Lately, the words "Education of Desire" have set my thoughts in motion. If objects are created in response to people's desires, the quality of their desire will affect that of the object. If in response to the demands of appetite, we loosen our belts to the next hole, slovenly fashion follows. People's "needs" are sometimes loose. Therefore, needs require education. Desire and education are both words that seem too direct, but I haven't found any better. The English word education is better than the Japanese word, kyoiku, because it communicates the nuance of causing potential to blossom by supplying a vision. Design must be a slow, quiet education that gradually exerts influence on the quality of need--the standard of the desire. The aesthetics instilled in a subtly designed and well-made product kindle a small awakening and the desire life swells like a bud swollen to bursting. Objects are thus produced according to the desire that swells. Objects come into being in concert with these swollen desires, and the soil of culture grows and matures because of those countless cycles and linkages. The essence of design is participation in the quality of the soil. [Naito-san, I spent some time researching commas and "therefore". If we want to emphasize the introductory word or phrase, which in this case is the word, "therefore", we put a comma after it. If we don't want to emphasize it by making the reader pause after it, we don't. I think in this case, you're right. Let's put a comma after "therefore"! Thanks for urging me to look into it. Grammar is sometimes loose, like needs!]

The number of disposal diapers for adults, particularly the aged, has surpassed that of those for babies in our country. In 40 years, more than 40% of the population will be over 65. It's a bleak story. But it's boring to just see this as the coming of an aged society.
Some ants work hard, some goof off. I've forgotten the ratio, but it seems that even if you collect only hardworking ants into a community, or only lazy ants into a community, you still end up with an equal proportion of hardworking and lazy ants. I think the same would be true of human society. Regardless of the population's age structure, the proportion of the active vs. the inactive might be very close to that of the ants. What we need to do is reorganize our sense of value based on maturity and sophistication, without equating active to young. Or to put it another way, there are adults who are calm and composed at 20 and energetic people over 60.
At Hara Design Institute, we are concerned with the sense of value that emphasizes a mature viewpoint and atmosphere, regardless of age, an approach we call "The Principles of Adults". We intend to conduct marketing based on elements like maturity and sophistication, things we've lost sight of in the din and bustle of youth culture and a rapidly growing economy.

This section is about not kennels but architecture designed for dogs. We humans are animals that have striven to recreate the external environment to our own advantage. Whether functions or environments, we've made them from a human-centered perspective. Some people even believe that being friendly to humans is equivalent to being friendly to nature.
In fact, even dogs were made by humans. Wolves are dogs' ancestors. Pocket Chihuahuas, Dachshunds, Toy Poodles, and Afghan Hounds: all breeds came into existence through crossbreeding, controlled by humans. Dogs would be perplexed if they were told to return to the wilderness. Dogs are destined to coexist with humans. So we are seriously considering how to make spaces and furniture to suit this coexistence.
The details of this plan begin with asking leading architects to design buildings for dogs based on detailed information about size and behavioral idiosyncrasies of the breed. The results will be shared on our website. The user will be able to access CG, drawings and animation showing how to fabricate the structure. We are thinking of selling full-size drawings of the proposed architecture, with the premise that users will build them. So the architecture should be designed simply for DIY construction.
We plan to present this project as an exhibition in Europe in 2012.

Asia moves on the tailwind of economic growth. By drawing on Japan's experiences and reflections of our own period of rapid economic and financial growth, we believe that we can help other Asian countries see the possibility of economic development progressing in step with the protection and utilization of cultural assets. Although China is unlike Japan in the tempestuous transformations of its historical and cultural characteristics, our interest in the various aspects of that culture is undying.
We expect that Kenya Hara's 2011 China Exhibition Design-like Design, a traveling exhibition that begins in Beijing, will lead to a deeper relationship with China.
The Jingdezhen Imperial Kilns is a compound project, the standard of restoration of porcelain manufacturing techniques and historical legacy. When we think of China, we think of porcelain. During the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Jingdezen was the hub of porcelain manufacturing. This exhibition is considered a large-scale communication design project comprising the utilization of kiln ruins and art resources, art museums, identification and tourism.
The Buddhist Seung Eun Temple in Yangyang, Korea, is a project conceiving a new format for a Zen temple. This is an experiment in thinking from an entirely new perspective about what kind of environment and space in which people experience Zen.

For the more than 60 years following World War II, Japan's industry has been bolstered by industrial production. The Japanese archipelago has been used as a factory and the vision of the "Pacific Belt Zone" is still the foundation of industry in Japan. This zone encompasses Keihin [including Tokyo, Kawasaki, Yokohama as one industrial region], Chukyo [Tokai's most urban area, centered on Nagoya], Hanshin [including Osaka and Kobe], Setouchi [the Inland Sea coasts in Chugoku's southern and Shikoku's northern areas] and Kitakyushu [including Fukuoka and Kitakyushu]. We import resources, process them in industrial complexes, manufacture products in factories, and ship them overseas from seaports. But it's high time that we look to the innate charm of our archipelago.
Mountains and woods cover large areas of our land and we have numerous rivers. Our archipelago has inland seas rich in greenery and water, and the four seasons are distinct. We have scarce resources of oil and minerals, but there are hot springs everywhere.
We believe that by reevaluating the charm of this country, blessed with nature, we can progress as a new nation of tourism and hospitality, attracting visitors from abroad by grace of our aesthetic resources: refinement, civility, precision and simplicity.
We now feel the possibilities of both hospitality design that strives to welcome our guests and experience design whose goal is to launch experiences. Examples such as navigation design for the Setouchi International Art Festival and art direction for a hotel are projects that mark this beginning.