Chikako Masuda, Head of Intelligence Research & Design Community Manager, Digital Agency, Japan

1) How do you use your role to ensure that technology and policy are truly inclusive?

I see my role not simply as someone on the "implementation side" of technology, but rather as someone positioned to redefine how technology should be used to maximise public value—and to reimagine what the public sector itself should be in such a world.

Concretely, this means incorporating the voices of young people, affected communities, and citizens from the earliest stages of policy design through research and fieldwork, and raising challenges from a third-party perspective to prevent technology from being optimized only for certain populations.

At times we may be seen as "the demanding team," but to fulfill that role responsibly, we need intelligence of solid quality and rigor.

As someone who moves between international forums such as the OECD and the United Nations and Japan's administrative practice, I also prioritise making visible—in ways that reflect Japan's institutions and culture—who risks being left behind.

I believe that inclusiveness reveals itself not only in the final service, but throughout the design process itself.

2) What’s a moment in your career when you saw firsthand how technology or a new policy changed a citizen’s life for the better?

As part of foundational research for Japan's national digital strategy, I conducted in-depth interviews with approximately 100 experts across diverse fields.

It was an extremely demanding process, but by employing anthropological methods, we were able to surface not only what we had overlooked, but perspectives we had not even recognized as relevant.

The future insights shared by experts across fields illuminated not just the "immediate benefits" of technology—which government tends to focus on myopically—but also the potential evolution of emerging technologies and their capacity to protect human dignity.

While this differs somewhat from witnessing impact at the point of service delivery, those 100 conversations gave me a renewed, tangible sense of how policies shaped around technology can transform people's lives—structurally and over the long term.

3) What was the most impactful project you worked on this year, and how did you measure its success in building trust and serving the needs of the public?

The most meaningful project for me this year has been a joint research and policy proposal initiative with OECD OPSI (Observatory of Public Sector Innovation), using strategic foresight methods to explore what public management in the Japanese government could look like in 2040.

Strategic foresight has not always been welcomed in Japanese government. With a two-year rotation cycle, it has been difficult for public servants to find operational priority or incentive in thinking beyond a decade ahead.

Yet in this era of VUCA—characterised by volatility and uncertainty—shouldn't government be the very institution that practices foresight?

We deliberately avoided allowing this to become "diminished foresight" involving only a small group of highly motivated staff. Instead, we designed a process where people at different levels could contribute through their strengths.

CIOs and senior executives shared strategic perspectives, while first-year staff contributed through in-depth interviews about the future. We also made progress and output visible through internal podcasts and blogs, accessible to anyone.

The project is still ongoing, but one emerging outcome is that the value of learning foresight as foundational knowledge has been recognised, and it is expected to be incorporated into regular skills-building curricula from next year.

4) What was one unexpected lesson you learned this year about designing for real people? This can be about a specific project or a broader lesson about your work.

The most significant lesson I learned is that systems designed to be highly "rational" can sometimes fail to capture human pain.

In many cases, it's not that people misunderstand the system, it's that the system itself was never premised on the complexity of real life.

In other words, precisely where a "standard person" model fails is where public intervention is most needed.

What this requires is listening, persistently searching for what is being overlooked, and creating "designs with room to breathe"—not just accuracy.

Rather than pursuing only linear speed and immediate results, I believe the public sector must also aim for outcomes that are resilient, like a woven net.

5) We hear a lot about AI. What's a practical example of how AI can be used to make government services more inclusive and trustworthy?

To me, the most practical value of AI is not automating decisions but acting as a translator between citizens and government.

For example, AI can rephrase complex institutional explanations to match a person's circumstances, or feedback to government "what people are not understanding." Particularly given the complexity of Japanese language, AI support can play a significant role.

By mediating and adjusting the relationship, AI has the potential to make the distance between government and citizens more comfortable.

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6) How are you preparing for the next wave of change in the public sector? What new skill, approach, or technology are you most excited to explore in the coming year?

Right now, I'm interested in rethinking the relationship between individuals and AI within the context of public policy, especially how personal AI and agentic AI might interface with public institutions.

Next year, I want to deepen not the technology itself, but the design philosophy of how we govern it and translate it into trust.

I also want to advance research on children and technology. This debate is already gaining momentum in many ASEAN countries. Japan faces the world's most rapidly accelerating aging society, and we have understandably placed heavy emphasis on older populations.

As a result, discussions about how technology should serve the children who will shape our future have lagged behind.

In 2026, I hope to share knowledge with ASEAN colleagues who are already leading in this area, consider what Japan should do and what we're lacking, and translate that into action.

7) What advice do you have for public sector innovators who want to build a career focused on serving all citizens?

My advice is: don't try too hard to have "the right answer."

Public work is always unfinished and full of contradictions. And the courage to know what you don't yet know becomes the driving force for creating the future.

What matters is continuing to ask whose voices are absent from the discussion, taking on the role of bridging those actors with government, and cultivating the flexible (or perhaps I should say shrewd) strength to generate change from within—calmly, but with real force.

8) Who inspires you to build a more inclusive and trustworthy public sector?

The people who inspired me most in 2025 include:

• Audrey Tang (Even today as I write this, I had the opportunity to consult with Ms. Tang in person and receive clear guidance. She is like a compass for the kind of public sector I aspire to build.)
• David Eaves (He shared global DPI trends and Japan's current reality with me, prompting us to begin thinking more deeply about DPI.)
• Keegan McBride (He continues to influence my thinking on AI and data sovereignty debates. He is one of the researchers I trust most.)
• Sanae Takaichi (Japan's first female Prime Minister. Women have been a minority in government, but she shattered that glass ceiling. What a powerful moment it was.)
• Colleagues at UNICEF working on children and the internet (They helped me recognize the theme I want to pursue in 2026.)
   

9) If you had an unlimited budget, what would your dream project be?

I would want to realise "a society where every citizen has their own personalised public interface."
A world where institutions adapt to people, rather than people adapting to institutions.

It would be invisible government, yet with accountability made more visible than ever.

For Japanese people, AI and robots have been familiar through manga since childhood. Particularly Doraemon—a story of a cat-shaped robot living with and supporting a struggling boy—has instilled in many Japanese the impression that AI and robots are friends.

This personalised public interface should be just like Doraemon.

10) Outside tech, what excites you the most?

Education and fisheries.

Regarding education, I have a strong interest in helping children and young people grow not as "recipients of institutions," but as agents who can question and reimagine them.

I believe this is the most sustainable public investment over the long term.

As for fisheries, I feel it is one of the most essential elements of Japanese culture, food, and daily life.

As an island nation surrounded by the sea, I'm deeply interested in how fisheries and technology will evolve together going forward.

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