help increase efficiency in the operating room. Allan envisions AI reducing surgery times by 20-30 minutes, which would allow doctors to treat more patients.&nbsp;The Current State of AI Allan and his team at MarinHealth used Cydar Maps, an AI-powered surgical platform that can create a detailed 3D map of a patient’s anatomy. Such visualization helps with pre-surgical planning, image guidance during surgery, and automated evaluation of surgical outcomes. This technology allows medical teams to better visualize during the surgery, operate with more precision, make better decisions in the operating room, and guide care throughout the patient’s entire journey.<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/mcl_Dr_Conway_Ai_In_Healthcare_036_8a0e663cf1.jpg" alt="mcl_DrConway_AiInHealthcare_036.jpg">Implementation Challenges Like with any new technology, implementing AI in healthcare has not been immediate. Allan attributed the lack of AI-prevalence to financial hurdles. Most AI technology comes with high subscription costs, and many medical institutions might be reluctant to invest heavily into something that might not have the data to back the technology up — yet. But as AI technology is adopted, Allan is hopeful that as the data grows, so will implementation across the industry. To help overcome the financial hurdles AI technology faces, Allan thinks philanthropy and product champions are key. More philanthropic support from strong believers and evangelists of new technology could be key to ushering more AI in healthcare. No, AI Will Not Replace Surgeons With new ideas comes new misconceptions — and Allan addressed those head-on by assuring that AI will not replace surgeons. He emphasized the need to wane expectations about AI capabilities and that, instead of focusing on the fear of AI, the focus should be on enhancing and augmenting the work of medical professionals, not entirely replacing them.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img style="aspect-ratio:4200/2801;" src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/mcl_Dr_Conway_Ai_In_Healthcare_110_1e5f3785f2.jpg" alt="mcl_DrConway_AiInHealthcare_110.jpg" width="4200" height="2801"><figcaption>Pictured: Moon CEO Kaichi Yokoyama, Dr. Allan Conway, Moon CCO Mike Peng, and Moon CMO Mary Ann Gallo,</figcaption></figure>Moon’s Focus&nbsp; Moon is always open and welcoming to new ideas, and one particular focus area of ours is AI in Healthcare. How might we leverage cutting-edge technologies to deliver more personalized and better outcomes for patients around the world? How can we use AI to augment the already-incredible abilities of medical professionals and transform healthcare as we know it? If you have ideas, we’d love to hear them! Chat with us, attend an event, and meet incredible innovators and entrepreneurs by joining our Moon Community <a href="https://share.hsforms.com/1OHQANbcgR9q4ky5Q4M6wMQcxaid">here</a>.Interested in being a featured speaker at Moon or partnering for your event? Reach out to us <a href="https://share.hsforms.com/1u98RYOcPTfefjoRhgX-xewcxaid">here</a>.&nbsp;

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To celebrate the end of the Boost Summer '24 cohort, on Dec. 3, Moon’s Tokyo Studio held a "Boost Pitch &amp; Connect" event where 13 ventures - 2 online and 11 in person - presented their businesses to an audience of 60 guests including VCs, startups, and organizations such as the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and JETRO. The event was followed by networking time to deepen the exchange.<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Boost_348e28871a.png" alt="Boost.png">&nbsp;<h3>Looking back on the pitch</h3><ol><li>ijo – Developing seaweed-based bioplastic products and bio-stimulants to promote vegetable growth at high quality vegetables and low cost.</li><li>Polls – Automate the creation of survey question branches for efficiency and promote consistency in responses. Conduct regular observations of employees makes sure their alignment with company goals.</li><li>KiFor – Facilitate collaboration between charities and organizations engaged in SDGs. Work with educational institutions to connect them with job training to expand their workforce.</li><li>Growth Watcher – Provides use of satellite data to monitor the growing environment of vegetables in order to facilitate the transition to the cultivation of alternative crops against the environmental changes.</li><li>BooksPetal – A platform that makes it easy for students to purchase and sell books on demand. The company designs a unique system in which the amount of money is determined by weight.</li><li>HomeTrimmer – Provides trimming services at pet owners' homes, ensuring the safety of pets &amp; the peace of mind of owners while also creating an improved working environment for trimmers.</li><li>Grouping – Facilitates social interaction by matching groups of three. More casual and dynamic, and monetizes by directing users to partner restaurants. Free for both genders.</li><li>Krip – Aggregates promotions, discounts and deals from credit cards providers and financial services, easily accessible to consumers and partners from their app and APIs.</li><li>DROP System – Provides a platform that centralizes different loyalty programs offered by companies, allowing users to use them without worrying about expiration.</li><li>CACARU – Provides a platform for a university’s physicians to search for specialists and clinics to refer patients to, send referral letters, and make appointments in one place.</li><li>Robot ATTA! – A matching website with a collection of use cases for companies considering robot implementation. Focuses on the central concern: the feasibility of implementation on site.</li><li>Kutoon – Subscription-based rental of children shoes, with home-delivery. Shoes are collected, cleaned and reused after the children outgrow them.</li><li>MEs – Develop a virtual space dedicated to creative teams, to capture, catalogue and visualize data in a 3D environment, breaking the boundaries of standard productivity tools.</li></ol><a href="https://share.hsforms.com/1xfbn-6k6Q3GsIa1jMxWUcwcxaid?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=blog1218&amp;utm_id=blog1218">&gt;&gt; Register "Boost"</a>

