Okayama Prefecture
Nishiawakura Village
The essence of humanity was shaped by empathy. The vision of the future of Satoyama is starting to take shape.【Seminar on Mutualistic Relationship between Humans and Nature – Episode 1】
Date : 2025.02.04
(This article is a translated version of an article originally published in December 2023.
日本語版 https://throughme.jp/mirainosatoyama-kenkyukai1/ )
In the spring of 2023, when A0 Group was established, Representative Director and CEO, Daisuke Maki, declared, “We want to create the Satoyama* of the future.”
*Satoyama refers to a traditional Japanese rural landscape that harmonises human activity with nature.
To build this vision with everyone, the “Satoyama Research Society for the Future” was created in the fall of 2023. Designed as an internal training program of the A0 GROUP, it provided an opportunity for colleagues to come together, think, and learn from one another.
The first guest is Juichi Yamagiwa, a leading expert in gorilla research, former president of Kyoto University, and currently the Chief Director of the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature.
To build this vision with everyone, the “Seminar on Mutualistic Relationship between Humans and Nature” was created in the fall of 2023. Designed as an internal training program of the A0 Group, it provided an opportunity for colleagues to come together, think, and learn from one another.
The first guest is Juichi Yamagiwa, a leading expert in gorilla research, former president of Kyoto University, and currently the Chief Director of the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature.
Dr. Yamagiwa explains that the reason he chose to study gorillas was that he “wanted to take a step back from humanity and observe it from a different perspective.” He initially pursued primatology and later specialized in gorilla research.
In his talk, Dr. Yamagiwa shared insights about humanity and the future of Satoyama, inspiring our thinking about the future. Let’s explore these ideas together.
⚫️Profile of Juichi Yamagiwa
Juichi Yamagiwa |
Director-General of RIHN, is a world-renowned researcher and expert in the study of primatology and human evolution. Awarded Doctor of Science from Kyoto University in 1987. After holding positions at the Karisoke Research Center, Japan Monkey Center, and Primate Research Institute Kyoto University, he has been Professor of Graduate School of Science at Kyoto University since 2002-14, Dean of Graduate School and Faculty of Science, 2011-13, 26th President of Kyoto University, 2014-20. He also served as President of International Primatological Society, 2008-12, as Editor in Chief of Primates, a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal of primatology published by Springer, 2010-2014. Domestically, he served as President of Japan Association of National Universities, 2017-19, the president of Science Council of Japan, 2017-20 and the member of Environmental Policy Committee of Ministry of Environment, 2002-22. He is now serving as Chairman of International Center of Kyoto Prefecture, Chairman of Kyoto Art Center, and Senior Advisor of Osaka Kansai EXPO 2025. His passion for fieldwork research frequently made him travel to some countries of Africa, where he discovered an abundance of new findings related to gorillas, through his unique viewpoint of human evolution. |
Experiences that resonate the body build a credit society.
At the beginning, Maki gave a few words of greeting.
As the world becomes more convenient with the emergence of AI, we are experiencing a loss of physical senses, making it challenging to stay as human itself. What is human in the first place? In this age, the answer to this question is becoming increasingly vague. That is why I wanted to pause for a moment and rethink the meaning of being a human at this time.
If there is a world where contradictions are overcome, and harmony is created, perhaps it lies in the future of Satoyama, rooted in local communities. I wanted to explore the future of Satoyama by starting with the question, “What does it mean to be human?” Let’s contemplate ourselves through questions like, “How should people live nowadays?” “How can we increase happiness?”. Thank you very much for your time, Dr. Yamagiwa.
Dr. Yamagiwa talked about “language” as an essential aspect of “humanity” in the lecture.
The human brain is three times bigger than the brain of gorillas. Only humans can speak a language. It is often assumed that our large brains have developed due to intelligence shaped by language. However, research suggests that may not be the case. Two million years ago, the size of the human brain began to increase, but language had not yet developed.
