Board Members

Yumiko Mori, Chairman
Graduated from Saint Mary's College, California, with infant psychology / education major. After experiencing research fellowship at Schizophrenia Biology Research Center, Palo Alto, Stanford Univ., she joined Japanese toy maker TOMY in the midst of her doctorates program in the Education Dept. of UCLA. She left the company in 1999 to work on the development of a space for children, so that she can demonstrate her own theories about how harmonization between the tool (toy), space and human relationships is beneficial in the development of children.

She planned and started up R&D Center of Workshops for Children at Okawa Center CAMP (Children's Art Museum & Park) located in West-Japan Science City, Kyoto, in April 2001, sponsored by CSK Corporation, as part of its social contribution program.

She became a visiting researcher of MIT Media Lab in 2002, and started the project Pangaea to create a universal playground in cyberspace, where children across the globe can connect. Pangaea was registered as a certified non-profit organization by Tokyo Prefecture in April 2003.

Toshiyuki Takasaki, Vice Chairman and Chief Technology Officer
Obtained BA at Precision Engineering Dept. of Tokyo Univ. and MA at Graduate School of Frontier Science of Tokyo Univ. with Engineered Environmental Studies as his major. He studied wearable information networks and nature interface during the master’s program and experienced internships at the laboratories of Japan IBM and NTT DoCoMo, where he was involved in the development of the man-machine interface and the healthcare radio system using PHS.

He became a Research Affiliate of MIT Media Lab in 2001 as an assignee from Sega Corporation, Japan, and provided technical support, while also facilitating activities in starting up the R&D Center of Workshops for Children at Okawa Center CAMP (Children's Art Museum & Park) located in West-Japan Science City, Kyoto, during this assignment. He experienced internship to develop RFID system at TagSense Inc. US, from 2002.

He started Project Pangaea as a Visiting Scientist of MIT Media Lab in 2002 with Ms. Yumiko Mori. The project was authorized as non-profit organization by Tokyo Prefecture in April 2003. His creative software projects were accepted twice by the Exploratory Software Project, sponsored by the Information Technology Promotion Agency Japan (the independent agency of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) in 2004 and 2006, which were managed by Prof. Toru Ishida in Kyoto University and Prof. David Farber in Carnegie Mellon University. He participated in "Asia 21 Young Leaders Summit" of Asia Society in 2007 as one of the Japanese delegates. He has been a part-time researcher in Department of Social Informatics, Kyoto University since 2006.

He pursues to form the respect of humanity by shifting the paradigm of thoughts from digital to analogue, in contrast with the technological trends developed in the reversed order in our time, which presents the alarming realities of global security and the difficult challenges in environmental sustainability. He is responsible for the R&D of Pangaea, in corporation with the international researchers, as a Peace Engineer.

Toshio Nagahisa, Board Member
Representative Director / Executive Director, PHP Research Institute, Inc.

Hiroaki Machino, Board Member
President, Socio Engine Associates

Yukimitsu Sanada, Board Member
Professor, Dept. of Business, Aichi Shukutoku University

Yasukazu Okano, Board Member
Seminar for Multicultural Education

Naoko Hattori, Board Member
Executive Vice-President, Socio Engine Associates

Yasuho Ema, Auditor
Representative of Ema Accounting Office

Corporate Members

OKWave Inc.

Message from Yumiko Mori, President of Pangaea: I remember the time when President Kanemoto briefly came into our Tokyo office with his PR person. When we talked about Japan-Korean webcam activity, he shared his personal experiences as a child with us. I was shocked to learn that he went through various bullying because he is a Korean-Japanese mix. I met him for the first time then, but somehow we had a lot to share. On that occasion, he decided to donate to us a part of royalty on the book with a rather shocking title, "My Wife is to Have an Affair This Week", as part of the social contribution program of his company. The book was written based on the actual entries to OK Wave Q&A service. Mr. Kanemoto has been interested in non-profit organization activities, and signed up as a corporate member of Pangaea.

URL: http://www.okwave.co.jp/en/about/index.html

Geisha Tokyo Entertainment Inc.

Message from Toshiyuki Takasaki, Vice President of Pangaea: President Tanaka has been an inspiring friend of mine since our collage days, and he has been a business owner since then. He is also positive about social contributions, and he immediately said that he would like to cooperate in the vision of Pangaea and registered as a Corporate Member, when I talked about it at our reunion quite a while after the graduation. His support is always encouraging to me.

URL: http://www.geishatokyo.com/

elab experience

Message from Toshiyuki Takasaki, Vice President of Pangaea: elab experience has been a consistent supporter of Pangaea since the very beginning, through joint research and development. The company members are a small number of highly capable engineers, manufacturing such products as sensor network devices, and I always learn from them. elab was founded at the same time as Pangaea, to gradually build the company at its current state, so I feel familiarity in that sense, too. I must also note that Mie Univ. became one of the Pangaea sites in 2006, thanks to the ardent support of Mr. Shimamura and other staff at elab.

URL: http://www.elab-experience.com/

SAKAKI LAB INC

Message from Toshiyuki Takasaki, Vice President of Pangaea: The President of Sakaki Lab witnessed the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, from his office in the nearby Rockefeller Building. We later met at the MIT Media Lab. This event had a major impact on his work, and he established this design lab centered on the advancement of communication technologies. Pangaea has benefited greatly from his continued support and personal advice throughout its development.

URL: http://www.SakakiLab.net/

Associate Corporate Members

Renbi Infant School

URL: http://renbi.com/

Partners

Japan

the Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University / Keio University / Tama Art University / the University of Tokyo / Mie University / Osaka Institute of Technology / Kwansei Gakuin University / Kyoto Women's University / National Institute of Information and Communication Technology / CSK Holdings Corp. / Shibiya Ward, Tokyo / Suginami Ward, Tokyo / Kyoto International School / National Federation of UNESCO Associations

Korea

Korea UNESCO Mizy Center / Mapo Youth Culture Center

Austria

Vienna Youth Center

Italy

Glocal Forum

U.K.

BBC

Netherlands

University of Amsterdam

Kenya

Maneno World / UNESCO Kenya / Nation Media Group

Malaysia

University Malaysia Sarawak, SMK BARIO

U.S.A.

The Media Lab M.I.T

Etc.