Questions I am often asked
Things people new here tend to ask.
Each is a short form of something written elsewhere on this site.
- What is Genseki Kobo?
Genseki Kobo is the name under which Makoto Ikeda, a certified SME management consultant operating as Tunagibito, runs courses and writes about noticing, on your own, what is already inside you. Its subtitle is "Notice the hidden gem, and let it bloom." Its policy is to hand out questions, not answers.
- What is Tunagibito?
Tunagibito is the trade name of Makoto Ikeda, a certified SME management consultant based in Matsudo, Chiba, Japan. It covers business process reform, digitization and generative AI support for small and medium-sized companies, one-on-one sessions with executives and managers, and the courses and writing of Genseki Kobo.
- Who is Makoto Ikeda?
Makoto Ikeda is a certified SME management consultant who spent 36 years, from 1988 to 2024, at a major electronics manufacturer, where he took stock of roughly 10,000 internal processes and reworked 7,000 of them. He grew up in a small family factory that polished metal. He now works as the representative of Tunagibito.
- What kind of work do you take on?
Three things: business process reform and digitization for small and medium-sized companies (including the use of public subsidies); designing how generative AI fits into real work and helping it take root; and one-on-one sessions with executives and managers. Makoto Ikeda handles all of it himself, so the number of engagements is limited.
- Where are you based?
In Matsudo, Chiba, Japan. Clients include companies outside the prefecture, in Fukushima, Saga and Tochigi among others.
- What does "no answers handed out" mean?
An answer someone gives you feels clear in the moment and is gone by the next day. Having watched that happen many times, the courses hand out questions instead of answers, so that people arrive at their own.
- Where can I find the courses?
The courses are being built one at a time. Announcements go out through YouTube, X, note and the other places listed on the Writing page. Everything is in Japanese at present.
- How do I get in touch?
By email at ikeda.makoto@tunagibito.com. Makoto Ikeda reads everything himself, so a reply may take a few days.