The Learning of Tomorrow Business by Yoshimoto and NTT Supported by CANVAS

 ■The Learning of Tomorrow Business by Yoshimoto and NTT Supported by CANVAS

“Laugh & Peace_Mother” is the learning of tomorrow transmission platform by Yoshimoto Kogyo, NTT, and the Cool Japan Fund. Japan, which has been unable to produce a global platform like Netflix or Amazon, aims for success in the field of education. Moreover, it has received investment of 10 billion yen from a national policy fund.

The creativity, expressiveness, and objective of learning while playing that we have fostered at CANVAS for nearly 20 years would serve as the foundation. This suggests that our activities as digital kids were finally recognized by NTT and other adults after 20 years and received a valuation of 10 billion yen.

Computers are used to make anime and games. Programming is used to build robots.

Digital cameras and the internet are used to create and transmit commercials for the town. Futuristic cars and schools are designed.

Everybody does it together.

The “Workshop Collection,” which brings together various workshops, has grown into the world’s largest creative event for kids that gathered 100,000 people in 2 days.

There were 2 issues.

The first was the financial backing to move forward with activities. We had no relationship with money.

The other was overseas development. We were struggling just to change domestic policies and attitudes.

Technology has welcomed a new age. The transition went from digital (computers and the internet) to smart (smartphones and social networking) to super-smart, which involves AI and IoT. We are also at the stage when education must become “the learning of tomorrow.”

Under these circumstances, we launched “Laugh & Peace_Mother.”

I feel as if it was inevitable to begin a project that resolves the 2 major issues, as we received financial backing to the tune of 10 billion yen and would be expanding overseas.

CANVAS and Yoshimoto are truly a good match. Actually, we first reached out to Yoshimoto Kogyo when we were founding CANVAS. We asked them to do a stand-up comedy workshop.

CEO Osaki declares, “Yoshimoto will become an educational company.”

I had always seen Yoshimoto as an educational company that hypnotized those with nowhere to go and trained them to become entertainers, but now it is time for them to become a business that exerts its force outward. This is why CANVAS was chosen.

Through my involvement in programming at MIT and digital kids activities, 20 years have passed since I began to promote workshops and digital education in Japan, thinking that children in Japan would have more inspiring output in terms of creative and expressive steam. I finally feel that this has reached the point of recognition.