Unit Review

As various skills and technologies are constantly developing, we need to always renew the shape of manufacturing that meets the needs of the times. For example, the social significance of introducing state-of-the-art technology is clearly demonstrated by the white coat for men whose manufacture has successfully reduced the environmental footprint in the production process through AI-assisted optimization of pattern positioning (25G010029). A contrasting approach is to take a fresh look at wisdom and skills that have been cultivated over the years, distill elements needed for the times from them, create new value in the process, and give shape to it. A case in point is THIS IS A SWEATER (25G010030). It offers a new basic standard that will likely be long cherished across generations. This brand is the product of attentively rethinking the basics of the sweater, an everyday item of clothing, while aggressively adopting new materials and technologies. Another case in point is +CEL NOBLE, a brand of a long-established manufacturer of randoseru or Japanese school backpacks (25G010019). This brand features the innovative functionality of opening from the top. Its meticulous design down to minute details has culminated in a product that blends beautifully in everyday life.

What has attracted attention this year also includes efforts to skillfully extract delicate values that tend to be buried under the shadow of efficiency and rationality. A handkerchief with 108 colors by a long-established manufacturer of handkerchiefs (25G010016) is a good example. Devotion to Japanese weaving, printing, and sewing techniques to make this daily-use article for everyone has given rise to a rich color expression, which in turn has made the product a special daily item. The GOKUSAI stole (25G010017) features a fine look and texture made possible through the delicate weaving of ultra-fine silk threads and silk-cashmere threads. The look and texture demonstrate an exceptional quality that cannot be found in mass-produced products. This product is a reminder of the value of outstanding techniques. All these items go beyond the confines of mere products; they represent the endeavor to promote technical succession and development in Japanese craft culture. This raises high expectations.

From the standpoint of this year’s theme “A Small Step, Design Leaps,” there have been some moves on the part of businesses to make a foray into new frontiers beyond their specialized domains. These initiatives have the potential of giving new shape to the manufacturers’ inherent technologies and brand resources; they could serve as a catalyst to opening the way forward for manufacturing. Yet some entries lacked necessity and perfection as a product and underutilized the technologies and brand resources unique to the manufacturers. Unfortunately, these entries failed to gain high marks. Going forward, manufacturing endeavors that try to find a delicate balance between innovation and tradition will hopefully bear fruit as a culture that reflects the times.

Unit 2 covers personal care products. It encompasses a wide variety of articles that facilitate people’s daily lives, ranging from baby bottles and baby strollers/carriages to beauty appliances and cosmetics, to massagers, and to walking frames and adult diapers. At the screening venue, I got the whole view of the entry items that are useful in settings where someone gives care to, and is given care by, someone else from infancy to old age. I did not feel they were just an amalgamation of products. Rather, I felt they were the very reflection of people’s lives.

The entries that have been highly rated this year have something in common; they embody the effort not only to solve problems and enhance convenience but also, by extension, to regain human pride. The walking frame “byACRE” (25G020124) and the functional underwear “Care Embrace Shorts” (25G020107) are two good examples. These two products have successfully elevated the status of nursing care products from what one has no choice but to use out of necessity to what one feels like using. Daily articles, if appropriately designed, can enhance the self-image of users and empower them to engage more proactively with society. All these entries symbolically show that design can significantly change the quality of life. With its simple but functional design, the ASKUL Adult Diaper (25G020106) not only enhances convenience for care givers but also remarkably helps to allay a sense of psychological resistance on the part of senior users. The design focuses on delicate feelings that are hidden within and rarely expressed.

What underlies these examples is the endeavor to pursue a way of life with human dignity by turning the eye to minor daily difficulties that have been reluctantly accepted as a way of life. Design has the power to accommodate human dignity and feelings, turn such accommodation into something to be seen or experienced, and share it with others in society. A small step taken by someone who does not give up will eventually change what is accepted as the norm in society. People are tenderly embraced in their infancy, in support of someone else in their prime of life, and finally supported by someone else around them in their old age. This year’s award-winning works have reminded me anew that design is not just an endeavor to create functionality and shape in the cycle of giving care and receiving care but rather love itself in that it accommodates people’s needs and considers their feelings.

At first, I feared that being successful under this year’s theme “A Small Step, Design Leaps” in a mature category like this unit was a challenge. As we proceeded with the screening process, however, I realized that my fear was groundless. What impressed me the most was that high marks were given to the entries from businesses and sectors that once took “a small step” with new ideas and then added a myriad of improvements and innovations in a step-by-step manner and continued their steady progress that was not limited to mere model changes. We received a few proposals that accommodate people at the receiving end of design who are taking a small step. These proposals reminded me anew of the importance of accommodation in terms of the ease of finding and the ease of access.

