Corporate Initiatives for Nature Conservation:
Utilizing Digital Technology to Experience Coexistence with Nature

For the Future of Our Children

WILD MIND GO! GO! is the website run by Casio, and its concept is to propose nature experiences that allow children and adults to enjoy relearning skills as living beings.

Yaji explains how the website came to be: "One of the events that led to launching this project was Casio's withdrawal from the mobile phone business, which I was a member of. The age of simply creating products and services that fit customer needs came to an end and evolved into one where we have to proactively think about and create what the world needs. It was a sharp reminder that we must have the imagination to identify what society is looking for and the strength to take on challenges."

Yaji's third child was born around this time. Thinking of his children's future, he came to strongly believe that they would have to coexist with nature and providing nature experiences would be the best step forward.

"Casio had previously been developing apps that allowed users to experience nature digitally by equipping its mobile phone G'zOne with features like a compass and altimeter. But those projects ended with the company's withdrawal from the mobile phone business. I thought I may be able to draw on what we had left unfinished."

The app's concept was "Feel the earth." Its approach and technologies could be tied straight into coexistence with nature and nature experience.

Something for Everyone, from Children to Adults

Before launching the website, Yaji brought together municipal officials from Hamura City and Higashiyamato City (both municipalities in the western part of Tokyo) as well as experts and university students. They held multiple workshops to discuss what sort of nature experiences would be needed to best support the future.

"We came up with lots of ideas, but 'cooking' was the keyword that gave us the biggest hint. In this age of diversity, different people have different ways of interacting with and enjoying nature. It's the same with cooking: different people have different preferences in taste and volume. We eventually decided on developing a website that offers various ideas on how to experience nature, similar to how a cooking website offers recipes."

The completed website proposes a variety of experiences, categorized into 13 themes such as "Sea," "River," "Earth" and "Planet." For example, in the "Sea" category, there is a page titled "Row, Swim, Dive! Play in Japan's Sea With SUP." The page describes how readers can take a walk on the sea using SUP boards, or standup paddleboards, and what makes the activity so fun.

In the "Life" category, there is a page on natural farming that proposes growing pesticide-free vegetables by sharing the field with insects and weeds. As with any of the themes, people who tried out the experience can post a report, which is shared with other visitors to the website. Experiencing the activity yourself and reading about other people's experiences can lead to new discoveries. The website allows everyone, be they a child or adult, to enjoy nature in ways that they enjoy.

Like a Magnifying Glass

Casio also provides the Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association with an app called Tokyo Parks Play.

"The idea for this app came from researching nature experience and digital technology with Professor Komori Shinichi at Tokyo Gakugei University. We wanted to create something that could function like an entryway, of sorts, for people to become more familiar with nature experience, as opposed to just reading about it online. For example, if you give children a magnifying glass, they will go around to peer at anything and everything with great interest. I thought, if we could create an app that emulates this, people may take more interest in the nature around them and have fun. Professor Komori calls this the 'magnifying glass effect.'"

This app is packed with functions that allow users to enjoy real-life parks digitally. It provides information on various facilities and events in public parks managed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association, as well as coupons, digital quizzes, digital guides and digital stamp rallies. Users can also have fun with digital riddle-solving games and digital playground equipment.

"The app offers information on nature and guides you through parks, but it doesn't end there. You can feel nature through colors, shapes and smells and use physical motions to change the direction you face or get a sense of how big the park is. The app can also make you feel like you are in a different world with stories and riddle-solving."

To Be More in Touch with Nature

Yaji has a vision of what he wants to achieve with websites and apps like these.

"WILD MIND GO! GO! redefines nature experience as something you can enjoy during weekend visits to parks, or in rivers, vacant lots and alleyways close to your home, a corner of your garden, or even from inside your house. I want people to recognize that the wonders of greenery and nature can actually be found all around us. With that, I want children and adults to each discover how to enjoy it in their own ways. I hope that repeated contact with nature will encourage many people to take ownership in what is happening to the Earth and change their actions, even just a little."

To be more in touch with nature. That is what Yaji hopes to achieve.

Yaji Yoshitaka

Yaji joined Casio in 1995. He worked in the mobile phone business on software development, product planning and business management at Casio, Casio Hitachi Mobile Communications, and NEC CASIO Mobile Communications. In 2014, he took on the challenge of launching a new IT-driven business at Casio and currently works on new business development as General Manager of the Software Technology Development Department at the Business Innovation Center. He aims to strike a balance between ensuring business profit and resolving social issues.

Operating on the concept that envisions green urban development for the next 100 years, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government is pushing initiatives to protect, increase and maintain, and cultivate Tokyo's greenery.
By working with companies and a variety of other entities, its efforts aim to transform Tokyo into a sustainable city that exists in harmony with nature.
https://www.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/english/policies/environment/0804_01.html