When my 17-year-old on beginner plates asked to drive 50 kilometres alone, I hesitated, fearing I would pluck her "bud of possibility." Instead of arguing, we asked, "How can we make this happen while caring for both our feelings?" The ensuing silence sparked a deep dialogue achieving HARAOCHI. This article explores how shifting from "cannot" to "how can we" fosters true co-creation.

Participants from five countries connected online to simulate a "possible world" under uncertainty. This post explores how personal habits, structural wealth gaps, and the "Green Snowball" effect — born from collective dialogue — can radically transform our future.

Shift from 'give and take' to 'offer and receive'. A reflection on a transformative workshop that challenges our mental frames and explores how unconditional kindness can create a sustainable, harmonious world.

In a society obsessed with efficiency, we often divide tasks so strictly that we divide people. During a 4-day off-grid family camp, I witnessed the beauty of leaving things undefined. Away from digital noise, we navigated nature's ambiguity—where textbook "white and black" rules don't work. By sharing rich "Yohaku" (empty space), we could sense each other's presence and act autonomously yet as an organically connected whole. Any world is up to our mindset and action.

As a decade-long global project concludes, I am experiencing the stark contrast between the fast-paced, low-context logic of English and the profound, high-context Japanese concept of "Ma" (the interval). In a world driven by efficiency, placing a quiet "Yohaku" (white space) into dialogues is never a step back. It is a highly creative strategy. Join me to explore the rich synergy formed when we weave diverse perspectives. Because ultimately, any world is wholly up to our own

There are dialogues where we do not need to make ‘understanding one another’ the goal. Beyond the binary of preserving one’s centre versus opening to the world, the two are, in truth, the front and back of a single life. Letting go of Cartesian division and guided by the Japanese heart, we drop beneath the logic of the head to recall the ‘connection before the division’ in our hara. A supple way of being for the era ahead.

What is the value of "blank space" (Yohaku) that tends to be overlooked in today’s busy world? Looking back on the process of our intensive residential training programme for a small group of four in Sydney. It is a record of reflection by a practitioner who realised she had been letting external circumstances cloud her commitment. By drastically shifting the way the programme was offered, miraculous connections with multinational participants and a precious companion began t

Do not let a lack of funds become a lack of possibility." This is one of our core beliefs at P-Lab. When a university medical school in Scandinavia faced a budget wall for their pilot session, we decided to give them a gentle push on the back. Why? Because imagining this becoming the "first drop" of their transformation is purely fun. How will this seed of possibility grow and ripple outwards? I am sure it will unfold into something fascinating. I believe so.

Any professional who designs experiences and hosts spaces knows the immense energy poured into that design. We stand in the participants' shoes and simulate every possible ripple: "Will this one word deepen the experience, or will it cause them to stay at the surface?" We weave potential troubles into the scenario as foreshadowing, meticulously considering and repeatedly imagining systems to address them beforehand. This cycle—designing and then imagining—is the essential pra

Real transformation happens when "Must" turns into "Playfulness." In 2015, the UN gave us a map to transform the world (SDGs), but missed the bridge to our "Personal Why." Ten years on from the birth of the 2030 SDGs Game, P-Lab is bridging this gap with Possible World. By fusing simulation technology with the Zen spirit of Furyu Monji, we explore how shifting from duty to possibility can change everything.