Every season of RISING ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best seasons of RISING!

The number of foreign tourists to Japan reached its all-time high in 2014. Tourism is now Japan's key to economic growth. Kentaro Suda is CEO of a travel company specializing in inbound tourism. Realizing the fact that 80% of tourists to Japan come from other Asian countries, he linked up with over 1,400 travel companies across Asia and quickly raised his company's profile - in 4 years, the company went from just 2 customers to 67,000. Learn Suda's secret behind this remarkable growth.

Inbound Tour Operator - Kentaro Suda

Hyogo Prefecture is home to a medical team that rides the helicopter to save lives in mountain communities that do not have access to advanced emergency treatments. Dr. Makoto Kobayashi's Air Ambulance team has been making the most number of emergency calls in Japan since they started operation 5 years ago, and the survival rate of patients with severe external injury have increased 5 times. Dr. Kobayashi's innovative ideas are helping to win the race against time in life-or-death situations.

Super Helidoctor - Makoto Kobayashi

With exhibitions and events both in Japan and abroad, the moving calligraphy of Shoko Kanazawa is attracting global attention that has seen her invited to New York to help raise awareness about Down Syndrome. Shoko learned the art from her mother Yasuko, and though life now is happy for the pair, fears for her disabled daughter's future once drove Yasuko to thoughts of ending it all. In this program, we introduce a mother and daughter striving to dispel misconceptions about disability.

Calligrapher with Down Syndrome - Shoko Kanazawa

For 5 generations, the family of Kosuke Kuji has run Nanbu Bijin, a famed sake brewery in Iwate Prefecture. Yet, as domestic sake sales have stagnated over the last 20 years, Kuji has travelled the world to develop overseas markets. Sensing an opportunity in the 2013 addition of washoku, or Japanese cuisine, to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list, Kuji is turning to new markets such as Australia in a bid to fulfill his dream of raising a cup of sake with people all around the world.

Sake Evangelist - Kosuke Kuji

Agriculture in Japan faces many issues including an aging and declining workforce. Hiroki Iwasa, the representative of a farming corporation, is trying to change the industry. Using smart agriculture, he is revolutionizing strawberry production to grow luxury fruit selling for 1,000 yen each. By transforming farmers' experience and intuition into concrete data controlled by computer, he has built a system allowing all farmers to efficiently cultivate high quality produce. We follow his efforts to turn Japanese agriculture into a world-leading industry.

Global Branding Through Smart Farming

Mitsuru Izumo is the CEO of bio-venture firm Euglena, named after a microorganism with enormous potential as a future food and energy source. Euglena is rich in nutrients and can also be processed to make bio-fuel. As a freshman at the University of Tokyo, Izumo visited Bangladesh where he was shocked to find many children suffering from malnutrition. He vowed to help them. After extensive research, he discovered a way to mass-produce euglena. Now, he is on a mission to save the world with his discovery.

Saving the World with Euglena

What kind of life awaits Japan's estimated 10 million baby boomers as more and more of them enter retirement? Mio Katagiri is the representative of Ginza Second Life, a firm that supports seniors who wish to continue working despite their advancing years. Katagiri's background in law and finance, along with a desire to assist the older generation, has helped to create a business that has so far helped some 650 companies get off the ground, and is attracting attention from all over the world.

Incubating a More Active Life for Senior Citizens

Medical tests at just 500 yen per criterion; on-the-spot results; and advice from a trained nurse: all features of the "self health check", a revolutionary healthcare business founded by Takashi Kawazoe. With plans for expansion into India in Autumn 2015, Kawazoe is already turning his attention to markets outside Japan. We follow this young entrepreneur, whose innovative system aims to provide opportunities for newly graduated nurses, and also offers an on-call home nursing service.

Taking Affordable Medical Testing to the World!

With many traditional Japanese crafts facing decline, Rika Yajima founded a brand seeking to preserve such artisanship in a novel way: offering traditionally made goods aimed at children and babies. Combining aesthetic refinement with functionality, her range includes baby clothes given anti-UV, insect-repellent and thermal properties by ancient indigo-dyeing techniques; and the "unspillable" dishware series, featuring bowls with an inner ridge to help children nudge food onto their spoons.

Conveying Japan's Craft Heritage to Children

Japan's unique yuru-kyara costumed promotional mascots are in the midst of a boom. And the maker behind many of the movement's biggest stars is Kigurumi.biz, led by Hiromi Kano. Her highly skilled staffs have a love for their work that gives birth to lovable characters, and with Japan's yuru-kyara attracting increasing global attention, the firm is also starting to receive orders from overseas. We follow Kano and her team as they take costumed Japanese cuteness to the world.

The Mascot Matriarch

Although Japan's long-established fresh fish industry is said to be worth around 3 trillion yen a year, a lack of new blood has recently brought the sector close to stagnation. But help is at hand in the form of innovator Masanari Matsuda (35), who has introduced tablet computing to circumvent lengthy supply chains, cutting the time from trawler to table to as little as one day. We learn about the unique business model of the man striving to bring Japan's consumers the world's freshest fish.

Trawler to Table via Tablet in No Time

akako Yamada runs an online English school based in the Philippines. Licensed local instructors teach students in Japan via videotelephony, and the company also offers scholarships to train young instructors from disadvantaged backgrounds. Yamada's aim is to build a society in which anyone can fulfill their dreams, and one new project aims to teach vocational skills. We follow Yamada as she works hand in hand with her Filipino staff to give impoverished young people a brighter future.

Towards a Fulfilling Society for All

Becoming a sushi chef once took long years as an apprentice. Makoto Fukue turned this world on its head in 2002 when he opened Tokyo Sushi Academy, Japan's first vocational college for sushi chefs. A staff of experienced pros has so far equipped some 3,000 graduates from around the globe with the skills to preserve the Edomae sushi tradition. 2013 brought a Singapore branch, and with a second Tokyo school opening this fall, we meet a business on a mission to preserve Japan's culinary heritage.