It is no easy task to evaluate whether applicants have taken a small step. To prove that they have done so, it is important for them to provide their actual products and allow us to try them. If they claim that their products are safe and effective, they should provide evidence to that effect. Not a few proposals lacked such grounds or evidence. Some of them seemed promising but unfortunately stopped short of gaining high marks. I understand the difficulties they must have faced. However, I must emphasize that the jury cannot give high marks without sound grounds or evidence.

For too long, it has been believed that design must stem from the desire to satisfy users and customers. Today, however, considerations of social issues such as diversity, the environment, and inclusion are gaining in importance. Meanwhile, one of my students told me the other day that his generation had grown up hearing adults say over and over again that the SDGs matters. He complained that he was actually fed up with that. His straightforwardness suggests that merely championing a cause no longer strikes a chord. In fact, proposals that only scratch the surface of buzzwords such as the SDGs and inclusion failed to win an award. On the contrary, promising potential was found in a small number of initiatives that tried to offer new possibilities while involving those in need and rejecting stereotypes.

Many proposals this year stemmed from the desire to bring joy or convenience to people. Joy and convenience constitute the essence of the appeal of stationery and hobbies. At the same time, however, their ramifications, that is, their possible impact on society and human relationships, should be considered more than ever going forward. Small articles and activities can lead to creating new value and solving problems beyond personal experiences. Such ramifications should form the next small step.

The GOOD DESIGN AWARD receives enormous numbers of entries in all of its units, and Unit 4 is no exception. This unit covers all kinds of items or articles associated with our daily lives. To borrow the words of the former leader of this unit last year, Unit 4 screens everything “from chopsticks to Buddhist altars.” The unit is characterized by a large number of mature products for everyday use. For this very reason, people might say, few products in this category offer brand-new features. But that is not the case. This is the category in which we can encounter products that are designed from such a keen angle that we just have to kneel down; the designers identify minor glitches or problems that compromise the ease of use but which users have decided that they have to live with.

I have been on the U4 jury for three years in a row. There is something I feel every year in that capacity. I regret that despite some outstanding entries, some others fail to set themselves apart from existing goods and therefore defy screening. And still some others offer new value but have aesthetic or usability problems. Many of these entries would have been better products if their manufacturers had attentively observed the relationship between their products and users or collaborated with more excellent designers where appropriate. Companies that are considering applying in the future are advised to review these points.

In this category, there were many encounters with great products this year as well. Electric Salt Spoon/Cup (25G040182) is a unique product in that it has updated product value in this category with new electric technology. The product uses an extremely weak electric current to generate electric taste waves, which virtually enhance the salty taste in food. The idea is to help adopt a low-salt diet. This is an unbelievably innovative product in that it contributes to people’s health using tableware. SEISEISHA’s Uzra Series (25G040180) deserves my praise because this project was launched to challenge the current state of affairs in which ceramics uses a lot of resources. Building on the efforts the ceramic company has made for sustainability, this project has created a perfect harmony between the matte texture made possible by the non-use of glaze and the serene and austere form designed as if it is led by its texture. These wonderful designs should help solidify initiatives for the future. This category also covers emergency supplies for screening. Although addressing growing disaster risks is a matter of urgency, it is frustrating to see that entry goods in this particular subcategory have not improved significantly in terms of both quantity and quality. And yet, EZDOME House (25G040235) offers a new option for both initial shelter (primary evaluation) and temporary housing (secondary evaluation). I sincerely hope to see more progress in the development of emergency supplies that could not be developed anywhere else but in Japan, a disaster-prone country.

As I stated at the outset, entries in this category are often matured as products. For this very reason, it is difficult for even experienced designers to challenge convention in the category. However, if you attentively observe gradually-changing lifestyles and the needs of modern society, there must be room for you to create excellent goods that are welcomed by users and society at large with a deep empathy. I always hope to encounter such products.

Design should put visual beauty and convenience on the back burner and other considerations on the front burner. These considerations include productivity, safety, social value, sustainability, efficiency, ethics, and scenery. Designers take them into account in their day-to-day work. Unit 5 chiefly covers home appliances. Although products in this category have no small impact on society, it is a category where it is difficult to try to deviate sharply from the manufacturing convention that has been developed within the framework of mass production over the years. What in this category should be passed onto the next era?

Material improvement is essential for sustainability. Many different attempts have been made to use more recycled materials and increase recycling rates. However, there is a limit for the kind of manufacturing that depends much on oil-derived plastics in terms of cost, quality, and the limit to how many times materials can be recycled. Under such circumstances, some applicants have improved their products by defying the use of conventional materials and replacing them with other suitable materials. These include a washing machine with its plastic parts replaced with steel sheets, as well as an electric fan with some of its plastic parts replaced with steel and aluminum parts. These two machines are, in fact, similar to their respective models in their infancy in terms of material composition.

Other entries have taken a different approach. The development of new products one after another entails the disposal of old products one after another due to a temporary fad and the acceleration of technology development. Down-to-earth, meticulous and sincere designs that refuse to pursue novelty and allow for an extended period of use stand out for their own value. These include a sewing machine that has been improved after 20 years of its launch, as well as a juicer that transcends the boundary between business use and household use. Designs for these products are used not to promote novelty, but to create articles that push wisdom to its limit. These send a strong message to the public although their direct appeal to society is not strong.

