Without the economic incentives to grow rice, without a predictable harvest season, without the youth pursuing careers in agriculture, the future of rice in Japan is looking rather grim. For the last three years, Maimee Rice Commons have been rehabilitating abandoned rice paddies to experiment with alternative forms of “value” creation. Come listen in if you're interested in how design futures and strategic foresight can empower communities at the local level.

Kenta Kondo is a hands-on design futurist at JITABATA studio. Combining strategic foresight, design, and mechanical engineering, he creates fictional, yet functional, future narratives for public discourse. Prior to JITABATA studio, Kenta worked for IDEO Tokyo as a Senior Design Engineer where he designed future services, business strategy, and go-to-market products for multiple industries including mobility, robotics, furniture, energy, and healthcare. He currently lives in an experimental ecovillage where he splits his time between designing daydreams and rice-farming.