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As an industry, we’ve been talking about “the future of work” for some time now, but never quite like this. MetaJob, a Moon Creative Lab venture, is a job-matching service for gig workers that goes beyond simply enabling new ways of working without the boundaries of time or physical space.&nbsp;MetaJob is taking the “work from anywhere” concept and adding a twist of crowdsourcing: The company provides job seekers&nbsp;with unique virtual opportunities where they can offer their expertise on a topic or product they know a lot about. Think of it like an interactive version of Yelp! or Amazon’s customer reviews – where the gig worker can offer their knowledge of and experience with a particular topic or product to provide services such as virtual staff that guide people at metaverse event venues, or orchestrating party games in karaoke rooms where gig worker hosts are represented by avatars.<figure class="image"><img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/d60069_105_74d78e997273482aa3b1_13_0fed9a846b.jpg" alt="d60069-105-74d78e997273482aa3b1-13.jpg"><figcaption>“Murder Mystery” game in the JOYSOUND karaoke room. The avatar on the screen is playing the role of the game master. “Murder Mystery” is a party game where participants pretend to be characters in a fictional murder story and try to achieve goals set for each stage.</figcaption></figure>MetaJob aims to develop a casual, online gig workplace where people can make extra income in their spare time simply by using their knowledge and experience for a new type of work MetaJob calls “Word of- Mouth 2.0.”<h3>What does “Word of Mouth 2.0” look like?</h3><figure class="image"><img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/IMG_0808_2_2767f1c483.jpg" alt="IMG_0808 2.jpg"><figcaption>A pop-up store with no in-person staff at Gotemba Premium Outlets.</figcaption></figure>MetaJob recently collaborated with Mitsubishi Estate and Simon Co., Ltd. to introduce a new men's skincare brand, “BULK HOMME,” via a pop-up store at Gotemba Premium Outlets near Mount Fuji.This pop-up store is unique: It required no in-person staff and displayed only sample products. After sampling products of interest, customers could purchase them online using the QR code associated with the product sample. But most significantly, customers could also talk to "fan staff" who use and love the products to consult and ask questions live via the staff’s avatars.<figure class="image"><img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/IMG_0803_2_ae6df78452.jpg" alt="IMG_0803 2.jpg"><figcaption>Purchases are made using a QR code inside the store.</figcaption></figure>Being able to shop while listening to actual user experiences and points of view – vs. classic “sales talk” – is a major advantage for new customers, especially when a company enters a relatively new market where “sales talk” can feel empty without validation from people who have used the product.&nbsp;This “fan staff” idea is a novel concept of customer service that can help new businesses grow while providing opportunities for gig workers.Another recent MetaJob example is an online consultation service for HIROBIRO, a website operated by Hiroshima Prefecture that provides information for people looking to move to Hiroshima. MetaJob provided HIROBIRO&nbsp; with live, avatar-based counselors who have lived in the prefecture and can provide authentic, individual advice based on their own experiences as Hiroshima residents.People who have actually lived in Hiroshima offer more credibility to potential residents than the staff at local government consultation desks, while the avatar-based counselors can work from home and earn extra income.<h3>What’s next for “Word of Mouth 2.0”?</h3>These two use cases are only part of what MetaJob is doing to reimagine the new future of work.For example, in addition to live, avatar-based reviews or guidance from experienced users, MetaJob plans to implement functions and buttons – such as “Ask a knowledgeable person” or “Hear from users about their experiences” – on various websites, including metaverse content and services. When customers click on one of these buttons, MetaJob will then match them with the most suitable, experienced users according to the product or content the customer is interested in (over time, AI may do this matching work).&nbsp;If both parties agree, the conversation will begin by using avatars so that customers can ask questions and be able to hear about real user’s experiences.<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/2023_03_23_15_01_44_321ea59870.jpg" alt="スクリーンショット 2023-03-23 15.01.44.jpg">The future of MetaJob is bright. Do you remember YouTube Japan’s commercial campaign with the catchphrase, “Sukina koto de ikiteku (Live by doing what you like)”? When the campaign began back in 2014, YouTube was not nearly as popular as it is today – but over time, it has become a widely used platform for people to create their dream jobs.Although we can’t predict the future, MetaJob is hoping to build a similar platform that can increase opportunities for a new generation of gig workers to create their dream jobs, too.Check out MetaJob’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metajob.jp/">official website</a> for more information, or read this interview with MetaJob founder Naohiro Hoshino on our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mooncreativelab.com/stories/interview-hoshino">Moon Stories Blog.</a>

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Key Learnings:<ul><li>Why creativity is essential for innovation</li><li>How to foster creativity</li><li>Developing a creative mindset</li></ul><hr>Creativity takes a certain degree of confidence, doesn’t it? It requires vulnerability, the uncertainty of what might come out and where it will end up. But how do you find that confidence that allows you to jump into something new? We sat down with Moon Creative Lab’s Chief Creative Officer, Mike Peng, to hear his take on finding creative confidence. &nbsp;<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Mike_Peng_702f14ff0b.jpg" alt="Mike Peng"><h4>Innovation needs creativity</h4>Innovation is all about creating something new to the world, and often, the way to get there means you need to do things differently. If you do things in the typical way, you will likely get typical results. “You have to use different processes and different tools to achieve out-of-the-box thinking,” Mike says.&nbsp;&nbsp;“The only way you can do that is to utilize creativity – creative tools, creative processes, and most importantly, a creative mindset. Doing so will enable you to get to an outcome that maybe wasn’t originally imaginable, which is exactly what innovation is all about. ”&nbsp;<h3>&nbsp;</h3><h4>Cultivating creativity</h4>The key to manifesting creativity is to ensure that you are fostering diversity. At Moon, experts in design, engineering, product, operations, and more come together to offer their unique perspectives. It’s this collaboration and exploring through others that allows creativity to thrive, which is something Mike is passionate about. “I think creative collaboration is really, really exciting. When you bring together different types of people who each have different backgrounds, skills, and experiences, you’re able to get different perspectives on the same problem. When you have different perspectives all working together, you can come up with something that’s way more interesting in the end, better than if you were to have done it alone.”&nbsp;Experimentation is another key to creativity, and an experiment isn’t always perfect. “We introduce tools like quick prototyping. I think oftentimes we try and perfect the thing we’re trying to create and wait until the very end to launch. But what we do at Moon is a rougher version, a rawer version that we can test into the world, learn quickly from it, and then re-launch an even better version.” So creativity can sometimes be scrappy and imperfect? Got it!&nbsp;&nbsp;<h3>&nbsp;</h3><h4>What is a creative mindset?