Miraigaku Network
Open the Miraigaku Network full screen
What it shows
Japanese futurology (miraigaku, 未来学) took shape between 1965 and 1970 through symposia, study groups and a wave of popular books. This map catalogues the people, organisations, events and publications named in seven sources from that moment and after, from the proceedings of the first Futurology Symposium at Hakone in 1967 to studies by Yoshizawa Gō (2012) and Iwai Shigeru (2016). It holds 114 people, 31 organisations, 15 events and 430 links.
The catalogue is set beside the Japan-related entries in Jenny Andersson’s The Future of the World (Oxford University Press, 2018). Where both describe the same person, body or meeting they share one node, so the map shows where the international history of futures studies already includes Japan and where the Japanese sources add to it.
Explore it
The Miraigaku Network needs a larger screen. Use the button above to open it full screen.
How to use it
- Network: scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to pan, and click a node to open its profile on the right. Shape shows the kind of entry, size shows the number of links, and colour shows the research question it bears on.
- Time slider: below the network, drag through the years from 1955 to 1980, or press Play, to watch the network grow as people and bodies enter the record. Bands mark five phases, from Plans and visions to Institutions.
- Filters: search for a name in English or Japanese, limit the map to one research question, kind of entry or source, or highlight entries that also appear in Andersson or in the Shigaki archive.
- Timeline: events and sources from 1955 to 1980, arranged by research question.
- Index: every entry from A to Z, with the sources that name it.
- Research questions and Sources and method explain how the map was built and what it is for.
Sources and data
The map is a snapshot of the catalogue taken on 27 September 2026. For the five books from 1967 to 1970, names and roles were read from front matter, contents, colophons, attendee lists and prefaces. Yoshizawa (2012) and Iwai (2016) were read in full. Research-question tags are a first draft. The Sources and method tab lists the seven sources and the checks still outstanding.
How to cite
Perkins, Chris. 2026. Miraigaku Network, version 0.1. https://whitecresta.github.io/tools/miraigaku-network/