TEDxTokyo 2012

I got up early on Saturday morning and headed to Shibuya as I was volunteering at TEDxTokyo as a photographer.   TED is a global conference series with a simple theme ‘ideas worth spreading’…  You can apply to attend a TED Conference and if you are selected the attendance fee starts at $7,000 and these events sell out quickly.    You can also buy a subscription to watch live.   TED debated for years about putting the videos from conferences online and 800 million views later they made the right decision.   You can get lost for days in their archives watching interesting and thought-provoking talks.

TEDx events are locally organized events created in the spirit of TED’s mission, “ideas worth spreading”.   The TEDx program is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level.  TEDxTokyo is a invite only event.   I felt honored to be invited and I was glad to be able to contribute my photography skills.   The talks have been posted and you can view them HERE.  There is translation provided for Japanese speakers.

Hiyoshi Kurokawa (Chairman of the Health and Global Policy Institute), Hiroaki Kitano (President of Sony Computer Science Laboratories) and Pieter Franken (from Safecast.org)…

Todd Porter (Curator of TEDxTokyo)

Yoshiharu Habu (Shogi Grandmaster and Game Visionary)

Huai-Chien Chang (Extreme Environment Investigator and Space Settlement Proponent)

Ai Futaki (Underwater Harmonist and Guinness World Record Holder)

Tokiko Kato (Singer-Songwriter, Environmentalist and Goodwill Ambassador)

Tom Kelley (Innovation Evangelist and Author)

Yukio Yamori (Global Nutritionist and Longevity Expert)

Team Turntable Rider (aka DJ Performance Vehicle)

As you can tell it wasn’t all talks…there were a few performances thrown in.   This one from Shiro-A was very cool.

Patrick Newell (Tokyo International School)

Charles McJilton (Second Harvest Japan)

Lui Watanabe (2007 Miss World Japan)

Mika Ueno and Joseph Tame…

Kevin Carroll and Pieter Franken…

She was part of a group from Dubai who is looking to replicate TEDx for their school…

…and TEDxTokyo wasn’t short of food!

Shihoko Fujiwara (Crime Fighter and Human Rights Activist)

Kids from the local international school talking about TEDxKids.  They said they were doing events so they didn’t grow up to be adults like us…

Open Reel Ensemble (Conceptual Music Crew)

Masashi Kawamura (Interactive Multimedia Master and Creative Communicator)

Jesper Koll (Economist, Investment Analyst and Professional Braincaster)

Mizuho Asano (Master Choreographer and Mai Dancer)

John Francis (Environmentalist and Planetwalker)

Drum Cafe Japan (Team Builders and Interactive Rhythmic Healers)

TEDx is a place for sharing ideas…and this simple one I just love.

The event ended at a 1000 year old shrine for a little post event party.

Thanks for stopping by today…