In fact, there is a positive correlation between the encephalisation of primates and the expansion of social group size. There is data estimating the brain size from fossils and reconstructing the social group sizes of that time. Groups that once consisted of 10 to 20 individuals expanded to about 30 to 50 individuals around two million years ago. A group of 30 to 50 individuals is a size where everyone can be familiar with each other’s faces and personalities. That’s just like a school class. Religious groups and teams inside companies also tend to follow this size.
Then, about 500,000 years ago, the social group size increased to around 100 to 150 people. As the number of companions increased, it became more advantageous for survival to remember the relationships and social connections among them. This is why it is believed that the brain grew larger. A group of 100 to 150 people is a size where faces and names can be recognized, and trust can be maintained among members. It is the upper limit of the number of companions with whom one can share emotions—joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure—and physically resonate. Even today, the human mind and body are adapted to living in societies of around 150 people. I believe that the ideal size of a single community should be around this number.
Resonating physically means engaging in activities like playing sports together, singing music as a group, or participating in volunteer work. These shared experiences build social capital and create a trust-based society. The brain reached its modern size about 400,000 years ago. Language emerged later, around 70,000 to 100,000 years ago. This means that language did not play a role in increasing the social group size.
The future of Satoyama will be in the gateway of the “parallel world” and the “in-between world”.
Humans developed cooperative childcare to support their long weaning period and adolescence, leading to the formation of families. These families then came together to create communities, which still form the foundation of society today. Gorillas form only family-based groups, while chimpanzees have communities without families. Great apes can have either, but not both. To balance both family and community, humans needed a high level of empathy. This balance led to the emergence of the uniquely human spirit—one that values and serves the community, even at the cost of self-sacrifice.
What played a crucial role at that time was music. Since mothers couldn’t hold their heavy babies all the time, they had to entrust them to someone else or place them somewhere. This led to the creation of lullabies. In this way, childcare enhanced musical abilities. I believe that one essential aspect of being human is musical communication—something that existed even before language.
I believe that it started with face-to-face negotiations, developed musical communication, and a theory of mind to read the intentions of others, which led to the creation of language. On top of that, language has brought us a great deal. We can show people things they cannot see, we can tell them things they did not experience, and we can even create stories from our imagination. But considering that language is a very recent phenomenon in human history, I believe that empathy through physical resonance is what makes us human.
Today, the world feels stagnant, and culture has become stateless under the influence of GAFA and other global forces. Society has shifted from one based on trust to one based on contracts. Credit cards, for example, are symbols of a contract-based society. While language has played a role in connecting different cultures, it alone cannot expand social capital or build deep trust. Perhaps fostering sharing and commons-based systems, driven by empathy, would lead to a greater sense of happiness. I believe this will become increasingly important in the future.
The discussion shifted to the question: What is the future of Satoyama? Based on two key concepts, we explored possible visions of the future Satoyama.
One key concept is that the future of Satoyama will be a gateway to a “parallel world.” Even before humans developed language, parallel worlds existed in their imagination. Humans have the unique ability to envision unknown realms—something other animals cannot do.
Satoyama, deeply rooted in nature, serves as a corridor between the civilised world and the natural world. When we create corridors to parallel worlds, people begin to perceive that they can move between them. Traditional events like Obon and Ohigan are classic examples of this connection.
The other key concept is that the future Satoyama will be a gateway to the “in-between world”. Satoyama exists between the everyday world of ke—the ordinary, routine life—and the extraordinary world of hare—a world beyond everyday norms. It is a space where people can step beyond their usual perspectives. For example, in a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, Satoyama serves as the in-between world where humans encounter forest-dwelling creatures. It allows people to stand in both worlds, bridging civilisation and nature, humans and non-humans, the known and the unknown.
A world that is both and neither at the same time is essential for life. Satoyama is a place where we can reexamine human nature from both the perspectives of nature and culture. This is my tentative answer. Culture is not just something external, it is an embedded value system within the human body. The essence of value itself cannot be fully digitized or reduced to information. It is also deeply interconnected with the diversity of nature.
From ownership to action. Wouldn’t that be enough to turn society upside down?
At this stage, Akihito Kunimi joins as the facilitator, leading into a discussion session with Maki and Dr. Yamagiwa.
