Takuya ISHIKAWA Educator

Born in 1984 in Wakayama, Japan. Takuya studied at School of Business Administration at Kwansai Gakuin University. During his student years, he formed a sports circle, having his friends and students from women’s college nearby involved. Under a strict precept that prohibits any romantic relationships within the circle, he enjoyed playing various sports, such as basketball, football and snowboarding, while being engaged in the management of the group. The circle has now grown bigger and became the greatest in the University with more than 150 members.

After graduating the university, Takuya’s interest in entertainment including music and film led him to join Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd. Through his duties at TSUTAYA EBISUBASHI in Osaka, where he was assigned to in his first year, he gained a new interest in the editing and distribution of information. He later relocated to Tokyo after getting assigned to a position directing the company’s entertainment website. Around this time, he began to work as the first manager for the band named “networks”, providing them mental support especially, and accompanied their music gigs almost every week. He also started his music career as a DJ, and played actively at clubs in Tokyo. As his duties in the company expanded, such as working on service design for online and ebooks businesses, and their UI and UX design, he keenly felt the necessity of creative thinking and practical skills in design, and left the job. He went on to pursue his study at Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences(IAMAS) in April, 2013.

At IAMAS, Takuya studied the conditions for the “associations” to get formed, such as unions and cooperatives that are generated spontaneously, and engaged in community design projects in Gifu, such as “Mino House” and “Club Train”. After finishing the study, he remained in Gifu to continue the projects while managing to work both at IAMAS as a researcher and a consulting firm that serves for administration.

Takuya joined the team of YCAM in April, 2016. He has been responsible for organizing human resources development programs including “RADLOCAL”, and projects related to community design. He seeks new ways of working, playing and living in the regional community, endeavording behind the scenes day and night to achieve “a society planned by people”.