Cultivating Sushi Chefs

The 1989 Hollywood hit Back to the Future Part II, saw a time-travelling DeLorean return from the year 2015, fitted with a device to use trash as fuel. Fast forward to the real 2015 to meet Masaki Takao, the man who made this technology a reality by recycling discarded clothing to make biofuel as well as developing recycling techniques, Takao has enlisted retailers and the government to engage the public in a groundbreaking garment-collection scheme. Now he hopes recycling can change the world.

Forward to the Future: Making Fuel from Old Clothes

Recent years have seen Japan's fisheries hit by issues like global warming, overfishing, and a lack of new blood, with overall catches down to a third of their one-time peak. Professor Masaaki Wada is a pioneer in the field of Marine IT, using the latest technology to facilitate sustainable fishing. Schemes including the use of tablet computers to promote data sharing among fishermen have brought a sharp recovery in diminished stocks, even attracting requests of assistance from outside Japan.

Protecting Fisheries through Marine IT

A groundbreaking meals-on-wheels service provides the sick with bento meals tailored to their individual medical requirements by trained dieticians, who also offer over-the-phone nutritional advice. We meet Kosuke Abe, who came up with this business model that moves dieticians from a supporting role to center stage. Driven by the motto "food comes first", he is committed to demonstrating how nutrition can improve a patient's condition before the need for medical treatment.

Medical Meals-on-Wheels - Kosuke Abe

Yuya Nakamura is President and CEO of a company currently drawing attention from around the world through the development of compact satellites. The advantage of the firm's microsatellites is their low cost, with the process from design through to launch said to require only one tenth of the budget typically needed for the larger devices familiar in years gone by. Nakamura's company has breathed fresh life into an industry that was once the preserve of state-funded projects.

Bringing Space within Reach

Hirofumi Seo uses cutting-edge computer graphics to visualize the most complex medical data. After securing the University of Tokyo President's Grand Award for his work as an expert forensic witness, elucidating exact details of victims' wounds, in 2015 he won a category prize at leading CGI conference SICGRAPH, for his digital recreation of the human heart. Seo now seeks to revolutionize clinical practice with a virtual surgery simulator to train physicians to perform tricky liver operations.

Medical Computer Graphics Producer - Hirofumi Seo

In 2010, Toru Tokushige founded Terra Motors with the goal of being largest producer of two and three-wheeled electric vehicles in the world. Operating from a tiny office, he managed to capture the Japanese market after only 2 years and is now expanding into countries throughout Asia where vehicle exhaust is a major environmental problem. Tokushige personally leads sales team around the world, leading to skyrocketed sales in Nepal. Meet the man behind this "mega venture".

Electric Vehicle Producer - Toru Tokushige

Kohei Hayamizu is the founder of Soundpower, a company trying to solve the energy problems facing the global community through entirely novel means. His kinetic energy generation system converts the vibrations from everyday actions like walking and driving into electricity, for the ultimate in locally produced, locally consumed clean energy. Recent projects harness this technology to boost security both in Japan and overseas. Meet a man striving to help create an energy-harvesting society.

Electricity from Vibration

With mottainai, the Japanese word for "waste", gaining currency around the world, one Japanese entrepreneur is using the term as the inspiration for an innovative web-based business. Akiko Nishiura runs a website which finds uses for dormant urban spaces, such as residential driveways, the entrance spaces of buildings, and shops outside of business hours. By utilizing these wasted spaces, Nishiura seeks to boost the Japanese economy with a firm that deals in untapped potential.

Farewell to "Mottainai" Spaces

Japan's corporate culture has a reputation for discouraging independent thinking. Daichi Konuma created International Corporate Volunteering Program. It connects workers from some of Japan's most recognizable companies with over 200 NGO's in 8 emerging countries in Asia. Participants use their professional skills to develop solutions to that country's needs. By fusing global corporate social responsibility with human resources development, Konuma is pioneering a new field of opportunities.

Companies Helping Countries

When the Olympic games come to Tokyo in 2020, robot taxis may already be a common sight. Led by Hisashi Taniguchi, robotics venture company ZMP caused a major stir by announcing a collaboration with the company DeNA to bring these futuristic vehicles to market. Taniguchi is also involved in schemes featuring self-piloting drones and robot carts designed to reduce injuries in the shipping industry. We follow his efforts to promote safe, fun, convenient lifestyles through robotics.

Robots for a Fun, User-friendly Future

As Japanese tea grows in popularity around the world, more and more people from overseas are being drawn to a plantation on the outskirts of Kyoto. From a base in Wazuka, an area famed for high-quality ujicha tea, Akihiro Kita runs a business that sells to 65 countries around the world. The firm uses online content, seminars, and a 3-month intern program that offers the chance to get hands-on experience of tea-picking and tasting to spread the appeal of Japanese tea around the world.

Bringing Japanese Tea to the World

With Japan's population aging, around 2 million adults now use diapers, and incontinence management is a major burden for many elderly citizens and their carers. We follow the work of professional carer Yoshimi Ui, who is developing a bed sheet equipped with odor sensors and wireless technology to automatically monitor discharge within a patient's diaper. By relaying regular updates to carers, this revolutionary device removes the need to regularly check a patient's undergarments directly.

Nursing Care Innovator: Yoshimi Ui

To many in Japan, industrial waste disposal carries an image tarnished by practices such as illegal dumping. Since inheriting her family recycling business aged 30, Noriko Ishizaka has overseen reforms intended to transform the firm's reputation. A new eco-friendly plant, an employee training drive, superb recycling technology and a commitment to regreening have won praise in Japan and overseas, and earned the trust of local residents. We follow this company's change from pariah to paragon.

