[Koto Corporation] Human Resources Development Program Wins 2025 Good Design Award!
Goku Co., Ltd. Press release: October 15, 2025 Our human resource development program wins the 2025 Good Design Award! Fukushimagaku College, a program design and coaching initiative at KATAO Co., Ltd., has been selected for the 2025 Good Design Award. The “Fukushima Studies College Expression Course: A Program to Develop Human Resources for Diverse Disaster Relations,” uniquely designed and coached by Yuki Kikuchi of Koto Co., Ltd. (sponsored by the Kainuma Hiroshi Laboratory, Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, The University of Tokyo/commissioned research by the Fukushima International Research and Education Institute (F-REI)), has been awarded the 2025 Good Design Award (sponsored by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion). Through research and workshops set in Fukushima, a region that experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake and continues to face complex challenges, participants were highly praised for their process of engaging in careful dialogue with themselves, others, and the land.
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https://www.instagram.com/fukushima.gaku.college/ □ Product Overview: The Fukushima Studies College Expression Course is a creative learning environment for junior and senior high school students who want to reinterpret post-earthquake Fukushima as something that concerns them personally. Through diverse expressive activities and dialogue, young people can connect themselves with Fukushima and create and
disseminate new images and perspectives of the region, thereby contributing to the preservation of the memory of the earthquake disaster and the revitalization of the region. This social design aims to address the issue of fading memories of the earthquake disaster by taking an approach that goes beyond simply transmitting knowledge, but by rebuilding personal connections through expressive activities.
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https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/65866/4/65866-4-2026ec5985685c922982ad3e33b94a7a-2245×1587.jpg □ Evaluation Comments from the Good Design Award Jury More than 14 years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake. This program encourages junior and senior high school students who have grown up alongside that devastation to engage with the land of Fukushima, deeply considering their own past, present, and future, as well as their relationships with others, and connecting this to expression. The careful way the students confronted themselves and the process of sublimating this into words and expression was particularly
noteworthy, and I was deeply impressed by the flexibility of the words that emerged from the program. It is extremely encouraging that children in Fukushima, a place of experiences we must never forget, have acquired this ability to learn and express themselves. At the same time, it suggests that the accumulation of careful dialogue between oneself and others, and between oneself and the land, can provide universal and invaluable learning experiences for children living anywhere.
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/65866/4/65866-4-00f000309fe88886c96e996a924435ee-2245×1587.jpg □ Producer: Hiroshi Kainuma, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, The University of Tokyo □ Director: Yuki Kikuchi, Kado Co., Ltd. □ Designer: Yuki Kikuchi, Kado Co., Ltd. / Go Hashimoto, Le Project Co., Ltd. Takahiro Ando □ Introduction page on the Good Design Award website
https://www.g-mark.org/gallery/winners/28222
We are extremely pleased that our design, which creates an invaluable learning environment for young people across the country, has been highly praised. Encouraged by this award, Katsura Co., Ltd. will continue to improve its ability to communicate and be understood in all situations and strive to support problem-solving. ▼Press release here automatically, so please do not reply. Press release attachments