2025 Virtual Coaches
Yoshihiro Yagi
Executive Creative Director / Growth Officer
Dentsu Japan
Tokyo
Yoshihiro is a driving force of creativity throughout Dentsu Japan and is one of the top award-winning creatives in Japan, with over 500 medals under his belt. His work is always in the nature of facing human impulses and nurturing long and deep relationships with his clients. One of the most frequently discussed topics at client and team meetings is how to turn business into art. ‘Pocky THE GIFT’, which won Grand Prix at various awards, was a business that shared the human urge to connect with others. JR East's ‘Get Back, Tohoku’ won the Collaborative Pencil at D&AD for the first time in Asia, after more than 10 years of continuous efforts. Now more than ever, he feels the need to follow our own human sense of ethics in finding and solving problems in society. His greatest motivation is to create things that will make the lives of each person in this world brighter and enriched through the power of creativity. Most recently, he proved this with the JR Group’s ‘My Japan Railway’ campaign which won the coveted Black Pencil at D&AD.
Yoshi and his wife have two young sons, Minato and Keito. They named the boys in relation to the circulation of water and nature: how mountain streams flow into the ocean, where it becomes rain and eventually goes back to the mountains. He also lectures at Kyoto University of the Arts.
Yoshi and his wife have two young sons, Minato and Keito. They named the boys in relation to the circulation of water and nature: how mountain streams flow into the ocean, where it becomes rain and eventually goes back to the mountains. He also lectures at Kyoto University of the Arts.
“The time I spent serving as a mentor at LIAisons felt less like teaching and more like an opportunity to revisit fundamental questions: What is creativity? And Why do I continue to do this work?
The young creators I met were exceptionally talented and blessed with access to information and technology. Yet what many of them were struggling with was not how to make things, but what to believe in when making judgments. In an era where clear answers are hard to find, I was reminded again and again through mentoring that more than skills or know-how, it is having one’s own criteria for judgment, a sense of aesthetic values, and a certain resolve that ultimately determines the strength of creativity.
As I spoke about my own work and career, I found myself needing to articulate why I chose certain paths and why I decided to take particular risks. In doing so, I realized that this process was not only for the benefit of others, but also an act of re-editing my own thinking and values. Creativity is not simply about generating ideas; it is about taking responsibility for decisions. And the accumulation of those decisions eventually becomes a person’s “character” and “credibility.” This structure became vividly clear to me once again.
Mentoring at an international platform like LIA was also an attempt to share an understanding of why something is good, beyond differences in culture or assumptions. Logic and trends may vary from country to country. But beneath the moments when people are genuinely moved, or when something feels truly beautiful, there is undeniably something universal. If I was able to help translate that sensibility in any way, nothing could be more rewarding.
While I was involved as a mentor, the truth is that the person who received the greatest stimulation and learning was myself. It was an experience I can reflect on with complete honesty.
Thank you LIA for giving me this special opportunity and to all the mentees who shared their valuable insights.”