• Nonprofit organizations strive to solve community and social problems and to create new social values. Nonprofit organizations have the role to create citizenship and social capital - trust, norms and networks - in community. Social capital, an invisible and soft capital has increasingly become important to a sustainable management of an organization.
• We hope to conduct collaborative research with willing corporations and organizations for measuring social capital at community/organizational levels and for making practical proposals on how to create and utilize social capital with viewpoints of partnership with nonprofit organizations and human resource development.

To prevent loneliness and social isolation in middle-aged and older adults, this study aims to introduce the community-based initiative “Community Shed.” This initiative has been selected for the project-driven track of Tohoku University’s co-creation promotion project, “SOKAP-Connect Projects.” Community Sheds are originated in Australia, into Japan and to scientifically examine its effects. As the number of older adults living alone increases and more people lose a sense of purpose in life, Community Sheds are attracting attention as places that foster social connections and promote the formation of ikigai (a sense of meaning in life). This study is grounded in the theory of the “Social Cure,” which posits that group membership enhances health and well-being.

Conventional interventions have been effective in addressing objective indicators of social isolation but have shown only limited impact in alleviating subjective feelings of loneliness, and they have insufficiently addressed the social structures that generate isolation. In Japan in particular, the isolation of older men after retirement has become a serious issue, with few opportunities available for creating new purposes in life or for seeking consultation. Community Sheds aim not merely to provide opportunities for social interaction but to focus on the quality of social connections and the construction of social identity (a sense of belonging). They are designed to offer a space for autonomous and self-directed activities through which participants can cultivate both a sense of purpose and a sense of belonging.

• In collaboration with the Japan Community Shed Association and JST-RISTEX, pilot Community Sheds have been established in Japan, including “Yorou-ya” and “Dandan-ya” in Mizukami Village, Kumamoto Prefecture, and “Pokke-Kotan” in Nishi Ward, Sapporo City, where their effectiveness is being evaluated. The results so far indicate reductions in feelings of loneliness, improvements in perceived physical health and cognitive function, and an expansion of group memberships and supportive relationships. Building on these findings, this project aims to develop a sustainable, Japan-specific system to prevent unwanted isolation and loneliness.

In collaboration with companies, there is strong potential for joint demonstration projects and service development in areas such as corporate health management, community engagement, and the promotion of well-being. For example, applications may include second-career support programs for retired employees, initiatives to extend healthy life expectancy, and integration with community-based CSR activities. In this way, Community Sheds can be developed as a model that simultaneously addresses societal challenges and enhances corporate value.

To prevent loneliness and social isolation in middle-aged and older adults, this study aims to introduce the community-based initiative “Community Shed.” This initiative has been selected for the project-driven track of Tohoku University’s co-creation promotion project, “SOKAP-Connect Projects.” Community Sheds are originated in Australia, into Japan and to scientifically examine its effects. As the number of older adults living alone increases and more people lose a sense of purpose in life, Community Sheds are attracting attention as places that foster social connections and promote the formation of ikigai (a sense of meaning in life). This study is grounded in the theory of the “Social Cure,” which posits that group membership enhances health and well-being.

Conventional interventions have been effective in addressing objective indicators of social isolation but have shown only limited impact in alleviating subjective feelings of loneliness, and they have insufficiently addressed the social structures that generate isolation. In Japan in particular, the isolation of older men after retirement has become a serious issue, with few opportunities available for creating new purposes in life or for seeking consultation. Community Sheds aim not merely to provide opportunities for social interaction but to focus on the quality of social connections and the construction of social identity (a sense of belonging). They are designed to offer a space for autonomous and self-directed activities through which participants can cultivate both a sense of purpose and a sense of belonging.

• In collaboration with the Japan Community Shed Association and JST-RISTEX, pilot Community Sheds have been established in Japan, including “Yorou-ya” and “Dandan-ya” in Mizukami Village, Kumamoto Prefecture, and “Pokke-Kotan” in Nishi Ward, Sapporo City, where their effectiveness is being evaluated. The results so far indicate reductions in feelings of loneliness, improvements in perceived physical health and cognitive function, and an expansion of group memberships and supportive relationships. Building on these findings, this project aims to develop a sustainable, Japan-specific system to prevent unwanted isolation and loneliness.

In collaboration with companies, there is strong potential for joint demonstration projects and service development in areas such as corporate health management, community engagement, and the promotion of well-being. For example, applications may include second-career support programs for retired employees, initiatives to extend healthy life expectancy, and integration with community-based CSR activities. In this way, Community Sheds can be developed as a model that simultaneously addresses societal challenges and enhances corporate value.

