Shuta Kanehara
SHUTA KANEHARA
Project Manager, Adachi Mock Ward Mayoral Election, Civic Education Division | Third cohort, joined 2025 | Second year, Sakuragaoka High School
4 min read
In his third year of middle school he was in the room as a participant at the Mock Ward Mayoral Election. Now he runs the ground operation of that same program with a team made up entirely of high school students. We asked him about balancing it with school, and his goal of "a team that runs without me."
On joining
First, a brief introduction, if you would.
I'm Shuta Kanehara. I joined in the third cohort. I'm a second-year student at Sakuragaoka High School, and I'm the project manager of the Adachi Mock Ward Mayoral Election operations section.
When did you first hear of TEIGEN JP?
What brought TEIGEN JP to my attention was the Adachi Mock Ward Mayoral Election, which I took part in during my third year of middle school.
How did that room look to a third-year middle schooler?
I remember being overwhelmed — this was an organization run entirely by high school students, and yet the professionalism and the finish you could feel on the ground were extraordinary. I was strongly drawn in, thinking that an organization like this really existed. At the same time I felt that if I took things on here I would grow, and I decided to join as part of the third cohort.
On the first job
I had to face this work with more responsibility than that.
What was the first job you did once you were on the organizing side?
The first work I took on after moving to the organizing side was administrative and coordination work — correspondence of various kinds, answering emails.
Did you handle it smoothly from the start?
Oh, not at all. At first even one of those basic exchanges gave me trouble. It was trial and error, one after another (laughs).
At some point something switched on, I gather.
In the middle of that came a moment when our director, Horii, said to me: if you don't do it, the program doesn't run. Hearing that, it hit me that I really had been handed an important role, and that I was trusted with it.
And what changed after that?
It was an important moment for me — my thinking shifted considerably, to: I have to take more responsibility for this work.
On the hardest stretch
When was the hardest of it so far?
The hardest was a stretch when meetings landed one after another and a huge number of tasks piled up waiting to be dealt with.
Did it feel like you were at your limit?
Honestly, I think I was close. It was the moment I came close to exceeding my capacity, and felt the pressure.
That sounds like a serious stretch.
I am still learning, but that hard experience taught me first-hand how much it matters to set priorities clearly and to actually carry out schedule management.
You didn't carry it alone, then.
Yes. Here too, the people ahead of me taught me concrete methods for managing it and gave me advice, and I got through. I will keep at it.
On the team he is aiming for
However capable the person, an organization that depends on one person is fragile, and nothing runs well.
What kind of team are you aiming for?
The team I am aiming for is one that runs itself without me.
What do you do when work you handed over goes wrong?
If I hand work to a member and it goes wrong, I do not consider that a bad thing at all. Because I believe that being given something and experiencing failure is the greatest chance to grow that person will get. A team that depends on an individual stops holding together the moment that person is gone.
Is that a personal creed of yours, too?
The beliefs I hold to are: do not build a team that depends on one person, and do not carry things alone — ask, and take in the views of many people. However capable the person, an organization that depends on one person is fragile, and nothing runs well.
What are you doing about it, concretely?
To that end I want to build a firm pattern that does not depend on any particular person, and an organization with a foundation that lasts. That is exactly why I hold to this as my own axis: build the mechanism — the pattern — so that anyone can act, and move forward without carrying it alone, taking in other people's views and asking their advice.
On balancing school
You're in your second year of high school. How do you keep up with school?
During exam periods and the like I use the provision the organization has for putting schoolwork first, and I feel I am managing both without letting my studies slide.
Having someone to ask must count for a lot.
It counts for a lot. It is precisely because there are people around me I can ask that I can keep running while holding the balance.
On what comes next
What kind of Mock Ward Mayoral Election do you want to build from here?
The Mock Ward Mayoral Election I want to build is one that satisfies people more than before — overwhelmingly high in quality as civic education, and with real impact. I will pursue that quality without ever letting it drift.
What do you want to leave the next cohort?
The team culture I want to leave to those coming after us is one that depends on no particular person, that nobody monopolizes, and that everyone builds together. I want to give that mechanism and that mindset a firm form and hand it on.
Last question. What is TEIGEN JP, to you?
For me, TEIGEN JP is, in a word, home. That is how much it accepts me, lets me take things on, and makes me grow — it is the place underneath it all.
Shuta Kanehara. Third cohort, joined 2025. Took part in Mock Ward Mayoral Election 2025 as a participant and joined the organizing side for the third edition in 2026 (co-hosted by the Adachi Election Administration Commission and attended by the mayor). Now Project Manager, Adachi Mock Ward Mayoral Election, Civic Education Division. Second year, Sakuragaoka High School. Event report →