The third week of my LiA was by far the busiest and was centred around the Asia Next Forum, which took place over three days from the 5th to 7th August. The first two days were held in Takeo, a smaller city about an hour south-east of Fukuoka, and brought together 30 delegates from across Asia, all with incredibly diverse backgrounds, experiences and areas of expertise.

Day 1:

We started with lunch and an icebreaker session, which was a great way to meet the other delegates before being introduced to the Asia Next Forum, Takeo City and Takeo Asia University, where the first two days were being hosted. We were then split into themed discussion groups, with Lottie and I joining the Diversity and Inclusion group alongside Misato, who was leading our session.

Each member took turns answering our discussion questions, giving us an insight into their own country, culture and experiences. After the presentations, we began discussing the key themes we wanted to explore in the round table we would lead at the main conference on the 7th.

In the evening, we all went for dinner at a local restaurant in Takeo, which was the first time Lottie and I were separated in who knows how long and used it a lovely chance to get to know everyone! Afterwards, Lottie and I decided we had to make the most of being in Takeo, famous for Onsens, and that it would be a missed opportunity to not go to one!   

Day 2:

Day two started bright and early as we headed straight to Jyoran-jyuku, where we learnt about its history and had the chance to experience a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. A tea ceremony was high on our bucket list of must-do’s in Japan so we were both VERY excited! 

After the morning of learning, we returned to the university to finalise our preparation for the round tables the following day. Before lunch, all the groups came together to share what they had discussed and the questions they planned to explore with participants at the Forum. It was interesting to hear how differently each group had approached their themes, while still finding plenty of overlap between them.

Lunch was at a local restaurant where there was more tofu than I thought humanly possible, including peanut tofu! I’m still not entirely sure why there was a vegan table at an exclusively tofu restaurant, and I was no longer surprised when I found a huge block of tofu at the bottom of my dessert bowl hahah. 

After lunch, we had an hour and a half bus journey to Fukuoka, which I took as the perfect opportunity for a much-needed nap after the early start. Once we arrived, we had just an hour to check into our hotel before heading to the Asian Art Museum. You’d be amazed by how many hotels you can attempt to check into before finding the right one when you leave Lottie in charge of Google Maps. Add 35-degree heat, 80% humidity and 25kg of luggage to the mix, and it made for quite the sweaty workout!

A quick turn around and we were soon at the Asian Art Museum, which had an incredible display of art and history. Lottie and I were seperated (again) into groups where we had different themes and had a list of art works, we had to find and discuss. Leave it to my competitive nature to treat it as a treasure hunt! My group's theme was titled: Modernisation and People’s Daily Lives, focussing on on the daily lives of people living amid social change and their local communities.

After a busy, jam packed day we all headed to a lovely dinner hosted by Asia Next Forum at a beautiful venue that overlooked the Naka River. Could not have imagined a better evening!

And before you know it, it was conference day! Lottie and I were off to the venue for 8:30 to help with the set up ahead of everyone’s arrival. Soon the roundtables were underway and discussion was in full swing. Our participants ranged from high-school students, to CEOs and those working in peace making. We discussed their understanding of diversity and inclusion, experiences as an international student in Japan, barriers to inclusion and what needs to be done to improve diversity.

Following the first round table, we assisted Misato, who led another round table ‘Peace in East Asia’. I especially liked the discussion around looking towards the future rather than constantly being defined by the past, and how small, person-to-person connections can slowly challenge the assumptions and stereotypes created by politics and the media.

Soon it was time for quick lunch, an amazing bento box and hand made onigiri, far more exciting than our usual 7-eleven onigiri lunch.

By 1pm, it was straight into the main event of the Forum, of 5 panels. On the topics of Founding the Next Asia, AI & Energy: Asia’s Path to Straqtegic Autonomy, Beyond Apathy: Reclaiming Political Agency in Asia, Redifining Growth: Asia’s economy on Its Own Terms and finally, The Urban Frontier: How Asian Cities Lead the Climate Response.

Following each Panel I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to interview each panelist for the Asia Next Forums social media and website. It was a great opportunity to speak directly with people working across such different areas and hear more about their experiences and ideas beyond what had been discussed on stage.

Before we knew it the conference had flown by, and we were saying bye to all the amazing and interesting people we had met. We were back to our hotel for a long sleep ahead of yet, another early morning to travel south to Nagasaki.

We were very lucky to have been offered a lift to Nagasaki from a lovely man we met at the conference, saving us 2 hours of travel time, and even better yet dozens of recommendations of things to do, places to see, and our favourite… food to try!

 From the hotel, it was straight out the door to the Nagasaki Peace Park Museum which, as a few other equally confused tourists also discovered, isn’t actually the Atomic Bomb Museum. Rookie error! In hindsight, I’m really glad we made the mistake, as it was an incredibly interesting museum that we might otherwise have missed, giving us a broader perspective on Nagasaki’s history and its ongoing efforts to promote peace and remembrance.

After, we headed to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, which was a much more harrowing experience. Reading survivors’ accounts and seeing the extent of the destruction was difficult, particularly knowing that we were visiting just one day before the 81st anniversary of the bombing. We also found ourselves walking alongside ambassadors and foreign officials from around the world who were in Nagasaki for the anniversary, which made the experience feel even more significant. We then visited the hypocentre, where flowers and wreaths had already been laid ahead of the commemoration.

We spent the rest of our time in Nagasaki trying to see and learn as much as possible. The Nagasaki Museum for Human Rights particularly stood out to me. It is a small, privately run museum that focuses on Japanese war crimes, forced labour and the experiences of non-Japanese victims of WWII. It was confronting but incredibly important, particularly in how directly it addressed the experiences of Korean and Chinese forced labourers and the "comfort women" system.

We also visited Dejima, the artificial island that became Japan’s main point of contact with the Dutch during its period of isolation, and explored Chinatown, where we ate our way through plenty of different stalls and, most importantly, had some incredible mochi!

Week 3 has been by far our busiest yet, and I couldn’t be more grateful for how much we have learnt from everyone we have met and the experiences we have been lucky enough to be part of!