And yet, not all these were selected for the BEST 100 or the GOOD DESIGN GOLD AWARD. Clearly, their attempted novelty and future potential are difficult to see. How should we interpret novelty? How should we evaluate down-to-earth and sincere designs? These are some of the questions the jury discussed. This fact itself is a sign of a new trend.

Unit 7 covers ICT equipment, such as personal computers, smartphones, peripherals, and printing devices. The screening process for this unit focuses on, among other criteria, how entries are designed to engage with the well-being brought about by technology and social issues caused by it behind the scene, as well as how they are designed to strike a balance between them where appropriate.|
While confirming steady progress, we, the jury, discussed the question of how we should evaluate products that have functional value but lack beauty or perfection. The term “beauty” used here implies more than visual beauty; it also encompasses aesthetics, that is, a design attitude that involves social and ethical perspectives. Aesthetics are closely related to the continued relationship between products and people, and by extension, to how sustainable society can be created. This is something we should remind ourselves of.

Entries designed to take on daunting challenges and those designed to rethink their relationship with people and seek to improve it commanded high praise from many jury members.

Conviction and a challenging spirit
As cases of degraded batteries catching fire are attracting much media attention, this particular power bank (25G070432) stands out. It offers solutions even to environmental issues in the manufacturing process.
Undaunted by various challenges unique to the new technology, the manufacturer has taken a bold step to create a market of safe products. Firm conviction and a challenging spirit are also found in the charger that has made a difference in tackling the issue of growing power consumption (25G070436), a laptop that have taken a renewed step to pushing design to the limit (25G070468), and a line generator that helps to make up for a shortage of human resources at construction sites (25G070538).

Appealing to human feelings
Also noteworthy were approaches of attentively accommodating human feelings in addition to focusing on convenience. Successful entries that have taken such an approach include a wrist device that gives users a sense of safety in their daily lives (25G070457), a laptop that appeals to human feelings in addition to embracing functionality (25G070461, 25G070467, 25G070477), a communication device that attentively engages with a sense of unease with technology (25G070529), and a companion robot that focuses on resilience (25G070518).

Sustainable mechanisms
Recent years have seen the emergence of refurbished products as a readily available option. A company has increased reuse rates to commercially viable levels (25G070539). This initiative will likely serve as a model for many sectors. The industry as a whole is encouraged to explore ways to prolong product life while allowing the option of crushing hard-to-recycle equipment and recovering materials as the last resort.

We also saw some signs that new technologies could bring about major changes to society. Technology enriches us, but it creates new issues at the same time. How can both technology providers and users make the right choice to help build a sustainable society?

The growing question is how design can serve as a glue between the two and chart a course for a better future in line with its roles and responsibilities.

This unit covers manufacturing and medical care. Accordingly, many entries in this unit have reached a certain level in design. Let me review some of the designs that impressed the jury in the 2025 screening process.

Some designs offer new features or value in their existing product categories. One such example is the heavy ion therapy system (25G080633). Its developer has successfully come up with one of the smallest accelerators and rotating gantries in the world using a superconducting technology developed from semiconductor technology. The developer capitalizes on their skills and experiences in plant construction to deliver, assemble, and install this therapy system overseas. The whole-body X-ray CT diagnostic equipment (25G080623) has improved diagnostic accuracy and reduced physical and psychological burdens on the part of patients. This has been made possible by the equipment capabilities to examine patients in their lying, standing, and sitting positions. This optical biometer (25G080660) offers an experience design that entices children to look into the lens, although the internal technologies are the same as those for equivalent equipment for adults. This automated external defibrillator or AED (25G080664) features not only equipment usability; it also offers remote monitoring solutions to check AEDs installed everywhere in terms of their equipment condition, remaining battery life, and the effective date of the pad using a 4G network.

In addition, some designs propose a new product category. A case in point is this dry-process office papermaking machine (25G080583). It offers the process of making recycled paper from wastepaper in an office setting. The use of a naturally-derived bonding material for papermaking allows for repeated, 100% recycling of recycled paper.

This unit is also characterized by unsung designs that cannot be seen by the public at large. One such design is found in this sludge-reducing bioformulation (25G080609). This product is designed to reduce excess sludge – a large amount of which is inevitably generated in the conventional wastewater treatment process – up to zero where possible by using a naturally-derived microbial community. The underdrain pipe (25G080553) is a technological cross between modern technology and the traditional wisdom of bundling bamboo splits into a pipe form. It offers a viable solution to the problems with conventional cylindrical underground drainage pipes. This fire blanket (25G080616) allows first aid firefighting for lithium-ion batteries of various shapes, as well as for cultural property buildings whose internal walls and roofs might not be equipped with sprinkler heads or sensors for aesthetic reasons.

