Live Life Your Way, Co. Ltd

Shure University was created in 1999 as a place for learning and self expression by young people (and their supporters) who had experienced school refusal or had been hikikomori (adolescents with acute social withdrawal). Interestingly, two of the four founders of Creators 440Hz were founding members of the university. One of them, Ishimoto, had been deeply impressed by a course at Shure called "Creating a New Life," which was about finding a way of life that is true to yourself by starting with yourself as a given rather than trying to force yourself to fit into a social framework. Based on topics the students found important (e.g., money, work, society, self ), the course encouraged each student to reflect on the person they had been and to find what they wanted to do in the future. It had prompted Ishimoto to reflect on her past work experience and think about how she wanted to work in the future.

In the second year of university, Ishimoto and her classmate carried out a project called "Watching 101 Movies." Inspired by the passion of the 101 directors of the movies they watched, they felt that they could be directors, too. They went on to make numerous films, both fiction and non-fiction, including a promotional video for Shure University. Ishimoto's documentary on the state of education around the world was picked up by a film distributor and bought by university libraries nationwide as a teaching aid.

Around that time, Shure University began a "film shop" and "design shop" project that encouraged students to fine tune their goals in practice. As the students worked on their creations, they would often talk about "life after Shure University." With Ishimoto's graduation, these informal discussions led to a formal proposal for founding a company. Creators 440Hz was eventually founded after a surprisingly large number of share subscriptions were received. Two years after its inauguration, Creators 440Hz is inundated with work. Achievements so far include a UN agency video on third country resettlement, a webcast on radiation dangers and countermeasures, the Tokyo Shure Free School's 25th anniversary commemorative video, and a project called "Bringing People Together With Creative Business Card Designs."

As the company took off, a large number of people became involved, which made it even more important for its members to be true to themselves. To deal with debates and negotiations, they had to clarify just what it was that they wanted to do. Discussions among members also became more intense.

We want to make this society more livable by holding true to the values we learned from Shure University as we work: being true to ourselves and at the same time respecting others. The first cries of babies across the globe are all said to be at a frequency of 440Hz. We named our company after this primitive, uncontrollable voice because our goal is to create a society in which the voices from deep within ourselves cannot be silenced. Beginning with our time at Shure University, we have been fortunate to receive so much support from various people over the years. We have indeed come a long way since our school days, and finally we are getting a real sense of the possibility of a society that differs from the so-called society from which we had once felt excluded.