</h4>Mike mentioned the importance of a creative mindset, but what does that mean? In some ways, it means being okay with not knowing what it means! “When you’re trying to create something new, we actually have no idea what the ‘right’ answer is. In school, we’re typically taught that there’s always a right answer and a wrong answer. But applying a creative mindset means that we’re going into the problem being okay not knowing what the answer is. We need to explore, try new things, embrace ambiguity. We need to remind ourselves to be okay with not knowing. I know it’s really hard, but that’s one of the things that I think is key to being creative,” Mike explains. “Often, we’re waiting for people to tell us which direction is right and which is wrong, but utilizing a creative mindset means you’re going to suspend judgment and explore options.”<h3>&nbsp;</h3><h4>Creative confidence at Moon&nbsp;</h4>“We’ve been able to apply a lot of different types of creativity to Moon’s projects,” Mike says. “This involves a lot of exploration and experimentation. Sometimes we launch a simple website just to see if potential customers are interested and will sign up! The thought is that if they do, that’s a great indication of traction. You know that we’re onto something. But that’s something you normally wouldn’t do, right? In most cases, you wouldn’t ever create a webpage until you’re actually done with a product, right?”&nbsp;Creative confidence sounds like the reassurance we need to be unsure. To be open to the unknown, not always knowing the answers, and making just about anything, never striving for perfection. Remember, being creative and innovative means doing something new and discovering what’s possible.Jump in. Find inspiration through others. Get scrappy. Experiment. And be ready for new possibilities. Creativity can be scary, but it’s the only way to create something new. As Mike encourages, “Embrace the ambiguity of not knowing what the answer is and then be open to what those potential solutions can be. I think that’s really exciting.”&nbsp;

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Key learnings:<ol><li>Human-centered solutions to a critical problem</li><li>Building stronger communication and support</li><li>A solution supporting key users’ needs&nbsp;</li></ol>&nbsp;The recent pandemic put a strain on all of us, but especially on those who needed hospital care even before the COVID virus became prominent. Patients who required continuous care after a hospital stay suffered as medical facility shutdowns and restrictions increased. And without that kind of in-person support, patients grew more and more isolated as conditions remained. The healthcare sector became progressively understaffed, making it challenging for healthcare workers to maintain a proper work-life balance.&nbsp;The team behind Tomopiia recognized this problem and wondered, “How can we support patients online?"Junichiro Shigemura pitched his venture idea to Moon Creative Lab: a platform that helps patients with chronic illnesses track their care and communicate directly with nurses. The platform, which he named&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tomopiia.com/">Tomopiia</a>, provides a new form of communication inspired by the needs of both nurses and patients.<h3>There aren’t enough hours in the day to handle each patient individually&nbsp;</h3>Improving patients’ quality of life is a nurse’s true purpose. As some of the closest healthcare professionals to patients,&nbsp;nurses can often become optimistic cheerleaders, giving patients hope in dark and despairing times.&nbsp;Unfortunately, the pandemic caused hospitals to hit an all-time high with patients filling more hospital beds than ever before. Rather than taking time with each patient to make sure their physical and emotional needs were met, the focus shifted to treating and discharging patients as quickly as possible.&nbsp;Because of these new conditions, an increasing number of nurses started to leave the healthcare field, overwhelmed by their everyday tasks. It became more and more difficult for nurses to find enough hours in the day to thoughtfully care for each patient and still maintain their own lives outside of the hospital.&nbsp;Seeing all of these changes for both patients and nurses, Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) Junichiro Shigemura knew he had to create something that could dramatically improve the lives of both parties.&nbsp;<h3>Tomopiia creates dialogue between patients and nurses&nbsp;</h3>Shigemura set out to create a platform where patients can communicate directly with nurses anytime, anywhere. Many issues can be solved through remote communication, allowing patients to get the care and information they need without the hassles and obstacles of going to the hospital in person.In fact, patients who share their concerns with their nurse actually find that the communication helps them better express their thoughts and feelings. Through user feedback, the Tomopiia team found that some patients tell nurses things they had never told their doctor, family, or even friends. Opening up to a nurse can give patients peace of mind and build a trusted line of communication and mental support.&nbsp;This new form of interacting with patients also allows more flexibility for nurses and the ways in which they provide care, allowing the opportunity for better work-life balance.&nbsp;<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/tomopiia_blog2_a03d61aa60.jpg" alt="tomopiia blog2.jpg"><h3>Engaging patients with communication&nbsp;</h3>At its start, Tomopiia’s intention was to support patient independence and improve their quality of life through better medical guidance. But through a series of conversations and open dialogue, Shigemura realized that it was the communication line itself that engaged potential users.&nbsp;"One patient told me, 'I realized my true feelings by speaking up for myself.’ That's when I realized the importance of listening to what the patient wants to say rather than asking what they needed to know.&nbsp;It meant a lot to the patients that the nurses were the ones listening to them from a comfortable distance."&nbsp;As a result, Tomopiia’s goal and purpose has shifted to focusing more on closer and more direct communication between patients and medical professionals rather than knowledge and consultation.<h3>Expanded opportunities for nurses to play an active role</h3>Tomopiia's aim is to create a platform that supports patients, creating an environment where each patient feels valued – something that can be hard to do with existing medical practices. Additionally, the intent of Tomopiia is to create an environment that enables nurses to provide enhanced levels of care and communication.In the future, Tomopiia plans to collaborate with local governments, companies, and hospitals that share the mission of improving the quality, efficiency, and accessibility of medical care. Shigemura expressed, "I would like to contribute to both the psychological care of patients and the expansion of opportunities for nurses to play an active role.”&nbsp;For&nbsp; the latest information about Tomopiia, please visit&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tomopiia.com/">Tomopiia's official website</a>.

