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WHAT’S NEW

• My life story is featured on the official website of Harvard Kennedy School.
  • This article introduces my career trajectory as a first-generation college student, an official in Japan’s national government, CCO at a leading AI startup that won the Grand Prix at Startup World Cup 2023, and a researcher in philosophy.
  • This article also outlines my future aspirations, including my roles as Executive Advisor to both Kyoto Institute of Philosophy initiated by NTT’s chairman and Yamauchi No.10 Family Office (Nintendo’s family office), as well as my role as Chief Strategist for the former.

BIO

• Masaki Nomura is a researcher who integrates Japanese philosophy with architecture and design. His scholarly endeavors seek to theorize Japanese non-dichotomic philosophies, focusing on the fundamental inseparability between subject-object, self-others, body-mind, time-space, human-nature, and more, embodied within the context of Japan’s architecture and design.
• Prior to Harvard Graduate School of Design and Harvard Kennedy School, Masaki served as a national government official at Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, and the Cabinet Office, engaging in the drafting of mission-critical cabinet decisions. He then held a C-Suite position at a leading AI startup that garnered the Grand Prix at the Startup World Cup 2023, collaborating with political and business leaders including ministers. During this time, he authored a philosophy paper that bridges Japanese Zen philosophy with the concept of mindfulness and co-authored a Harvard Business School case study on Japanese management philosophy.
• Drawing upon these professional experiences, he has served as an Executive Advisor for Nintendo’s Family Office and the Kyoto Institute of Philosophy, where the board members include CEOs of Japan’s premier global companies such as NTT, Hitachi, Hakuhodo, and others. Currently, as a philosophy researcher, he is the author of “Kyoto Grand Vision 2050,” a comprehensive future plan for Kyoto city, which boasts 1,200 years of history and projects into the forthcoming quarter-century, commissioned directly by the mayor.
• Masaki earned an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School, an MPhil from Kyoto University majoring in philosophy, and a BA from the University of Tokyo. He was selected as a World Economic Forum’s Global Shaper and has been the recipient of many other awards and honors. Additionally, he is an adept player of Kendo, a traditional Japanese martial art of swordsmanship, with 28 years of experience, and regularly practices it in Boston and Kyoto to pursue the state of the aforementioned non-dichotomies.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

• Executive Advisor / Chief Strategist | Kyoto Institute of Philosophy【7/2023-Present】
  • Kyoto Institute of Philosophy is a research institute established by the chairman of Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. (also known as NTT), one of world’s largest telecommunication companies with over 330,000 employees, and a professor of philosophy at Kyoto University.
  • The board members of the institute include the chairpersons from Hitachi, a leading global conglomerate with 370,000 employees, and Hakuhodo, a top-10 global advertising and PR agency, as well as the largest shareholder of IDEO.
  • Develop long-term strategies/roadmaps to establish a global initiative like the World Economic Forum that offers practical insights to rethink and reframe fundamental concepts such as “sustainability” through Asian non-dichotomous philosophy.
    
• Collaborative Research Fellow | Office of Society-Academia Collaboration for Innovation, Kyoto University 【4/2023-Present】
  • Kyoto University is one of the world’s most highly regarded research universities that has affiliated 19 Nobel Prize laureates (the most among all universities in Asia).
  • Advise the Director-General of the Office of Society-Academia Collaboration for Innovation regarding collaborations of philosophy-science/academia-business-government.
    
• Executive Advisor | Yamauchi-No.10 Family Office【11/2021-Present】
  • Yamauchi-No.10 Family Office is Nintendo’s founding family office.
  • Established Yamauchi Japan Initiative for Harvard affiliates to deepen understanding of Japan/Asian non-dichotomic philosophy and its potentiality to better our human society.
    
• Chief Creative Officer | Aillis, Inc.【7/2019-Present】
• Executive Officer | Aillis, Inc.【11/2018-7/2019】
  • Aillis is an AI startup developing medical devices, fundamental AI technologies, and their platforms.
  • The company has raised over 40M USD thus far from Mirai Creation Fund (Toyota Motor Corporation’s venture capital fund) and others since its founding in November 2017.
    • Aillis won the Grand Prix at the Tokyo round and the San Francisco Grand Finale of the Startup World Cup 2023.
  • Joined Aillis as the 7th member to accumulate experiences pursuing the public good from the private sector, after supporting the expansion of the healthcare and medical industries and realizing the indispensability of multisectoral collaboration at METI, Government of Japan.
  • Direct “Creative” or “outside-the-box” thinking as Chief Creative Officer to generate and execute innovative solutions for all sorts of mission-critical issues including business development, fundraising, government relations, and many others.
    
• Deputy Director | Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) / Cabinet Office (CAO), Government of Japan【7/2017-10/2018】
• Head Principal Assistant Directors | METI【7/2015-7/2017】
• Government Official | METI / CAO【4/2014-7/2015】
  • Engaged in healthcare industry promotion, economic sanctions against other countries based on UN Security Council resolutions, and trade control of weapons/drugs in cooperation with the WTO, the National Police Agency, and the Public Security Intelligence Agency.
  • Drafted 100+ Minister’s statements to the National Diet and critical cabinet decisions including the “Abenomics Growth Strategy”, uniting industry groups and related ministries.

FOR MORE DETAILS (Researchmap)