About

A place built with care and intention for people, place and making. 

My name is Go. For many years I have worked with the language of visual storytelling. My path has taken me across many countries and distant regions where I have listened to and shared the quiet, powerful stories of people living far from the center of the world. After spending 14 years living in the U.S. and China, I feel very fortunate to have met and worked with friends and colleagues from diverse backgrounds.

To bring this program to life, I built a creative base from the ground up by renovating vacant houses with my own hands. This invaluable process of making and spending time with new collaborators and longtime friends has become an important guide on this journey.

I hope to gather a circle of friends who enjoy creating with their hearts and hands, and to share their stories on this small, yet profoundly beautiful island community. 

(From left) Go Takayama and David Wang with the bamboo bicycle made together.

The program is based on Yuge Island in Kamijima town, where daily life unfolds at a human scale.

Life on the island

The town’s main area can be explored easily by bicycle, allowing residents to move fluidly between sea, sky and the community.

Facilities on the island:
・Supermarket
・Bookstore
・Small selection of local restaurants
・Medical clinic
・Community center (with coffee and shared workspace)
・Tourist information center
・Small library (located within the tourist information center)
・Convenience store (closed at night)

Please see more about the islands.
https://www.kamijima.info/en

The program’s supporters and friends

These are the friends and teammates who deeply believed in this program and supported it from the very beginning all the way through bringing it to life. We look forward to growing this community with friends who resonate with the spirit of this program!

  • Candy | Shanghai

    She is an active cultural connector and community builder passionate about creating spaces where people can meet, connect and co-create through different forms of gatherings and creative projects.

    She has initiated countless youth sharing sessions, themed co-creation workshops and community art projects, including Sofa Anthropology in the Hutongs, Open Zoo, and Friends’ Living Room Art Museum.

    She is also the founder of Silver Threads, an intergenerational project that uses clothing as a medium to connect people of diverse ages. Through monthly styling and runway events, the project encourages people from different generations to build understanding, share stories and create together. 

  • David Wang | Shanghai

    He is a bicycle maker and product designer at his company, Brook & Breeze LLC. He and his team design cycling solutions for everyday lifestyles as part of a bigger effort to empower people and communities through sustainable mobility.


    Before building bicycles for a career, he led teams at Boston consulting group, frog design (APAC) and ZEISS digital ventures. He is also a U.S. Fulbright Scholar, TEDx speaker and 30-Under-30 PSM recipient.

  • XinXin | Tokyo

    She was born in China, later living in the United States and now calls Japan home. Based in Tokyo, she runs the PR company StorySpark while studying traditional Japanese dance. She has always been drawn to things that carry a sense of warmth and human presence whether in art, everyday objects, or writing.

    She has a deep admiration for people who dedicate themselves to their creative work. Through her experience living in different places, she has come to feel that every place has its own unique sensibility that naturally draws people together.

    She believes Kamijima holds that same quiet charm and that this program will become a meaningful place for creativity, inspiration and for bringing people together.