“Myojowaraku 2018 Summer” closed.
For two days in September from the 13th to 14th, “WARAKU CAMP” in Noko Island in Hakata Bay served as a creative experience separated from daily life. For two days from September 15th to 16th, “WARAKU SUMMIT” served as a matchmaker between startups, supporters and venture capitals not only from Fukuoka City but also from foreign countries through panel discussions, booth exhibition and pitch contests.
This time, Myojowaraku (this festival’s name) changed the concept to “Fusion and creation between diverse sectors.” 100 people attended the camp and 3500 attended the summit during “the 4 days undermining common sense.” Let’s recap.
The first attempt, WARAKU CAMP
Noko Island can be reached within one hour from the center of Fukuoka City. This island in Hakata Bay is well known to the citizens of Fukuoka. A great view of Fukuoka City is available from this beachside campground. WARAKU CAMP, which was our first event, was held there.
This beachside campground with a splendid view of Fukuoka City was the venue.
Mayor Takashima arrived during lunchtime before the opening ceremony.
The lunch was held on the beach, before the opening ceremony commenced. Soichiro Takashima, the Mayor of Fukuoka, cheerfully joined the participants. Mayor Takashima was also wearing a WARAKU uniform! It was impressive that the Mayor himself communicated positively with foreign guests who were invited from cities with which Fukuoka City signed a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding).
Mayor Takashima enjoyed talking with overseas guests.
Opening ceremony
Opening English speeches were delivered by Kenji Matsuguchi called Matsu-Ken, the chief executive officer of the Myojowaraku festival. Yuya Roy Komatsu, the main MC for these 4 days, boosted the mood in English and Japanese. A dynamic calligraphy performance by Natsumi Pigstar attracted the attention of participants, and people started to focus on what she was doing. Toward the end of the ceremony, the participants became closer to one another and started enjoying themselves. The artwork was completed with all participants’ handprints.
Yuya Roy Komatsu, was the main MC for 4 days.
Natsumi Pigstar, a calligrapher, showed a symbolic performance for the opening ceremony.
A total of 100 people participated in the camp.
Team discussion
Mixed teams were organized between overseas guests, domestic businessmen, and students. Each group discussed “the countermeasure against the heat for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020,” and gave an English presentation at the end.
The official language for discussion was English. 
Japanese people discussed the theme in English even though they weren’t used to doing it in Japan. 
BBQ & Night Party
BBQ is a cliché as a camp dinner in Japan. The grilled meat by Keiichi Nakamura called BBQ man was delicious! Performances by DJ NOMA and FREAKS, a chorus group in BARIKATA (Hakata) style followed BBQ. Campfire and fireworks closed the first day.
BBQ man, Keiichi Nakamura
DJ Show by DJ NOMA
FREAK, a rising chorus group from Fukuoka
The closing campfire
Workshop experiences
Various activities and workshop experiences were available on the morning of the second day. For instance, SUP (Stand-up paddleboarding) and sea kayak provided by YAMAP INC. as well as the herbarium making experience by GMO papebo, Inc. and a tour to Genkai Island. Sublime nature impressed travelers to Genkai Island. Salt chicken curry was served for lunch by Emerada who has a restaurant in Ropponmatsu. Not only domestic participants but also overseas guests were delighted with this curry.
SUP (Stand-up paddleboarding) was provided by YAMAP INC. 
The herbarium making experience was provided by GMO papebo.
The calligraphy experience was popular among foreign guests.
The curry by Emerada was excellent.
Closing ceremony
To finish up with the camp, each team gave a presentation about ideas as the fruits of the discussion for two days. Even domestic participants enjoyed English presentations. The winners were selected by votes. Awards were presented for the top 3 teams.
Awards were presented for the top 3 teams.
A mixed team between Japanese and foreigners gave a presentation together.
This camp was the first trial for the Myojo Waraku festival. Matsu-Ken, the Myojowaraku festival CEO, mentioned: “I hope that the network that began here will generate something new for the next step.”
About 3500 people enjoyed the WARAKU SUMMIT for two days
WARAKU SUMMIT presented diverse programs with approximately 40 overseas guests. You could find over 20 discussions, pitch contests between 26 companies, and the demonstration of Gogh’s self-portrait’s clone artwork and even a 3D body scan machine. Business contests for students including high school students also took place. In the booth area, you could find more than 70 enterprise exposition booths, the stage for news release by PR TIMES and street stalls that represented Fukuoka food culture. Therefore, the participants had really enjoyed themselves. Let’s recap the two-day WARAKU SUMMIT!
