Cloud Number 9 Japan
A week in Japan to reconnect with yourself - and consider your next decade.
Give your own future the attention you give your company’s.
Cloud Number 9 Japan is a private programme in Japan, individually designed for international business leaders, owners and their families. Before your visit, we explore your current wellbeing and the questions you would like to address. In Japan, we bring together scientific perspectives, traditional Japanese practices of mind and body, conversations with business leaders, and encounters with nature and culture. The week creates space to step back from daily responsibilities and reflect on how you work and live. After you return home, follow-up conversations help you translate insights from Japan into everyday action.
Created by Artisan Group, drawing on nearly 25 years of dialogue with business leaders through First Wednesday.
Understand before you arrive. Explore in Japan. Continue at home.
01.
Before your visit
Understand your starting point
We review your sleep, fatigue, stress, concentration and everyday routines. We also discuss your current stage of life and leadership, your family’s wishes and the questions you would like to explore in Japan.
02.
In Japan
Connect experience and dialogue with your own life
Encounter scientific perspectives, speak with business leaders and people who have dedicated themselves to Japanese traditional practices, and spend time in nature and cultural settings. Depending on your interests, experiences may include attention to breath, posture, movement, voice and sound. Between encounters, there is time to reflect privately or discuss what you have experienced with your family. Before you leave, we help you clarify what matters to you and identify specific actions to try at home.
03.
After your return
See what works in everyday life
We follow up at intervals agreed with you in advance. Together, we review what you have been able to continue, what has proved difficult after returning to work and family life, and how to adapt your practices to your circumstances.
Optional medical assessments
Where appropriate, medical assessments or diagnoses are provided by qualified medical institutions. CN9’s preparatory review is a conversation about your routines, priorities and questions; it is not a medical examination or diagnosis. Medical assessments are optional and are not assumed to be included in the programme fee.
Different perspectives on how you decide and how you live.
A scientist offers a way to question assumptions. Japanese practices of mind and body invite you to explore your senses and how you direct your attention. Dialogue with business leaders opens questions about responsibility and difficult decisions. Nature and cultural traditions provide space for quiet reflection.
CN9 brings these experiences together around the questions that matter to you now.
01. Science and discovery
Discuss uncertainty and discovery with a scientist. Bring an assumption you would like to examine, and consider how a different view of the world might inform your own judgment.
02. Japanese practices of mind and body
Settle your breath, become aware of your posture and give attention to each movement. Listen closely to voice and sound, and spend time in stillness. Through practices passed down in Japan, explore your senses and how you direct your attention. Conversations with experienced practitioners help you understand their context and consider what you might bring into daily life and work.
03. Dialogue with business leaders
Exchange experiences with a business leader connected through First Wednesday. Reflect on a difficult decision, the people it affects and the values you want your leadership to express.
04. Nature and cultural traditions
Dialogue with senior Buddhist clergy, custodians of Japanese cultural traditions passed down for over a thousand years, and practitioners who find spiritual meaning in nature. Ask how compassion and a sense of connection with nature are lived in everyday practice. Reflect on the continuity of life and what you hope to pass on.
About Artisan Group
Cloud Number 9 Japan is conceived and developed by Artisan Group Co., Ltd.
Through First Wednesday, a private forum for business leaders, we have created space for candid dialogue for nearly 25 years, exploring the responsibilities, decisions and personal values that shape leadership. These conversations invite participants to speak as individuals, beyond titles and immediate business interests. CN9 grows out of these conversations. It brings that understanding into a personally curated week in Japan, giving leaders and their families time to reconnect, reflect and consider what matters next.
A moment of conversation at First Wednesday.
Explore whether CN9 is right for you.
We will explain the programme, timing, fees, preparation before your visit and follow-up after your return.
Together, we consider your interests and preferences to establish whether CN9 fits what you are looking for. You are welcome to enquire before your plans are finalised, including if you are considering participating with your family.
Enquiry → Personal consultation → Individual proposal.
Begin with a personal conversation
Tell us what brings you to Japan, who you would like to come with and what you hope this time might offer. We will explore a week shaped around you.
01
Share your interests
Send your preferred timing, who may join you and what you would like to explore.
02
Talk with us
In a personal consultation, we explore your priorities and your family’s wishes.
03
Review your proposal
We outline a week for you, with proposed encounters, arrangements and fees. The scope and terms are confirmed before you decide to proceed.