︎

Profile   Contact
AYAKA
YAMASHITA

Researcher 
Producer

Co-founder of EDAYA
Harvard GSD DDes’25 
Lecturer at Univ. Nagano

EDAYA
Since 2012 ++ selected work
  1. Bamboo Instruments
  2. Bamboo Jewelry
  3. Exhibition
  4. Bamboo Glocal Village
  5. Textbook/Book

Harvard GSD
Since 2019 ++  
  1. MDes Thesis
  2. Harvard Gazette
  3. Community Service Fellow
  4. Class projects at GSD 
  5. Class project at MIT 
Since 2021 ++ CLL
  1. Cape Ann Fieldwork

Int'l Development Work
Since 2014 ++




Mark



Ayaka Yamashita



Landscape Researcher/ Cultural Producer
Co-founder of EDAYA

Ayaka Yamashita is a Japanese landscape researcher, cultural producer, and a doctoral candidate at Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD). Her research explores theories of landscape and sound. For over a decade, her organization EDAYA has worked to preserve Kalinga indigenous bamboo musical instruments; that experience has formed her interest in how nature and the ways of life of locals are represented through sounds. She has organized various workshops, events, and exhibitions globally. 

As an experienced fieldworker and community organizer, Ayaka has consulted several Japan International Cooperation Agency projects and teaches international development at the University of Nagano. She is also a trained facilitator, certified as a Facilitator for Change by ChangemakerXchange. She holds a Bachelor of Agriculture (International Sustainable Agriculture Development) and a Master of Health Sciences (Human Ecology) from the University of Tokyo. In 2021, she graduated from Harvard GSD (Master in Design Studies: Risk and Resilience) as a Fulbright scholar.