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<figure class="media"><oembed url="https://vimeo.com/815553076"></oembed></figure>Tomopiia, a Moon Creative Lab venture that helps patients with chronic illnesses track their care and communicate directly with nurses, held a symposium entitled, “Future Possibilities of Nursing” at Moon Creative Lab’s Tokyo Studio on Dec. 5, 2022. This event was part of Tomopiia’s skill-up workshops and information events that it provides for nurses.<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Tomopiia2_93840f15e4.jpg" alt="Tomopiia2.jpg">More than 60 people gathered for the symposium, both in person and online. Attendees were excited for this rare opportunity to have a conversation with well-known guests in the nursing field, including Dr. Suga Sakamoto, vice president of Tokyo Healthcare University and a professor in the Department of Nursing.Junichiro Shigemura, founder of Tomopiia and an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) at Moon Creative Lab, kicked of the symposium, and Ayano Toshinai, Tomopiia’s executive manager and a nurse, expressed her gratitude for attendees:&nbsp;“I feel Tomopiia is truly challenging the 'future of nursing.'”&nbsp;<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Tomopiia3_a964ea6e3a.jpg" alt="Tomopiia3.jpg">Dr. Sakamoto gave a keynote speech in which she looked back on the history of nursing in Japan, confirmed the industry’s current situation, and talked about where nursing is headed in the post-COVID world.Dr. Sakamoto stated that “chat = dialogue” is the key to the future of nursing in a society where contactless or remote options are more common:&nbsp;“The future of nursing will not be created by technology, but rather by the dialogue that we humans engage in.”&nbsp;<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Tomopiia4_27d1a25256.jpg" alt="Tomopiia4.jpg">Dr. Masahiro Yoshioka, director emeritus of&nbsp; Eiseikai Medical Corporation’s Minami Tama Hospital, then kicked off the symposium discussion with speakers Hideo Ishida, CEO of Tekix, Inc.; Tatsunari Morimoto, executive officer of CHCP Home Nursing and president of N Field Inc.; and Dr. Sakamoto. &nbsp;This discussion was a lively exchange of opinions, with “dialogue” being one of the major keywords. “Dialogue” requires understanding one another while also understanding ourselves. In addition to dialogue between patients and nurses, the event led to conversations between managers and staff as well as among staff members.At the end of the session, our guest speakers responded to the many questions and comments we received from participants, demonstrating the passion nurses have for this topic.Tomopiia plans to continue providing events around the future of nursing and nurses' careers. You can check the latest information about Tomopiia on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tomopiia.com/">Tomopiia's official website</a>.

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This is the blog of an interview series featuring employees from Mitsui &amp; Co. Ltd., who were seconded to Moon Creative Lab to work on new business ventures. These Moon alumni share their experiences as Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIRs) while at Moon and the knowledge they’ve brought back to Mitsui.This interview is with Anna Hiraoka, who has been successfully managing a series of Diversity and Inclusion (D&amp;I) initiatives at Mitsui. Anna shares her experience:&nbsp;<ul><li>Discovering strength through design research</li><li>Connecting team members with a coloring book project&nbsp;</li><li>Using visualization to foster culture with acknowledgement</li><li>Gaining driving force after experiencing pivots&nbsp;</li></ul>&nbsp;<h3>Discovering strength through design research</h3>Anna is currently a member of the Diversity Management Dept. of Mitsui's Human Resources &amp; General Affairs Division (HR), where she has been initiating various types of in-house initiatives. After working on hospital investment projects within the Wellness Business Unit (BU) at Mitsui, she was seconded to Moon from October 2018 to September 2020 to focus on a healthcare venture. Due to the business pivot and the pandemic, her own venture eventually folded and her time at Moon came to an end. Anna returned to Mitsui and transferred to HR in April 2022.While at Moon, Anna began working on design research for business creation in collaboration with IDEO, a design consulting firm. In her very first working session, she realized that visualization is her strength.&nbsp;"At IDEO, drawing pictures and visualizing ideas as they discuss is very common, but that was not the case in the past experience at Mitsui. That’s why I was surprised to find myself being comfortable with that practice. That’s when I realized this might be my strength."&nbsp; -A.H.&nbsp;&nbsp;Anna says she always had a habit of taking notes with some drawings and putting them on her desk even before coming to Moon. She even has a vision board at home to put ideas together and organize what’s on her mind.After working with IDEO, she has honed her visualization skills even further. Now, she practices graphic recordings* to compile information at meetings, structure web pages using design tools, and design a sticker of her own vision. She has learned to use visualization in a variety of ways to help team members communicate intuitively.*Graphic recording: a method of discovering insights and stimulating discussion by translating conversations or presentations into text and pictures in real-time.<h3>Connecting team members with a coloring book project</h3>One of the successful examples of Anna’s visual communication was "Color Our Vision," which she started when she returned to Mitsui's Wellness BU. Due to the pandemic, team members had fewer opportunities of working together, making it difficult to get to know each other and share the same core values and strategies.To tackle this challenge, she proposed to print out the graphic image of BU strategy on a huge paper, asking everyone to color it during their break. Since most people worked from home, the office was fairly empty and turned it into a small gathering corner. Over the course of a month, the poster was coloured by many people, showcasing their unique personalities through how they colored. This initiative created an opportunity for team members to spontaneously connect and talk to one another. Everyone loved this project and it continued to be a success.<figure class="image"><img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Microsoft_Teams_image_37_f7eace07a5.jpg" alt="MicrosoftTeams-image (37).jpg"><figcaption>Team members colored and added drawings to the BU strategy poster.</figcaption></figure>Anna also came up with "Acknowledge Month" which recognizes members who understand and practice the core values of the BU. She designed stickers representing five core values, and members were encouraged to give out the stickers to those who embodied each value with a handwritten acknowledgement message on its back.This was an easy way to participate and created many new conversations amongst the BU.These initiatives using visualization created a positive impact on other activities as well. For example, at a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pechakucha.com/">Pecha-Kucha</a> meet-up, Anna invited members she had met through the coloring book project, creating another opportunity for colleagues to connect outside of work by sharing their passions such as drawing and flower arrangement.Since Anna was coming up with a series of unique projects, her manager asked her if she was interested in expanding the work she had been doing beyond BU. Anna’s ability to foster a culture was recognized as an essential skill that the company would continue to need, and she started to consider moving to HR where she thought may lead her to expand her expertise.Anna’s greatest vision is to design an inclusive and creative environment where people can thrive on a global scale. In December 2021, she pitched herself to the Human Resources and General Affairs Division, just like how she pitched her project to Moon. In April of the following year, she was offered a position at Diversity Management Dept. within HR.