Social Entrepreneurs And Youth in Japan: Agents Against A Return To Isolation

When Ashoka, a leading American nonprofit that supports social entrepreneurs, opened an office in Japan recently, founder Bill Drayton noted at the press conference that Japan was the first country in over 80 countries where Ashoka is active, “where someone from that country came to us first.” [Full video here.]

That someone was Nana Watanabe, the author of two Japanese bestselling books (in Japanese only) on social entrepreneurship, Changemakers: Social Entrepreneurs are Changing the World (2005) and Changemakers II: Working as a Social Entrepreneur (2007).

Active with the Japan Society’s Innovators Network, Nana’s commitment to nurturing the next generation of social entrepreneurs and serving as a Leadership Group Member to Ashoka in Japan comes as no surprise to us. This past summer, Nana and her colleagues organized the first Youth Venture project in Japan, where approximately 80 youth, ages 12-20, from all over Japan, including those whose families are originally from Mongolia, China and Korea, gathered and presented their ideas [PDF download] for positive change in Japan.

The Ashoka Japan office is headed by Kashiwa Maki, a former Bridgestone executive and the founder of a social business in Southern California that worked with Japanese children with disabilities and their families.

Given the current national concern that young Japanese are more and more inward looking, studying abroad in smaller numbers, and less interested in working overseas for their employers, could Ashoka’s efforts in Japan contribute to reversing this trend among young Japanese? Will it help them think differently about how they approach their work and careers? Can it influence the way they relate to the outside world and how they might contribute to its betterment?

These questions and more will be address at Japan Society’s upcoming March 23 panel, Is Japan Returning to Isolation?, with Peggy Blumenthal, Senior Counselor, Institute of International Education (IIE); Robert Dujarric, Director, Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies, Temple University Japan; George Packard, President, The United States-Japan Foundation; and Masaaki Tanaka, EO for the Americas, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd; Director, Japan Society. We hope to see you!

B.B.

'Design Difference' in Review

In November 2010, Japan Society’s Innovators Network convened 20 designers, architects, nonprofit leaders and the media from Japan, the U.S., Vietnam and Thailand. The three-day program, The Design Difference, looked at design as a tool for social change. For this project, we partnered with three incredible organizations: Common Ground, The Designers Accord and GOOD.

The program began with a visit to Brooklyn's Brownsville, which has the highest concentration of public housing in the U.S., and where more than half of the residents live under the official poverty line. What we saw and learned is described by Alissa Walker in the first of a three-part series she wrote for GOOD. The article, “The Design Difference: In Brownsville, Enormous Urban Challenges, and Hope” highlights the challenges facing Brownsville, some of the incredible work already underway, and why Japan Society organized the project. Walker notes in her conclusion:

Solutions tested in this community could be replicated anywhere if they work. The question now became, how could design make a difference? And how could we—outsiders, with only a tenuous connection to the neighborhood—help in a way that was meaningful?

This was followed by “The Design Difference: Using Design to Conduct a Problem-solving Workshop”, which explains the process and tools developed by designer Valerie Casey for the workshop. Material is available for anyone to use for their own brainstorming sessions through links in the article. Rich Streimatter-Tran, an artist who teaches RMIT Vietnam and a participant in the project, has already put the materials to good use in his design class in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The final article in the series, “The Design Difference, How You Can Propose Ideas for Brownsville”, focuses on five priority areas and solutions that came out of the project. Designers, architects, and others who want to volunteer or have resources to donate, were asked to take up the challenge and contribute pro bono work for the proposed solutions. (How to go about this post project is all laid out in the article.)[UPDATE: Added volunteer details below.]

In addition to a thorough recap of the project, Walker touched on the evolution of design making a difference:

In many ways, the charrette highlighted the way that designers have shifted from creating things to creating ideas, which Casey has also seen through the Designers Accord's work. "Three years ago we focused on evolving our design practices by applying the principles of sustainability to the objects we were creating," says Casey. "Now we are applying our craft to create the kind of content and change in a way that supersedes 'design,' and is utterly more connected with society at large."

B.B.

--UPDATE--
Here's how to help: If you're a design firm and want to contribute pro bono work for Brownsville, register with The 1% and send an email to designdifference [at] japansociety [dot] org with the subject line "Design Firm" alerting our team that you're ready to be matched with a Brownsville client.

If you're a designer or architect and you want to submit a design proposal for one of the five priority areas, send an email to designdifference [at] japansociety [dot] org with the subject "Design Proposal" and include a brief summary of your idea for Brownsville, as well as a link to your work.

If you'd like to volunteer or if you have resources to donate for an upcoming workday to help implement one of the ideas, send an email to designdifference [at] japansociety [dot] org with the subject "Volunteer" and you'll be added to a future email list with more information about how you can get involved.

For more great photos from this event: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lifecinematic/sets/72157625358726662/show/

Photos by Ayumi Sakamoto.

What's IN: Acumen Fund's Jacqueline Novogratz In Tokyo

 Novogratz speaks in Japan April 20-24, 2010.

This Spring, Japan Society and the Tokyo Foundation cosponsored two public speaking events in Tokyo featuring Jacqueline Novogratz, the founder and CEO of Acumen Fund and a member of the Society's U.S.-Japan Innovators Network (IN).  At the sold out events, Jacqueline spoke about Acumen Fund, the organization she founded in 2001, and its work to break the cycle of poverty by enlisting the market and its tools to achieve long-term social change.

Transcripts from the symposium, Where the Market and Morality Intersect: A New Approach to World Poverty, on April 21 have been posted on the Tokyo Foundation website in both English and Japanese.  Japan Society also hosted an intimate breakfast with Japanese IN members.

Jacqueline’s visit to Japan coincided with the recent release of her book, The Blue Sweater in Japanese.  Featured at a Japan Society public lecture in New York, the memoir follows her transformation from a young idealistic woman working in Africa to one of today’s most inspiring social entrepreneurs.

The number of media outlets who interviewed Jacqueline while she was in Japan is a reflection of the great interest in social entrepreneurship in Japan.  In addition to numerous interviews with print media, she was also interviewed by NHK and was a featured speaker at the Japan National Press Club.

B.B.