Friday in Tokyo

I woke up today at around 6 in the morning with a bit of a Jolt (quite literally) as the whole room shook back and forth. I later found out that it was all of Tokyo shook as there was a 5.0 magnitude earthquake just off the coast of Honshu, Japan (I was about 60 km from the hypocenter).

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http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1071030/1/.html

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Several continental and oceanic plates meet around Japan, resulting in frequent earthquakes (and the presence of many volcanoes and hot springs). Around 20% of the world’s most powerful earthquakes strike Japan – most earthquakes aren’t noticeable without equipment though.

Anyways, early start to my day – had my usual breakfast and dennys before taking a walk to Iidabashi station to buy my ticket and get on the train. (if you want, click below to see me buy a ticket and board a train..)

Arrived at Gyotoku station, where I walked 15 minutes to New Start for my orientation. I met up with Ayako Oguri, who I had made email contact with earlier. I took a tour of New Start and learned more about what this NPO does to help hikikomori (shut ins).

A dutch broadcasting company interviews people at new start:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gIx6hZweHc

New Start site (google translated from Japanese) :

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=www.new-start-jp.org&sl=auto&tl=en

I visited the Café, Bakery, support centre, English classroom and kitchen where I will be spending most of my time next week volunteering. Afterwards, I spoke with Ayako about New Start and Hikikomori in general. We talked for a couple hours about the potential causes, steps the government is taking to address this issue, and the difference between western and eastern thinking in regards to the way society, parents, culture, and educational system shape the youth of today.

Robert from Italy who was working in the café at the time also joined in our bilingual conversation – he believes that the primarily it’s the parents who allow hikikomori to live their lifestyle. Ayako believes that the parents are more the victims, and that society has shaped peoples thinking in an unhealthy way.

She drew a picture of a common way of Japanese thinking – where there is one line from junior high to high school to university to work. Youth are so tracked into the idea of ‘success’ and moving along this track that there is no room for deviation.

Pressure to make the grade and fit the expectation is too much and so many people simply drop out – New Start is an NPO for people like this. Ayako said that one thing that is emphasized in New Start is that this way of thinking isn’t the only way – she hopes for hikikomori to realize this, which is partially why New Start likes international students (who are outside the pressure and norms of Japanese society) volunteering alongside hikikomori.

It was a pretty awesome conversation, where the three of us compared and contrasted Asian, European, and North American views of different ideas in broken English and Japanese. Afterwards I had lunch at the kitchen with everyone else who was there then took the train back to suidobashi, where I met with my aunt and uncle.

For dinner I ate with my aunt and cousin (seen below) in the hotel.

Theres also a place in the hotel where people get married. Its like a chapel on a floating platform right on top of the hotel lobby.

Anyways sorry this post is a bit long! Hope you all are doing well!

Sydney