⚫️Profile of Akihito Kunimi
Akihito Kunimi |
Born in Kochi Prefecture in 1972. Akihito Kunimi is a creative director and business strategist. In 1996, he joined Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank (currently Mizuho Bank). After working at Asatsu-DK (currently ADK Holdings), he joined Dentsu in 2004. In 2010, they established the “Future Creation Group,” a creative unit within the company for management and business transformation. This group was expanded into “Dentsu Business Design Square” in 2017. In 2018, they assumed the position of Executive Professional (executive officer treatment). In 2020, they left Dentsu and founded “2100” with six colleagues. Their main clients include Daicel, Panasonic Energy, Snow Peak, and others. |
Kunimi:
How should we live as human beings? I hope we can have a discussion that seems to have an answer but doesn’t. First, I’d like to ask about musical connections. How have people connected with one another throughout history? I wonder if we may have relied too much on language. What exactly is a musical connection?
Yamagiwa:
The state where 30 people sit still facing forward is something unique to humans—no other species does that. Humans synchronize their bodies as they attune to one another. Unlike humans, monkeys cannot copy the actions of other monkeys. In fact, “monkey see, monkey do” is something only humans are capable of. Humans first resonate physically, aligning their bodies before their minds connect. If we rely too much on language, synchronization happens at a conscious level, but originally, it is the body that comes first.
Music is a wave, so being able to ride it means syncing with it. In dance or Bon Odori, synchronizing with others is essentially entrusting your body to the group. I believe humans started doing this when they first stood on two legs. This ability to resonate with others gradually developed over a long period of time, eventually leading to what we now call music.
Kunimi:
When we think about satoyama, it feels like connections today exist only through information.
Yamagiwa:
I see satoyama as a corridor that connects us to nature—it’s a form of conversation with the natural world. In Africa, hunter-gatherers can sense the presence of living beings. They gain awareness from the land’s climate and environment every day. When the forest bears fruit, they naturally imagine how to cook and prepare it for a delicious meal. Their lives are deeply intertwined with nature, and traditions are embedded in their very bodies.
If we have Satoyama, we don’t need to enter the harsh wilderness to receive messages from nature. Instead, through our ability to sense signs, we can still receive nature’s messages.
Kunimi:
You also mentioned that today’s world has become a society based on contracts. Up until now, ownership has been considered something good, but I think many people are now starting to reflect, asking, “Was that really the right way?” How should ownership evolve moving forward?
Restoring the value of products to the personal realm and rebuilding relationships of trust.
Maki:
When it comes to ownership and settlement, our work often aligns with the common perspective of “how to increase the number of people settling in a region.” However, now that we have technologies that can help us reclaim a more authentic way of being human, our approach to the idea of “relationship-based populations” might be somewhat superficial.
If we remove that premise, we find a model where ownership is absent, yet recognition remains. Instead of settling in one place, we embrace movement. Both I and my staff once held an unspoken assumption that we had to be physically present at the company. But now, we are transitioning toward a more nomadic way of working. I feel that this shift holds the key to the future.
In such a society, we need to rethink the concept of “relationship-based populations,” what it truly means to be human, and the kind of future we should be creating. What kinds of services or systems would be valuable in this new context? I feel like we are now receiving hints that help us return to the fundamentals and rebuild from there.
What is your perspective on “relationship-based populations,” Professor?
Yamagiwa:
I once heard an interesting story about this from a former student. He works for an eco-tourism company in the Southern Alps, about an hour and a half from Tokyo. During the COVID-19 pandemic, workations became popular, and many people started visiting the area. Since there were tents available, visitors only needed to bring their laptops and clothes. As more people came, a coffee shop opened in town, a liquor store began thriving, and young people started settling there.
In the past, people used to say, “Rural depopulation happens because there are no jobs, so we need to attract factories.” However, if we instead create places and opportunities for people to gather, young people will bring in new ideas, leading to innovation and potentially new businesses. Without people coming together, nothing can happen. That’s why we need facilitators to support this kind of process. I believe Furusato Nozei (hometown tax donations) should be used for initiatives like this.