In this unit, we continue looking forward to more excellent designs coming up that support manufacturing, medical care, life, and society.

Housing fixtures, which are subject to screening in this unit, are often products we use in our daily lives without much thought. Take a switch plate, for example. Because we use it without thinking, small qualitative differences in touch and operational feel, when experienced repeatedly, can make a big difference in the quality of daily life. In this years’ screening, we rethought what had been seen as a way of life. The result was that products that had been committed to continuous improvement earned high marks.

We also received proposals for addressing townscape beauty aesthetics and rapid changes in the social and global environments at the individual and house levels. Also capturing our attention were products that suggest that it is possible to connect the dots, meaning that individual local concerns can be developed into collective concerns for the local community.

Archi Design (25G090770) has unified discrete designs of switches, wall outlets, lighting appliances, and sensors. Differences in these designs were largely overlooked as a way of life. By enhancing the quality of what people casually touch every day, this entry has pushed up the standards of the living environment. It has also streamlined the associated installment processes and supply chains to facilitate housing construction work out of concern about the environmental footprint involved. I felt that Dotcon PLUS (25G090763) is a product that allow users to renew urban infrastructure at the individual level in order to cope with increasingly frequent local downpours due to the changing global environment. Continual improvement efforts over several years have turned the product’s predecessor into something that boasts better quality and functionality.

Although structural hardware is essential for housing construction, it tends to be overlooked once housing is completed because it goes out of sight. Mindful of that fact, this plate-shaped clamp(25G090708) has significantly enhanced the ease of construction with the simple idea of changing the material shape from rod to plate, thereby reducing the workload of construction workers, the number of which is falling due to an aging population.

This sector values durability and certainty, making it difficult to use leading-edge technology on an experimental basis. I felt the key to a better product in this sector was to sincerely tackle the question of what the quality of life is all about and to carefully consider everything from urban landscapes at the macro level to material texture at the micro level. I also found it difficult to objectively evaluate craft-like proposals that are biased toward subjective aesthetics. The jury could not include such proposals among the successful entries.

Unit 10 covers furniture as well as equipment and facilities for offices and public spaces for screening. Its scope is wide, encompassing everything from furniture, building materials, and fixtures and even to the disaster preparedness and energy domains. We received many product entries this year as in other years.

Through the screening process, a major question emerged: the question as to how their designs address major social issues, such as the need for consideration for diversity and resource sustainability as well as disaster management and labor shortages.

Entries that stood out from the perspective of resource sustainability included products that use domestically-made conifer and rattan materials and wastepaper pulp, as well as initiatives that take advantage of recycled resin and unused materials. These entries have elevated local resources or circular materials to a higher level in terms of both visual beauty and performance and thus achieved weight reduction, design for disassembly, prolonged product life, and renewability. A case in point is zero-cement soil pavement (25G100863). This process forgoes the use of cement or resin but achieves both high durability and environmental performance. Expectations are that this material will become a standard as a sustainable material that has both visual appeal and functionality in a wide range of uses.

New approaches were also seen in the domain of disaster preparedness and safety. OF1 LIQUID (25G100804) is a fire extinguisher that uses a fire extinguishing agent material free of fluorine compounds. The product comes in a color that blends well with the environment. This vertical stand type pumper connection (25G100820) has achieved both space saving and safety by improving the internal structure. These proposals did not limit their respective products to mere functional disaster response equipment. They have developed social designs that offer a sense of safety.

Proposals designed to response to social change were also impressive. ROBOSEN (25G100848) allows for better labor efficiency and lighter workload in the transportation sector. Fullmoon (25G100827) offers a new funeral style in consideration of both an aging population and operations involving smaller numbers of people. These entries clearly show that design not only embraces changes in the social structure but also can play a role in promoting such changes.

Overall, all these projects have appropriately grasped issues that are not clearly seen by many and built on their material technologies and planning skills to create new designs, thereby charting concrete paths to solving social issues. Design supports individuals’ lives and, at the same time, serves as a basis for guaranteeing the sustainability of society as a whole. Award-winning works in this unit have demonstrated the potential to create new standards while powerfully embodying their own missions and expanding their nexus with society for the next era.

Mobility products and services tend to be large in scale; they usually consume much effort, time, and money until they come into being. In addition, the environment that surrounds mobility is rapidly changing. Putting projects with potential for new value to work for society makes it necessary for value creators to change. That is what I was reminded of this year. These developments are in line with the theme of the GOOD DESIGN AWARD this year: “A Small Step, Design Leaps.”

A project in the area of railway vehicle design gave meticulous consideration to users along the railway line while the companies involved worked together beyond the conventional client/contractor framework. The development team worked as one and successfully took on this new challenge. This experience will surely serve as a major cornerstone for the industry going forward. An out-of-the-box project was implemented in the area of automobile design as well. This OEM product development project offered designs that clearly highlight the characteristics of each model with the companies involved working together closely. The project succeeded in giving a totally different impression of even common parts. I felt the great potential of this area.