Earning the Affection of Local People

In recent years, economic pressures have seen numerous Japanese watch brands send the production of their devices overseas, forcing the closure of domestic plants that had long upheld Japan's watchmaking tradition. To preserve this heritage, Hiromitsu Endo enlisted plants that had lost major contracts to launch a brand rooted in the appeal of the "Made in Japan" mark. With some 6,000 custom designs, and the creative use of traditional crafts, the brand is winning many fans in Japan and overseas.

Towards the Rebirth of "Made in Japan"

Orihime is a desktop avatar robot that can be controlled remotely from anywhere in the world. Its creator, Kentaro Yoshifuji was inspired by his own childhood experiences of suffering from loneliness to produce a robot to connect those unable, through physical illness or anxiety, to leave their homes and interact with others. Unlike AI-equipped robots, Orihime is human-controlled, allowing users to participate by proxy at conferences or school, with eye-tracking controls under development for those with full paralysis.

Avatar Robot Bringing People Together

With many children across Japan unable to find a place in nursery daycare, Hiroki Komazaki, CEO of NPO Florence, is leading efforts to meet the childcare needs of working families. From 2010, using empty urban properties, he launched daycare centers with space for 10 kids, successfully pushing for nationwide licensing for nurseries with fewer than 20 places. His other innovations include Japan's first home daycare service for sick children, and services for kids with disabilities.

Innovative Childcare Brightens the Lives of Working Families

In Bangkok, Thailand, a Japanese-style dry cleaning and laundry service is currently attracting widespread attention. Driving this success are the efforts of local factory manager Makoto Seino, and sales representative Toshiyuki Abe. The firm's superlative service combines Japanese methods with skilled local operators and the latest machinery. We follow 2 men embracing a foreign culture to promote Japanese-style cleanliness overseas.

Bringing Sparkle to Asia and the World

Toshihiro Nakamura founded a social business providing simple, durable, affordable technology to developing countries. The goal is to improve lifestyles while boosting both productivity and income.

Simple Technology Brings Innovation in Developing Countries

At-home medical care. But unlike traditional on-call emergency care, this service sees doctors and nurses visit patients regularly, as part of a treatment plan. With some 26% of Japan's population now aged 65 or over, more and more elderly patients are limited to their homes. Physician Shinsuke Muto is revolutionizing home health care, with clinics whose dispatch staff utilizes communications technology to optimize efficiency, and similar schemes in tsunami-hit Ishinomaki and aging Singapore.

Medical Innovation, Supporting an Aging Society

In Switzerland this fall, athletes and the technologies behind their prosthetic limbs were put to the test at the world's first Cybathlon. The competition attracted researchers from around the world. Masahiro Kasuya brings 2 innovative technologies: a prosthetic hand that allows control of each finger individually and a technology that allows people paralyzed from the waist down to pedal a bicycle. Meet the young researcher who hopes to eliminate physical barriers from around the world.

The Cybathlon and Expanding Our Physical Abilities with Cybernetics

To rent an apartment in Japan, tenants have long needed to name a guarantor - usually Japanese, with a steady income. But this rule, intended to safeguard owners against non-payment of rent, can exclude non-Japanese from the housing market. Hiroyuki Goto runs a firm striving to promote Japan's internationalization with a guarantor service for international students, and multilingual support that helps foreign clients navigate complex garbage-disposal rules and other potential difficulties.

Helping Foreign Students Settle In

As diets in Japan become increasingly Westernized, obesity and lifestyle diseases are on the rise. Average daily intake of fruit and vegetables is well below the recommended minimum, and falling year by year. Ryozo Kawagishi is the CEO of KOMPEITO, a business changing attitudes to fresh produce by providing fruit and veg for office workers to snack on during break times. And with its update on traditional Japanese medicine, this service is also providing a boost for farmers nationwide

Boosting Agriculture while Promoting a Healthy Workforce

Japanese whisky is currently undergoing a boom in popularity around the world, with numerous buyers willing to pay high prices when prime examples come up for auction. In 2008, Ichiro Akuto founded a small distillery in Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, and the drinks produced there in limited quantities owe their distinctive flavor to the local environment, as well as to Akuto's own experimentation with techniques and materials. We follow an innovator who is taking Japanese whisky global.

Whisky Wizardry - Japan's Nature Distilled: Whisky Innovator - Ichiro Akuto

Taro Nakamura develops robots based on imaginative imitation of living organisms. His expertise is in great demand from numerous firms and government funded research programs thirsty for innovation, and he currently has over 20 individual projects in progress. We focus on his development of an earthworm robot, the first of its kind, designed to traverse the narrow, twisting tunnels of Japan's aging water infrastructure, and other projects including robots with man-made muscle fibers.

Groundbreaking Earthworm Robots! Bio-Robotics Engineer - Taro Nakamura

Despite their superior workmanship, recent years have seen Japan's apparel factories losing work to lower-cost ones abroad. Entrepreneur Toshio Yamada has teamed up with those factories to create a new, Japan-based clothing brand. Yamada's innovations include selling directly to consumers online and funneling profits back into factories, allowing them to experiment with new techniques. Yamada's goal is to push Japanese factories to the forefront and create a clothing brand recognized worldwide.

A World-Class Clothing Brand, Made in Japan: Apparel Innovator - Toshio Yamada

With high labor costs and little space, Tokyo's local factories are at a disadvantage compared to those abroad. But one metalworking factory in Tokyo has attracted attention from as far away as MIT. Keiichi Hamano has transformed his long-standing factory into a space where startups can develop new, world-class ideas. Innovations that have emerged from this space include a typhoon-resistant wind turbine, a wheelchair that can navigate difficult terrain, and a solar panel-cleaning robot.