Another key point is that ownership exists because objects are assigned value—value that individuals cannot create on their own. In a market-driven world, people define their own worth based on the value of the things they own. But if we reduce our emphasis on ownership, we can create value ourselves. Instead of living in a world where the market dictates value, we can decide what is valuable and even shape our own markets. What we need is to reclaim the standards and value of products within the personal realm and rebuild relationships of trust.
For example, I personally pay a few thousand yen each month to a local fisherman in the Seto Inland Sea. In return, he selects and sends me seafood that he thinks I would enjoy. He provides something that matches the investment, and through this exchange, a bond of trust is formed. Objects connect people, and relationships grow from there. Perhaps we should rethink the market as a network of human relationships built through the exchange of goods.
Maki:
This idea—that the local community should take the lead in creating mutually beneficial relationships—is something we should take to heart. From this perspective, I’d like to rethink how we approach Furusato Nozei (hometown tax donations) and corporate training programs.
Yamagiwa:
I believe that facilitating connections between producers and consumers—creating spaces for meaningful encounters—can become a new kind of business. The popularity of crowdfunding is a great example of this. If businesses emerge that focus on fostering human relationships, I think we’ll see entirely new business models take shape.
Focus on the process and create a business that offers a “one-of-a-kind personal experience.”
After the discussion, participants shared the most memorable points with the person next to them for about five minutes. During the subsequent Q&A session, the following exchanges took place.
Kōzuka:
My name is Shin Kōzuka, and I run a beekeeping business in Nishi-Awakura Village. We operate a honey brand with the mission of “restoring the lost connection between nature and people.” Looking toward the future from the present, we believe that in order to create a society where humans and nature can move forward together, it is essential to “shift human perception— which has become too immersed in the virtual world—back toward more tangible experiences and sensations.” However, many people today, whose senses are already oriented toward the virtual, do not find “experience” compelling, even when it is presented to them as important.
We see great potential in storytelling and aim to convey the “mystery and wonder of nature” through fiction, much like picture books or novels. To achieve this, we take an approach where every product we offer is delivered to customers along with a story. I would love to hear Mr. Yamagiri’s thoughts—do you have any hypotheses on effective ways to guide people toward this kind of experiential engagement?
Yamagiwa:
Humans have halted time in order to build civilisation. The rise of virtual experiences is a result of a results-oriented mindset. Whether in education or business, everything has become about outcomes. Nowadays, people prefer to fast-forward videos or skip the intros of songs. But we need to reclaim that time. The more time we invest, the better and more enjoyable things become. There was a time when “slow living” was trendy, but I believe we need to go even further in creating a world that values the process.
It’s not about stopping time but rather utilising it effectively. Experiences that cannot be fully captured by words are truly one-of-a-kind. Natural phenomena are sustained by time itself. Instead of everyone having the same experience, people should be able to have unique, personal experiences. We need to establish a norm where people understand that investing time is essential to creating something truly unique. Turning this idea into a business could be a powerful approach.
It’s not just meaningful for you but also for the people on-site. Encouraging the idea that unprecedented experiences can emerge and special things can happen is crucial. Facing something deeply requires time. Taking time is a good thing—work was originally meant to be an enjoyable way to spend time. We need to rethink the nature of work itself. If we don’t shift toward valuing the process, I don’t think we can achieve true happiness.
Kunimi:
I’ve been doing branding for Snow Peak for ten years, and I believe convenience is essentially the act of eliminating processes. At the same time, it also removes emotional depth. The reason why camping is so popular now is that people actually want to embrace inconvenience. They are deliberately seeking out the act of engaging in a process. In that sense, A0 Group is a company that fully embraces the so-called “hassle” of things, isn’t it?
Maki:
In the company, there have been times when people have raised the opinion that something might be unreasonable simply because it’s a hassle. For example, with “Mori no Unagi” (Forest Eel), we go through the trouble of bringing in wood scraps to use as fuel to maintain the water temperature for raising eels. It doesn’t significantly reduce the cost of kerosene, so it may seem irrational, but it’s precisely because we continue doing this that we have customers. I feel like sharing this story while experiencing it physically creates a sense of camaraderie.
