IRODORI Inc. Partners with App Inventor Foundation to Launch Japan Wagamama Awards
The 2025 Japan Wagamama Awards encourage Japanese teenagers to create apps to solve local issues in collaboration with local municipalities.
IRODORI Inc. (Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo), which works with local governments and companies across Japan to create projects that help solve social issues, will be holding the Japan Wagamama Awards in collaboration with the App Inventor Foundation (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) and with the support of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and local governments. The Awards are open to teenagers, who will develop apps that fulfill the wishes of people living in their local community. The winner of the Awards and local children supported by sponsors such as local companies will be invited to the MIT AI & Education Summit to be held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in July 2025 to give a presentation.
The need for wagamama
Japan is facing serious challenges such as a declining birthrate and aging population, a decline in population in rural areas, and a stagnant regional economy. In order to overcome these circumstances, we at IRODORI believe that it is important to increase the opportunities for young people, who will be responsible for the next generation, to take on challenges in their local communities, and to have experiences that connect them with their peers around the world.
The definition of wagamama in the Japan Wagamama Awards refers to things that we give up or put up with in our daily lives, or things that we wish would happen. The program is built around the idea that fulfilling the wagamama of just one person can have an impact that ultimately improves the whole community.
The Japan Wagamama Awards will encourage local teenagers to develop an app that fulfills the “only one” selfishness of someone living in their area, and propose a new solution using digital technology. The winning team and local sponsors will be invited to participate in the MIT AI & Education Summit to be held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in July 2025, giving them the opportunity to take on the world.
Through this award, young people will get to know their local area and take on challenges while feeling supported by the adults in their community. The aim is to nurture the power to open up the future of Japan as a whole through the experience of being praised and connecting with peers overseas and expanding one's own world.
Learning digital technology using MIT App Inventor
This award will be held in collaboration with the App Inventor Foundation. The App Inventor Foundation is a non-profit organization whose mission is to spread MIT App Inventor, a programming tool developed by MIT, throughout the world.
MIT App Inventor is a platform that allows you to create smartphone apps by combining blocks in a browser. It was developed with the idea of creating a world where anyone, even those with no knowledge of coding or technology, can become a solution provider for issues that have a significant impact on society. It is used by 21 million users in over 200 countries and regions. In Japan, there have been 19,000 active learners per year over the past three years.
Collaboration with local governments
The Japan Wagamama Awards are being held with the support of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and in collaboration with local governments across Japan. Currently, local governments such as Hokota City in Ibaraki Prefecture, Moka City in Tochigi Prefecture, and Higashikagura Town in Hokkaido have decided to collaborate, and we plan to collaborate with even more local governments in the future. By publicizing the contest to junior high schools and high schools in local governments, we are working to make taking on challenges a part of the culture.
Local adults support children as they take on the world
An important element of the Japan Wagamama Awards is the creation of a system to support local young people by local adults. By recruiting sponsors from local businesses, companies, and individuals, and using the funds raised to pay for the children's travel to Cambridge, we are providing young people with the opportunity to take on the world.
This initiative aims to not only provide financial support for young people, but also to create a system that encourages them to take on the challenge with the whole community working together.
Being supported by local adults encourages young people to take on surprisingly innovative challenges. This in turn leads to taking on global issues, and they grow to become people who bring pride and new hope to the community.
Presenting on a global stage
The winner of the Japan Wagamama Awards will be given the opportunity to present at the MIT AI & Education Summit, held in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The MIT AI & Education Summit is a place where engineers and researchers from around the world gather to share the latest technologies and ideas.
Through the experience of presenting their own developed apps on this global stage, young people will not only gain confidence that their ideas are also valued on a global scale, but will also be able to hone their skills in taking on the challenge of solving problems from an international perspective. We hope that by experiencing the moment when a small action originating from a local area creates a big impact that is recognized around the world, it will further motivate them to take on new challenges.
The world we aim to create
Through the Japan Wagamama Awards, Japanese teenagers will raise awareness of local issues and seek solutions from a global perspective through the process of fulfilling their own and their loved ones' selfish desires. Tackling local issues will become a challenge that is accepted worldwide. By having young people realize this and taking on a challenge with a global perspective, we aim to foster human resources that will lead to the development of Japan as a whole.
In addition, by working together with local adults, we aim to foster a culture in which the whole local community supports young people and helps them to grow. This award provides young people with a valuable opportunity to demonstrate their abilities within the local community and acquire skills that are recognized around the world, as well as providing a chance for the whole community to work together to build the future.
About IRODORI Inc.
IRODORI Inc. is working with local governments and companies across Japan to create new value and develop systems that will help solve social issues, with the vision of “creating a town where everyone can take on diverse challenges by making the most of the unique colors that only they have”. In terms of administrative support, we provide the “Local Dialogue” tool, which is a tool for creating opportunities for citizens to enjoy participating in policy formulation and dialogue, as a new mechanism for involving citizens in the formulation of various policies, such as comprehensive planning for municipalities nationwide. In addition, there is the “Wagamama Lab” system, which allows local citizens to develop smartphone apps to solve local issues, the “Digital Human Resource Development Support” program, which trains engineers to solve social issues in their local areas, and the “Regional Revitalization Cooperation Corps” We are developing a number of regional revitalization projects, including the “Regional Living Lab”, which works with local residents to build activities from the pre-recruitment stage, the “Regional Revitalization Cooperation Corps Pre-Arrival Internship”, and the “Regional Revitalization Cooperation Corps Post-Arrival Training.”
Media Contact
IRODORI Inc.
Attn: Nagai
TEL: 03-6823-0836
Email: kikaku@irodori-group.jp
Website: https://irodori-group.jp/
The original version of this article has been edited for length and clarity. To learn more about the Japan Wagamama Awards 2025, visit https://awards.wagamamalab.jp.