Innovators Find a Home in Local Tokyo Factory: Startup Support Entrepreneur - Keiichi Hamano

LED grow lights for use in agriculture are currently in the spotlight. Not only do they enable vegetables to be reliably grown all year round, for crops produced in a sterile environment they allow the elimination of agricultural chemicals. And fine adjustment of this lighting even enables regulation of a crop's nutritional content. We follow developer Seiichi Okazaki, a man hoping to harness the cutting edge of veg for a future food revolution.

Spotlight on a Future Food Revolution: LED Grow Light Developer - Seiichi Okazaki

Paper: even in our digital age, demand for this material continues, and at great environmental cost. But one man is gaining attention for using Japanese technology to create a new kind of paper from... stone. The man who made this limestone-based paper possible is Nobuyoshi Yamasaki. Yamasaki, whose goal was to create "a business that helps society", has been hailed as a revolutionary. Why did Yamasaki spend 6 years chasing this epoch-making goal? Join us and find out.

Turning Stone into Paper - Nobuyoshi Yamasaki

In 2013, from earthquake-hit northeastern Japan, Hiroyuki Takahashi launched a new kind of food magazine. Packaged together with local ingredients, the publication offers insights into producers' philosophies alongside the chance to try their wares, while you can also order produce via a dedicated social network and app. The model proved a hit and has since spread across Japan, spawning over 30 similar magazines linking other provincial areas to consumers in the major cities.

Magazine Bringing Local Food to Consumers: Food Media Entrepreneur - Hiroyuki Takahashi

For social businesses, the need to address social issues while also making a profit means that many young social entrepreneurs falter at the first hurdle. To prevent such good intentions going to waste, Kazunari Taguchi runs a firm that offers investment and expertise that help set such projects on the path to success. We follow a social business incubator that has already helped launch 9 social businesses with a combined annual turnover of around 3 billion yen.

Opportunities for Young Social Entrepreneurs: Social Business Founder - Kazunari Taguchi

Yasukane Matsumoto is the founder of a web-based printing service that has seen revenues increase 50-fold over in just 4 years. Using a network of small printing firms, the service matches each job request to the ideal printing press, boosting efficiency for customer and printer alike by using factory downtime to produce limited runs. Also offering distribution through haulage firms, Matsumoto's company uses IT to empower small, long-established businesses as part of the sharing economy.

Efficient Printing through the Sharing Economy: Print Industry Entrepreneur - Yasukane Matsumoto

While still a student, Shunji Sugaya started an IT company focused on artificial intelligence and robots for use on the farms of the future. Agriculture in Japan faces serious challenges like an aging population and shrinking workforce. Sugaya imagines robots and drones that reduce labor demands and farms that are run using big data. Today we look at Sugaya and the young engineers at his company in their efforts to shape the future of agriculture and fishing with cutting-edge technology.

Agriculture's Next Technological Revolution: Founder of Agricultural Venture - Shunji Sugaya

There are about 30,000 food-producing companies in Japan. The top 1% are industry giants. The other 99% are small businesses that struggle to compete with the majors on price and get their products sold. Kenta Kurokawa is the founder and CEO of a company that searches regional Japan for the hidden gems of the food industry, and helps them find markets for their great offerings. Several companies he's worked with have created hit products that brought them back from the brink of bankruptcy.

Making Great Food a Good Business: Food Industry Consultant - Kenta Kurokawa

Entrepreneur Yasuyuki Toki and his team won the 2017 Startup World Cup for their revolutionary IoT-based service which tracks and records the physical and mental well-being of children in nursery schools, connecting caregivers and parents. The service, which frees up child-care professionals to spend less time on paperwork and more on providing quality care, also helps prevent sudden infant death syndrome and other issues. Discover the secrets behind Toki's digital child care revolution.

The Digital Child Care Revolution: IoT Child Care Entrepreneur - Yasuyuki Toki

In a small, unassuming factory in Kyoto, one firm is helping save lives. That firm is run by Masatoshi Takeda, who invented a method to build hyper-accurate replicas of the organs of patients, from those with heart defects to liver cancer, who require difficult surgical procedures. Doctors use the replicas to perform simulated surgeries, increasing the chance of success in the operating room. Created hand-in-hand with doctors, Takeda's technology is changing the face of surgery as we know it.

The Changing Face of Surgery: Medical Technology Innovator - Masatoshi Takeda

An educational app that's popular with young users. In addition to allowing users to track study hours and study resources, the app also has rich SNS functionality for fostering communication between students. In Japan it's so popular that one in three high school students uses it. The app was developed by Takashi Hirose. His goal? Nothing less than changing the way students study and the educational system in Japan.

Changing Education in Japan: App Developer - Takashi Hirose

Japan is dotted with buildings and houses with centuries of history, but maintaining them can be economically challenging, and many are in danger of being lost. Enter Jun Tarikino, an entrepreneur who rents these structures and gives them new life as wedding halls, restaurants and more. We'll take a look at Tarikino's current project and see how this entrepreneur is using his business talents to preserve these structures' history and culture and pass them on to the next generation.

Breathing New Life into Historical Buildings: Historical Structure Revitalization Entrepreneur - Jun Tarikino

At some of Japan's most exclusive department stores, colorful African-print bags are gaining a following. The appeal lies in their 4-way versatility: each piece, made from colorful batik fabric, can be used as either a handbag, clutch bag, shoulder bag or tote. Made in Uganda, they are the brainchild of Chizu Nakamoto, who runs a company offering employment to the country's struggling single mothers. Follow Nakamoto's team as they develop new items and expand their business operations.

Going Global with African-print Bags: Social Entrepreneur - Chizu Nakamoto

Around the world, demand for sustainable wind energy is growing. But for traditional wind turbines, strong winds can result in temporary shutdowns, and sometimes even severe damage. Atsushi Shimizu's quest to achieve a global first by creating a functional turbine free from propellers takes him to Okinawa Prefecture and the Philippines, but can he successfully scale up his prototype, and will his groundbreaking idea catch on? We follow the latest advances in wind power generation.

