AI is rapidly reshaping the world. But in times like this, I find myself returning to a more fundamental question: What cannot be replaced?
Maybe not a specific tool, but how a person connects with others—how to listen, how to understand, how to build trust, how to empathize, how to collaborate, how to hold kindness and responsibility in a complex world.
When I think about what my child will truly need when they grow up, I don't think of a specific skill. I think of human qualities—the ability to connect, to empathize, to keep learning, discerning, and creating in the face of change.
An ecosystem that is connected, loving, and continuously growing is vital, now and in the future. We can make it real. So an idea took root in me—to plant a forest anew.
Today, many people's 'nearby' is vanishing. We have countless contacts, yet few we can truly be close to, talk with, or lean on. The disappearance of 'nearby' is not just a spatial shift, but an erosion of relational soil.
Hannah Arendt once used an image: a table. A table creates both distance and relation between people. Bookstores, community spaces, salons, a thoughtfully held conversation—they are all like small tables. What we want to do, in an era where dialogue grows harder, is to create some 'tables' again, so people can meet anew, talk anew, and build a little understanding.
Nearby Forest Initiator
Behind value creation is an expression of love
