Balancing 'Individual Sovereignty' and 'Social Value': The 'Third Way' for Japan's Data Society | Exclusive Interview with Hiroaki Miyata

You have been researching themes that lead to social transformation, such as data-driven healthcare systems and societal well-being. Could you tell us about your current research focus?

Hiroaki Miyata (hereafter, Miyata): My consistent inquiry has been, 'How can I, as a scientist, contribute to a better future?' I aim to do my best in response to this question while co-creating with the diverse people I encounter over time.

Being part of the medical faculty, I inherently view things from a human-centric perspective, reevaluating the relationships between people, the world, and the future.

Specifically, my research has two layers: designing and evaluating the 'mechanisms' of healthcare systems, and from a 'well-being' perspective, how to practically create a society where everyone can naturally maintain their health.

In recent years, this has evolved into advocating a perspective called 'Better Co-Being', a framework that considers the future in coexistence not just with people but with diverse life forms, inanimate objects, and the environmental context.

This was also a key theme at the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo, where it was implemented not just as a slogan but as a social experiment combining physical and digital spaces.

At the Expo's signature pavilion 'Better Co-Being', the theme was 'Resonance with People and the Future'. Could you share some reflections on the production and what you learned?

Miyata: At the Expo, besides the signature pavilion designed by SANAA, I also conceptualized the 'Forest of Tranquility' with Sou Fujimoto. The contrasting spaces of the festive ring and the introspective forest were embedded with various 'future experiences'.

I also participated in creating the concept for 'Theme Weeks' that cut across the Expo's core themes, presenting a prototype that goes beyond SDGs.

I've always believed that 'sensing through all five senses' is crucial. That's why I envisioned a pavilion without walls or a roof.

Throughout the Expo, I realized how layers of sensations like the scent of exotic spices, unfamiliar rhythms, humidity, and wind, which cannot be captured by an internet-centric 'visual-only world', profoundly affect people's thoughts and emotions.

The 'Better Co-Being App' was designed as a device to connect these physical experiences and digital 'resonance'.

It allowed introspections and inspirations generated in the forest and pavilion to be recorded on the spot in the app, linking them with location data for visualization and sharing.

This was not merely a survey collecting visitor feedback but a cycle that analyzes accumulated experiential data with AI and feeds it back as societal 'insights'.

This attempt was indeed a concrete prototype demonstrating the concept of a 'future that resonates as one despite diversity'.

I was deeply moved by how many people felt their own visions of the future during the Expo and contemplated their next steps.

Does the completion of the pavilion depend on the visitors' presence?

Miyata: Yes, indeed. Previously, exhibitions often involved seeking a 'common answer'. However, moving forward, it's crucial that each individual's experience becomes data, which, when aggregated and circulated, transforms into societal 'insights'.

Each visitor physically feels their future, takes it back to their daily lives, and creates new futures in their respective fields.

The sensation of these small changes rising through the forest and the ring was indeed a shared experience that deeply moved me.

You've worked across medical, administrative, technological, and business sectors. Could you share the appeal and the challenges of working across these diverse fields?

Miyata: At the Expo, I was involved not only in conceptualizing the spatial concepts and Theme Weeks but also in curating the 'Forest of Tranquility' and producing works as part of the art collective EiM.

However, I don't really feel like I'm 'crossing barriers'; rather, it feels more like continuously choosing different means to address the same question of 'what should be communicated about a better future'.

The curation of the Forest of Tranquility, done with Yoko Hasegawa, was not about placing 'objects that provide answers' but about creating a space where 'questions unfold' through the resonance between the diverse ecosystem of the forest and art.

This naturally aligned with the overall question of the Theme Weeks at the Expo, which is not just about artworks conveying messages to viewers but about designing the entire participant experience as an 'architecture'.

Recording and analyzing the discomfort and insights generated in the physical space through apps and other means, and feeding them back to society, includes the loop of this cycle, which I consider as 'opening questions to society'.

In the exhibition dealing with beyond SDGs, EiM created works under complex and uncertain conditions, but the underlying principle remains the same.

Better Co-Being, whether as academia, policy, spatial creation, or art, or as a new learning environment, rises in different forms but is essentially the same continuous theme from my perspective.