I was also impressed that a young business with unique strengths was beginning to have their presence felt in the area of product development, an area that had conventionally been dominated by major companies. An electric vehicle project has developed a product meticulously designed to take advantage of EV’s value on remote islands, accommodate the local lifestyles and road environment, and reflect a deep understanding of local nature and culture. In addition, a few companies came up with brand-new designs for motorcycles and automobiles by skillfully combining conventional technologies with new ones such as 3D printing, as well as by adding many improvements to the manufacturing process. I was also encouraged by the fact that projects by companies with unique strengths were beginning to reach the stage of social implementation. I give words of encouragement to them.

In the area of senior mobility, new designs were put forward that paid particular attention to the sitting position. These designs gave signs that products that accommodate the values of contemporary people are in the offing. Some aspects of these products had room for further improvement in both design and functionality. Mobility is crucial to people. While hoping for the freedom of movement for all in an aging society, I look forward to more proposals that have taken a small step.

This unit received slightly fewer entries this year than last year. This is because a new unit established this year for interior space attracted a large percentage of entries that would otherwise have been categorized in this unit. It is safe to say that the quality of the entries this year is better.

Characteristically, this unit has a large proportion of entries in such sub-categories as prefabricated detached houses, conventional ready-built detached houses of wood, mini-developments made up of several houses, and small housing complexes. Unlike entries by people who are called architects, these product houses are primarily motivated by profitability. Accordingly, they are often designed to directly meet, or appeal to, the consumption desire of future dwellers, i.e., the buyers. As a result, these houses appear to directly express the bare desires of individuals. The landscape of a residential area packed with such houses is more like an exposition of discrete egoistic minds. In short, product houses have been creating a living environment that cannot be described as favorable. This may be easily understood by recalling one of those new housing developments filled with diverse houses that seem to belong to different areas and periods.

However, I got a different impression in the screening process this year. Houses that pursued the comfort of individual spaces that were complete within each house or site were no longer the majority. It seemed that making up the majority were houses and developments aimed at realizing a fulfilling life by carefully designing or maintaining relationships that encompassed neighbors, adjoining sites, neighborhoods, and even the community. This must be the reflection of the latent public desire for closer social relationships that stems from the experience of disasters that are growing both in number and intensity in recent years as well as from a common awareness that contingencies are looming on the horizon. Or more directly, the prolonged economic downturn may be directing our attention to collective well-being, rather than individual well-being. Another marked trend characterizing recent years is that the dwindling economy, coupled with environmental concerns, is also driving a shift in the focus of the design sector from the purchase of new houses to the use of the existing stocks.

Such disaster experiences, the dwindling economy, the pressure from deteriorating environmental issues, and other negative trends of some sort are nonetheless being turned into something positive by the robust power of design toward a new design realm of rich relationships. That is my biggest takeaway from the screening process.

Unit 13 largely covers medium- to large-sized housing complexes for screening. This year’s screening process began with discussing the definition of the term “community.” Community is a key evaluation focus simply because it is a place where many people get together and live together. Here, the term “community” is interpreted to imply the endeavor to build a loose relationship among residences and between them and the area they live in, rather than closed and strong bonds seen in the past. Entries that captured our attention as good examples of such endeavors were Nishiike Valley (25G131078) and Rokugo Campus (25G131076).

Nishiike Valley is an area renovation project that combines residence, workplaces, and eateries. Rokugo Campus is an integrated social welfare hub that is centered on an intensive care home for the elderly and open to the local community. Both projects have no distinctive boundary between architecture (tangible factor) and operation (intangible factor). They are designed so that everything from individual living spaces to the local community are connected with one another in a gradational manner. Both projects have gradually spread their wings in line with the aspiration of the project operators. They deserve high praise as they contribute to a more vibrant and livable local community. Nishiogi Comichi Terrace (25G131009) features a lush green zone between the housing and the alley on its site. This housing development is designed to make the boundary between the private and collective spheres like a wide belt rather than a thin line. This idea is to skillfully guide the residents’ lines of sight and flow. These examples suggest that loosely blurring the boundary may pave the way for a fulfilling life and a tolerant local community. They serve as a role model for the new era.

Among other successful entries is LIVE-WOOD Osaka-Jo (25G131001), a wooden apartment that a local construction firm built by leveraging its excellent technology with a view to promoting urban apartment buildings. Yet another entry features an exterior designed to mitigate damage in times of disaster and provide a place where the residents enjoy themselves in times of peace. It represents an endeavor to take the current construction trends – which tend to focus separately on wooden housing, greening, or disaster preparedness – to a higher level. Meanwhile, we received slightly fewer entries than last year that audaciously took on challenges regarding living space or the way of living itself. This may be because of soaring construction costs. I look forward to more new attempts to trailblaze the next era.

