On Saturday, July 5, 2025, JWIBA (Japanese Women's Initiative in the Bay Area) held a design thinking experience workshop titled "Design Your Future - Generating Ideas Through Empathy" for female students interested in STEM fields.

This event was held as part of the "Girls Meet STEM" program run by the Yamada Shintaro D&I Foundation, a public interest incorporated foundation, and aims to foster the ability to carve out one's own future.

On the day, Yuichiro Yoshinari, an expert in Silicon Valley-born "design thinking" was invited to be the lecturer and conduct an original program specially designed for the students. Centered around the question, "Why do cutting-edge ideas emerge one after another in Silicon Valley?", the program was structured to teach the problem-solving process that begins with empathy, and participants had a valuable opportunity to experience design thinking in practice under the theme of "services and products that solve everyday problems."

The workshop was divided into nine teams, each accompanied by a female facilitator with a science background. Questions about career paths and study methods were exchanged, and valuable dialogue touched on the future of science. The atmosphere was friendly and lively throughout, and participants enjoyed working together as teams while independently deepening their ideas.

We would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to Sompo Japan, who kindly made this event possible by using the event space in their Kasumigaseki Building.

■Event Overview

• Title: "Design Your Future - Generate ideas through empathy"

• Date and time: Saturday, July 5, 2025, 14:00-17:00

• Venue: Sompo Japan Kasumigaseki Building EVENT SPACE (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo)

• Eligible: Students from 6th grade of elementary school to 3rd year of high school who identify as female on their family register or whose gender identity is female

• Number of participants: 30 people

■Workshop contents

1. The process of empathy and problem discovery

In the first half of the workshop, participants were paired up and conducted user interviews about each other's "familiar problems." Rather than simply listening, participants learned how to gain empathy, the most important step in design thinking, by deepening their understanding by empathizing deeply with the other person's feelings and background.

After that, based on the content of the interviews, the participants worked on "redefining the problem," learning the process of determining what the other person is really struggling with and expressing the essence of the problem in clear terms.

2. Creating and sharing solutions

In the second half of the session, an "idea brainstorming" session was held, where participants were encouraged to freely think of solutions to the issues they had identified. Participants worked in teams, using post-it notes to brainstorm ideas one after another, adding constraints as they went along. They expanded and deepened their thinking by affirming each other's proposals with a "like!"

Afterwards, each team visualized their chosen idea in storyboard format and created a simple prototype. At the end, each team stood up to present their unique idea, which elicited cheers of "That's so true!" and "I want a product like that!", creating a buzz in the venue.

In closing remarks, the lecturer delivered the message that "the foundation of any product development is what you learn in school every day," providing a memorable conclusion for the participants, who were able to realize that their current learning is truly connected to the society of the future.

Participant comments📣

• It was very interesting to realize that ideas are not something that are created by thinking about them, but can be discovered through conversation. Also, rather than just experiencing something like starting a business, I learned a lot from being taught the detailed steps and tips one by one.

• It was easy to understand because I was able to actually use the methods I learned.

• I'm not very good at coming up with ideas, but everyone said they were great, which helped me gain confidence.

• There were many hands-on activities, and the things I learned through experience were very enjoyable. I was able to interact with both adults and people my own age, so it was a fulfilling time.

  
  

JWIBA will continue to provide opportunities for the next generation of women to learn and meet new people so that they can carve out their own futures. We plan to hold more events in the future, so if you are a middle or high school girl interested in the STEM field, please apply and participate. Information about events will be posted on the JWIBA official website and social media.

Finally, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who participated in this event and to all those involved who provided us with tremendous support and cooperation.