What Does a "Flourishing World" Look Like? - Event Report: Beyond 2030 in Osaka
Updated: 18h
On September 7, we held a Possible World session using physical cards in Shin-Osaka, Osaka — the latest in-person session following August's event in Fuchu, Tokyo.
Seventeen people with a wide range of backgrounds took part: first-time Possible World participants, people who had experienced the online discovery session, PW game hosts, 2030 SDGs Game facilitators, and returning participants from the Tokyo session.
1. Overview
Date: Monday, September 7, 2026
Location: Shin-Osaka, Yodogawa-ku, Osaka City, Osaka
Participants: 17
Format: In-person session using physical cards
2. What Does a "Flourishing World" Look Like?
With five different kinds of goals, and only limited time and resources, what do you choose, who do you engage with, and what kind of world do you build?
This time, two nine-minute rounds were played. Rather than resetting after the first round, the world carried forward into the second, with a reflection session in between.
At the end of round one, the world's "society" meter was low. That prompted calls of "let's make society better together," and in round two the whole world moved strongly in that direction. By the end, the economy, environment, and society meters were all in a flourishing state.
But not everyone in that world felt they had "flourished."
Some felt their own goal had been left behind in the push to improve things for everyone.
Some felt their voice hadn't been fully heard.
Others wanted to help those people but couldn't.
If the world's numbers improve, is that really a "flourishing world" for everyone?
That question rose up out of the experience.
3. Participants' Voices
During the reflection, feelings that hadn't surfaced during the game itself — discomfort, unease — slowly found words:
what someone had really felt in the moment,
what they had actually wanted,
how things had looked from where they stood.
The same event looked completely different depending on where you stood.
So many voices came up that the group chose not to move on to a third round, instead spending the time talking through those questions and discomforts in depth.
It felt good to experience, in a different form, what it's like to be left behind in the world. Divisions showed up too, and it was a good, serious time engaging with the game
People flow toward the louder voices. We have to listen to the voiceless voices.
I felt that when your own perspective and actions change, the results change, and relationships change too
I thought it was just a game... but I was struck by how much it resembled the real world.
4. Exploring Possibility in a World With No Right Answer
Wanting to improve the world as a whole, and wanting to hold onto your own goal — neither is simply "the right answer."
In a world with no correct answer, what do you feel, what do you choose, how do you act — and how do you listen to voices different from your own?
Rather than leaving the discomfort that arose while building the world unaddressed, participants put into words how the world had looked from each of their positions — and in doing so, new questions emerged.
What does a "flourishing world" look like?
Rather than settling on an answer, each person carried the question home with them. That's the kind of Possible World this turned out to be.
Thank you to everyone who took part.
5. Upcoming Events
As of this writing, the next event/session has not yet been decided. You can check upcoming events/sessions at the link below.
P-Lab is also listening to requests from everyone along the lines of "I'd love an event like this!" If there's something you really want to experience, please get in touch via this form.