Unit 14 covers diverse structures and spaces, including factories, logistics facilities, power stations, offices, commercial facilities, hotels, and exhibition halls. Its scope is wide in terms of project scale as well, encompassing everything from a small site in a shopping district to large-scale redevelopments. At first glance, such a wide scope seemed to defy comparison. Yet an overarching criterion has emerged in the screening process: whether entries suit the local community and offer universal values or future visions. Suiting the local community means not only harmonizing with it; the phrase also denotes creating new value and rediscovering its allure.

The Ginza Sony Park Project (25G141137) is a perfect example of the entries that satisfy this definition. This project has constructed a building way below the maximum floor-area ratio. From the basement to the second floor, the building offers outdoor and half-outdoor spaces that are open to all. This place has not only served to promote the company that launched the project; it has also created a “rhythm” in Ginza and challenged the common sense of urban development that the floor area should be maximized.

Fujimidai Tunnel (25G141159) has introduced shared shops in the shopping area of an old apartment complex in the suburbs of Tokyo to create a lively atmosphere. Obama Village (25G141129) is a complex of facilities the local construction firm has built to support local community life. Both of these projects have created a place necessary for the local community, rather than seeking short-term profits, demonstrating their own survival strategies. They offer important insights for commercial spaces for the future.

We also received many entries that tried to open company offices to the local community. A case in point is the Mitoshiro Creative District (25G141103). It refrained from leaving office design to employees only and regarded it as part of the cooperative endeavor with the local community to shape the community’s future. This stance offers an important insight for the construction of office buildings.

The Ohito Subaru Small Hydroelectric Power Plant (25G141124) has built a system in which electricity generated by a small hydraulic power plant across a local irrigation canal is sold and the revenues thus generated are used to finance the costs of maintaining that canal. This plant is also designed to blend into the local rural landscape. This project is a good example that offers a hint to the question of how an energy facility should be positioned as a familiar entity. It demonstrates the potential of architecture to support a sustainable society.

All these projects have something in common – the stance of carefully identifying what is really necessary for both the local community and the project implementer and giving shape to it, rather than pursing short-term economy and efficiency only. I hope that such out-of-the-box efforts to offer universal values will renew industrial and commercial facilities.

Unit 15 covers public facilities, civil structures, and landscapes. Accordingly, the screening process focused on the question of which entries have a good design and how, especially from the perspective of public value. In the process, I realized that there were many entries that focused on public value. In the field of architecture and the built environment alone, there seemed to be not a few entries that considered public value from their own standpoints and made attempts in terms of design accordingly. I feel anew that these are no longer the times when public facilities constructed and operated by public entities alone offer public value. Perhaps partly because of that, there seemed to be slightly fewer entries in the category of so-called public facilities that earned high marks this year. This was because even though entries were categorized as public facilities, their designs often focused only on architectural operations or site interventions. Today, it is quite difficult to come up with good designs if designers who have received architectural design orders alone are involved.

In that sense, the Genbei River project in Mishima (25G151223) stands out. Although this is a public works project, it has been tenaciously continued with the strong will of the project managers and others. Over the past 30-plus years, the project has implemented integrated designs while involving diverse stakeholders. The project serves as a model for the theme “A Small Step, Design Leaps” indeed.

While the Genbei project is characterized by a gradual design implementation process over years, Grand Green Osaka (25G151224) is a big project formed with the participation of so many stakeholders. For this very reason, it can be said that this project offers a groundbreaking design that clearly shows a novel development model. The accumulation of individual experiences by users in that space might play a role in the transformation of social values.

The Grand Ring (25G151225), a temporal piece of architecture during Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, has also earned high marks. This may not be because it offered public value; rather it is because so many people saw, with their own eyes, the potential of the ultra-large wooden structure that was made possible by technological advancement. Such a proposal for the future could not have been possible without the Expo setting. It started big. The question now is how it can give rise to multifaceted designs in society.

Long-term design is a must for infrastructure and development. A design can offer public value if it is not only large in project scale but also appeals to individuals during the project duration and eventually play a role in social transformation.

Unit 16 covers interior space in general for screening. Until last year, entries that would otherwise have been categorized in this unit were screened in the unit for construction. As such entries were increasing in number and their scope widening, this unit was established this year as a discrete entity. Entries were diverse, ranging from detached houses, housing complexes, offices, commercial facilities, and public buildings. They even came from abroad. They may be for public or private use. Among them, entries that had an excellent design, consideration for society, and a future vision attracted strong interests.

Food Court P. (25G161254), which has been selected among the BEST 100, is designed so that the exterior wall line is closer to the building in order to widen the sidewalk with an eye on the connection with the street, creating a plaza-like space that naturally attracts people. The jury gave high marks to the idea of creating a comfortable space by connecting the outside and inside of the shopping space, as well as to the decision to put it into action.

