IDEAFUND Co., Ltd. (Founder & CEO: Naoko Okawachi, Tokyo) will be presenting at the 131st Contemporary Anthropology Workshop.

This workshop will explore the practice of business anthropology and the possibilities of contemporary fieldwork through reports and discussions from diverse perspectives.
We would be delighted if you could join us.

131st Contemporary Anthropology Workshop
The Resonance between Business Anthropology and Contemporary Fieldwork: Practices at IDEAFUND

• Date: Saturday, July 19, 2025 | 2:00–5:00 p.m. (Followed by a casual networking session in the same room with light refreshments)
• Location: the University of Tokyo, Komaba Campus, Building 18, Media Lab 2, 1st Floor
• Registration Form: https://forms.gle/fxGgNMN3khzNjoJe6

Workshop Concept

In today’s increasingly complex societies and organizations, there is a growing need to “grasp, interpret, and utilize cultural contexts.” Responding to this need, Business Anthropology emerged in the U.S. in the 1970s, first applied in marketing research and product development (Spradley & McCurdy, 1972). In the 2000s, its scope expanded to include UX design, brand strategy, and organizational change (Cefkin, 2009). The use of participant observation and narrative analysis by companies like Intel and IDEO is a testament to its practical effectiveness.

However, in business settings, the demand for shortened research periods and immediate outputs often makes it difficult to fully employ cultural anthropology’s core strengths—long-term participant observation and thick description (Geertz, 1973). Given these constraints, a key challenge in applied anthropology today is: How can we ensure the reliability and ethicality of our research while capturing complex social contexts?

This concern is not limited to business anthropology; it has become a methodological issue in academic anthropology as well. A notable response to this challenge is the concept of Patchwork Ethnography proposed by Gökçe Günel, Shirley Varma, and Chika Watanabe (2020).

This approach assumes that long-term fieldwork is no longer always feasible and instead advocates for flexible methodologies based on: intermittent contact, multiple temporal and spatial fragments, and collaborative knowledge-making. This shared methodological awareness bridges academic and applied anthropology, offering new ways of engaging with cultural complexity under constraints.

Case Study: IDEAFUND’s Anthropological Practice

One of the leading companies implementing such methodological innovations in Japan is IDEAFUND Co., Ltd.
Their mission is to “apply anthropological knowledge to contemporary business challenges.”
They specialize in qualitative research grounded in methods like participant observation and in-depth interviews, providing deep insights for corporate decision-making in product development, branding, and organizational strategy.

A notable example is their collaborative project with Suntory, where they helped develop a canned chuhai product. Rather than relying on conventional consumer analysis, they focused on the cultural backgrounds and everyday contexts that shape people’s preferences and sensibilities. Through careful participant observation, they uncovered meaning-making processes that informed the refinement of the product concept and its appeal to new consumer segments.

Another example is their involvement in a research project by the Kuchokai Institute for Research and Study, titled “Effective Information Dissemination to Deepen Public Understanding and Trust.”
IDEAFUND conducted participant observation in the homes of Tokyo residents to examine whether governmental communication effectively reaches the public. They focused on how residents interact with information across different media platforms.

Furthermore, IDEAFUND doesn’t stop at separating research and analysis—they design collaborative interpretation and ideation processes with clients. Rather than ending with a report, they organize workshops and strategy sessions to “think together.” This offers a potential model for integrating anthropological insights into society.

At this workshop, IDEAFUND CEO Naoko Okawachi will share the vision and background of applying anthropological perspectives in business. Researcher Tetsuya Ota will present on the specifics of field design and operations, focusing on case studies with Suntory and the Kuchokai Institute for Research and Study. In addition, two graduate students from the University of Tokyo, Yan Meilun and Hiromichi Takenaka who participated in the research as assistants, will reflect on their experiences and insights from the field.

Presenters

• Naoko Okawachi (CEO, IDEAFUND Co., Ltd.)
   →Founded the company in 2018. As a pioneer in “translating anthropology into business,” she will discuss strategic integration of humanities knowledge in corporate environments.
• Tetsuya Ota (Researcher, IDEAFUND Co., Ltd.)
   → Will introduce field research examples from both the Kuchokai Institute for Research and Study and Suntory collaboration.
• Hiromichi Takenaka (MA student, Cultural Anthropology, the University of Tokyo; intern at IDEAFUND Co., Ltd.)
   → Will discuss his perspective on participant observation and engagement with informants in the Kuchokai Institute for Research.
• Yan Meilun (PhD student, Cultural Anthropology, the University of Tokyo; research assistant at IDEAFUND Co., Ltd.)
   → Will present on the constraints, methodological adjustments, and discoveries from the Suntory project.

Commentators

• Ko Hayakawa (Project Associate Professor, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the University of Tokyo)
• Shu Fujita (Research Fellow, TUFS Field Science Commons, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)
  
  The commentators will deepen the discussion from perspectives of applied anthropology and fieldwork methodology.

Main Discussion Themes

• Capturing cultural thickness under constraints and adapting field methods
• Theoretical and practical intersections of patchwork ethnography and business anthropology
• How practitioners position themselves within social and client contexts
• Possibilities of co-creating knowledge through collaboration between practice and research

This workshop aims to reassess the current state of methodology and ethics in applied anthropology by bridging multiple tensions: business and anthropology, short-term and thickness, and responsiveness and critique. We warmly welcome rich dialogue and constructive critique from participants of diverse backgrounds.

Contact info:
info@ideafund.co.jp