Speakers

These twenty-three speakers gave the speech of their lives – in 18 minutes or less. TEDxTokyo 2009 will be hard to top!

Renée Byer: Documentary Photojournalist, Pulitzer Prize Winner

Renée ByerRenée Byer has the rare inner lens needed to produce photos with profound emotional resonance and sensitivity. That talent has brought her countless honors, including the McClatchy President’s Award, AP’s Mark Twain Award, the Casey Award for Meritorious Journalism, the World Understanding Award, and a Pulitzer in 2007 for a series called “A Mother’s Journey.” Renée’s photos have been featured in Paris Match, People, El Pais, Newsweek Asia, Marie Claire, Days Japan and most recently a book called America at Home. In addition to judging local, national and international photojournalism contests, she regularly mentors photographers at workshops in Japan, Mexico, Cambodia and the United States.

Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham: International Design Mavens, Pecha Kucha Night Originators

Astrid Klein and Mark DythamTokyo-based but global in mindset, architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Klein Dytham architecture design everything from public spaces to private places for clients such as Uniqlo, Selfridges, Virgin Atlantic and Bloomberg. Known for their astute eye for the fresh, in 2003 they gave Tokyo’s design community Pecha Kucha Night, a networking forum where young creatives can interact and show their work. Pecha Kucha’s potent conversation about things creative has gone viral; now running in 180 cities, it spawned over 350 events in 2008 alone.

Ricco DeBlank: Hotelier, Customer Service Visionary, Human Resource and Training Authority

Ricco DeBlankPeople love working for Ricco DeBlank. Two years after he took over the Ritz-Carlton Osaka in 2003, for example, an industry survey ranked it as Japan’s most preferred hotel employer. Travel and linguistic skills have honed Ricco’s acute sensitivity to the needs of employees and customers: he has visited over a hundred countries, and speaks five languages fluently. He has handled Ritz-Carlton properties in Indonesia, China, Egypt and elsewhere, and opened hotels in Florida and Europe. Now the general manager of the Ritz-Carlton Tokyo and The Park Residences, Ricco is often called on describe how he had made Ritz-Carlton hotels the finest in Japan.

Barry Eisler: Novelist, Former CIA Operative, Recovering Lawyer

Barry EislerBarry Eisler has a much higher profile now than he ever did as a spy for the CIA or in his subsequent incarnation as an intellectual property lawyer and entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. His sharp-edged, realistic novels about an enigmatic and conflicted assassin named John Rain have won the Barry Award and the Gumshoe Award for Best Thriller of the Year and appear in nearly twenty languages. This year Sony Pictures turned Barry’s first book, Rain Fall, into a movie starring Gary Oldman. His seventh and newest novel, Fault Line, launches a new subgenre—the blogosphere thriller. Barry earned a black belt at the Kodokan International Judo Center in Tokyo, and lives alternately in Japan and the Bay Area.

Tia Johnston Brown: Global Development Specialist, Youth Empowerment Catalyst

Tia Johnston BrownTia Johnston Brown is committed to inspiring young people to alter their lives and communities in a constructive way. After empowering youth in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, Tia brought her passion and expertise to Ashoka’s Youth Venture in 2004. She assisted in the global launch of David Bornstein’s book How to Change the World and later expanded the Youth Venture program to 19 countries. Along the way, Tia’s team has helped over 100,000 youths link their passion to a problem in their community and create their own solutions for positive change. Tia believes this grassroots movement—including a youth entrepreneurship program—will produce more dedicated problem-solvers and innovators with the drive to transform global society.

William P. J. (Bill) Hall: Market Research Consultant, International Economist, Corporate Citizen

William P. J. (Bill) HallFew Westerners have delved deeper into the Japanese consumer’s psyche than Bill Hall. Bill began researching the Japanese market in the early 1970s before moving on in the late 1980s to serve as president of two Fortune 500 companies in Japan. Also an economist of note, Bill is one of a small number of eminent Japanese and Australians selected by the governments of Australia and Japan, respectively, to attend the Australia-Japan Conference series. He has been chairman of the Australian & New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ANZCCJ) and of the Japan Market Expansion Competition (JMEC), and still serves both organizations. Bill returned to the market research and research-based consulting field in 2001, and currently runs the healthcare and business consulting divisions of Synovate in Japan.

Yuji Hirayama: World Champion Rock Climber, Hard Bouldering Master

Yuji HirayamaYuji Hirayama is a bona fide rock star—the kind with grit on his hands, open air all around, and no net below. A competition climber who’s scaled peaks in China, Italy, Kuala Lumpur, Switzerland and elsewhere, Yuji was World Cup champion in 2000. He’s now revered as a granite crack climber and boulderer, able to analyze and exploit the tiniest seams. Because just climbing isn’t adrenaline-charged enough, Yuji is also a speed climber. In 2008, he and ascent partner Hans Florine set a new record for ascending the Nose of El Capitan, blazing up the 1000-meter wall in 2:37:05, beating the previous record by two minutes and bettering their 2002 mark by a staggering five minutes.

