TV Tokyo’s “Snap” featured the Workshop Collection.
The details are also posted on their website!
http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/snap/

I posted a message on Facebook on March 11 to express my gratitude to everyone at the Workshop Collection, but I’d like to share it here as well.

The Workshop Collection has come to a successful close! And I’m back home now.
At the very end,
I had the chance to say a few words to all the exhibitors. Since that sort of thing rarely—if ever—happens
, I got quite emotional and could only express my gratitude
to everyone with a voice choked with tears.
So, I’d like to take this opportunity to convey the gratitude I (hopefully) shared with you all at that time.

To all the exhibitors, visitors, and the many people
who supported us—thank you so much for these past two days! “Can we convey new ways of learning in the
digital age in a fun, pop-culture style, like a fashion show?
” That was the starting point for Workshop Collection.
January 2004. The first event drew 500 participants.
Before we knew it, the number of adults—including just the administrative staff and exhibitors—has now reached 1,000. When we
started, we hoped that the Workshop Collection would be a project created by everyone together.
Today, our exhibitors include school teachers, university staff, museum professionals, artists, engineers, researchers, and corporate representatives—a diverse group of people from various fields.
Visitors include fathers, mothers, grandfathers, grandmothers, and, of course, the children who are the stars of the show.
Our volunteers also gather every year, much like an alumni reunion. Over the
past decade, I feel the event has grown into one where exhibitors, visitors, volunteers, and the organizing committee
all come together to create a single shared space.
Furthermore, the Workshop Collection is not
only a space for children’s creative and expressive activities but also a place where everyone involved in the workshops can come together.
We want to create an environment where every child in Japan can participate in creative and expressive activities!
If we’ve managed to make this event a place where people with such passionate aspirations gather once a year, I would be truly happy.

Over the course of two days, from morning till night, I saw so many smiling faces of children who were completely engrossed in the activities, playing and learning a
great deal.

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

*By the way, the number of visitors this time was 100,000. It
was a "dream number" we used to say, "There's no way that's possible…" But
it's strange, isn't it? Once we actually achieved it, of course I was happy, but the
number itself ended up not really mattering that much. Maybe that's just how goals are.

*Although this event was actually made
possible by the support of so many more people, here’s a commemorative photo with the core core organizing members—who, as is their fate, were the last
ones standing. We asked a security guard who happened
to be passing by to take the picture for us.