<h3>Using visualization to foster culture</h3>In March 2022, just before her transfer to HR, Anna organized an event to embrace International Women's Day with team members from Moon. During the event, she set up a booth and asked supporters to put stickers on a poster with a jar drawn which she called an allyship jar, if they believed in supporting gender equality in this world. This created a quick visual of how many supporters also known as allies of gender equality there were in the company.<figure class="image"><img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Image_from_i_OS_12_2_632c9ac36e.jpg" alt="Image from iOS (12) 2.jpg"><figcaption>For International Women's Day, Anna visualized the number of supporters in the company with stickers.</figcaption></figure>The team asked visitors to share the names of the women in their life that inspire them most by writing them on a board and taking pictures with a crossed-hand pose that embodied the "BreakTheBias" theme of that year's International Women's Day. They posted nearly 100 pictures with booth visitors on the wall. Booth visitors also received a purple mask, which was the event's theme color. These masks gathered people's attention in the office and helped spread the word quickly and widely.<figure class="image"><img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/2_4aed161d2b.jpg" alt="写真 2.jpg"><figcaption>International Women’s Day event organizers.</figcaption></figure>At the same time, the team took pictures at the booth and shared them on internal SNS along with #BreakTheBias to share the importance of recognizing our prejudices.<figure class="image"><img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/197anna_a676c646fa.jpg" alt="197anna.jpg"><figcaption>Sticker designed by Anna, representing her vision. Different shapes in seven colors are put together to shape a dinosaur which represents human’s unique and crucial skill of curiosity.&nbsp;</figcaption></figure>In June, Anna hosted another event with team members from Moon to talk about LGBTQIA+ allyship and what can we do as allies during Pride Month.&nbsp;Anna designed stickers with rainbow-colored dinosaurs for this special event, as she picked up a voice from the audience that they wanted something visual to show that they are allies, and she explained why she initially created the sticker.&nbsp;&nbsp;"It is important to make things visible to be recognized and to be remembered" -A.H.&nbsp;In September, Anna led the planning and hosting of a company-wide Diversity &amp; Inclusion (D&amp;I) Week event, partnering with Moon to host a workshop on the theme of "Shared Leadership” to promote D&amp;I.&nbsp;Around 500 participants from 25 countries attended the event virtually. For this event, Anna created a dedicated internal web page where she shared research findings by Rikkyo University and interview articles of Mitsui employees.In the workshop, Anna helped participants to deepen their understanding of shared leadership by posting their personal experiences as examples online using an interactive tool. This was another way for Anna to help visualize complex ideas that cannot be explained simply.With her visualization skills, Anna has made her ideas come to life and at the same time, empowered those around her. She credits the core values and learning how to pivot at Moon as her driving force.&nbsp;<h3>Gaining driving force after experiencing pivots</h3>Anna was very excited when she was first seconded to Moon. She was involved in the development of a service that would enable AI-based early detection of cancer and worked with experts in various fields in a fast-paced environment, where she had to continue researching and reporting to pass an project assessment every three months.At Moon, Anna experienced not only design thinking but also a pivot in business direction.While at Moon, Anna proposed a new online consultation platform for pets to expand her business model. However, despite confirming user needs through research in the United States and gaining support from academic societies and veterinarians, she and her team were unable to conduct online consultation tests with veterinarians and pet owners due to legal restrictions. And the immediate impact of the pandemic made it even more difficult to continue the project.After that, the team made the decision to focus on the development of AI-based early detection of cancer services for humans and looked for what they could do remotely. They built an operation and management system needed to continue the research from Japan, but there was still a limit on things that could be done online. “I couldn’t do anything even if I wanted to,” which Anna said was the hardest thing at the time.<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/L1500342_retouched_c84da9cef6.jpg" alt="L1500342 retouched.jpg">The loneliness and psychological burden Anna felt when leading the project as a solo Idea Owner made her more aware of the need to support everyone in the company. Anna realized the importance of organizational development and promoting inclusion and pitched her vision to strengthen her expertise in HR.Anna says it was only after she was transferred to her current department that she started seeing the positive side of a series of challenges.&nbsp;"When I look back on myself having a hard time, I think I was too focused on one ideal scenario from the beginning. It's important to instead focus on your vision and&nbsp;celebrate what you have learned from the unexpected outcomes, and connecting it to the next step is even more important. I couldn’t realize that even after one or two pivots, but now I feel that my experience at Moon is giving me the driving force. Maybe I've grown up a little bit."&nbsp;Anna says, “The more you want to achieve the goal, the more painful it is when your ideas are not recognized. Your ideas and approach might not always be the company's priorities.”&nbsp; However, Anna says, “I try to think that there are always allies who will support me, and people are not criticizing you for being a great artist. It is more directed towards your art piece that might need more work, so embrace others’ ideas too, and turn the feedback into making your art piece an even better one.”&nbsp;&nbsp;"I'm always keeping Moon's<a href="https://www.mooncreativelab.com/ja/about"> five values</a> in my mind. Take ‘experiment fast’ for example. It's important to start small and fast. If it seems like it’s working, you can scale that up. And then there's ‘stretch your comfort zone.’ I feel that our company is constantly evolving, and I want to be that driving force. I want to aim for a culture-add, not a culture fit." -A.H.&nbsp;

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An interview with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metajob.jp/">MetaJob</a> founder Naohiro Hoshino about his inspiration and experiments creating a more human-centered future of work.<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/2023_03_24_22_14_48_075cdbab8f.jpg" alt="スクリーンショット 2023-03-24 22.14.48.jpg">Hi there! Can you start by telling us about MetaJob?Naohiro Hoshino (N.H.):&nbsp;Of course! MetaJob is a job-matching platform that aims to create an even-level playing field for all people in a work environment. Various groups – particularly people from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds, stay-at-home mothers, and&nbsp;hikkikomori (people who rarely leave their homes) – struggle to compete in the traditional job marketplace. At the same time, there is a labor shortage in Japan that is only getting worse as the population continues to age. Our vision has always been the same: to level out the playing field and help people find meaningful, rewarding work, while also helping businesses find the quality employees they need to thrive.&nbsp;What inspired you to start building this venture?N.H.