Yasutake Atsuta, a master beekeeper and trap hunter, is also skilled at river fishing. Going to the river with him is always fun. Even if we don’t catch any fish, we can still enjoy saying things like, “Well, we didn’t catch anything after all!” In an age that has become overly convenient and has lost the process, I think it’s important to share the joy found in seemingly irrational activities. Satoyama may also be irrational, but I believe that’s precisely where their meaning lies.
Is the Mass Consumption Society Really Using Profits for Humanity?
Yamagiwa:
The essence of humanity is built on empathy, and the reason we developed our ability to empathize is rooted in child-rearing and sharing meals. The common factor between these two is “spending time together.” While we have been striving for individual freedom, the truth is that spending time together is what brings us joy. Even if the time spent isn’t necessarily productive, it is still enjoyable and fulfilling. Eating together is much more fun than eating alone. Social interactions shouldn’t be something we try to get through as quickly as possible. If we rethink our way of living with this perspective in mind, we can design a system that values “spending time together” and allocates money accordingly. I believe that would be a solution.
Kunimi:
Up until now, the goal has been to make people “want to buy” and “feel the need to purchase,” but shifting the goal toward making people “want to be together” seems like a great idea.
Yamagiwa:
When businesses are pressured to sell large quantities of products, they tend to ignore conversations with their customers. Ideally, the price of an item should reflect how it was made, the effort involved, and the value of that labor. However, in today’s mass consumption society, I question whether profits are truly being used for the benefit of humanity. Products were originally meant to create connections between people, but instead, the system is pushing individuals further apart. I believe this system needs to change.
Kunimi:
I think parallel worlds are key to unlocking human potential.
Yamagiwa:
Humans thrive on encounters and realisations. Without new insights, we cannot live meaningfully, and to gain those insights, we must meet others. Because we can move freely and gather together, we are able to experience new encounters. What fosters these realisations is trust. We should aim to build our communities and world based on this idea. We must not turn inward.
Kunimi:
I feel like I’ve caught a glimpse of something important. Maki, what do you think?
Maki:
I feel like I’ve been given the opportunity to stand at the entrance of a new perspective.
Finally, Yamagiwa shared his concluding thoughts:
Yamagiwa:
Today’s discussion felt like a conversation about transforming Japanese society into a kind of Satoyama. Modern society is fixated on binary outcomes and results, but by incorporating “gaps” and “spaces” into our way of living—finding joy in socialising and movement—we can create a sense of happiness. We can establish “Satoyama” spaces not just between cities and rural areas, but also between large corporations and small businesses. I believe we can develop a social perspective that values these in-between spaces.
Thank you very much.
What did you think of Yamagiwa’s various proposals? Take a moment to reflect on what “the future of Satoyama” means to you.
In February 2024, we will be hosting an online event to look back on this discussion (details below). Let’s share our visions of “the future of Satoyama!”
▼Keywords Mentioned During the Event
・ Human minds and bodies are still adapted to societies of around 150 people; therefore, the ideal community size should be about 150 people. |
・Perhaps humans derive a sense of happiness from sharing and the commons. This will become increasingly important in the future. |
・The satoyama (harmonious rural landscapes) of the future will serve as gateways to “parallel worlds” and “intermediate spaces.” |
・Satoyama is a place where we can reexamine the essence of humanity through both nature and culture. |
・Shift recognition from ownership to actions. |
・If we create places and opportunities for people to gather, young people will generate ideas, leading to new creations and possibly new businesses. |
・Objects connect people, fostering relationships of trust. Shouldn’t we return markets to being about human relationships through goods? |
・Originally, labor was meant to be an enjoyable use of time. We must transform the nature of labor and prioritize the process to achieve true happiness. |
・Sharing the joy found within irrationality is essential. Satoyama may seem irrational, but therein lies its value. |
・What brings about awareness is trust. We should build our communities and the world in this way. |
The event was also recorded on video. Please have a look.
Trailer
・Part 1: Dr. Yamagiwa’s Presentation
・Part 2: Discussion