To prevent loneliness and social isolation in middle-aged and older adults, this study aims to introduce the community-based initiative “Community Shed.” This initiative has been selected for the project-driven track of Tohoku University’s co-creation promotion project, “SOKAP-Connect Projects.” Community Sheds are originated in Australia, into Japan and to scientifically examine its effects. As the number of older adults living alone increases and more people lose a sense of purpose in life, Community Sheds are attracting attention as places that foster social connections and promote the formation of ikigai (a sense of meaning in life). This study is grounded in the theory of the “Social Cure,” which posits that group membership enhances health and well-being.

Conventional interventions have been effective in addressing objective indicators of social isolation but have shown only limited impact in alleviating subjective feelings of loneliness, and they have insufficiently addressed the social structures that generate isolation. In Japan in particular, the isolation of older men after retirement has become a serious issue, with few opportunities available for creating new purposes in life or for seeking consultation. Community Sheds aim not merely to provide opportunities for social interaction but to focus on the quality of social connections and the construction of social identity (a sense of belonging). They are designed to offer a space for autonomous and self-directed activities through which participants can cultivate both a sense of purpose and a sense of belonging.

• In collaboration with the Japan Community Shed Association and JST-RISTEX, pilot Community Sheds have been established in Japan, including “Yorou-ya” and “Dandan-ya” in Mizukami Village, Kumamoto Prefecture, and “Pokke-Kotan” in Nishi Ward, Sapporo City, where their effectiveness is being evaluated. The results so far indicate reductions in feelings of loneliness, improvements in perceived physical health and cognitive function, and an expansion of group memberships and supportive relationships. Building on these findings, this project aims to develop a sustainable, Japan-specific system to prevent unwanted isolation and loneliness.

In collaboration with companies, there is strong potential for joint demonstration projects and service development in areas such as corporate health management, community engagement, and the promotion of well-being. For example, applications may include second-career support programs for retired employees, initiatives to extend healthy life expectancy, and integration with community-based CSR activities. In this way, Community Sheds can be developed as a model that simultaneously addresses societal challenges and enhances corporate value.

Evaluating the effectiveness of social policies and business strategies through rigorous scientific methods—and improving them based on empirical evidence—is a pressing challenge across the public sector, private enterprises, and local communities. In Japan, the promotion of Evidence-Based Policy Making (EBPM) has recently gained attention; however, its practice remains largely confined to traditional administrative data, while the diverse and rich resources held by corporations and local communities remain underutilized. Building mechanisms that enable collaboration among public, private, and academic sectors is essential for sharing knowledge that contributes to solving societal challenges.

This research employs econometric methodologies to assess the causal impacts of policies and programs implemented by governments and corporations, linking the findings to real-world applications. By integrating administrative records with diverse private-sector data—including consumption, labor, education, and health—this study seeks to generate robust evidence and contribute to the advancement of evidence-based policy and strategy formulation.

Conventional policy evaluations and social surveys have often relied on descriptive statistics and case studies, which have limited capacity to identify generalizable causal relationships. Likewise, corporate initiatives have only rarely been subject to systematic and rigorous impact evaluation. This research employs econometric causal inference methods—such as regression discontinuity design, instrumental variables, and event studies—and applies them to both large-scale administrative data and non-traditional (“alternative”) data. Compared with conventional correlation-based analyses, this approach enables more robust and practically relevant evaluations of causal effects.

• Diverse Data Integration: Integrates administrative, corporate, and community data—regardless of type or continuity—to comprehensively evaluate policy and program impacts.
• Rigorous Causal Inference: Applies advanced econometric methods, such as regression discontinuity design and instrumental variables, to provide evidence that goes beyond simple correlations.
• Cross-Sectoral Applicability: Offers applicability across education, labor, welfare, urban policy, and consumer behavior.
• Social Implementation: Directly links research outcomes to policy improvement and corporate strategy design, fostering implementation through industry–government–academia collaboration.
• Capacity Building: Provides training in statistics and econometrics for municipal officials and corporate analysts, helping them build sustainable, data-driven decision-making cycles.

Public Sector: Provides scientific evidence for addressing educational inequality, designing welfare systems, labor market interventions, and urban environmental policies, thereby supporting the effective allocation of public resources.
Private Sector: Evaluates employee welfare programs, health management, workplace reforms, and reskilling initiatives, offering insights for sustainable and competitive strategic planning.
Society as a Whole: Builds sustainable and efficient social systems by integrating data and knowledge across governments, firms, and academic institutions.

Research on international comparisons of education systems has focused on the value of vocational skills and qualifications in the labour market. This study uses new approaches and data analysis to address three research questions:
(1) How well do education levels and fields of study match occupation in Japanese society?
(2) What is the link between vocational education and social stratification?
(3) How do people perceive the issue of bearing the costs of supporting the education system?

