I live in Kamakura, Japan, in a small neighborhood called Zaimokuza, a few minutes' walk from the sea. Most mornings start with zazen, and most weeks include a surf session and a couple of trail runs through the hills behind town. This rhythm isn't separate from my work — it's where most of my work actually comes from.
 

For over fifteen years I've practiced Zen, and for the past seven, Vipassana meditation as well. What started as a way to navigate a personal crisis back in 2008 became, over time, the foundation for everything I do now: zenschool, Zen2.0, and increasingly, my work on AI.

zenschool began in 2011 as an experiment — could Zen practice actually make businesses more innovative? Nine cohorts and over a hundred graduates later, I think the answer is yes, but not in the way people expect. It's not about CEOs becoming calmer (though that happens too). It's about people reconnecting with their own hara — their gut sense, their intuition — and using that as the starting point for strategy, rather than an afterthought. I call this approach True Innovation, and I wrote a book about it in 2018.

Zen2.0 grew out of the same question, but at a larger scale. What started in 2017 as a gathering at Kenchoji Temple has become an annual conference bringing together people from neuroscience, philosophy, technology, and ecology — anyone genuinely curious about what a more awake civilization might look like. In 2026 we're marking our 10th anniversary, with the theme "和 〜森羅万象の響き合い〜" (the resonance of all things) — fitting, I think, for a milestone year. We've also restructured how we organize the whole thing around holacracy principles, which has been its own lesson in letting go of control.
 

The newest thread, and the one that has absorbed me the most lately, is AI and contemplative practice. I keep coming back to a simple observation: AI is extremely effective at the 'middle' stages of decision-making, such as gathering information, running scenarios and optimising, but it lacks anything resembling hara. That gut-level, embodied knowing which lets a person act decisively when the data runs out. I've started referring to this combination as 'Hara → AI → Hara': humans set the intention and make the final decision, while AI handles everything in between. I'm currently writing a book on this, with the working title The Hara: Samurai Intuition in the AI Era, and developing a contemplative AI framework based on what I refer to as "contemplative superalignment".

There's a personal thread running through all of this too. I'm a descendant of Saint Paul Miki, one of the 26 Martyrs of Japan — a samurai who became a Christian and was martyred in Nagasaki 430 years ago. I think about him more than you'd expect. Something about holding deep conviction while living through a moment of total cultural upheaval feels strangely relevant to right now.

I also teach as an adjunct lecturer at Keio University's Graduate School of Media and Governance, and I'm part of an international circle of collaborators — in the UK, Italy, and beyond — working on retreats and projects that bring these ideas into practice, from Kamakura to Kumano to (eventually) Tuscany.

If any of this resonates — mindful leadership, conscious innovation, the future of AI, or just curiosity about what Zen has to do with any of it — I'd love to hear from you.​
 

Specialties:

► AI and IKIGAI coaching
► Contemplative AI & AI×Hara Decision-Making 

► Zen Philosophy and Mindfulness 

► IDGs (Inner Development Goals) & Zen Philosophy 

► Resonance Marketing & Ikigai 2.0 

► Zen-based Business Innovation – ZenSchool & True Innovation Coaching for CEOs

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My mission is to bridge East and West, tradition and innovation, self and society—supporting a global shift toward more meaningful, sustainable, and soulful ways of living and working. Let's connect if you're exploring mindful leadership, conscious innovation, or the human side of AI.