Founder
Wako Kudeken
Founder & CEO, Smoooth Inc. / Host, The Borderless Journey
Born in Okinawa, I spent my early childhood in Hawaii. What I experienced after returning to Japan set me on a continuing inquiry into happiness and what it means to live well. I have done field research in more than 36 countries, from the Nordics to South America, and I bring the realities of the world I encountered there, along with my connections to the people putting ideas into practice, back to Japan.
The happiness gap I felt at age 8
Have you ever felt that, although human potential should be limitless, we hold ourselves back with frames of our own making?
I lived in Hawaii as a young child and moved to Tokyo when I was 8. The gap in happiness I sensed there is the starting point of everything I do today.
Since then I have done field research in 36 countries, from the Nordics to South America. Each time I engaged with a new culture or new people, I felt the underlying structure of Japan, and of myself, come into focus, and the frames that had been limiting me fall away.
Wondering whether I could share that experience with people in Japan, I gathered supporters and backers, invited guests whose ways of living help others break out of their frames, and started The Borderless Journey.
Career
Background
- OkinawaBorn in Okinawa.
- ChildhoodSpent her early childhood in Hawaii. Moving to Tokyo at age 8, she was struck by the gap in happiness between the two places. That experience set off her lifelong inquiry into happiness and what it means to live well.
- UniversityGained experience at the gourmet app TERIYAKI, FiNC Technologies and DeNA.
- 2017Graduated from Aoyama Gakuin University and joined Accenture.
- 2021Founded Smoooth Inc.
- 2026Launched Cohort 2 of The Borderless Journey.
Activities
Main Activities
The Borderless Journey (TBJ)
An experiential online program where participants meet leaders from around the world and move beyond the limits of their own assumptions. Designed so that next-generation student leaders and executives learn side by side. Supervised by adult development scholar Yohei Kato.
TBJ for Women
A program to advance gender diversity and women's leadership.
The Borderless Radio
A podcast exploring human nature through the realities of the world, recorded as a conversation with a translator.
Founder's Journal
A series chronicling the road to launching TBJ, including the doubts and failures along the way.
Shall we break out of our frames together?
The Borderless Journey is a cross-border learning program you join of your own accord, not through a company scheme. Come and get a feel for it first.