Share Japan: Letter From Shareable’s Neal Gorenflo and Sharenl’s Pieter van de Glind

Summary

Last November, I joined an international delegation to speak at the Sharing Economy Association Japan’s (SEAJ) annual Share Summit in Tokyo and explore sharing in Japan. Thanks to the incredible hospitality of SEAJ (which I advise), it was one of the most rewarding learning experiences of my life. In the following photo essay, Pieter van de Glind of ShareNL and I share just some of the highlights of our experience in pictures. Why do this together? Pieter and I decided to deepen cooperation between ShareNL and Shareable while in Takayama, and to start with this post. Pieter’s contributions are preceded by his initials PG. The rest is mine.

The Share Summit featured two action-packed days of sessions. The ambitious agenda enabled the SEAJ to cover many facets of sharing in Japan, from platforms like Space Market (rent a temple or an island) to government regulation, to Sharing Cities — all under the theme of “Share or Die.” SEAJ couched sharing as a solution to core challenges in Japan like the slowing economy, an aging population, and rural outmigration which made the content relevant to participants and SEAJ’s mission to revitalize Japan through the sharing economy.