Previous research has noted that providing more occupation-specific knowledge and skills through schooling (i.e. high occupational specificity) facilitates young people's transition into the labour market. While such trends have often been examined through macro-level comparisons of national education systems, this study reveals underlying patterns of educational attainment and occupational outcomes at the individual level. In addition, a novel analysis was conducted using survey experiment methods to examine how individuals perceive the financing of the education system.

• When the relationship between educational attainment and occupation was decomposed into contributions between and within educational levels, it was found that the contribution attributable to academic discipline and major accounted for approximately 30%. One of the findings also challenges the conventional understanding that the link between fields of study in the humanities/social sciences and occupations is weak in the Japanese society.
• Graduating from fields with stronger occupational specificity tends to yield better labour market outcomes. Furthermore, this tendency arises from graduates being matched with occupations that have strong ties to their specific field of study.
• When analyzing public opinion on public spending on education, it was found that fiscal constraints reduce support, whereas public debt is more likely to be accepted.

As employment becomes increasingly unstable and the knowledge economy advances, the vocational function of the education system is coming under greater scrutiny. Against this backdrop, this research offers a fresh perspective on the issue of aligning the skills acquired at school with occupations in the labour market.
Furthermore, amid fiscal constraints stemming from a declining birth rate and ageing population, balancing the education system with other public expenditure is essential. This research can enhance our understanding of the processes through which public opinion is formed and polarized, while also providing insights to inform policy design.

To prevent loneliness and social isolation in middle-aged and older adults, this study aims to introduce the community-based initiative “Community Shed.” This initiative has been selected for the project-driven track of Tohoku University’s co-creation promotion project, “SOKAP-Connect Projects.” Community Sheds are originated in Australia, into Japan and to scientifically examine its effects. As the number of older adults living alone increases and more people lose a sense of purpose in life, Community Sheds are attracting attention as places that foster social connections and promote the formation of ikigai (a sense of meaning in life). This study is grounded in the theory of the “Social Cure,” which posits that group membership enhances health and well-being.

Conventional interventions have been effective in addressing objective indicators of social isolation but have shown only limited impact in alleviating subjective feelings of loneliness, and they have insufficiently addressed the social structures that generate isolation. In Japan in particular, the isolation of older men after retirement has become a serious issue, with few opportunities available for creating new purposes in life or for seeking consultation. Community Sheds aim not merely to provide opportunities for social interaction but to focus on the quality of social connections and the construction of social identity (a sense of belonging). They are designed to offer a space for autonomous and self-directed activities through which participants can cultivate both a sense of purpose and a sense of belonging.

• In collaboration with the Japan Community Shed Association and JST-RISTEX, pilot Community Sheds have been established in Japan, including “Yorou-ya” and “Dandan-ya” in Mizukami Village, Kumamoto Prefecture, and “Pokke-Kotan” in Nishi Ward, Sapporo City, where their effectiveness is being evaluated. The results so far indicate reductions in feelings of loneliness, improvements in perceived physical health and cognitive function, and an expansion of group memberships and supportive relationships. Building on these findings, this project aims to develop a sustainable, Japan-specific system to prevent unwanted isolation and loneliness.

In collaboration with companies, there is strong potential for joint demonstration projects and service development in areas such as corporate health management, community engagement, and the promotion of well-being. For example, applications may include second-career support programs for retired employees, initiatives to extend healthy life expectancy, and integration with community-based CSR activities. In this way, Community Sheds can be developed as a model that simultaneously addresses societal challenges and enhances corporate value.

Computational social science seeks to understand social phenomena and human behavior using advanced computational methods, including machine learning, simulations, and digital experiments. The field covers a wide range of topics—from opinion formation on social media to spatial social segregation, where different social groups are geographically separated—and actively explores new possibilities offered by innovative generative AI technologies, such as large language models. In this term, it aims to contribute both to establishing a new research framework and to solving practical social issues.

A key advantage of computational social science methods lies in their ability to dynamically and accurately capture complex social phenomena and human behavior, overcoming limitations of traditional social sciences that primarily rely on small-scale surveys and static data.

First, by directly analyzing the vast amounts of behavioral data generated daily, it becomes possible to understand large-scale, high-granularity social processes that were previously difficult to grasp. Second, the use of computational methods allows for the discovery of complex patterns and the structure of new social phenomena that might be overlooked by human intuition or conventional theories alone. Third, by combining simulations and digital experiments, the field has moved beyond mere description and correlation analysis to verifying causal mechanisms and future scenarios.

In this way, computational social science complements traditional methodologies and possesses the advantage of developing social science into a discipline that contributes to solving social problems.

• This field is positioned as a new research framework that integrates social science and information science. It establishes the subject and direction of analysis based on theoretical considerations from social science, then verifies and develops those theories through empirical analysis and simulations that utilize computational techniques and big data.

By leveraging information technology and big data to examine diverse social phenomena and human behavior, the field offers valuable knowledge and expertise for understanding current societal conditions and for designing and evaluating effective intervention strategies.

