-SEEDS Conference 2026 Speaker & Performer-

ISHIGURO Hiroshi

Intelligent Robot Researcher and scholar

Professor, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University

Hiroshi Ishiguro received a Ph. D. from Osaka University, Japan in 1991. He is currently Professor of Department of Systems Innovation at Osaka University, Visiting Director of Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute (ATR), Project Manager of MOONSHOT R&D Project, Thematic Project Producer of EXPO 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, and CEO of AVITA, Inc. His research interests are interactive robotics, avatar, and android science. Geminoid is an avatar android that is a copy of himself. In 2011, he won the Osaka Cultural Award. In 2015, he received the Prize for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. He was also awarded the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Award in Dubai in 2015. Tateisi Award in 2020, and honorary doctorate of Aarhus university in 2021.

OHI Toshio

Chozaemon Ohi XI

Member of the Japan Art Academy・Artist

Born in 1958 in Kanazawa as the eldest son of the 10th generation Ōhi Chōzaemon of the Ōhi Kiln, which has continued for 360 years in Kanazawa (recipient of the Order of Culture and member of the Japan Art Academy). In 1984, he completed a master's course at Boston University. In 2016, he succeeded as the 11th generation Ōhi Chōzaemon.

His works are held in many museums and public institutions, including the British Museum (UK), the County Museum of Art (USA), the Shanghai Arts and Crafts Museum (China), and the Augarten Porcelain Museum (Austria). In recent years, he has held solo exhibitions, lectures, tea ceremonies, and workshops in the US, Brazil, Hungary, Austria, and other countries as a dispatch by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, promoting Japanese culture both domestically and internationally, and was awarded the Foreign Minister's Commendation in 2024. He has served as a visiting professor at Rochester Institute of Technology (USA), Shanghai Institute of Arts and Crafts (China), National Tainan University of the Arts (Taiwan), Kanazawa University, and other institutions in numerous countries.

He has been awarded the Hungarian National Order, the Onshi Prize, and the Japan Art Academy Prize, and has been honored with invitations to Imperial tea ceremonies and garden parties hosted by the Emperor. Recently, he has also become a Cultural and Tourism Ambassador for Ishikawa Prefecture and a director of Nitten.

2017–2021Advisory Member to the Commissioner for Cultural Affairs, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan. He was appointed as Member of the Japan Art Academy in 2025.

OHI TOSHIO CHOZAEMON XI URL: http://www.ohimuseum.com

TAKEDA Shutaro

Director & Associate Professor, Fusion Industry Research Center, Keio University

Co-Founder & Chief Strategist, Kyoto Fusioneering Ltd.

Knight of Magistral Grace, The Sovereign Military Order of Malta

Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Media Design, Keio University; Co-founder of Kyoto Fusioneering Ltd.; Knight of Magistral Grace of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

A rising scholar in sustainability studies with a diverse background in public service, including experience with the United Nations, the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV), and the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF).

In 2019, Prof. Takeda co-founded Kyoto Fusioneering, Japan’s first startup specializing in fusion energy. Through raising over 100 milliion USD in funding, the company has expanded into a global enterprise with more than 150 employees across five countries.

He holds a Bachelor's degree in Engineering from Kyoto University, a Master's degree from Harvard University, and a Doctorate from Kyoto University.

He has received numerous honors, including the Early Career Award from the Institute of Physics (IOP) in the United Kingdom. In June 2022, he was invested as a Knight of Magistral Grace of the Order of Malta — the first Japanese national to receive this honor in 90 years.

NUMATA Keiji

Professor, Lab for Biomaterial Chemistry, Chair in Polymer Material Chemistry,

Department of Material Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering，Kyoto University

Keiji Numata earned his Ph.D. (2007) with a thesis centered on enzymatic degradation and synthesis with hydrolases of biopolymers, especially poly(hydroxyalkanoate), in Tokyo Institute of Technology. His Ph.D. thesis includes works on enzymatic polymerization to synthesize branched biopolymers, which has been performed in Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. He worked as a JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow for Research Abroad at Tufts University (USA) where he studied biosynthesis of silk-based polymers via bacterial pathways as well as silk-based gene carriers. He moved to RIKEN as a Senior Scientist in 2010 to start up a laboratory to investigate biosynthesis and material design of structural proteins and poly(amino acid). He has been a Team Leader (PI) of the lab since 2012 and Research Director for JST-ERATO Numata Organelle Reaction Cluster Project (2016-2023), Research Director for JST-COI-NEXT, Research Director for MEXT Program: Data Creation and Utilization-Type Material Research and Development Project (2022-). In 2020, he moved to Department of Material Chemistry, Kyoto University, as a full professor.

He received Nagase Prize from the frontier salon foundation (2022), the 2020 ACS Macro Letters/Biomacromolecules/Macromolecules Young Investigator Award (American Chemical Society, 2020), SPSJ Asahi Kasei Award (2019), Award for Encouragement of Research, Japanese Society for Plant Cell and Molecular Biology, Japan (2019), Bio-Environmental Polymer Society Outstanding Young Scientist Award, USA (2018), The Young Scientists’ Prize for Minister of MEXT, Japan (2018), and so on. He was appointed as an associate editor of Polymer Journal (2018-2020) and is currently an executive editor of ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering. In July 2024, he was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC).

