My Mission
My mission is to bring FOSS4G tools and open data into the everyday work of local governments, researchers and businesses in Japan, and to keep the communities behind them open to newcomers.Biography
Yasuto Furukawa co-founded MIERUNE in 2016, a Sapporo-based company working with open source geospatial software. He studied wildlife ecology at Hokkaido University and started a QGIS study group in 2010. It turned into FOSS4G Hokkaido, which now meets every year with around 100 people.
At MIERUNE he works as a director and evangelist. As a Fellow of Code for Japan, he continues to support open source software, open data, and geographic data sovereignty. He worked with the Higumap development team using civic tech methods—the map now tracks brown bear sightings across about 40 towns in Hokkaido. Since 2019 he advises local governments on open data and civic tech for Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 2020 he led a volunteer team building Hokkaido’s COVID-19 information site.
He teaches GIS at Rakuno Gakuen University. He has spoken at FOSS4G Korea in 2014, FOSS4G Asia in 2024, and FOSS4G in Hiroshima in 2026. He also served on the OSGeo Japan Chapter steering committee.