Evaluating the effectiveness of social policies and business strategies through rigorous scientific methods—and improving them based on empirical evidence—is a pressing challenge across the public sector, private enterprises, and local communities. In Japan, the promotion of Evidence-Based Policy Making (EBPM) has recently gained attention; however, its practice remains largely confined to traditional administrative data, while the diverse and rich resources held by corporations and local communities remain underutilized. Building mechanisms that enable collaboration among public, private, and academic sectors is essential for sharing knowledge that contributes to solving societal challenges.

This research employs econometric methodologies to assess the causal impacts of policies and programs implemented by governments and corporations, linking the findings to real-world applications. By integrating administrative records with diverse private-sector data—including consumption, labor, education, and health—this study seeks to generate robust evidence and contribute to the advancement of evidence-based policy and strategy formulation.

Conventional policy evaluations and social surveys have often relied on descriptive statistics and case studies, which have limited capacity to identify generalizable causal relationships. Likewise, corporate initiatives have only rarely been subject to systematic and rigorous impact evaluation. This research employs econometric causal inference methods—such as regression discontinuity design, instrumental variables, and event studies—and applies them to both large-scale administrative data and non-traditional (“alternative”) data. Compared with conventional correlation-based analyses, this approach enables more robust and practically relevant evaluations of causal effects.

• Diverse Data Integration: Integrates administrative, corporate, and community data—regardless of type or continuity—to comprehensively evaluate policy and program impacts.
• Rigorous Causal Inference: Applies advanced econometric methods, such as regression discontinuity design and instrumental variables, to provide evidence that goes beyond simple correlations.
• Cross-Sectoral Applicability: Offers applicability across education, labor, welfare, urban policy, and consumer behavior.
• Social Implementation: Directly links research outcomes to policy improvement and corporate strategy design, fostering implementation through industry–government–academia collaboration.
• Capacity Building: Provides training in statistics and econometrics for municipal officials and corporate analysts, helping them build sustainable, data-driven decision-making cycles.

Public Sector: Provides scientific evidence for addressing educational inequality, designing welfare systems, labor market interventions, and urban environmental policies, thereby supporting the effective allocation of public resources.
Private Sector: Evaluates employee welfare programs, health management, workplace reforms, and reskilling initiatives, offering insights for sustainable and competitive strategic planning.
Society as a Whole: Builds sustainable and efficient social systems by integrating data and knowledge across governments, firms, and academic institutions.

Research on international comparisons of education systems has focused on the value of vocational skills and qualifications in the labour market. This study uses new approaches and data analysis to address three research questions:
(1) How well do education levels and fields of study match occupation in Japanese society?
(2) What is the link between vocational education and social stratification?
(3) How do people perceive the issue of bearing the costs of supporting the education system?

Previous research has noted that providing more occupation-specific knowledge and skills through schooling (i.e. high occupational specificity) facilitates young people's transition into the labour market. While such trends have often been examined through macro-level comparisons of national education systems, this study reveals underlying patterns of educational attainment and occupational outcomes at the individual level. In addition, a novel analysis was conducted using survey experiment methods to examine how individuals perceive the financing of the education system.

• When the relationship between educational attainment and occupation was decomposed into contributions between and within educational levels, it was found that the contribution attributable to academic discipline and major accounted for approximately 30%. One of the findings also challenges the conventional understanding that the link between fields of study in the humanities/social sciences and occupations is weak in the Japanese society.
• Graduating from fields with stronger occupational specificity tends to yield better labour market outcomes. Furthermore, this tendency arises from graduates being matched with occupations that have strong ties to their specific field of study.
• When analyzing public opinion on public spending on education, it was found that fiscal constraints reduce support, whereas public debt is more likely to be accepted.

As employment becomes increasingly unstable and the knowledge economy advances, the vocational function of the education system is coming under greater scrutiny. Against this backdrop, this research offers a fresh perspective on the issue of aligning the skills acquired at school with occupations in the labour market.
Furthermore, amid fiscal constraints stemming from a declining birth rate and ageing population, balancing the education system with other public expenditure is essential. This research can enhance our understanding of the processes through which public opinion is formed and polarized, while also providing insights to inform policy design.

• I investigate on the economics of aging, the optimal social welfare policy, low fertility and so on not based on the historical and systematic approach but based on the neo-classical economic theory. I also use econometric method and statistical approach. I often estimate the future projections of the population, public finance, magnitude of private markets, the results of public policies.
• I also research on the comparative studies on East Asia (Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan) and European (especially Scandinavian countries). I provide statistic data and information on the economic and political systems on the aging in Japan.

The future estimation on the financial status , market caused by low fertility and aging. The effective management of the medical institutions, social welfare systems, gender equality societies for the central and local government, research institutions, public enterprises, and financial Institutions.