&nbsp;I grew up on the east side of Tokyo, where the ratio of self-employed people is very high. As a kid, I couldn’t even imagine going to university. Most people I knew worked in scrappy, family-owned businesses. In a country like Japan which traditionally values formal education, this can be a significant disadvantage. But the truth is, these people have the same capability as others, but less opportunity to show it. These days, technology is changing things, and rapidly. YouTubers have disrupted and democratized popular entertainment and people are increasingly making a living by directly buying and selling to others online. I see it as a dramatic and positive shift in the nature of work itself, and something I want to be a part of!&nbsp;Can you tell us more about how MetaJob works?N.H.&nbsp;MetaJob is a multi-sided platform that matches virtual workers with businesses that have online customer-facing operations. We need to consider all three key stakeholders and their needs: the workers who wish to work virtually, the businesses who need workers they can trust, and the end-users who want&nbsp; quality service. We balance these needs and provide a frictionless, human-centered platform to facilitate the exchange of value between all users.&nbsp;How has MetaJob evolved over time?N.H.&nbsp;Although my vision has stayed the same, our approach has evolved. At first, we worked on solving for the first group: people who want to work, but struggle to do so in the so-called “real world.” We aimed to help them by providing a virtual working environment and identity through the use of 3D avatars. This was very effective and we saw positive results from the worker side, but we also discovered that businesses and end-users do not always trust avatar-only workers.In our second phase of development, we shifted focus to the business side and found that the core issue is a lack of social credit. In short, how can we ensure the quality of virtual workers and create a trusted network? With this in mind, we began developing a system to evaluate virtual worker quality, which led to a huge increase in both trust and engagement.&nbsp;A system as such must be designed with great care; it should be autonomous, transparent, decentralized, and not controlled by an authority like a company or government.&nbsp;Currently, MetaJob has thousands of worker accounts and we make hundreds of job matches per month. Our active users are primarily stay-at-home mothers, minorities, and people with unstable jobs (Hiseiki Shain).&nbsp;What is next for MetaJob?N.H. Our greatest challenge right now is to raise the volume of job opportunities that we are providing and focus on the satisfaction of end-users. This is a common problem for growing ventures. How do we move from linear to exponential growth? But we have a plan!We want to pioneer a new kind of C2C+B market, what we are calling “life-sharing,” or an “experience-and-earn” model. During MetaJob’s growth, we came across the fascinating insight that everyone's an expert on something. For example, I lived in France for some years, and I like driving. As a result, I became an expert on scenic driving routes not only around Paris, but also Western Europe. So if you ever want any advice or recommendations about driving in France and Western Europe, let me know!We want to help our MetaJob users by giving them a platform to provide insight to others in a shared network, sharing life experiences and expert knowledge about whatever the subject may be, and earn money doing so. One of our MetaJob workers, for example, has visited every single&nbsp;onsen hot spring on the Izu Peninsula of Japan. By sharing their life experiences and knowledge, others on the platform interested in traveling to that area can benefit. By building out this functionality, we will dramatically expand the value that MetaJob provides by sharing value amongst the end-users themselves. And we hope that one day, end-users can earn a living this way.Our vision is to continue to expand the platform and provide more opportunities for virtual workers to find meaningful, rewarding work, while also helping businesses find the quality employees they need to thrive. We also want to focus on the satisfaction of end-users and create a platform that provides real value to them.In the short term, we are working on building out the C2C+B model and we believe this will be a major growth area for the platform. We also want to continue to refine our scoring system and make it as objective and reliable as possible.&nbsp;How do you imagine the future of work?N.H.:&nbsp;We believe that the future of work will be more decentralized, human-centered, hybrid, and flexible than it has ever been in the past. Technology is making it easier to work remotely and more people are seeking a better balance between work and personal life. More and more people, especially here in Japan, are seeking options to be self-employed, at least partially. It has never been easier to start your own business providing value to others in a direct, peer-to-peer relationship than now. MetaJob is helping to make this shift possible.In the long term, we see MetaJob as part of a larger movement towards a more dynamic and equitable work environment. We want to help people find work that fits their lives rather than the other way around, and create a world where anyone can earn a decent living by sharing their valuable life experiences with others, regardless of their background or situation. We believe that this is the future of work and we are excited to be a part of it!

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In this interview series, we talk to employees from Mitsui &amp; Co. Ltd., who were seconded to Moon Creative Lab to work on new business ventures. These Moon alumni share their experiences as Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIRs) at Moon and the knowledge they’ve brought back to Mitsui.For this interview we talk with Yoshinori Tatsumi, currently leading the crypto asset Zipang Coin.&nbsp;What did he learn from his experience at Moon?.&nbsp;<ul><li>Importance of staying focused</li><li>Become your target user&nbsp;</li><li>Do it yourself &nbsp;</li></ul><hr><h3>The importance of staying focused</h3>Yoshinori belongs to the Commodity Trading &amp; Risk Management Division of the Corporate Development Business Unit of Mitsui &amp; Co., Ltd. In 2018, he submitted his idea to Moon and was then chosen to work with Moon as an EIR.&nbsp;Initially, the project started as an investment project, but eventually shifted to business development for collaboration. Yoshinori tried to build a service that targets inbound tourists, focusing on mobility and regional revitalization. The idea was named "1 Hour Trip”, which aimed to enhance users' travel time by introducing recommended travel routes rather than the shortest route to their destination.Together with Moon, Yoshinori tried to develop a platform that integrates&nbsp;transfer information for transportation, such as buses and trains. The goal was to then link service information, such as restaurants, tours, and various experiences, with the proposed routes, which may also include walking. There were also benefits for service personnel such as the dispersion of transportation resources and the prevention of tourists from expanding into residential areas.However, due to various challenges such as technical problems and the time required to establish an alliance, the business idea had to pivot repeatedly. Yoshinori says it was difficult to imagine the issues and needs of target users with different living environments and cultural backgrounds.<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/tatusmi_image2_0c2951dc5e.jpg" alt="tatusmi image2.jpg">&nbsp;"The inbound tourists who were our intended users were very different from me. Interviews were necessary to understand their needs, but the more interviews I conducted and the more user needs I imagined, the more I seemed to lose sight of what was important to me. We couldn't decide what kind of prototype to develop for various reasons, and the repeated pivots had an impact as well. I couldn't say with confidence anymore that we must do this.”A lack of confidence had a significant impact when proposing to the Moon Committee and working with project members. Towards the end of the project, Yoshinori found convincing business potential, but at that time, there was not enough time left for research and the development of that business was postponed even before he could create a monetization mechanism. Yoshinori graduated from Moon in December 2020.