Mandarin Oriental Qianmen, Beijing (25G161256) is a hotel that has restoratively reconstructed the historic streetscape of hutong. The reconstruction project has involved developing local infrastructure and improving the local environment, promoting cultural tourism and contributing to revitalizing the local community. The project has reinterpreted and extensively renovated Siheyuan, a tangible heritage site with a history of more than 600 years. The hotel offers the opportunity to experience the culture of the ancient capital of Beijing. A few other entries are designed to protect or renovate cultural or industrial heritages, vividly visualizing the connection between the past and the present.

Moriya no Jutaku (25G161255) is a house in Moriya that is designed to cope with changes and issues in the dwelling family that have been brought about over the years. It shows the potential of reconstruction. What is particularly impressive is the design that incorporates the opening into the interior environment to provide a connection with the exterior environment. 0 Club (25G161278) features a design that turns restrictions associated with environmental care to its own advantage. LeMon Kodomo Kurinikku (25G161298) is a clinic whose building features a special interior space designed to offer functional accommodation for users through a healthcare plan open to the local community.

Today, the world is plagued with disasters and wars. People share such difficult situations. Environmental issues are no exception. I believe that design continues to engage with such critical situations while creating goods and services that bring well-being to people. The hope is that interior designs will continue engaging deeply with society and shape the future.

In the screening process in this unit, new forms of design have emerged that convey daily life and culture in ways that go beyond media content, industry’s conventional means of communication and expression. A major trend in recent years is that the growing practice of sharing appearances and experiences via social media is changing people’s values and that design tends to be incorporated for such visualization and sharing.

We were impressed by the attempts to redefine packages and production activities as content that brings humor or special moments without confining them to functions or actions. The award-winning works are often designed to enlarge the opportunity of consumption to include the opportunity of sharing feelings and memories right after the moment of transaction, making packaging itself a device of narrative to connect with people as a medium. It is significant that these entries have redescribed the value of goods and the meaning of shared time even though they are in the domain closest to daily living.

We also received many entries designed to convey Japanese culture and allures to the global market and tourists. What stood out was the stance of not giving a superficial introduction and highlighting the ethnic image but also conveying a wider context appropriately to encourage understanding and empathy on the part of others. Design served as an interface for opening up the cultural resources to the international community and conveying them in ways for people on the receiving end to accept them with empathy.

What also attracted our attention was the advancement of design systems. While packaging enriches the experience of individuals and the sharing of cultural content unites people and the world, there are systems of organizing various products and services by way of modules or a color plan and turning such organizing actions into a driving force for organizations and projects. Such systems nurture co-creation culture inside and outside the office setting and serve as branding infrastructure that underpins various goods and operations while maintaining their ease of use and the ease of understanding. They are connecting achievements across the board and remodeling the shape of development and production processes and even communication.

Overall, the screening process in this unit has revealed the trend that media content designs are expanding their scope from a medium for empathy to include a bridge for mutual understanding and even to a means for supporting the sustainability of businesses and society at large. Platforms for sharing visual content that are thriving primarily on the Web and undergoing unceasing optimization with AI are facilitating the offering of packaging as visual experience, the promotion of cultural resources, and the building of branding infrastructure across the board. They are thus continuing to help individuals and others with content sharing and reinterpretation. Aside from novelty of technologies and expressions used, the question is how designs can stay close to and interact with the daily lives of users, and continue sharing what comes from it with society and market stakeholders. How to practice this must be a major challenge for design going forward.

Unit 18 covers designs that aim to solve a wide range of issues – everything from minor problems at home and in office to social issues – with the help of system services.

Award-winning works that have earned particularly high marks this year have translated advanced and complex processes for solving social issues into simple and sophisticated service designs. They are excellent as a design that encourages users to take “a small step.” One such example is Reposaku (25G181414). This system allows farmers who use farming vehicles to track their vehicles in real time just by inserting a terminal into a USB slot on the vehicle. Farmers can check high-resolution GPS data from the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System, or Michibiki, with their smartphone or tablet. It has dramatically lowered the psychological hurdle for using a high-tech system for senior farmers. HONYAL (25G181457) offers a business model for opening a bookshop at low risk and cost. It encourages users to take “a small step” in revitalizing the local community.

Other impressive entries have created new value with the public acceptance of small-step designs that try to destroy a sense of helplessness associated with existing institutions and organizations. OPEN DESIGN 2025: generative design commons for facilitating participation and co-creation at the Expo (25G181468) have overcome conventional design systems bound by closed relationships of rights and created instead a system for facilitating participation of, and co-creation by, creators with minimum design specifications. They have given rise to social momentum chiefly in social media. Co.HUB (25G181454) is a ground-breaking joint delivery platform to put together the shipments of sales promotional goods of over 300 competitive manufacturers and deliver them to competitive drug store chains across Japan in an integrated manner. It has succeeded in substantially reducing logistics costs and CO2 emissions.

Let me conclude by discussing how generative AI should be used in system services. We received many designs that incorporated generative AI this year. Most of them focused on reducing labor and costs for existing operations using generative AI. When we look at the future and potential of generative AI, however, it is insufficient just to think of it as a tool for better convenience and efficiency. I look forward to encountering designs that use generative AI for its power to facilitate "a small step" in enlarging the capacity of individuals, making for human collaboration, and changing society.