Propellerless Wind Turbine for a Sustainable Future: Wind Energy Pioneer - Atsushi Shimizu

Universal design aims to create an environment accessible to all, regardless of age, or linguistic or physical limitations. As Tokyo prepares for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, one venture firm working to make Japan a world leader in this area is led by Toshiya Kakiuchi. Wheelchair-bound since childhood due to brittle bone disease, this young entrepreneur provides consulting on facilities and services for the disabled, aiming to change preconceptions and facilitate true hospitality.

Making Japan Accessible to All - Toshiya Kakiuchi

Though Japan is a country with a rapidly aging population and millions of vacant properties, senior citizens often struggle to find rented accommodation due to owners' concerns about the risks of elderly tenants dying alone and unnoticed. To address these issues, Ryo Yamamoto founded a unique estate agent catering solely to the over 65s, also working to allay proprietors' fears through outreach initiatives and even a collaboration with a major electronics developer.

Finding Homes for Senior Citizens: Real Estate Innovator - Ryo Yamamoto

The goal: to develop the world's best sports prosthetic leg and win gold at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. Taking on this challenge is MIT graduate Ken Endo, selected in 2013 among Technology Review's top 35 Innovators under 35. Working alongside top Paralympians to develop prosthetics, Endo also established Tokyo's Blade Library, a facility where amputees can try out high-end prosthetics for themselves. Follow a man working to change established notions of disability.

Aiming for Gold with Prosthetics: Prosthetic Leg Engineer - Ken Endo

Miyazaki Prefecture's satsumaimo, or sweet potatoes, are selling fast in other parts of Asia thanks to Makoto Ikeda, the CEO of Kushima AoiFarm. Since he started this company with a staff of 4 family members in 2013, exports have been booming. Now the firm has 68 employees and annual sales of 700 million yen. Interestingly, the type of sweet potato that is popular in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan doesn't sell so well in Japan. We explore what Ikeda has done to achieve sweet potato success.

Miyazaki's Sweet Potatoes Win Fans in Asia - Makoto Ikeda

Up to the 1990's, Japan's home electronics giants led the global market. But recently, unwilling to implement key reforms, they have been slow to catch on to the digital revolution, and products without IoT compatibility are considered old hat. Takuma Iwasa is the CEO of one Japanese tech venture winning fans worldwide with unique, web-ready devices. Targeting the global niche market of early adopters has put this firm in the spotlight, as it strives to create unprecedented consumer electronics.

Towards Unprecedented Consumer Electronics: Tech Entrepreneur - Takuma Iwasa

Kyoto is a long-established center of craft excellence. Hiroyasu Koma's 30-person start-up firm brought that power together to make a high-performance electric sports car. Unlike in the case of gasoline cars, parts for electric cars can be sourced from outside the insular supplier networks that serve major car makers, so even small start-ups can make cars. Koma sells the technology in completed cars to other companies, a feature of his business model where various firms share development costs.

Automotive Revolution from Kyoto: EV Venture - Hiroyasu Koma

Along Japan's northeastern coast, efforts to develop young fisheries workers by boosting recognition for local marine produce and organizing training have put one fishing collective in the spotlight. Sensing peril for local fisheries after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of 2011, founder Takuya Hasegawa teamed up with workers to reform distribution channels and pursue sales and promotion activities. Join a group aiming to rear 1,000 local fishermen and women by 2024.

A New Generation of Fisheries Workers: Marine Industry Pioneer - Takuya Hasegawa

Keiichi Yoshino left a career in finance to open a chocolatier in Kyoto, Japan's former capital. Only 4 years in, his brand has already won international awards and been picked up by an exclusive Kyoto hotel. He uses cacao from Indonesia, the world's number-two producer, boosting the economy by raising quality and prices via guidance for local farmers. Now pursuing a similar scheme in the Philippines, we follow a luxury chocolate brand transforming the fortunes of farmers in Southeast Asia.

Putting Southeast Asian Chocolate in the Global Spotlight: Luxury Chocolatier - Keiichi Yoshino

Atsushi Yoshida runs a 70-year-old firm specializing in high-voltage lightning arresters. Its devices, produced via research at the world's largest lightning-test facility, protect homes and infrastructure, as well as Japanese icons like Shinkansen bullet trains, the TOKYO SKYTREE and Kyoto's Kiyomizu-dera Temple, with a 70% domestic market share. Now Yoshida is taking this expertise to Rwanda, one of the world's most lightning-prone countries, conducting research and training local engineers.

Bringing Lightning Protection to Rwanda: Lightning Protection Consultant - Atsushi Yoshida

The last decade has been tough for cattle breeders in Japan. Four-tenths of farms have folded, and the experience needed to succeed limits the influx of new talent. Shinya Kobayashi founded a business to address this situation through the Internet of Things. Cattle are tracked using sensors, and the data analyzed to give farmers powerful insights via their mobile devices, along with digital records on animals' breeding and health. Follow a business using IT to support Japan's cattle breeders.

Connecting Cows to the Cloud: Livestock Management Innovator - Shinya Kobayashi

The key to gold medal success at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games may just be held by Toru Ozawa, engineer with a specialist wheelchair manufacturer in Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo. Fine-tuned to match each owner's precise needs to the last millimeter, and trusted by top wheelchair athletes around the world, the firm's custom devices have helped win 122 Paralympic medals to date. With 2 years to go until the Tokyo games, we follow a pioneering Tokyo wheelchair maker with sights set on gold.

Chariots of Gold: Sports Wheelchair Engineer - Toru Ozawa

Across Japan, a decline in public transport and small retailers is said to have left as many as 7 million seniors unable to access basic daily necessities. 6 years ago, to address the needs of these "shopping refugees", former magazine editor Tatsuya Sumitomo set up a mobile supermarket service. Now with over 300 trucks, each offering up to 1,200 items, along with clothing and monitor services, his business regularly serves around 40,000 people nationwide, with an average age of 80.