Tetsuya Kaida: Mobility Concept Futurist, Natural Materials Advocate

Tetsuya KaidaIf Tetsuya Kaida has his way, we’ll soon be driving ultralight cars built of kelp and transparent vehicles featuring “mood training” dashboards that mirror our psychological state. As one of Toyota’s main drivers for innovation, Tetsuya has the power to make such fantastic concepts real. His ultimate goal is to create cars in harmony with the environment and humans, like the RIN vehicle—a virtual meditation chamber on wheels unveiled at the 2007 Tokyo Auto Show. The core philosophy behind Toyota’s nature-inspired concept vehicles is bunsoo, or living within one’s means. Tetsuya also recently collaborated with a team of Chicago-based fashion designers to produce clothing based on Toyota’s i-Real—a mobile armchair capable of running twenty miles per hour.

Bruce Livingstone: Entrepreneur, Musician, Photographer

Bruce LivingstoneLegions of photographers are grateful that Bruce Livingstone left his punk-rock band, The Bittermen, in 1996. That’s because the Canadian entrepreneur later founded iStockphoto, which pioneered the microstock photography business model and a vibrant new market for images. Getty Images bought iStockphoto from Bruce in 2006, and in 2007 he sold Getty two other companies, Paper Thin Walls Inc. and Evolvs Media Inc. The staff at Evolvs Media became the new LIFE.com technology team. In 2007, Getty Images named Bruce its senior vice president of technology and consumer products, while he retained his CEO post at iStockphoto. Bruce left both Getty and iStockphoto in April this year on a two-year tour of Europe with his fiancée and son to pursue their shared passion for photography.

Chandran Nair: Sustainability Advisor, Internationalist, Relational Business Expert

Chandran NairCorporations and governments regularly ask Chandran Nair how to do business the right way in Asia. Chandran—who built Asia’s top environmental consulting firm, Environmental Resources Management—has spoken widely on sustainability, corporate social responsibility, investment geopolitics, leadership development and ethics at forums in London, New York, Sydney and every major Asian capital. He has worked with governments and business leaders to incorporate sustainable development principles in their decision-making processes. In 2004 he founded the Global Institute For Tomorrow, an independent social ventures think tank dedicated to advancing an understanding of the the impacts of globalization through positive action to affect change. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Gunter Pauli: Sustainability Expert, Innovation Accelerator, Global Educator

Gunter PauliSerial entrepreneur Gunter Pauli has a vision of zero: specifically, zero waste and zero emissions. The former president of ECOVER when this detergent company built the first eco-factory ever featured on CNN Prime Time News created the Zero Emissions Research and Initiatives (ZERI) in Tokyo in 1994 to help activate that vision. Gunter is dedicated to bringing nature’s best methods to market—like battery-free solar power and natural desalination—and weaving new business paradigms around them. Under an education program he launched, six thousand teachers are using fables to teach children about scientific and environmental concepts in dozens of languages, including Arabic, Hindi and Chinese teaching 1,500 scientific subjects to children under ten.

David Rock: Neuroscience Expert, Author, Global Coach

David RockAccording to David Rock, better brainwork makes better leaders. He coined the term “NeuroLeadership” to define the concept. The author of two books, Quiet Leadership and Personal Best, he has been called a “human neurotransmitter.” David’s two ventures—global coaching and consulting firm Results Coaching Systems and the NeuroLeadership Summit and Institute—help individuals and organizations reach their potential by showing them how the human brain functions at an individual, team and systemic level. In addition to being a guest lecturer at Oxford, David is on the faculty of CIMBA, an international business school in Europe. He divides his time between New York and Sydney, Australia.

Sherry Strong: Food Philosopher, Nutritional Strategist, Food Coach

Sherry StrongSherry Strong is a food rebel. The controversial publisher of RealFoodRealWomen.com and the creator of the Anti-Diet system, Sherry says most items in your local market are either toxic, addictive, or designed to make you more hungry. The former Victorian chair of Nutrition Australia and Melbourne head of Slow Food, Sherry has spent over two decades studying nutrition, health and behavioral science, food and wellness. The consumption concept she developed, Nature’s Principle, answers the perpetual question “What and how am I meant to be eating?” After hearing her, you’ll never look at food and your body in the same way.

Edward Suzuki: Architect, Amateur Scientist, Athlete

Edward SuzukiEdward Suzuki worked alongside master architect and futurist Buckminster Fuller while attending Harvard on a Fulbright scholarship. Perhaps that’s one reason he’s a self-proclaimed student of life, regularly contemplating the structure of the atom, the environment, philosophy and the metaphysical. Edward’s bold yet organic architectural designs draw from influences both East and West, and have taken shape as far away as Kenya and China. They’ve also brought him well over a dozen major awards here in Japan and the United States. “Eddi’s House,” a prefabricated system he created with Daiwa House Industry, incorporates his designs into mass-produced housing.

