Do You Think You Are Too Young to Empower Others?
This weekend, I started experiments to empower the younger generation directly and more constantly even during COVID-19 with the people who are passionate about empowering others just like I am🤝🌎
I was an 18-year-old high school student
I spent more than 20 years in my hometown Fukuoka where I grew up closely with Softbank ⚾️ I was a high school student in Fukuoka when the Tohoku earthquake occurred. It was the following year I went to Tohoku on a school trip at my high school. On that day, I was traveling to another prefecture to take an entrance exam at University. March 11th in 2011, I won’t forget about that day. When I arrived at the hotel, I turned on the TV and saw tons of cars burning. A big boat was in the middle of the city because of the tsunami. At the moment, I had no idea what was happening. It was just like watching a movie. I wished, but it was all the reality.
Since Kyushu island where Fukuoka is located has a certain distance from Tohoku, we didn’t directly get affected much. All the celebration events got canceled. The same as almost all the TV programs and TV commercials got switched over to serious TV news and TV commercial by Advertising Council Japan. (AC JAPAN) We Japanese, shared the grief all together wherever we were. Our hearts were with Tohoku.
Even so, I felt powerless since there was too little thing I could do at the time. After I entered University, I applied for a volunteer program in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture to collect pictures and albums for the people who lost their memorials and precious things. However the public transportation there wasn’t working properly, so lots of people rushing there was actually messing the situation worse. Eventually, the volunteer program was canceled.
Workcamp experience in the Philippines
Instead of going to Tohoku, in the following year 2012, I went to a small village in the deep inside of a mountain, Leyte island in the Philippines to build a road for people there for a month. It was surprising that every time I say I’m from Japan to the locals, they asked us if Japan is ok. They worried about Japan with us and showed empathy. Then I realized the people who lost their lives were not only Japanese but also there were countless people who moved there to work in Tohoku for example in factories. Then, I started thinking about the people who are not familiar with the Japanese in Japan. Are there enough resources for them especially when this kind of national disaster happens?
None of the information was delivered well, especially to that outside of Japan in other languages. Direct communications such as telephone, the email didn’t work at all, but social media was the one that delivered the real situations from the people actually located there. I realized the power of social media especially when we face natural disasters.
TOMODACHI SoftBank leadership program 2019
After 8 years, I got an opportunity to get involved with TOMODACHI Initiative x Softbank at UC Berkeley where the head of Softbank Mr. Son previously had studied. (Before that he was studying in my hometown, Kurume city in Fukuoka.) The 3-week program as an instructor managing a class of 24 high school students and getting interacted with 100 students in total from Tohoku regions in Japan with Y Plan UC Berkeley was definitely a life-changing experience for me. I was glad that I finally could do something for Tohoku. It took me 8 years, but I didn’t feel powerless anymore especially because I witnessed many positive changes in each student who attended the program. Their face with a more confident atmosphere told us everything. I found a smiley face on the very last day, and they taught me so many things. It was very fulfilling.
Still want to be someone’s hope wherever we are
It’s been almost 2 years since I saw my TOMODACHI students face to face last time. Especially after COVID-19 happened, it must have been tough days for everyone to keep motivated to prepare for going abroad again. But I don’t want my students to give up their passion and dreams just because of these temporary situations. This is not the end of the day. So even though we cannot really see each other face to face, I’m very glad that we have been staying in touch somehow. Aaaaand, we just got connected again by hosting an online event this weekend.
Learning by unlearning with high school students
People usually think the older generations are the ones who share experiences, and the young generations are the ones who learn. But is that really true? The younger generations learn from someone who already did something, but actually, the older generations also learn from them by unlearning existing fixed ideas or the ways to see the world with their fresh eyes.
For them, we encourage them to unlearn by thinking outside of the box. Accepting facts without really understanding the reason can easily lead people to situations of getting controlled or drowning in countless pieces of information generated by mass communications. Trying to take a look at a fact from multiple perspectives and accepting different ideas broaden the world we see. In this way, I became to be able to get more solutions on how to manage tough situations and tackle obstacles. There is no day the sun doesn’t rise.
I feel empowered by empowering others
In many cases, I feel empowered the most when I empower others. It’s not like teaching something but more like “sharing” and “exchanging” ideas from a different point of view. I’d like to keep engaging the next generations to support them to go beyond the borders. I mean way beyond! Identifying their own strengths and polishing them glocally and globally. I’d like to be there for them to support them to be “successful” in each definition of theirs. (Each people should have a definition of happiness. We cannot judge it. We should respect the diversity of “success”.) Driving their life on their own, and not being driven by others. A founder of their life. A CEO of their life. A driver and designer of their life 🌈
There are many things we can do
After the first session, an earthquake occurred in Fukushima, and it was big enough to shake Tokyo again just like that day. It’s been almost 10 years since then, but I’d like to ask each of you to stop and re-think our life. Within a second, everything could vanish. Time helps us heal, but we shouldn’t forget the learnings for our future. We cannot avoid national disasters, but we can prepare for them. Having a physical distance doesn't mean we cannot support each other. There are still many things we can do if we can see things with an optimistic mindset.
I’m going to continue with my own actions empowering others with the people who also take action. As part of the next actions, I’m organizing the next session on March 13 (Sat) collaborating with Social Impact Lab. We’re having a guest speaker from American School in Japan. Provided both in English and Japanese. Thank you, everyone, for attending from the Tohoku regions, Hiroshima, and even California🇺🇸🙌 Look forward to seeing you next month too!
(One of the ultimate goals of mine is to have a foundation between the US where I was born and Japan where I was raised up just like Fish Family Foundation 💐🇯🇵🇺🇸)