Opening ceremony
Opening speeches were delivered by Yuya Roy Komatsu, main MC, and Matsu-Ken, CEO of the Myojowaraku festival. At the end of the opening ceremony, “FUKUOKA DreamScouts performance corps,” a marching band, kicked the venue into gear.
The opening show was presented by FUKUOKA DreamScouts performance corps
More than 20 topics of discussions were broad from technology to other local topics.
The number of themes by over 100 guests is uncountable. Blockchain technology, AI and robotics were the main topics of cutting edge technology. Also, there were various talks such as music and local ones.
At the session discussing how AI should be applied to business, Mr. Niki, CEO of AI specialized fund DEEPCORE took the podium.
A total of 3 sessions about Blockchain technology were held.
Over 150 participants were at the venue and some of them were even standing.
In a certain session, a Vtuber was on the stage?! 
At the session regarding robotics, Prof. Okada famous for his book “Weak robots” took the stage.
WARAKU pitch had 26 companies as participants.
This time, the Myojowaraku festival held 3 pitch contests: one for domestic VC (where startups in Fukuoka city competed), one for overseas related cities (where startups in Fukuoka city competed), and one to run a business in Fukuoka city (foreign startups competed). The pitch participants passed the screening of documents from four times as many candidates. Therefore, their pitches were really exciting.
Mr. Shimai, CEO of Pear inc. announced further funding.
Judges are domestic VC. We can find Mr. Ieiri in the first line, who had founded a new fund NOW just before the festival.
There was a total of 14 startups that pitched for the international startup pitch event.
Both the pitches and questions were in English.
A “tangible” Gogh’s self-portrait and a 3D body scan were aligned.
There was an exposition of a “tangible” Gogh’s self-portrait in a corner. A clone artwork’s exhibition created by COI of Tokyo University of the Arts took place in cooperation with IKI and Tokyo University of Arts. Clone artworks are the superfine replicas of artworks based on patents the team of Masaaki Miyasako, honorary professor of Tokyo University of the Arts created.
There was a 3D body scan of Kyoto University of Art & Design aside! The scanning image of Mayor Takashima became a hot topic on SNS.
A clone artwork’s exposition created by COI of Tokyo University of the Arts took place in cooperation with IKI and Tokyo University of Arts.
A 3D body scan was placed in cooperation with the Kyoto University of Arts & Design.
A business contest for high school students and university students.
A hackathon was held last time. However, it became more prominent. A business contest involving companies took place this time. Themes were given to students by two companies, the Sankei Shimbun and Fukuoka financial group. The award of the winner of the final stage is the rights of adoption to PoC (Proof of Concept) for considering commercialization. One of the top consulting firms worldwide, PwC organized this event through both the preliminary stage and final stage with the Myojowaraku executive committee.
30 students of 13 teams competed for two companies’ themes in the preliminary stage. Each winner was announced after the final stage. We found a high school student among the winners! Young power in Fukuoka was impressive in the business contests.
At the final stage, the participants gave presentations again.
The judges listened attentively to the students’ serious presentations.
The winners’ ideas would be adopted to PoC in each company.
In the booth area, we found street stalls among over 70 company booths.
More than 70 startups from Fukuoka City and foreign countries held a booth exposition in the ground of Fukuoka Growth Next. PR TIMES had a news release stage in the main tent, and many enterprises, mainly, startups in Fukuoka City released their news from morning to evening for two days.
Street stalls, one of Fukuoka’s specialties appeared near the entrance of the booth area. The programs that represented Fukuoka City attracted domestic and overseas attendees.
The news release stage by PR TIMES
Over 70 booths were hot throughout the festival.
Foreign guests were tasting noodles with thick pork soup in a stall.
Myojo Waraku 2018 Summer was held through four days.
This time, the concept was changed to “Fusion and creation with diverse sectors.” This concept emerged everywhere for four days. Many students played important roles as staff. This movement by fused generation will continue to activate Fukuoka further. The CEO of Myojowaraku, Matsu-Ken said “Myojo Waraku isn’t just an event. We shall organize this as a lasting community for the future.”
How will the next “fusion and creation with diverse sectors” turn out? We expect the next one.
Photo by
Hibi Miyazaki
Yuji Toh
Mao Otsuka
Sayoko Takata
Luca
