What happens when young people connect with water professionals from different countries, explore the challenges around them, and turn what they learn into ideas for their own community? In Ichinoseki City, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, 18 second-year students from the Advanced Course at National Institute of Technology, Ichinoseki College (Ichinoseki Kosen) took on exactly that challenge, and came up with six creative ideas for the future of water in their community.
The journey began in April through the “Scientific and Technological English” course, led by Assistant Professor Kharisrama Trihatmoko, a member of Japan Wave and a Steering Committee Member of Japan Young Water Professionals (Japan-YWP). Over approximately three months, the students learned how to read academic papers, discuss issues in English, identify problems and their root causes, design and organize solutions, and communicate their ideas effectively.
The learning took a new direction on June 18, when five members of Wavemakers United and Japan-YWP joined an international guest lecture. Emily Lorra Hines, Muhammet Bilgic and Asami Nagao, together with the representatives of the Japan-YWP Sahara Sagisaka and Alejandro Martinez, helped the students connect global water challenges with issues closer to home and consider how young people can contribute to creating change.
The students then brought those perspectives into action. From June 25 to July 30, they worked in six interdisciplinary groups to explore water challenges in Ichinoseki and develop their own solutions. Their ideas ranged from smart leak detection using sensors and a digital dashboard and data-based management of aging pipelines, to an AI-powered smartphone application that reads water meters from photographs and decentralized water treatment with IoT-based monitoring.
On August 6, the students presented their ideas in English, with the presentations evaluated by Tilly Stroo, Founder of Wavemakers United, together with Asami Nagao, Sahara Sagisaka, and Assistant Professor Kharisrama Trihatmoko.
Among six strong proposals, Group 4, Yuki Sugawara, Karen Usugi, and Toshiki Yoshida, received the highest overall evaluation. They presented a prototype smartphone application that can read water meters from photographs and help residents monitor their water consumption.
The team hopes to encourage greater awareness of water conservation and water savings while also contributing to a local challenge: the shortage of meter-reading staff.
The students have a possibility of presenting it at STI-Gigaku 2026 in Nagaoka City on November 5–6.
For Japan Wave,it is an early step toward bringing water education and youth engagement into more colleges and schools across Japan. It is a simple idea with a long-term ambition: connect young people with water, connect local challenges with global perspectives, and turn curiosity into action.
One international conversation. Six ideas. Eighteen students. One community. And perhaps, the beginning of many more waves across Japan!