By Kenji Yoshida | Managing Director
At the Japan NPO Center, we host "Tomo-civi," a learning community dedicated to co-creating civil society. The name reflects our dual mission: to build society together (tomoni) and to honor each individual as a light (tomoshibi) that illuminates our world. As the name suggests, our goal is to foster a genuine community for mutual learning.
Today, I would like to share a few keywords that personally resonated with me from our three-session course titled "Imagining the Future," held this past October.
In this course, we explored how change begins in our daily lives. One NPO guest speaker, Midori Kubota of Creative Support LET’S, shared her vision of a "15-minute walk radius." She operates in the chimata—the local streets where private and public lives meet—fostering "casual acquaintances" through art. By transforming what are often labeled as "problem behaviors" into celebrated forms of expression, LET’S creates organic neighborhoods where people with and without disabilities look out for one another simply as familiar faces.
This approach perfectly embodies the philosophy of the late Yasuo Harima, a pioneering leader and former JNPOC Chairperson, spoke at last year’s school, where he left us with these words: "Bring yourself to what is different, partner with what is different, and learn from what is different." I feel that the activities of LET’S are a perfect embodiment of this philosophy—the true art of mixing different elements together. It reminded us that "changing society" isn't an abstract concept; it happens when we create space for dialogue within the actual physical boundaries of our daily lives.
Your support makes these vital connections possible. As we continue to empower local leaders and bridge diverse communities across Japan, your partnership remains essential. Together, we can keep the "light" of civil society burning bright in every neighborhood.
About Tomo-civi
The Tomo-civi NPO School is a flagship training program of the Japan NPO Center, offering six thematic courses: Organizational Foundations, Program Evaluation, Imagining the Future, Basics of Research, NPO-Government Collaboration, and Policy Advocacy. Each theme consists of three sessions led by front-line experts from the NPO, corporate, and government sectors. All sessions are archived for a limited period to allow for flexible, self-paced learning.
The Tomo-civi Deep-Dive Curiosity Seminar is an immersive six-month program where participants explore a personal theme through regular peer discussions and dialogues with guest speakers. Our team provides continuous "on-the-ground" support, facilitating connections with key people and resources to help each participant transform their individual "vision" into a concrete reality.
For more details, please visit the links below (in Japanese):
Tomo-civi NPO School: https://www.jnpoc.ne.jp/tomocivi2025/school/
Deep-Dive Curiosity Seminar: https://www.jnpoc.ne.jp/tomocivi2025/himitsu-semi/
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