<h3>Become your target user</h3>Immediately after returning to Mitsui, Yoshinori participated in the launch of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.zipangcoin.com/">Zipang Coin</a>, a crypto asset that aims to be linked to the price of gold. In the long term, it is expected to be used for exchange with gold.From his experience at Moon, Yoshinori learned the importance of having a deep understanding of his target user.&nbsp;"I felt that it was very important for me to be the target user. I remember that other ventures at Moon, in which entrepreneurs themselves were the target users, had something powerful to attract various things, regardless of the size of the market. Especially in marketing, they had an advantage. So, even if I wasn't the target user in the first place, I thought it would be good if I became one."Yoshinori started to embody Moon's values, such as "experiment fast" and "stretch our comfort zone," one after another at Mitsui.&nbsp;"The moment I joined the Zipang Coin project, I turned all my assets into cryptocurrencies and started trading on my own. Since users are investors, I had to become an investor myself. By using my own money to trade, I gained a deeper understanding of certain aspects. This is why I know the value and weaknesses of our products better than anyone else, and I can confidently say I know how our product is seen in the market. I believe we are well known in the market, as investors tend to associate Zipang Coin with my face. This is because I actually practiced what I learned at Moon.”&nbsp;With the start of Zipang Coin's business, Yoshinori created and began managing a website and SNS account on his own. As a result, he was nominated for the "Person of the Year" by the Japan Blockchain Association, even though SNS operations and content marketing were tasks that he had hardly experienced before, even during his time at Moon.&nbsp;<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/tatsumi_image1_de7a33ea27.jpg" alt="tatsumi image1.jpg"><h3>Do it yourself</h3>"What I learned from Moon’s experts was the importance of doing things yourself instead of outsourcing everything. If you can handle it yourself, you can respond more flexibly and quickly, and it does not cost much nor require approval. You can create a website without writing code, and anyone can create an SNS account right away. I think it's better to release it to the world as soon as possible and observe people’s reactions."&nbsp;For Yoshinori, the use of websites and social media was one of the best ways to allow him to immediately gauge the market’s reaction without spending any money. When he was at Moon, he focused on research, so there were no products developed yet and what he could do was limited. He now acknowledges the value and power of actually creating something with his own hands."I have always kept my distance from social media, but I got to learn the importance of social media, especially in the investor community. Although my reach is limited, connecting with people in the community could lead me to supporters who have millions of followers. In some cases, third-party opinions have a greater impact on investment decisions than press releases. Trustworthy connections between individuals are crucial."Finally, Yoshinori reflected on his experiences at Moon and since returning to Mitsui."Through my experience at Moon, I met people from diverse backgrounds that I had never met before. Without meeting them, I don't think I would have been able to broaden my horizon. It would be ideal to share what I learned at Moon with Mitsui through my work, and as a result, the Moon value would be shared at Mitsui as well.”

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Moon Media launched in the summer of 2022 with a vision to tell inspiring stories of people and places that fall at the intersection of creativity and entrepreneurship within Japan. With the release of Moon Media’s first film, <a href="https://www.kamiyama.mooncreativelab.com/">“Kamiyama: The Little Town With Big Ideas”</a> coming this month, we talked to Moon Creative Lab’s Chief Creative Officer, <a href="https://www.mooncreativelab.com/our-leadership/mike-peng">Mike Peng</a>, to learn more about the vision of Moon Media and what’s to come.<figure class="media"><oembed url="https://vimeo.com/783114702"></oembed></figure><hr>If you’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting Mike and chatting with him for even just a few minutes, you know how much of a storyteller he is at heart. Ask him about where he’s traveled or the people he’s met along the way and you’ll see Mike light up with infectious enthusiasm, painting detailed memories so vividly, it’s as if you were there experiencing it all with him. It makes sense that Mike would be spearheading an entire division for Moon around storytelling through films.&nbsp;&nbsp;Congratulations on launching the first feature film for Moon Media! Where did the inspiration to start this division of Moon Creative Lab come from?&nbsp;Mike Peng: We have two main goals at Moon: 1) Help build and launch successful ventures for Mitsui &amp; Co., and 2) Help transform its workforce. The telling of stories has played a critical role in our ability to achieve both.&nbsp;In chatting with <a href="https://www.mooncreativelab.com/our-leadership/kaichi-yokoyama">Kaichi Yokoyama</a>, Moon’s CEO, and <a href="https://www.mooncreativelab.com/our-leadership/mary-ann-gallo">Mary Ann Gallo</a>, Moon’s CMO, I had expressed the desire to tell more evocative stories of creativity and entrepreneurship for Japan. My feeling was that if we can share more examples of how others are doing it (in a beautiful and compelling way), we would all get more inspired. And the more inspired we become, the better ability we have to help build and launch successful ventures and help transform the people we’re working with.&nbsp;But it wouldn’t have to stop there. We also felt that if successful, these stories could transcend beyond Mitsui and help inspire an even larger audience domestically and abroad. Thus, we set up Moon Media to explore this potential.&nbsp;&nbsp;How did you come to identify the story in Kamiyama as the first Moon Media story?&nbsp;I had noticed that a few of my close friends from Japan were visiting Kamiyama and posting amazing stories and images of the town. The name of the town was new to me, so I messaged all of them asking about their experience there. Each one of them told me how inspired they were by what the town was trying to achieve — using a creative and entrepreneurial mindset to tackle the growing issue of an aging population. I felt that this was a story that needed to be told and shared. So many countries, cities, and towns are all facing the same challenge. Could the story of Kamiyama help jumpstart the conversation and provide all of us new ideas on what we might be able to do? This made Kamiyama a perfect subject for the first Moon Media story.&nbsp;<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Moon_Media_Kamiyama_Film_8e3c0ce59d.jpeg" alt="Moon-Media-Kamiyama-Film">What type of stories are you looking to showcase on Moon Media going forward?&nbsp;For me, Moon Media stories should highlight people and places that sit at the intersection of entrepreneurship and creativity and Japan — the same intersection that makes up Moon Creative Lab.&nbsp;For entrepreneurship: Did the subject launch something from zero? Did they apply an entrepreneurial mindset to whatever it is they are creating? Was the chance of risk or failure high? Are there a lot of learnings to be shared along the journey?&nbsp;About creativity: Did the subject apply “out-of-the-box” thinking to create something new? Is the concept novel and innovative to the context at hand? Were the subjects inspired by something, somewhere, or someone that led them to this new concept?