The local community is none other than the field underpinning people’s lives. It faces the constant question of how it should react to desires and issues that exist there and build on them for the future. For this very reason, entries in this unit for the local community are largely an array of practical projects that reflect social changes. Three points stood out in the screening process this year.

First, some projects have lasted for a long time. Their timespan extends from seven to eight years up to 20 years, including “20 Years of Arts Involved Planning Hai’an Road” (25G191535). These projects have updated themselves in response to the changing times and generated favorable effects on the local community. It is no easy task for them to continue while responding to such changes. Their tenacious endeavors deserve high praise.

Second, a few projects are sending a multi-layered message that involves not only addressing immediate issues but also raising concerns for the whole of society. The Shimaame Lab (25G191515) incisively challenges the current state of infrastructure that is being shaken by climate change and natural disasters. Sagotani Farmer’s project for a design for community-based co-education through activities on the dairy farm (25G191513) highlights some of the structural problems with the primary industry in Japan, such as a heavy dependence on imported feed and inadequate material circulation in the environment. The craft-based reconstruction project in Noto (25G191510) casts a sense of urgency at society in the face of local culture and townscapes being lost in the process of reconstruction in the aftermath of a great earthquake that hit the region.

Third, the entries demonstrate the power to integrate tangible and intangible designs for the good of society. Questions for society have given rise to complex designs that weave together diverse relationships and cut across the boundaries between spaces, products, graphics, and communication. One such example is Sagotani Farmer (25G191513). In this project, the operator and designers closely interact with each other to create new expressions and processes. The Tatara Junior High School project (25G191533) implies the power of design to drive students by capturing the human psyche while appealing to a sense of humor.

Design has the power to give inspiration, offer new frameworks, and lead to an alternative way with awe and beauty. And yet, some entries put forward a good cause but failed to fully visualize or communicate that cause. Now that its scope is widening, design needs to come up with a model of cross-cutting designers, and designers need to team up with each other to cover multiple domains.

Let me conclude by focusing on major concerns the entries raised to this community unit in a wider social context. The question is how to put these concerns to good use for society. Community and social initiatives involve a wide range of stakeholders and thus have a multilayered structure. It is therefore essential to attentively convey the significance of these initiatives. Showing their multilayeredness and scope should give encouragement and insight to people who are working hard to undertake such initiatives in many parts of the country. It is necessary to provide a clue as to how to move from “a small step” to the next stage. The question we, the jury, are required to answer to that end is how we should communicate the power of design to the public at large.

There are three noteworthy trends in the entries we received in this unit this year. First, there are growing efforts to commercialize resource circulation. Many entries are projects that have commercialized initiatives and activities in various types of industry. One such example is a project that has integrated efforts to address degenerating mountain forests, support for forestry, and business. Another project is being implemented by a large company to collect and recycle disused articles on a large scale and put what is recycled back into material circulation. We receive many entries in this category every year. What is different this year is that applicants have started such activities/initiatives on a full-fledged commercial basis, rather than on a CSR level. Another difference this year is that applicants have developed revenue plans in anticipation of circulation and continuation becoming a way of life. In short, things have entered into the next phase.

The second trend is a growing number of large initiatives in which government-led projects have implemented designs for total optimization. Government project plans tend to focus on partial optimization because they are usually short-term plans, especially single-year plans. However, two entries this year are complex projects that have adopted the approach of exploring intrinsic value from a comprehensive perspective, sticking to the project concept throughout, and arriving at a strong solution as a whole. One is new park development (25G201547), the winner of the GOOD DESIGN GOLD AWARD this year. This initiative has adopted a common design across 58 parks in Chiyoda City, Tokyo, based on the city’s basic park policy 2025 and park renewal project. The other is SAGA2024 Koku-Supo Zensho-Supo (25G201551), a BEST 100 winner. This initiative, implemented by Saga Prefecture, has designed the change from the National Sports Festival (Kokutai) to the National Sports Tournament (Koku-Supo) after serious consideration. The third major trend is an increasing number of initiatives for children’s learning.

Take three high-level projects, for example. They are Minna no Ruru Maikingu [rulemaking for all] (25G201580), Gakko Dannetsu Wakushoppu [school heat insulation workshop] (25G201550), and Toritabi (25G201585). These three projects offer methodically constructed programs for high school students. These programs provide students of an impressionable age with the opportunity to think deeply and act on their own. Students who participate in the programs produce high-quality activity outcomes. These programs allow participants to grow and even influence their way of life afterward. In 2025, we received a host of other excellent projects in Unit 20, including initiatives to improve the environments surrounding persons with disabilities and senior citizens. The jury impartially evaluated and praised the project outcomes that are likely to benefit our daily lives and collective future regardless of the project scale.