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JAPAN+D

Transforming Japan's Administration with the Power of Design

More creative, more playful ideas.
More citizen-friendly policies.
We are transforming our future by incorporating a design approach into Japan's administration.
The JAPAN+D Project has begun.

Design is the Act of Empathizing with People

What do you think of when you hear the word “design?” In Japan, many people think design means nothing more than arranging colors and shapes. However, this is only one small part of what design means. Globally, business and education, public policy, all aspects of society are considered to be the fields of design.
Empathizing with people’s feelings is most important. Solving problems that impact people deeply, and creating opportunities and happiness. This is the true role of design.
Our Goal is To Create Thoughtful Policies

We, the members of JAPAN+D, believe that we can do better and do more in the processes of creating and delivering public policies that we are involved in every day. Can we solve problems by working more closely with individuals and businesses by addressing their essential needs? Observing and experimenting from the perspective of people who are served by policy, rather than the people who create policy. Involving the people and companies who use policy along with experts from a variety of fields. Gathering the wisdom from our partner's and working together to create new solutions. Using this design approach, we will create citizen-friendly policies.
Learning from Countries with Specialized Teams

Many countries overseas are already working to embed a design approach in the policy process. JAPAN+D reached out to the U.K., Denmark, Sweden, Singapore, and Chile to learn more from those leading the way. These countries have set up specialized organizations and are creating various policies to solve the issues of citizens and businesses alike. By learning from their efforts, we aim to create a design organization that can bring to life a uniquely Japanese approach to policy design.
Expand Our Circle and Take Action

JAPAN+D has taken on the challenge of developing new policies with a design approach. Our mission is to realize citizen-friendly policies. By creating policies that better solve problems for both people and businesses, we aim to make Japan into an ever better country. The most important thing to make this happen: partners. To achieve our mission, we have to work together with our like-minded colleagues in ministries and local authorities, along with companies and designers, to create an open and unilateral community.

Download

Please download and read the research reports performed by the JAPAN +D team.

What is JAPAN+D?

A team of government officials in their 20s and 30s volunteered their time to spread a design approach throughout the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Working with other ministries and design firms, they launched the JAPAN+D Project in March of 2022. The team plans to expand and accept members outside of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry as well. Our mission (the kind of society we aspire for) and values (our action guidelines) can be found below.

Mission

To incorporate a design approach into Japan's administration to realize citizen-friendly, more thoughtful government policy.

Values

Explore: We expand beyond conventional frames and explore issues from a future-oriented perspective

Question: We formulate essential questions through in-depth user research

Co-create: We respect diverse values to co-create with our colleagues and partners

Improve: We proactively challenge new improvements, even when the issues cross ministry boundaries

Implement: We create and deliver policies that empathize with each citizen

Project Member

Yuji Iida

#workstylereform #teaming
Waka Itagaki

#socialinnovation #DX #global #mirasapoplus
Saki Uchida

#hiringandorganizationaldevelopment #empoweringwomen #globa #bridgingpublicandprivate
Tatsuro Utsugi

#value #valuedesign #rerenaissancesociety #startingfromme #humanity
Fumiaki Ebihara

#sky #humantalent #artstudents
Takuya Kikuchi

#design #art #humantalent #intellectualproperty #interdisciplinary
Kyuichiro Sano

#digital #operationalreform #web3.0 #innovation #DJ #ILoveToyama
Kenjiro Taniguchi

#policydesign #policyinnovation #cocreation
Hirokazu Tsuda

#satsumahayato #nudge #behavioralscience #EBPM
Arisa Toujou

#newperspective #promotingexcitement #smallbusiness
Yuka Hirayama

#design #happy #human #diversity
Shingo Nakano

#operationalreform #solvingsocialproblems #policycreationbreakthrough
Atsuko Nishigaki

#design #diversity #intellectualproperty #worklifebalance
Kazuki Numamoto

#design #innovation #airmobility #education #organdpersonality
Naoki Hashimoto

#design #intellectualproperty #socialinnovation #cooljapan
Dai Habata

#design #local #expo #camp
Hiroshi Harakawa

#productdesign #designrights #policydesign #artstudents
Takashi Harada

#design #intellectualproperty
Aya Hanzawa

#design #artstudents #global
Eriko Hanntani

#design #fukuoka #regional #researchanddevelopment #diversity
Daisuke Hirota

#agilepolicycreation? #designingpolicyresearch #reiwakiheitai
Ryosei Mizuguchi

#design #artstudents #publicrelations #scienceandtechnology #worldexpo #startup
Yudai Yanagi

#workwithexcitement #intellectualproperty
Yasuhiro Yoshikawa

#circulareconomy #reiwa #energyconservation #smallbusinesswhitepaper
Hiroki Yoshida

#govtech #architecture #servicedesign
Ryo Watanabe

#operationalreform #internationalcooperation #smallbusiness

Community

Takashi Asanuma

#contributor #digitalagency #design #digital
Shunsuke Ishikawa

#partner #KESIKI #design #innovation
Fumiko Ichikawa

#contributor #RE:PUBLIC #design-research #local
Masahiro Kunieda

#partner #KESIKI #design #meaningfulness
Takao Kunori

#partner #KESIKI #design #narrative
Sean McKelvey

#partner #KESIKI #design #human-centered
Kinya Tagawa

#contributor #Takram #design #engineering
Chika Masuda

#partner #AIS #design #research

Our Actions

We challenge ourselves to introduce design approach methods into the policy-making process to realize thoughtful policies

We accumulate, disseminate, and share the knowledge and experience gained through practice throughout our organization

To promote the introduction of a design approach into policy, we will establish a cross-sectional organization by recruiting motivated members within the Ministry.

We will appoint external design personnel to the Ministry who can engage in dialogue, and help introduce a design approach into policy making

We will introduce educational programs to cultivate government officials who can empathize with diverse perspectives and understand how to implement a design approach into policy-making and policy-delivery processes

We will formulate and expand a community of designers, companies, local governments, and ministries interested in introducing design approaches into government, and create new Japanese policy-making and policy-delivery processes

We will build relationships with overseas governments and institutions involved in policy design to share knowledge and experience with these organizations from around the world that are taking on the challenge of policy design

SNS

Updates on the Japan+D project will be shared via the link below.

JAPAN+D

Transforming Japan's Administration with the Power of Design

Design is the Act of Empathizing with People

Our Goal is To Create Thoughtful Policies

Learning from Countries with Specialized Teams

Expand Our Circle and Take Action

Download

What is JAPAN+D?

Mission

Values

Project Member

Community

Our Actions

Policy Making

Introducing New Policy-Making Processes

Accumulating and Sharing Knowledge

Organization Building

Establishing a Policy Design Implementation Team

Appointing External Personnel to Support the Introduction of Design

Implementing Policy Design Education

Building a Network

Making Partnerships Domestically

Making Partnerships Overseas

SNS