Unleash the Potential of Young Changemakers

Hi again from Japan!

On Oct 6th-8th, we held the Youth venture Retreat 2018 in Tsuwano. Tsuwano is located in the Shimane Prefecture and is one of Ashoka fellow's fields in Japan. We were staying in a small lodge in the forest, where we were preparing workshops to improve each one's activity. The Ashoka fellow - the social entrepreneur / systemic changemaker selected by Ashoka - came to our venue, so that youth venturers could present him their projects and ideas. They were inspired by his feedback and got confidence through the retreat. We use the part of your donation for this retreat, for which we are really grateful, thank you very much.

Uruka

Uruka is a 17 years old high school student and is committed to improve the dialogue between teachers & students.

She has studied from home during elementary school, and in junior high school she was not able to join the same classroom as her peers. This experience began to give her doubts about the education system. She felt that schools had become an environment only for tests and raising academic skills, where rules are forced upon students just because “these are the set of rules”. She considers this not to give students the time and space to think about the actual meaning of studying. In addition, because she was a so-called “troublesome student”, she often raised questions about education. For instance, “why do teachers impose their thoughts on students?” At that time, she was criticizing teachers, but through various activities and learning, she has realized that this is caused by the environment surrounding teachers. She has also noticed that she as well had been pressing her ideals of education on teachers, without listening carefully enough.

Now, she has been trying to seek a way where teachers and students acknowledge each other’s presence, interact and learn from each other. She has set up the 'Teacher & Student Dialogue Project', where elementary, junior high and high school students with various thoughts and backgrounds, engage in discussions with teachers. They exchange questions, thoughts and agenda regarding education. Uruka hopes that this initiative will encourage understanding among each other and that it will lead to a better education system where diversity is embraced.

Genta

Genta is a 18 years old high school student and his project turns around 'building together with bamboos'.

He first encountered bamboos two years ago when he moved from Hokkaido to Tsuwano, Shimane Prefecture. While living in Tsuwano, he learned that bamboos are traditionally used in various areas of life, such as eating bamboo shoots and creating bamboo crafts. He also learned that recently, the bamboo forests are deteriorating as a result of being abandoned without the people’s management. Bamboo forests are now neglected because of their lack of economic profitability due to the spread of plastic products and decrease in demand for bamboo workers. However, while talking with the local people, he learned that the issue of neglected bamboo forests is not only caused by economic factors but also because we are giving up on sustaining the culture of Tsuwano. Currently, many elderly people manage bamboo forests, and young people who could succeed their work is lacking greatly. That is why he decided to create opportunities for high school students to engage with bamboo forests.

Genta feels it is important to continuously manage and sustain the bamboo forests by the community. For example, we use bamboo to create gates and tents with high school students, work on primary school students and high school students, and worked with regional people in creating bamboo dumplings. In the early years of activities, we conducted educational activities. From this year, he has been working on bamboo forest maintenance, involving high school students around him, with bamboo forests leased from the local people.

Hello from Japan!

We hope you are doing well in these hot summer months. The ASHOKA Japan office is bustling as we prepare for our upcoming 11th We Are The Change event on September 16th. In the past few weeks, we have held exciting events such as the 34th Youth Venture Panel Screening in Tokyo. In addition, in this report, we will introduce you to two amazing Youth Venturers: Nanami and Tsubasa.

34th Youth Venture Panel Screening

ASHOKA Japan hosted our 34th Youth Venture Panel Screening on June 3 in Tokyo. Four candidates presented to become Youth Venturers, and 3 were selected to become Youth Venturers. We now have recognized a total of 92 YV groups since 2012.

Our panelists for this event were Mr. Handa (corporate sector), Ms. Murata (education sector), Mr. Miyamoto (media sector), and Mr. Hirota (former Ashoka Youth Venturer), who listened carefully to all of the candidates and discussed their thoughts.

Tatsuwaki (18) became frustrated at the prevalence of smartphones daily lives, and is creating a phone app that empowers teenagers and inspires them to become active members of society.

Yoko (18) is offering affordable makeup therapy to citizens in elderly homes so they can become stronger both physically and mentally.

Takumi (21) is creating a phone app that will create a new system that will allow people who are contributing social value in society to receive greater recognition, funding, and support.

Through the next year and beyond, we hope that these Changemakers will take risks, practice empathy, and grow to become innovators that will affect change in the world!

Nanami

Nanami is a 17 year old student attending high school. She does storytelling to teach others about her experience during the Great East Japan Earthquake that hit her hometown Natori City, and what she has learned from it. Her activities exist not only in the Yuriage district, but has spread its wings to all over Japan. In order for participants to remember what they have learned and to invite them to further think about disasters, she has created and distributed booklets called “Yuriage Story Guide”--this also aims to attract more interest in the activities of her storytelling.

When two years passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake, Nanami was a middle school student. She heard from a friend that he was engaged in a student volunteer group that does recovery activities in the Yuriage district. In 2014, when she was a 3rd grader in middle school, she learned more about the student organization and met one of the university students. She was requested by a member to talk to students who were visiting from Tokyo about her experience of the earthquake. This was the beginning of her project. She still remembers how disappointed she was when she did storytelling for the first time. Back then, was was far from a good storyteller--the order of her stories were a mess, and she cried a lot recalling painful memories. From that experience, she found motivation to storytell about earthquake disasters more effectively through her own unique voice as a high school student living in the affected area.

Tsubasa

21-year-old Tsubasa who attends university is originally from Tokyo, but his activities in his “Move Forward to the Future” Project are based in the town of Hirota in Iwate Prefecture. In December of 2015, he participated in an event in Hirota that inspired him to take action. 3 months later, he started his own project.

Tsubasa heard from locals that the population of Hirota is ageing rapidly and there are few young people. Many of the locals mentioned that “they have to think more about their health but most of them do not know what to do about it”. Tsubasa felt that he wanted to do what he can to help them solve their problems. His activities consist of sharing self-care methods and original stretch exercises through events that involve the local people.

Tsubasa wants to inspire more people to think together about what health means for each individual and take action. In the near future, he hope to focus not only on improving physical health but also on mental well-being, and bring smiles to many people in the community. 

Links:

• 9/16 We Are The Change Event Facebook Page
• Youth Venture Projects
• 9/16 We Are The Change Video Preview