Deals on Wheels: Mobile Supermarket Innovator - Tatsuya Sumitomo

With many up-and-coming nations undergoing rapid development, Japanese construction equipment is finding new popularity around the world due to its safety and reliability. Takayuki Aoki (32) founded an online service that offers overseas buyers affordable access to used heavy machinery from Japan, providing comprehensive information, detailed photos and even a refund policy. Follow a young entrepreneur using information technology to take Japanese construction equipment to the world.

Giving Used Machinery New Life Overseas: E-Commerce Entrepreneur, Takayuki Aoki

Around the world, one sector relatively untouched by the IT-driven paradigm shift known as the sharing economy has been dining and catering. Miwa Okada is helping to change that with a service that introduces local users to Japan-based foreign nationals who open their homes to offer lessons on how to cook their own native cuisine. We follow an innovative business using food as the medium for cultural exchange and integration between Japan's growing foreign population and their host country.

Global Kitchen through the Sharing Economy: Culinary Exchange Facilitator - Miwa Okada

In January 2018, at the Global EdTech Startup Awards in London, a Japanese firm came through a field of over 2,000 to claim the top prize. Goichiro Arai's company triumphed with an app designed to help students organize and share their study notes, and even create Q&A exercises. Allowing students to study together independently of teachers, and even helping to close the achievement gap between rich and poor, this cutting-edge tool is ready to carry success in Asia over to the global stage.

Revolutionary Study App Goes Global: Educational Technology Entrepreneur - Goichiro Arai

With 80% of Japan's regional bus routes operating at a loss, Masaru Yajima runs a firm working to revive these vital transport lifelines. GPS and sensors are used to track progress and passenger flow, and this big data is analyzed to optimize routes and departure times. Further innovations like waiting rooms and wholesale local produce at bus stops have helped to attract passengers beyond the typical user base. And this pioneering transport firm is now taking its successful template overseas.

Big Data Driving a Bus Revolution: Public Transport Innovator - Masaru Yajima

Virtual reality: currently a hot technology in the world of video gaming, and now also on the brink of transforming the medical field. Surgeon Maki Sugimoto has developed a system that uses precise 3D modeling of patients' internal organs to help plan surgical procedures down to the last scalpel incision, maximizing safety. Currently used at over 50 facilities working across the medical spectrum, this groundbreaking technology is also revolutionizing the way young doctors are trained.

Virtual Reality: Transforming the Future of Medicine - Medical Technology Pioneer, Maki Sugimoto

A trunk room is rented storage for items you don't often use but just can't throw away. But it's not always easy to keep track of inventory or pick up possessions when you need them. Hayato Matsuzaki launched a service using couriers and carefully photographed cloud-based galleries of stored items to give users round-the-clock access to possessions at the click of a mouse or the touch of a screen, and even letting you give new life to items you no longer want by putting them up for sale.

Giving New Life to Dormant Possessions: Self-Storage Innovator - Hayato Matsuzaki

Long beset by depopulation and industrial decline, these days the town of Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, northern Japan, boasts a science park that's a honeypot for tech startups and international researchers. Daisuke Yamanaka runs a local firm that has brought an innovative approach to community development. Frustrated by bureaucracy, he turned to partnerships between civil enterprises, also bringing researchers and local government on board to promote truly holistic regional revitalization.

The Future of Regional Revitalization: Community Planning Pioneer - Daisuke Yamanaka

Forced by a shrinking domestic market to venture overseas, Japan's sake brewers face stiff competition from the established dominance of wine. Takuma Inagawa heads a startup that's winning global plaudits with new sake varieties developed to complement global cuisines. From cask aging, to unorthodox additives, he uses various techniques to coax out flavors unlike any traditional rice wine. And having successfully expanded into several markets, he's now taking on the biggest of them all: the US.

Sake Reimagined: Taking On the World - Sake Innovator, Takuma Inagawa

For more than 60 years, we have been sending satellites and rockets into space. But this progress has polluted Earth's orbit with a host of man-made space debris, creating a fast-moving "junk belt" that poses considerable risk to probes and spacecraft exiting the atmosphere. One individual working to solve this problem is Nobu Okada, head of a startup harnessing the skills and expertise of universities and technical workshops to develop satellites ready to clean up the cosmos.

Cosmic Cleanup: Space Waste Pioneer - Nobu Okada

In Tokyo's upscale Ginza district is a rice ball shop so popular that lines of hungry office workers are a regular lunchtime sight. As well as the finest ingredients from all over Japan, founder Masayuki Habuki is committed to using rice from his home region, Niigata Prefecture. In fact, his work to promote Niigata rice also includes the production of sake and miso, along with outreach activities like brewery tours and tasting sessions. Follow a business working to preserve this regional food culture.

Rice Against Time: Regional Food Advocate - Masayuki Habuki

Woven rush tatami mats are a traditional element of Japanese homes. But a shift toward Westernized lifestyles has seen production drop to a third of its former peak, driving both makers and rush growers out of business. Yoshiaki Kagami is breathing new life into tatami by cutting out the middlemen to deal directly with growers and consumers. As well as creating novel tatami products, Kagami encourages the sharing of expertise within the industry, and organizes visits to one regional rush farm.

Tatami Revolution: Traditional Mat Maker - Yoshiaki Kagami

In Japan, long-distance express coaches are a fast-expanding sector. Including an increasing number of foreign visitors, annual users now stand at an estimated 120 million. Koji Hirayama runs a coach operator that has helped fuel this growth through an emphasis on safety, comfort, and value, introducing measures like IoT systems to monitor drivers' health and stop them falling asleep at the wheel; specially designed seats; and a system that makes unreserved places available at reduced prices.

