Hello Everyone!
Apologies for the wait - my last two week in particular has been very travel-heavy (and a little revolutionary).
Here is another brief overview of my last two weeks in Japan, I have compiled both weeks' posts into this one. As I kept adding more information to my script, I realised that it will be much easier to do this, and then make more in-depth posts explaining each activity in the future, where I would be able to also show some of the materials I have used in my presentations and work.
I left the last post on TICAD-9, which I considered to be a great success for the organisations I was working with. Here is what I have been up to since then:
1. After having some rest exploring Enoshima and Kamakura, I traveled back to Yokohama. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the last day of TICAD as a guest, rather than a presenter, and thus explore some of the other exhibitions on both the NGO and Business side of the conference. I was particularly impressed by some of the newly patented water filtration technology from Shinshu University.
2. Whilst at Yokohama, I also had the privilege of meeting a number of individuals from Africa Insight, based in South Korea, with whom I ran a small event focusing on youth awareness of issues facing Africa and African migrants in East Asia, and their participation in solving them. I was also able to interview the founder, Steven, who organises the largest annual festival celebrating African culture in South Korea, for the Wake-Up Japan website.
3. After that, I moved to Tokyo, where I was invited to present and join a panel discussion on the subject of the participation of highschoolers in civic action in Japan, at an event organised by multiple NPOs and hosted by Deloitte. I had the pleasure of finally meeting the Japanese researchers and young people I have worked with in the past virtually on a research project on the effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on mental health of young people as part of the CO-SPACE Initiative.
4. The following day, I attended an event organised by Wake-Up Japan and one of Tokyo's wards' local authorities. The local authority is looking to improve the dissemination of information aimed at young people, and were thus collecting the voice of young people on the matter, and working with a local artist to find new designs more palatable and efficient for their target audience.
After this event, back in Hayama, I had the opportunity to see the local festival marking the end of summer. It was a rather exciting event, which included a number of performances by school clubs and local social clubs, as well as a ceremony carried out by the Shinto community.
5. After that, I had the opportunity to speak with and interview a number of high-school volunteers and their university student supervisor, who were keeping Zushi Beach clean. I discovered them close to the beginning of my time in Japan and organised this interview to get a better idea of why and how young people in Japan participate in social action. It was a rather educational experience for me, and I hope to use the data, alongside some of the other questionnaires filled out by other young people I met earlier, to write a short report.
6. After this, I went back to Tokyo, to run a safeguarding workshop alongside Wake-Up Japan at a Child-Rights Center in Tokyo, where we introduced this concept to a number of university student volunteers. I found it rather interesting, and slightly concerning, that the concept of safeguarding is not very well-known, or developed in Japan. In comparison, the UK has some rather strict laws regarding working with vulnerable people, requiring a DBS certificate (background check), and with most organisations having their own extensive safeguarding protocols. This is not the case in Japan, and is something that needs to be worked on within civil society networks and the legislature.
I was then fortunate enough to visit a local farm in Yokosuka, where I had the opportunity to work and speak with the farmers about sustainable practices. This was a wonderful experience that made me appreciate the work of farmers even more.
7. After this, I was once again invited to the Hayama Town Hall, where a number of staff wanted to interview me about the role of young people in local constituencies in the UK, given my experience with my local county council and as a Member of Youth Parliament. It was a very productive, if longer-than-expected, meeting and I believe both myself and they learned quite a bit about the approaches taken by British and Japanese local authorities.
8. I was then invited to the UN University, to attend an event on the subject of SDG implementation in Japan. I had the opportunity to listen to and speak with a number of people from the Japanese MoFA, members of the Japanese civic youth network, and other organisations working on this topic. I met some incredibly people, with whom I also spent my last day before leaving, and hope to keep in touch both as friends and colleagues.
Once again, I am looking to post more about these activities, and share some photos and materials from the session. In the meantime, I am happy to answer any questions.
Warm regards from Nepal.
- Michał