I have worked on launching new businesses at an energy company, and until last year I lived in Aomori for four years. Throughout that time, Japan kept stagnating. We keep following the old ways and refuse to move forward. Unless we ourselves change, nothing ahead will change either.

Aomori is a microcosm of regional Japan: population decline, struggling industries, deteriorating infrastructure, and then further population decline. Caught in this negative spiral, young people leave their hometowns. And yet this land has rich nature, food and culture — and young people who want to change things, and people who want to support them.

I want to change these regions, and Japan. I want to pass the baton to the next generation.

Great innovations have always been born from the "small first steps" of a handful of passionate people. We are taking that step from Aomori. MISSION-X is an endless project that lights a fire in young people's passion, brings together individual knowledge and corporate assets, and keeps generating the next generation of innovation.

Together with everyone who shares this vision, we hereby launch MISSION-X.

April 1, 2025 — Ryusuke Hiratsuka, Representative, MISSION-X