TEDxTokyo 2011: inspiring, ingenious and practical solutions for moving Japan forward

On May 21, something extraordinary happened at Tokyo’s Miraikan, The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. In light of the March 11 earthquake and subsequent tsunami and nuclear crisis, TEDxTokyo 2011: Enter the Unknown focused on lifting Japan’s spirits, providing practical solutions to the problems we face, inspiring others through extraordinary stories of courage and ingenuity, and engaging hearts with powerful musical and artistic performances.

Presentations ranged from Akinori’s Ito’s demonstration of his pioneering technology for turning waste plastic into usable oil, to Kathy Matsui’s powerful call for businesses to invest in their female employees, to a riveting performance by world yo-yo champion Black (see all videos here).

A total of 33 presenters took to the stage to share deep insights, ignite ideas and delight and surprise a live audience of 350 participants from Japan and overseas. Over 50,000 virtual viewers joined them online, clocking up almost 100,000 views of the three live video streams (including simultaneous interpretation in English and Japanese). We also received over 5,000 comments and questions for speakers via Twitter, and within hours of the final curtain coming down our stellar technical crew had posted all 60 videos on YouTube. With approximately 90 percent of online views coming from within Japan, there is clearly a great thirst here for Ideas Worth Sharing.

The engagement and support the wider community showed for this year’s TEDxTokyo event both humbled and delighted the more than 120 of us who comprised the all-volunteer team. We’d like to thank them, as well as express our gratitude to our teammates and many partners and other supporting organizations for their energy, talents and long days of work and cooperation. Together we achieved something quite amazing. We will continue to work together to bolster Japan as the country overcomes current challenges and heads for a brighter, happier, more sustainable future.

If you’ve been inspired by this year’s event and have something awesome to share with the TEDxTokyo community, please contact us at action@tedxtokyo.com.

All photos from TEDxTokyo 2011 can be viewed at www.flickr.com/tedxtokyo