Shinichi Takemura: Cultural Anthropologist, Media Producer, Social Activist

Shinichi TakemuraShinichi Takemura wants us to experience the Earth as a living orb in all its majesty and fragility. Teaching at Kyoto University of Art and Design and using an NPO called the Earth Literacy Program as his base, he seeks to break down the emotional and informational divides between people through evocative multimedia “socialware” that present real-time sights and sounds from around the world. His Tangible Earth project—the world’s first digital globe—depicts the planet virtually from space. Since 2003, Shinichi has also produced “Candle Night for Millions,” a lights-off, energy conservation movement that calls attention to the global environment.

Marco Tempest: Techno-Illusionist, Adventurer, Scientist

Marco TempestMarco Tempest’s masterful blend of digital media and magic presents audiences jaw-dropping dreams of our future. Marco was launched into international prominence when he captured the prestigious New York World Cup of Magic at the age of 22. His award-winning TV series The Virtual Magician currently airs in over forty-eight countries, and his theatrical shows and appearances on numerous television specials have enthralled hundreds of millions all over the globe. Marco’s Internet videos have also been showcased on Jay Leno’s Tonight show as well as dozens of NBC and MSNBC broadcasts. As new technologies evolve, Marco finds captivating ways of turning them into compelling illusions. In 2006, the United Nations commissioned him to create a special viral video to promote its Millennium Campaign against poverty.

Mario Tokoro: Computer Scientist, Creativity Researcher, Learning Theorist

Mario TokoroDr. Mario Tokoro has long moved adeptly between the worlds of academia and industry. While an associate professor of computer science at Keio University, he founded Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc. He made it a world-renowned research facility (and remains its president and CEO). In 1997, he became a corporate SVP at Sony and in 2000 assumed the role of co-CTO. Since 2004, Mario has headed Innovation Strategy Office, which creates mid- and long-term corporate business strategies based on technology. Over the years he has also written several books, including Concurrent Object-Oriented Computing, The Future of Learning, and Creativity and the Brain. Based on his extensive R&D and management experience, Mario is advocating a new scientific methodology called “Open Systems Science.” This paradigm drives beyond reductionism to posit fresh principles and solve problems affecting our health, life and Earth’s ultimate sustainability.

Amy Moyers-Knopp and Miho Walker: Living Dreams Core Team

Amy Moyers-Knopp and Miho WalkerEvery well-run NPO needs caring, dynamic and versatile executives like Miho Walker and Amy Moyers. Before joining Living Dreams, Amy spent ten years handling global marketing and executive-level events for major publishing and software firms such as Osborne McGraw-Hill, CMP Media, and Oracle Corp. At Living Dreams, she determines our objectives, infrastructure, finances and fundraising—among many other roles—and develops partnerships with foreign corporations. Miho is a former interpreter at UK global retail chain Tesco who recently established her own translation company. Now the project lead for all Living Dreams initiatives, Miho also oversees communications, volunteers and activities at the Living Dreams children’s homes as well as our outreach to Japanese firms and organizations.

Bill Werlin: Executive, Environmental Preservationist, International Education Proponent

Bill WerlinBill Werlin was born in Colorado mountain territory and grew up working at his family’s ski area, surrounded by the majestic Rockies and untainted skies. A lifelong skier, outdoorsman and fisherman, Bill wants us all to enjoy the same bounty. He has devoted his life to preserving the natural environment in executive positions that include president of The North Face, general manager at Patagonia Japan, his current post as Japan GM of snowboard maker Burton Corp., and past president of the Outdoor Industry Conservation Alliance. As the current Chairman of Yokohama International School’s board of directors, Bill is also heavily involved in promoting international education.

Anthony Willoughby: Explorer, Entrepreneur, Team Builder

Anthony WilloughbyRaised in Africa and schooled in the UK and the U.S., Anthony Willoughby was 22 when he bought a one-way ticket on the Trans-Siberian Express to Japan in search of inspiration, adventure and opportunities. He has ridden Nile paddle steamers, was briefly a bullfighter, and has scaled massive peaks such as China’s 7,546-meter Mount Mustagh Ata without porters or oxygen. Anthony’s experiences with a persistent complainer on his expedition across Papua New Guinea led him to establish his I Will Not Complain team-building and leadership development programs in Japan in 1989, and in China in 1992. Over the past decade he has developed a visualizing process called “Territory Mapping,” inspired by conversations with tribal chiefs in remote villages in Papua New Guinea and Kenya. The Independent recently described it as a method “that enables you to crash through civilization and see where you are and where you are going with new clarity.”

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