&nbsp;On Japan: Does the subject matter resonate with people in Japan? Are there elements of the story that reflect the values of Japanese culture (beyond stereotypes)? Does the subject offer ideas, perspectives, or philosophies that can help push Japan forward?&nbsp; &nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Moon_Media_Kamiyama_Mike_Peng_2bae65a2fb.jpeg" alt="Moon-Media-Kamiyama-Mike-Peng"><figcaption>CCO Mike Peng behind-the-scenes for the film Kamiyama</figcaption></figure>What all went into the making of this film? What does it take to create a captivating story?Like all great non-fiction storytelling, the goal is to achieve true authenticity. This means trying to capture the essence of what we saw, what we heard, and what we felt into an edited package of sound and visuals. You can imagine the hours of footage that we took during these multi-day shoots! How do you slim that down into a 10-15 minute film and still have it tell a clear and compelling story? That is where I suppose the magic really happens. Thankfully, we have an amazing film and editing crew that oozes magic from their pores!&nbsp;For our inaugural film on Kamiyama, we filmed for six days, had nearly 10 hours of footage, and spent approximately 82 hours of editing to get the film to the final length of 14 minutes.&nbsp;<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Kamiyama_Moon_Media_3be43baca6.jpeg" alt="Kamiyama-Moon-Media">How would you like to see storytelling evolve?&nbsp;As a designer, I’ve been trained to create and appreciate beautiful things, so I want to make sure each one of our films is beautiful in its own way. But for me, beauty is only one facet of storytelling that we want to achieve for Moon Media. My hope is for these films to be thought-provoking and elicit conversation. I don’t want people to just copy what’s been done by the subjects of the film, but I hope that it does provide inspiration and ideas for people to do&nbsp;something.&nbsp;I’ve even been thinking about creating a set of reflection questions as part of each film to help get the conversation started and get us all thinking in a more action-inducing way. Stay tuned!&nbsp; <img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Filming_Kamiyama_Moon_Media_e049abcd66.jpeg" alt="Filming-Kamiyama-Moon-Media">What can we look forward to in the coming months?&nbsp;Like with all “firsts,” there is so much pressure in getting it “perfect,” whatever that means! However, in the spirit of creativity and entrepreneurship, we tried to not overthink with this first film and to just “do.” In the coming months, we’re going to try and get as many people to watch our film and collect any thoughts and feedback people might have on the film (so please&nbsp;do send me any thoughts if you have them: moonmedia@mooncreativelab.com)!We are currently filming the second film (I’m so excited to share it with you all!) and will be heading into post-production in April. Our hope is to launch this next film some time in early May 2023, so be on the lookout!&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Moon_Media_team_bdd126e785.jpeg" alt="Moon-Media-team"><figcaption>Clockwise from Left to Right: Kaichi Yokoyama (Executive Producer), Masataka Namazu (Photography), Ted Ko (Co-Producer), Mike Peng (Executive Producer), Marco Lui (Director &amp; Writer), Kohei Watanabe (Director, Filming, Editing, Music), Akari Yagura (Filming)</figcaption></figure>Watch the full length film at:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kamiyama.mooncreativelab.com/">https://www.kamiyama.mooncreativelab.com/</a> and subscribe to our newsletter for updates regarding upcoming films from Moon Media!If you would like to get in touch with Mike and the Moon Media team directly, please contact: <a href="mailto:moonmedia@mooncreativelab.com">moonmedia@mooncreativelab.com</a><hr>Moon Media is a division of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mooncreativelab.com/">Moon Creative Lab Inc</a>., a venture studio that powers the creation of new businesses for Mitsui &amp; Co., Ltd. and beyond. Moon Media was created to help showcase inspiring stories of people and places that fall at the intersection of creativity x entrepreneurship within Japan. We know that many of these inspiring stories exist throughout Japan, but they are often difficult to find and hard to access. Our goal is to uncover these hidden gems so that we all can nourish our creative souls and begin turning inspiration into innovation.

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Mateus Rezende, Senior Design Lead at Moon Creative Lab, reports on a recent meetup event held in February 2023 in collaboration with&nbsp;<a href="http://canvas.co.com">Canvas Tokyo</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.figma.com/">Figma</a>. What can someone do in three minutes? What about in three hours? In early February this year, Moon was happy to host our first public event directed at the creative and entrepreneurial communities in Tokyo. The formula was simple. We had a three-hour gathering, where the entire Moon team and Entrepreneurs-in-Residence could commingle with other designers, artists, developers, and entrepreneurs who live and work around Tokyo. The core of the event was an open mic session where anyone could present their portfolio, their personal projects, or pitch their startup in three minutes on stage. This gave presenters the opportunity to quickly share their passion to the entire audience for further collaboration and gather potential feedback.&nbsp; &nbsp;<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/machi_event_4700c763cf.jpg" alt="machi event.jpg"> This event was organized in partnership with&nbsp;<a href="http://canvas.co.com/">Canvas Tokyo</a>, an online platform where creatives can share their work, create discussions on an online forum, and find work on their recently launched Jobs page. We also had support from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.figma.com/">Figma Japan</a>, a widely known tool for UX and UI design. While Canvas Tokyo invited their community of creatives to bring physical works to be displayed on a gallery wall during the event, Figma gifted swag to those who were brave enough to take the mic for three minutes on stage. On the opposite wall from the gallery with displayed artwork there was a six-meter wide projection screen with an online white-board powered by FigJam where creators could place the digital version of their artwork. This wall contained lots of different real-time interaction which created an even greater engagement and unforgettable experience for attendees! &nbsp;<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/PXL_20230203_113522584_2_4e996a721f.jpg" alt="PXL_20230203_113522584 2.jpg"> Overall, it was an evening full of great conversation, endless laughter, and networking opportunities. Everyone had an opportunity to talk and meet with someone new.&nbsp;The only moment there was&nbsp;silence was when the open mic session had started. We heard from one of our Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, Satoshi Yoshida, presenting his venture GORIL, and even&nbsp; professionals&nbsp;in the business world who are also artists. Using only one illustrated image and a microphone in hand, those who did choose to present inspired the crowd at the event. &nbsp;<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Event_photo_c6fc8854c6.jpg" alt="Event photo.jpg"> This Open Creative Night was the first public event that Moon hosted, in partnership with Canvas Tokyo and Figma, hosted. The intention is to make this event into an ongoing series of gatherings. Our goal is to create a space in the heart of Omotesando where creatives, entrepreneurs and all ofMoon can commingle, learn, become inspired, and connect with people old and new.&nbsp; Be sure to check out our <a href="https://www.mooncreativelab.com/ja/stories/page/1">Moon Stories</a> for upcoming events!&nbsp;Matheus Rezende Senior Design Lead&nbsp; <a href="mailto:mateus@mooncreativelab.com">mateus@mooncreativelab.com</a>

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Moon Creative Lab, Canvas Tokyo, Figma event 

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