Safer, Smarter Coaches: Transport Innovator - Koji Hirayama

Flying cars have long been a staple of science fiction, but recent years have seen a global explosion in projects that aim to make these futuristic vehicles a reality. With the aim of making flight available to all by 2050, one such project is led by Tsubasa Nakamura, whose team of young engineers is working to create a zero-emission road vehicle that can also take to the air via propeller power. Follow their efforts to have their invention light the Olympic Flame at Tokyo 2020.

Flying Cars: Next-Generation Vehicles, Now! - Personal Aviation Pioneer, Tsubasa Nakamura

With over 27% of the population currently aged 65 or over, Japan as a nation is experiencing unprecedented demand for assistive technology. Hideaki Tamada heads one Osaka-based firm that developed walking aids tailored to the smaller physiques of Japanese seniors. A runaway hit, the firm now leads the domestic "walker" market, helping older adults nationwide to maintain their independence. Follow a pioneering business prolonging healthy lifespans for Japan's graying society.

Prolonging Healthy Lifespans: Mobility Aid Pioneer - Hideaki Tamada

The global drive to cut fossil fuel usage has put electric vehicles (EVs) in the spotlight. Spurred by the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of March 2011, engineer Hideo Tsurumaki created a compact EV that is equally at home on land or water. Despite being only 1.3 meters wide, his aquatic car can seat 4 people, and reach top land speeds of 80km an hour. We follow this pioneer of affordable EVs as he expands his operations to frequently flood-affected Thailand.

Affordable Aquatic EVs: Electric Vehicle Innovator - Hideo Tsurumaki

The global boom in wearable technology has seen one traditional Japanese textile maker is in the spotlight with smartphone-linked garments that monitor wearers' heart rate and other data, with applications in sports, healthcare, and industry. Since taking over the family business in 2014, CEO Ayumu Mitera has revived the ailing firm's fortunes through world-leading silver metalized fibers. Find out more about the benefits these unique textiles are bringing to the elderly, epileptics, and more.

Smart Fabrics Saving Lives: Wearable Tech Innovator - Ayumu Mitera

Fujio Kojima leads a company using IT to tackle waste, from litter to fly-tipping and ocean plastics. A unique social media app that encourages users to pick up litter and share their activities, has been a hit with private users and companies alike in 84 countries. The firm has also developed an AI system that scans the streets for garbage, and launched a project surveying plastic waste in rivers and outlets around Japan. Follow a unique business trying to solve the world's garbage problems.

Waste-Battling Hero for the Digital Age: Eco-Entrepreneur - Fujio Kojima

At the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, USA, top plaudits went to a wearable ultrasound sensor that provides users with mobile notifications of bladder fullness. Based on the personal experience of developer Atsushi Nakanishi, the device aims to help an estimated 500 million people worldwide who suffer from urinary incontinence. And this groundbreaking tool is already improving quality of life for both staff and patients in care and rehabilitation settings in Japan and overseas.

Wearable Bladder Buffer: Digital Healthcare Pioneer - Atsushi Nakanishi

In Japan, blemishes and inconsistencies in size or shape see some 20-30% of vegetables rejected as unfit for sale. Keisuke Soda had an idea to spare producers the heartache of scrapping perfectly good crops: He buys such items at a fair price, and presses their pulp into colorful, paper thin-sheets which store well and can be used as you would dried seaweed. Learn how a product originally intended to help regional farmers is now taking off among vegans and mothers of young children alike.

From Waste Produce to Future Food: Vegetable Sheet Creator - Keisuke Soda

Across Japan, aging and depopulation see over 8 million properties currently standing unused. One town at the forefront of this issue is Mino, Gifu Prefecture. Once known for some 4,700 traditional mills making UNESCO-recognized washi paper, now only 6 remain. Takeshi Fujiwara launched a plan to re-activate Mino's empty buildings as resources for culture and tourism. Follow his efforts to revive this community by promoting local crafts and transforming empty homes into unique guesthouses.

Reviving the Home of Traditional Paper: Cultural Reactivator - Takeshi Fujiwara

In Japan, crowdfunding isn't just about money. There's also a site aimed at test marketing new products which has built up an impressive track record. CEO Ryotaro Nakayama finds the ideas slumbering within local small and medium-sized businesses and helps turn them into new products, putting declining industries back into action. From projects like a foldable hybrid bicycle to kitchen knives modeled after Japanese katana swords, we take a deep dive into Nakayama's revolutionary business model.

Putting Slumbering Ideas into Action: Crowdfunding Chief - Ryotaro Nakayama

A Kyoto Prefecture umbrella maker with 160 years of history drove to the brink of bankruptcy in 2003, falling demand for traditional Wagasa paper umbrellas. Son-in-law Kotaro Nishibori left his job as a civil servant to take over the helm, with the motto "true tradition always moves with the times." Since then, lampshades and other products leveraging Wagasa making techniques have won fans at home and abroad, and brought collaborations with international designers.

Brighter Skies for Kyoto Umbrella Craft: Wagasa Innovator - Kotaro Nishibori

Agricultural science PhD Yukihiro Maru is head of a unique business striving to raise the floor for science and technology in Japan, through both educational workshops and support for science-based startups. Staffed by science graduates and postgrads, the firm conducts around 300 workshops each year aimed at boosting interest in STEM subjects among kids and teens, and has also helped kickstart over 200 tech ventures. Follow their efforts to save the world through the power of science.

Saving the World through the Power of Science: STEM Support Innovator - Yukihiro Maru

Over 40% of Japan is covered with woodland. But in recent years, cheap foreign imports have seen a decline in Japan's timber industry, with the resulting lack of resources and personnel required for forest management also leading to landslides and other issues. Hiroyuki Nakamura is revolutionizing forestry through ICT, using laser scanners and 3D modeling to identify the most suitable timber and project the growth of younger saplings after thinning. We follow a pioneer of future forestry.