MATSUURA Kazuya

Philosopher, philologist. Professor, Faculty of Letters, Toyo University.

Born in Osaka in 1978, he graduated from the Faculty of Letters, the University of Tokyo, and received his Ph.D. in Literature from the Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, the University of Tokyo. After serving as an Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, the University of Tokyo, a full-time Lecturer at the Faculty of School Education, Shumei University, and an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Letters, Toyo University, he assumed his current position as Professor at the Faculty of Letters, Toyo University.

While focusing his research on ancient Greek philosophy through rigorous philological methods and logic, since 2016 he has participated as a principal investigator in multiple research projects concerning ethical issues of emerging technologies such as AI and robotics. By highlighting the ethical perspectives and values present in various cultural spheres, and comparing them with the philosophical backgrounds, histories, and essences of technologies, he aims to construct and systematize ethical discussions rooted in their respective traditions. Ultimately, he aims to universalize a research and development framework in which experts in the humanities collaborate with engineers—not to put the brakes on technological advancement, but to share the responsibility for the social impact of technologies.

His publications include Aristotle's Theory of Time and Space (single author, in Japanese), A History of World Philosophy I: Antiquity I—From Wisdom to Philosophy (co-author, in Japanese), Aristotle in Japan: Reception, Interpretation and Application (co-author), and Socializing Robots: Ten Issues in "Humanities in the Anthropocene" (editor and co-author, in Japanese). In 2020, he received the Excellent Presentation Award from the Robotics Society of Japan for his presentation titled "Non-existent Robots as Cursed Orphans."

YAMADA Fumihiko

Gagaku Musician / Deputy Director of the Music Department, Board of Ceremonies, Imperial Household Agency / Stage Director / Composer

Born in Tokyo in 1978. Gagaku musician, stage director, and composer. Deputy Director of the Music Department of the Board of Ceremonies, Imperial Household Agency, and founder of Gagaku Oyū no Kai. He began studying the Ikuta school of koto at the age of eight under his grandmother, Fumie Yamada, a disciple of the renowned koto master Fumiko Yonekawa. In 1994, he entered the training program of the Imperial Household Agency Music Department, specializing in hichiriki, samai (Left Dance), gaku-biwa, and kuniburi no utamai, while also studying violin and viola. Appointed Court Musician of the Imperial Household Agency in 2000, he later served as Head Instructor of Hichiriki and as a part-time lecturer at Tokyo University of the Arts. In 2024, he was appointed Deputy Director of the Music Department of the Board of Ceremonies, Imperial Household Agency.

Alongside his duties at the Imperial Court, he has actively explored new possibilities for gagaku through stage direction, composition, and interdisciplinary collaboration. His activities include serving as General Director of the official dinner hosted by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for Ivanka Trump in 2017, presenting gagaku at FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL ’18 as “rock music from a thousand years ago,” and participating in the Imperial Enthronement Ceremonies and the Daijōsai in 2019. In 2021, he was appointed Head Performer of Imperial Kagura at the Imperial Court. He directed Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Sugimoto Gagaku: Naoshima Mikagura for the Setouchi Triennale in 2022 and has since expanded his work into theatrical productions and stage music composition.

Recent works include music for productions by the OSK Nippon Revue Company, the theme song for a major event at ZERO TOKYO performed by Sachiko Kobayashi, and the score for Kabuki Symphony: Evangelion, Final Movement (2026), a collaborative production by Shochiku Co., Ltd. and khara, Inc. Through performance, composition, and stage production, He continues to bring the beauty and spirit of Japan’s cultural heritage to new audiences around the world while remaining deeply rooted in tradition.

He is a certified holder of the designation of Important Intangible Cultural Property “Gagaku” in Japan.

KOHKI

Musician

Born in 1985 in Nagano Prefecture. Started making music from a young age and released an album as a solo artist in 2000 at the age of 15. The following year, he made a major debut with Sony Music while also producing music for commercials for large companies. In 2004, began working as a music producer based at "STUDIO-KOHKI," a renovated kura (storehouse built of stone ) in his hometown of Shinshu. In 2011, moved to Berlin, Germany and started performing live. The following year, appeared as a shamisen player at "JAPAN EXPO 2012" in Paris. After returning to Japan, produced Kazuya Sato (Shinobue) — known for composing the theme song for the NHK morning drama in 2013 — leading to a major release and an appearance on "Untitled Concert." Since 2015, he has served as music director for the "SEEDS Conference," creating official theme music for the event. His daring collaborations with traditional Japanese instrument artists like Junya Okouchi (shakuhachi) were well-received, and he composed stage music for the recital dance drama "Tales of Love." He also served as composer, arranger, and music director for his own project "Wabuyoune," a performance based on the concept of "the encounter of Japanese and Western styles," which received high praise for its collaboration between traditional Japanese instruments and orchestra. We gladly share the concept music for the SEEDS Conference on the day of SEEDS every fall since. His passion for music continues.