Yasuhiro Kobayashi

Ecological Memes is a Japan-based trans-disciplinary community of researchers and practitioners. We explore inter-relationalites between human and nature beyond dualism by interweaving philosophies, practices, and wisdoms across sectors towards a co-thriving future.

When I was a child, a forest stood in front of my house—a place where I played, explored, and felt nurtured by nature. When I was ten, the forest was cleared for development. I remember watching from my window as the trees fell one after another, feeling an unexpected and profound sadness. I asked myself, Why does this hurt so much? It is the trees being cut, not me. 

From circular economy to a regenerative economy, Ecological Memes believes that it begins with finding our most authentic self.

In central Chile, the coastal city of Viña del Mar once housed a major petroleum distribution hub for COPEC SA, one of the nation’s largest energy companies. Decades of industrialization and motorization degraded both the quality of urban life and the surrounding ecosystems, leaving the site stripped of vitality. Today, however, the same ground has been transformed

At Ecological Memes, we explore how individuals can live meaningfully in an era when humanity’s relationship with the natural environment is undergoing fundamental re-examination. Working alongside researchers and practitioners from diverse fields, we pursue interdisciplinary research and practical experimentation aimed at reconstructing and implementing new approaches to living, business, and social systems.

Ecological Memes Forum: Restoring the In-Between / あいだの回復
22 December, 2019 at Kenchoji Temple, Kamakura, Japan

At Ecological Memes Online Global Conference 2021, Emergence through AWAI: Regenerating Human-Nonhuman Relations, we will be welcoming a wide array of special guests – business leaders, pioneering thinkers, innovative artists – from the world over.

At Ecological Memes Online Global Forum 2022, Re-Encountering Animism: Arts of Relating with the World of Life, our focus is on animisms and myths from around the world. Inviting practitioners, researchers, and artists from Japan and abroad working in fields such as anthropology, folklore studies, philosophy, art, technology, food, and agriculture, we will explore new ways of thinking and living in an age when our relationship with the more-than-human is being questioned more than ever before.

Welcome to Regenerative Leadership Japan
自然の叡智に根ざし、生命の繁栄を指向するリジェネラティブなリーダーのあり方と実践とは。 幅広い事例と学術的知見を統合したリジェネレーションの時代の必読書、待望の翻訳出版。

Founder of Ecological Memes. Eco-systemic catalyst. Regenerative facilitator. After engaged in empowerment and business acceleration for social entrepreneurs at impact […]

Traditionally, there have been ways to nurture our reciprocal relationship with nature and forest in Japan. Two speakers will share some good practices including relational forest therapy and prospects for reuniting our relationship with nature in the world of AWAI-in-between.

一般社団法人Ecological Memes 代表／リジェネラティブ・リーダーシップ・ジャパン共同代表／人と自然のあわいをひらき、リジェネレーションの時代の生き方や暮らし、ビジネス、社会実装の方法論を新たに編みなおしていくための活動をしています。