Taking Forest Management to the Future: ICT Forestry Pioneer - Hiroyuki Nakamura

As Japan's society rapidly ages, rehabilitative care for seniors who cannot walk or stand unaided is a vital part of the country's care provision. With a background in nursing care, Kenta Toshima, a researcher at the prestigious University of Tokyo, uses VR technology to recreate world-famous tourist spots and childhood haunts as environments to get elderly patients moving and talking, with lasting benefits in both departments. Follow a pioneer breaking new ground in elder care technology.

Transforming Elder Care through VR: Nursing Tech Pioneer - Kenta Toshima

Lina Sakai is the mind behind a new bioethanol-based resource cycle that is revitalizing regional economies. In Iwate Prefecture, rice from once fallow fields is fermented to produce ethanol, which is used to create premium cosmetics. Post-fermentation grains are fed to local hens, improving the quality of their eggs. The model is also being applied to apples and millet grains, as Sakai works to promote regional revitalization through local production and consumption.

From Fallow Fields to Fermentation - Lina Sakai

In the world of para-sports, advances in prosthetic technology have brought leaps in performance for athletes. But with the global market dominated by models from Germany and Iceland, one Japanese maker is creating athletic blades to match the smaller Asian physique. In close collaboration with top para-athletes, Atsushi Hamada is working on groundbreaking designs that he hopes can earn success at the Tokyo 2020.

Leap in Progress for Para-Athletics: Prosthetics Engineer - Atsushi Hamada

Year round, Japan plays host to an estimated 300 thousand matsuri. But dwindling rural populations and weakened community bonds now place around a quarter of these colorful traditional festivals in jeopardy. Manabu Ohara heads a unique organization that recruits young people from across the country and overseas to help keep these festivals alive, forging ties with locals and giving a much-needed lift to every aspect -- from preparation, to float-bearing, to cleanup.

Giving a Lift to Traditional Festivals: Matsuri Revivalist - Manabu Ohara

As Japan prepares for the Tokyo 2020's big events, efforts are underway to prepare for the arrival of international athletes and spectators, but wheelchair users still face various hurdles. To promote accessibility for those with disabilities, wheelchair user Yuriko Oda created a "barrier-free map" app that helps users locate and share info on elevators and accessible toilets while avoiding steps and other obstacles. Follow a mobile venture aiming for a barrier-free society.

Aiming for Accessibility: Barrier-Free App Developer - Yuriko Oda

In Japan, over 6 million tons of food, much of it perfectly edible, go to waste every year. To combat this, Kazuma Kawagoe developed a web application that aims to rescue food otherwise headed for the dumpster. Users can browse and reserve items for collection at reduced prices at registered restaurants and bakeries. Follow a unique venture using technology to raise awareness of this issue and change the attitudes of both, consumers and producers, while reducing the waste of precious food.

Rescuing Doomed Dishes: Anti-Food Waste Pioneer - Kazuma Kawagoe

In Japan, a new kind of hotel is giving visitors from around the world the chance to experience Buddhist culture firsthand. Due to depopulation and aging congregations, many of Japan's 77 thousand temples are disused or endangered. Business entrepreneur Mai Sato and ordained priest Shunko Umino are striving to solve this issue by helping temples to find fresh value through hotel facilities that also bring benefits to the broader community.

Japan's Holy Hotels: Temple Hotel Innovators - Mai Sato & Shunko Umino

In Osaka, Japan's second-largest city, one NPO is working with the homeless to help them get back on their feet. Founder Kawaguchi Kana has launched various initiatives providing temporary work and accommodation as a bridge back into mainstream society. These include a city-wide bike share scheme and a social business selling photos that leverage the unique perspectives of those who live on the streets. Follow a unique enterprise striving towards a society that offers everyone a second chance.

Second-Chance Society: Social Entrepreneur - Kawaguchi Kana

Widespread school closures due to COVID-19 have thrust online learning resources into the spotlight. In Japan, one such service offering a fun introduction to the world of smartphone and computer programming received 10 thousand signups in just one month, with over 600 schools considering integrating it into their curriculum. We follow founder and former supply teacher Mizuno Yusuke's efforts to bring new opportunities to teenagers at a crucial stage in their educational journey.

Progress through Programming: E-Learning Innovator - Mizuno Yusuke

In March 2020, to curb the spread of COVID-19, schools across Japan were urged to close, prompting widespread fears that children may fall behind on their studies. Enter Yunokawa Takahiko, developer of a unique e-learning platform that uses AI to assess students' shortcomings and provide an adaptive learning experience to match. Having rolled out to almost 370 schools during the pandemic, Yunokawa aims to provide affordable, egalitarian learning opportunities to students in Japan and overseas.

AI - Leveling the Educational Playing Field: E-Learning Innovator - Yunokawa Takahiko

Small scale, specialist technical workshops, or "machikoba," have long been a lynchpin of Japanese manufacturing. But without the ability to effectively communicate their supreme skills, overseas competition and a lack of successors have seen the sector shrink in recent decades. Entrepreneur Furukawa Taku is aiming to change all that, working with a network of over 100 workshops in downtown Tokyo to refresh their old-fashioned business models and promote creative cross-sector collaborations.

Showcasing Tokyo's Technical Treasures: Business Matching Innovator - Furukawa Taku

With its many volcanoes, Japan has the world's third-highest potential for geothermal energy. In 1984, Hachimantai, Iwate Pref. opened the country's first such power station, with greenhouses reusing the hot spring water to grow vegetables in the harsh northern winters. After falling out of use, they were revived by Kodama Norihiro, who has fused geothermal spring water with the Internet of Things to create a simple, sustainable new agricultural model that aims to revitalize this rural area.

The Best Seasons of RISING

The Best Seasons of RISING

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