Hello everyone!

This is my first post from my LiA in Japan. I arrived on the 7th of August from China after a conference. I met up with my contact, Yoichi, at Haneda Airport and drove to Hayama, a small fishing village with a long history and surprisingly big focus on social action.

My goal in Japan is to teach young people about social action and political awareness, and work with key stakeholders, such as NGOs and local government organisations, to promote the inclusion of young people in decision-making and social action. I will do this by participating in a number of camps organised for young people by NGOs such as Free The Children Japan (FTCJ), Wake Up Japan, and Fair Trade, as well as accompanying Wake Up Japan to TICAD, an international conference in Tokyo focused on Africa.

As part of this project, I also aim to learn about social action and other forms of collective efforts in Japan, and contrast them with similar programmes in the UK and elsewhere, creating a short comparative assessment that will inform good practice among both Japanese and British organisations.

I hope that my participation in the aforementioned events, alongside my report, will educate a number of young people about how they can make a difference in their local community and nationally, as well as help inform decisions taken by NGOs and local government organisations in Japan. By working with a number of organisations, both in Japan and during my previous experiences, I also look to bridge their work to create a network that can learn from each other and work together far into the future.

So far, most of my time has been focused on preparing materials and logistics for the aforementioned events and my research (slides, consent forms, transport, etc...). I also had the opportunity to familiarise myself with the local area, including the town hall, school, and shrines. Tomorrow, I will be having my first meeting in the Town Hall to discuss approaches on how to engage young people in sustainability.

I attached a few photos of Hayama (and neighbouring Zushi) I took over the past few days - I hope you enjoy them!

See you soon!

Michał.