TEDxWasedaU Main Event: Imaginarium
Event Details
🗓️ Date: Sunday, June 22nd, 2025
🕐 Time: 11:00-15:30 *Japan Standard Time
🎟️ Ticket Price: ¥2900 (General Public) | ¥1900 (Students)
📍Venue: FREUDE by BMW
Welcome to the Imaginarium.
A space where innovators run wild with the freedom to grow dreams into groundbreaking innovations.
A haven where dreamers are allowed to challenge boundaries, societal pressure, and transform reality.
Here, we reimagine reality and past decisions, constantly asking “What if?” to craft solutions that inspire change and improve our lives.
Here, we trust in the uncertainty and the novelty of imagination, where the world’s most exciting ideas wait quietly.
We invite you to take your first step into each other’s “imaginariums”
Immerse yourself in a mosaic of stories, ideas, and breakthroughs.
Challenge your own ideal: first, through the minds of our innovators.
Then, through the journey of exploring your own imaginations.
So, what are you waiting for, Imaginators?
The door to the Imaginarium awaits.
The only boundary is the edge of your imagination.
Our Speakers
Steven Oh
Art? Robots? Two completely different things on opposite sides of the industry. Steven Oh, however, combines both of them in this inspiring talk and display. Sharing his journey of discovering the unique combination of two unexpected fields, Steven Oh will captivate you with his storytelling and show you that sometimes, merging two unexpected things could lead to an amazing innovation.
Katsuhiro Sato
What comes after innovation has delivered all the convenience we could ask for? Professor Katsuhiro Sato invites us to rethink the very purpose of innovation in an era shaped by AI and the technological singularity. As traditional innovations approach their limits, he argues that the next frontier lies not in efficiency, but in the pursuit of personal fulfillment, joy, and meaning. Envisioning a future built around small, value-driven communities, Professor Sato sees true innovation emerging not from technology itself, but from individuals seeking beauty, well-being, and shared human aspirations.
Keisuke Watanabe
When do we stop being “young”? Obviously, it’s our age that determines it, right? Nope! Project director of Steenz, a media and community focused on youth, Keisuke Watanabe challenges this definition of “youth” and what it means to be “young” in this growing era. He will draw upon his experiences working with young adults and the creative actions that they took that we could adapt in our lives. His talk will implore us to go beyond the standard definition of “youth.”
Atsuko Hayakawa
Language is more than just a tool—it’s the heart of human communication. With thousands of languages worldwide, translation plays a vital role in bridging cultures and people. Atsuko Hayakawa, professor and Vice President of academic Affairs and International Affairs at Tsuda University renowned in translation studies, explores how this dynamic field connects communities to foster global understanding. Through understanding the historical and modern realities of this field, she invites you on a journey to explore the intersection of translation and innovation.
Janelle Sasaki
Sometimes, all it takes is a community that makes a space for you to grow. Join Janelle Sasaki as she shares her humble beginning to becoming a Director of Brand, Marketing & Communications at EY Japan and a leader of Women Athletes Business Network (WABN). Guided by a network of mentors and influenced by her competitive gymnastic career, Janelle reveals how she built and unlocked her confidence, and how you can too. Her dynamic and relatable stories remind us that thriving as a leader starts when you find where you belong.
Yuna Watanabe
What if knitting could do more than create scarves and sweaters?
Discover the hidden power of knitting as a new form of a "language" that bridges people in its unique way.
In this inspiring talk, gender studies scholar and passionate knitter Yuna Watanabe reveals how knitting departs from its gendered history to its recent capacity for dismantling existing gender hierarchies. Yuna showcases knitting as an incredible medium for identity expression, as well as for forming community and conversation.
Prepare to witness knitting in a whole new light and learn how its stitches can weave connections, amplify voices, and rebuild loops of trust in our divided world.
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