The Philosophy of Disappearing Design: What Heidegger Teaches Us About the Best UX
Recently, I visited the Van Gogh exhibition at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. As I stood facing his portraits and landscapes, I was reminded of an essay by a philosopher I had read long ago. That one essay focused on a simple painting of “Pair of Shoes” by Van Gogh. Philosopher Martin Heidegger once wrote that these shoes are not […]
Recruiting Participants for Medical Device Usability Evaluations in Japan: A Practical Guide for PMDA Submissions
As UX researchers specializing in medical devices, we often receive questions from manufacturers outside Japan who are looking to enter the Japanese market. One of the most common is: “How should we recruit participants for a usability evaluation in Japan?” While you might be familiar with established practices for usability testing in the U.S. and Europe, […]
For International Manufacturers: Key Usability Points for Japanese PMDA Submissions
What is Required to Market a Medical Device in Japan? If your company is planning to introduce a medical device to the Japanese market, you may be asking questions such as: In recent years, the PMDA has placed a clearer and stricter emphasis on usability engineering. They now require manufacturers to demonstrate compliance with JIS T 62366-1:2022, which […]
Sample Size and Test Environment Requirements for PMDA HFE Submission: A Practical Guide for Validation Studies in Japan
PMDA’s overall HFE mindset is aligned with international regulatory frameworks, but expectations in certain areas can differ. In particular, PMDA takes a distinct approach to topics such as sample size determination and test environment considerations. This guide outlines key points based on the implementation of JIS T 62366-1:2022 and current PMDA expectations. Sample Size PMDA does not […]
Fieldwork in Japan 101: A Practical Guide for Overseas Research Teams
Fieldwork in Japan often looks straightforward on paper, but projects can quietly lose quality through mistranslated stimuli, over-tight recruitment criteria, or session designs that ignore local communication patterns. Executing high-quality user research in Japan requires careful planning and awareness of local operational and cultural factors. This guide outlines our proven workflow across three phases: Pre-Fieldwork Preparation […]
Why One Stay at a Traditional Japanese Inn Became an Unforgettable User Experience
Today, I’d like to begin this blog with a simple question. What does “the best user experience” mean to you? If an answer came to mind right away, it’s probably because that experience moved you so deeply that it engraved itself into your memory. And yet, the more powerful an experience is, the harder it often becomes to explain why it […]
The UX of MBTI: Why Gen Z is Building a New Protocol for Connection
As a UX researcher, I’m trained to observe the subtle ways people interact with the world. Within the last few years, a fascinating pattern has emerged among my peers, friends, and in my own digital life. It’s a four-letter code that has become a new kind of language: MBTI*. * Short for the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a self-reported questionnaire that assigns people to one of 16 […]
I Think, Therefore I Test: What Descartes Can Teach Us About UX
What can a 17th-century philosopher teach us about UX? Surprisingly, quite a lot. One of the most famous phrases in philosophy comes from René Descartes: “I think, therefore I am.” For him, this wasn’t just proof of existence. It was the starting point of an intellectual journey to find absolute certainty through radical skepticism. Centuries later, this […]
I Think, Therefore I Test: What Descartes Can Teach Us About UX
What can a 17th-century philosopher teach us about UX? Surprisingly, quite a lot. One of the most famous phrases in philosophy comes from René Descartes: “I think, therefore I am.” For him, this wasn’t just proof of existence. It was the starting point of an intellectual journey to find absolute certainty through radical skepticism. Centuries later, this […]