There was a “Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On” this weekend in Tokyo, with two back-to-back earthquakes giving notice during my Saturday night dinner and Sunday afternoon nap. My skyscraper hotel swayed briefly from the 6.6 magnitude quake that occurred 125 miles north of Tokyo at 5:08 p.m. Sunday. But all was not seismic activity.
On Saturday afternoon I participated in a Japan Foundation JENESYS Programme. Three years ago, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan announced the launching of a five-year $315 million dollar youth exchange initiative under which approximately 6,000 youths from mostly EAS member countries (ASEAN, Australia, China, India, ROK and New Zealand) would be invited to Japan. The young people I met Saturday spent two weeks investigating peacebuilding initiatives through culture and education.
I loved my time with these young people. They did not just report back to us, but also invited everyone to dance, sing, and act out the conference themes. For instance, in the culture and the arts workshop, different groups had to act out anger, violence, power, and empower. We had to “label” the participants by country of origin, an exercise in the power of media stereotypes. Spending time with these East Asian youth gave me a boost of confidence about future leaders of the globe but also a boost of energy as I was invited to express feelings of joy in a shared context. I told one youth that as a writer, I’m often quite isolated from a lot of people and I particularly enjoyed getting outside my protective cocoon in a safe and fun environment. I did a quick Flip video interview with a young attorney advocate from New Delhi, India, who had so much charisma and smarts. I believe you’ll be as impressed by her as I was:
Finally, my friend Tadashi Ogawa from the Japan Foundation accompanied me to the Harajuku District of Tokyo for a quick people-watching venture. It's quite a scene to walk through a sea of young Japanese girls on their shopping excursion for socks, T-shirts, jewelry, hair ribbons, bags, and all assortment of baubles and trinkets that set them apart from the norm. Anything goes, fashion wise, which made this fashion-challenged American quite comfortable. Young people are hanging out everywhere, but especially near Jingu pedestrian bridge that connects Harajuku to the Meiji Shrine area. If you want to see old and new Japan in one blink of an eye, this is a must-see.
