A Gathering for Regenerative Education
The Hakuba Forum is our annual retreat co-hosted by Elham Studio and Hakuba International School. Held in the Japanese Alps, the Forum brings together school leaders, educators, researchers, and designers to explore what it means to create learning environments where people, and communities, can truly flourish. Following the successful completion of our 2025 edition, we continue this tradition of regenerative education.
Each year, we explore themes that invite participants to dive deeper into the design of joyful, purpose-driven learning ecosystems. Our 2025 theme was 'Schools as Hubs of Happiness.'
The Hakuba Forum is our annual immersive design retreat co-hosted by Elham Studio and Hakuba International School in the Japanese Alps. Following the successful completion of our 2025 edition, we continue this tradition of bringing together educators, designers, and system leaders from around the world to explore how schools can become places where both people and ideas thrive.
Hakuba Forum Key Themes
Our 2025 edition explored these transformative themes
Partnering in the Age of Intelligence
This theme invites us to rethink leadership in conversation with the many forms of intelligence shaping our world: artificial, ecological, and ancestral. Rather than seeing technology as disruption, we will explore how to engage with it through care, curiosity, and coherence.
Focus: AI, Ecology, Ancestral Wisdom
Designing for Resilience
Resilience is more than strategy. It is a stance, a way of being that allows schools and systems to adapt and grow through uncertainty. This theme explores how to design for rhythm, renewal, and long-term coherence.
Focus: Adaptation, Growth, Long-term Thinking
Restoring Trust in Divided Times
In a world shaped by disconnection, this theme centers trust as both a challenge and a design choice. We will explore how leadership rooted in empathy, integrity, and care can rebuild belonging within schools and communities.
Focus: Trust, Empathy, Community Building
Hakuba Forum Program
Our 2025 program structure
Day 1 - Opening
The forum begins with stillness, presence, and connection. From morning meditation to warm data labs and personal frontier talks, the day invites participants to tune in, individually and collectively, and start sensing the patterns already shaping their ecosystems.
Focus: Presence, Connection, Pattern Recognition
Day 2 - Design & Innovation
Dreaming boldly, designing freely. Through collaborative workshops, constellation thinking, and edge proposals, this day invites participants to stretch the limits of what learning could look like and begin shaping the impossible into something tangible.
Focus: Innovation, Collaboration, Design Thinking
Day 3 - Implementation & Celebration
Clarity, Commitment, and Celebration. The final day moves from intention to contribution, with design sprints and gallery sharebacks that distill insights into action. The forum closes in community, honoring the creativity, courage, and care held throughout the journey.
Focus: Action, Implementation, Celebration
Festival of Learning
Following the retreat, on Saturday October 4th, the Hakuba Festival of Learning brings together educators, leaders, and learners from Japan and beyond for a vibrant day of exchange and celebration.
Interactive Workshops
Hands-on learning experiences
Global Exchange
Connect with educators worldwide
Celebration
Honor creativity and innovation
Stay Updated for Future Events
The Hakuba Forum Retreat is our annual exclusive gathering where innovative education leaders collaborate to reimagine schools as centers of well-being and global flourishing. Following our successful 2025 edition, we're planning future events.
Join our community for future events
The Hakuba Forum is an invitation-only event that brings together carefully selected education leaders, designers, and innovators. We're currently planning our next annual gathering.
Contact us to express interest in future Hakuba Forum events or learn more about our selection process.