NoMaps2025 is an urban festival that will be held from September 10th (Wed) to 14th (Sun) throughout Sapporo, with events spanning genres such as business, technology, culture, and urban development. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the festival, with 15 categories. Over 200 programs will be held, and more than 300 guests from Japan and abroad will gather in Sapporo. Talks, experiences, and interactions that will pave the way for the future will unfold.

Launched in 2016, NoMaps is an urban festival held in Sapporo with the aim of "breaking new ground in uncharted territory." The intersection of technology, entertainment, and creativity has given birth to new values and encounters. This year's theme is "LOSS LESS FUTURE." Numerous genre-less events will be held to cherish the curiosity that draws us to the world.

NoMaps will be held across a wide range of themes. There will be 15 categories in total, including "WELLNESS," which aims to make health more fun and accessible; "CONFERENCE," which will feature guest speakers such as former Japan national soccer team coaches Takeshi and Hiroyuki Okada; and "SPORTS," which will be held in the vehicle-free zone of Odori. In 2025, new categories will be introduced, including "FOOD," which considers the future of food, and "SUPER WELFARE," which will feature people with disabilities and other minorities. The event will be even bigger in scale.

This time, we will introduce all the categories and the highlights of each!

The conference, which invites distinguished guests and hosts an overwhelming number of sessions every year, will be held on a larger scale than ever before in 2025. Approximately 150 distinguished guests will be invited, including former Japan national soccer team coach Takeshi Okada and Hiroe Imai of Shiro Co., Ltd., known for the cosmetics brand SHIRO, and approximately 50 talk sessions will be held over two days. This is a rare opportunity to hear directly from leaders and creators at the forefront of change.

The "WELLNESS" category was established in 2024 and has been well-received. New services and initiatives that make health more fun and accessible can be introduced and experienced at exhibits in Chi-Ka-Ho and Odori pedestrian zones. Talk guests include King of Beasts Takei So and Juntendo University's Michiya Tanimoto, known for his Muscle Exercises, who will join us in discussing this year's theme, "It's a pain, so let's get started!"

The pedestrian zone held on Sapporo Odori on Saturday and Sunday will feature a variety of sports experience booths with athletes and performers! Sports-related events will be held, including the "Tyrannosaurus Race" that was popular in 2024, a volleyball experience with the Hokkaido Yellow Stars, and the skateboarding best trick contest "Red Bull Road Gap."

The "FOOD" category, which will be held for the first time in 2025 at Air Water Forest, will promote Hokkaido and Sapporo to the world as a "cutting-edge food region." There will be talks by distinguished guests active on the front lines of food tech, dining out, and primary industries, as well as tastings, a market, and exhibitions.

Top runners promoting solutions to social issues will gather from within and outside Hokkaido, and there will be meetups where they can meet with people from companies, government, NPOs, and universities, as well as numerous pitches by social entrepreneurs. While deepening learning and collaboration, the events will also serve as an opportunity to create and accelerate new projects.

EDU brings together people involved in education in various ways from all over Japan, from teachers to high school and university students. We hold sessions to discuss practices and the latest trends in the field of education, as well as meetups that transcend positions and generations.

With the need for public-private partnerships receiving increasing attention these days, this is a new category launched by NoMaps 2025. It will be a two-day event where local government officials will be able to learn about public-private partnerships, with workshops on public-private partnerships and sessions to learn about leading examples.

From Hokkaido to the world! A fun discussion of global topics that may seem intimidating at first glance. Guests such as Masaya Sanmonji, a night market researcher who appeared on the TV program "Matsuko's Unknown World," will hold sessions exploring hints for urban development from Taiwanese culture.

A category for management will debut in 2025. In collaboration with the economic media "REAL VALUE," a special session will be held with Yuji Mizoguchi and others. Hokkaido companies and businesspeople from outside Hokkaido will come together to create new business seeds.

This is also a category that will debut in 2025. Focusing on AI, the forefront of AI will be gathered, from children to adults, engineers to those with no experience. There will also be the opportunity to try out "AI Chat Monster Battle," a generative AI battle game that was also exhibited at the Osaka-Kansai Expo.

Aiming to create a society in which people with disabilities and other minorities can be admired, a category titled "SUPER WELWARE," which means "ultra welfare," will debut in 2025. The exhibits will feature a lineup of design and technology products that are so cool you'll want to try them out, and symposiums in Tokyo and Sapporo will feature presenters who go beyond the traditional framework of welfare.

The U25 generation (22-35 years old) from Hokkaido and all over Japan will gather together to hold various cross-disciplinary sessions and pitches. It is a trade fair for the lifestyles and working styles of the U35 generation from Hokkaido and all over Japan.

"STUDENTS" is a program planned and run by university students themselves, featuring practical sessions in a problem-solving learning format.

The "KIDS" area, where parents and children can have fun together, will feature a "Children's Flea Market" where children can learn while playing, a "Hand-me-down Kururin" event where children can fill a bag with as many hand-me-downs as they want and take them home, a participatory art experience booth, and a "Hoiku Talk" where children can discuss the joys of childcare and education.

Meetups are places where people can meet and interact, creating a chemical reaction. The official meetup, "NoMaps Meeeeeeeet!!," will be held on September 11th (Thurs) and 12th (Fri) at the SAPPORO STREAM HOTEL on the 7th floor of COCONO SUSUKINO, and on September 13th (Sat) at the urban culture farm "anaBa."

In addition to the various NoMaps categories, there are also many other exciting events taking place! We've picked out and introduced some of the events we're looking forward to, including the NoMaps Future Theater, which combines puppet art with cutting-edge AI, the Corporate Karaoke Championship hosted by Pierre Taki and others, and Oba, a public space that suddenly appeared in the center of Sapporo.

This special performance will be a collaboration between puppetry art using dolls, masks, and shadow puppets and cutting-edge AI generation technology. The puppetry art will be created by Czech puppeteer Noriyuki Sawa, and the AI will be handled by CG director and generative AI artist Aoki David. There is no doubt that this will be a groundbreaking collaboration like nothing you've ever seen before.

The Corporate Karaoke Championship, which aims to "connect Japan's future with a microphone" and connect people through karaoke, launched as YouTube's original content in June 2023 and will be held in Sapporo for the first time. The event will feature comedian Kintaro Tamabukuro, founder and chairman of the All Japan Snack Bar Association, and Pierre Taki of Denki Groove. The event will be hosted by freelance announcer Yukari Oshima.

An urban culture farm will open on the former site of the Hokkaido Building in Sapporo on Saturday, September 13, 2025. Based on the theme of "agriculture and art," the farm will feature urban farming, local food experiences, art exhibitions, a multi-purpose stage, and a grassy plaza. Pop-up stores will also be available, including Onuma Nagareyama Ranch Paard Musée's "Neapolitan pizza made in a new kiln" and Tokyo's popular donut shop, "HIGUMA Doughnuts." NoMaps' official meetup event, "NoMaps Meeeeeeeet!!," will also be held on Sunday, September 13.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, NoMaps 2025 is an urban festival that offers a variety of future experiences across the city of Sapporo. This year, new categories such as AI, food, business leaders, and welfare have been added, making the event even more evolved. Over five days, you can think about the future, meet new people, and have fun. Why not come and visit downtown Sapporo?