On September 1st, Disaster Prevention Day, the "FUKKO DESIGN" project kickoff event was held at the International Design Liaison Center (inside Tokyo Midtown Design Hub).

In the face of the frequent earthquakes, typhoons, heavy rains, and other disasters that occur across Japan, is it necessary to reconsider the traditional approach to reconstruction support? FUKKO DESIGN is an organization that asks this question and pursues the best answer. This report reveals what founders Daisaku Kawase (NHK Enterprises) and Mitsuyoshi Kimura (TBWA HAKUHODO) said about FUKKO DESIGN's activities and the background to its establishment, what it has accomplished so far, and what it plans to do in the future.



FUKKO DESIGN was born when Daisaku Kawase, who works in television program production, and Mitsuyoshi Kimura, who works in advertising production, met. The theme of their activities can be summed up in one word: "Bringing together the power of private business to create a new "reconstruction."

Mitsuyoshi Kimura (Founder of TBWA HAKUHODO and FUKKO DESIGN), Daisaku Kawase (Founder of NHK Enterprises and FUKKO DESIGN)

The background to the birth of FUKKO DISIGN is Kawase's belief that "the way society works today is to bring together people from various places to solve a problem and pool their know-how," as well as Kimura's on-the-ground experience having volunteered in reconstruction efforts in various places. As the first pillar, Kawase says that in order to solve the major challenge of disasters, it is urgent to connect with various people on a daily basis and "build a team that can respond immediately in times of emergency." He stressed that in the future, it will be important to break down organizational barriers, such as government and private companies, and to work together on daily basis to think about what to do.

Daisaku Kawase and Mitsuyoshi Kimura explained "FUKKO DISIGN" at the kickoff event.


Kimura also drew on his own experience as a disaster volunteer to emphasize the need to "create an archive of reconstruction support." Various forms of support have been provided after each disaster, but each time, the people involved are replaced, and the team has to start from scratch and struggle. Archiving these experiences and collecting knowledge would allow for more effective and prompt support activities. "It's important to go to the site and understand the needs by uncovering hidden information, rather than relying on information provided by the media or government," Kimura said, explaining how effective "idea-selling" reconstruction support is, proposing and implementing custom-made ideas based on local feedback. Examples included the use of social media to spread the hashtag "#HokkaidoEarthquakePowerSave" to prevent power outages after the Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake, and the "Mokkedano Sake" project, which took over sake bottles from a brewery destroyed in the Yamagata earthquake, some of which had been damaged by crushed caps or had fallen over, making the contents unrecognizable. The bottles were then branded as lucky bottles and successfully sold.

"FUKKO DESIGN" participants: Tomomi Endo (Stroly), Yusuke Oshima (Ozma PR), Eisuke Kasejima (Pokémon), Atsuo Kusahara (READYFOR), Ryohei Koda (Kayac)


 Junya Kobayashi (JTB), Ayako Kane (Air Media), Mitsuhiro Goda (Rapha), Daisuke Tanigawa (Kure National College of Technology), Mari Terasawa (Isetan Mitsukoshi), Reimi Shibata (SHOWROOM)


Akifumi Nakao (Cabinet Office), Satoshi Hattori (Twitter Japan), Yu Mizuno (City Lights Law Office), Tetsuya Akeshiro (National Network of Disaster Volunteer Support Organizations), Hiroyuki Yokota (Airbnb Japan)




"Reconstruction efforts tend to rely heavily on tax revenue, but I don't think that's sustainable. Unless we can continue to circulate funds as a company and ultimately give back to the disaster-stricken areas, it won't last," Kawase said, announcing FUKKO DESIGN's goal of sustainable reconstruction support activities.



The kickoff event also featured introductions to participating companies, a talk session on "What we can do for the disaster-stricken areas: What can we do to meet the needs of those who want support?", and a special lecture by Shigesato Itoi titled "Creating ideas that lead to reconstruction."

Shigesato Itoi (Editor of Hobonichi Itoi Shimbun), Daisaku Kawase

People from a variety of positions and affiliations came together for the single purpose of "reconstruction" to explore better ways of solving the problem. The kick-off event saw a frank and lively exchange of opinions, providing an opportunity full of hints for the future development of FUKKO DESIGN.

Original T-shirts and tote bags from "FUKKO DESIGN"
FUKKO DESIGN plans to continue to provide regular activity reports, and FASHION HEADLINE will introduce their trends in reports (note: https://note.mu/fukko_design).