Ibasho attended at the High-level expert meeting on Technologies for Humanitarian aid at the EU Parliament

Emi Kiyota, founder of Ibasho attended the High-level expert meeting on Technologies for Humanitarian aid at the EU Parliament. The link below is the blog post from the Scientific Foresign (STOA) at the EU Parliament. At this meeting, Ibasho conveyed that “Elders should be treated as resources at the time of crises. Their role should not always be recipients of help who need to be looked after, but also be as active participants whose experiences and wisdoms can help to overcome our societal challenges. Technologies should be designed to enable elders to be empowered and included as a part of solution.” Click here to read the blog post by STOA at the […]

Ibasho presentation at the SXSW

Emi Kiyota (Ibasho) and Jose Colucci (University of Texas) delivered a presentation “Fresh thinking on Old Age: Design for fulfillment” at the SXSW conference. The session was well received and generated many interesting questions from the audience. I hope our presentation challenged our current idea regarding the design for aging, and will stimulate the future discussion to make our society a better place for people of all ages! Fresh Thinking on Old Age: Design for Fulfillment Synopsis of the session: For this session, José Colucci — an IDEO designer and aging specialist — partners with Emi Kiyota — an environmental gerontologist, cultural change expert and founder of Ibasho — to […]

Ibasho Lecture in Singapore

I had a great opportunity to share our Ibasho activities at the Creative Ageing Cities Symposium in Singapore. I was also able to learn from case studies and projects for aging were presented from Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, and Singapore. I feel that our societal perception about aging is slowly shifting, as more younger people are joining for the discussion of aging. I hope that Ibasho can continue to encourage elders and lead the way to create a stronger communities for people of all ages. Emi

Ibasho starts from me and my friends

My good friend always told me “charity starts from home…” She opens up her house to organize sleep over party for the children with severe physical disabilities, and coordinate other charity functions for the people in need around her neighborhood. I always admire her effort, and feeling a bit guilty about not being able to help my neighbors as much as I could or to simply spend quality time with my family due to my frequent travels to work overseas. I have been staying at home lately, and have more time to reconnect with my friends. Most of my friends are not in the field of aging, but we almost […]

Should I be wealthy?

“Are you from a wealthy family?” I have been asked this question several times in last few months. I honestly did not understand why anyone would ask me this question. Then, I always answered, “No, I am not from wealthy family. My husband and I are not wealthy either.” While I was at a TV interview, I decided to ask the interviewer “why” she posed the question– I assumed that she needed to at least clarify this question for me. She looked a bit surprised and answered, “Because you started a not for profit organization to help older people both in developed and developing countries. Doing something like this may […]

Intervie: Dr. Power and Dr. Kiyota at Rockefeller Bellagio Center

Dr. Power and I spent 4 weeks in the Rockefeller Bellagio Center in Italy in last April, developing a concept that aims to respond “global aging” issue. It was such a wonderful experience. We were surrounded by 12 other very social minded establish scholars and practitioners from various background. We were able to re-visit our thoughts and collaborate together to advance the Ibasho initiative in a breathtakingly beautiful Rockefeller Bellagio Center in Italy. I am sharing our short interview that was prepared by Rockefeller foundation. I look forward to your comments about our ideas!

Please join us for Ibasho garden reception!

Please join us for a garden reception and presentation by Emi Kiyota On the Philosophy and Projects of Ibasho Date:May 12, 2011 Reception: 5:00-8:00 pm Presentation: 6:30 pm by Emi Kiyota, Ph.D. Topic: The Philosophy and Projects of Ibasho Location: LeadingAge National Office 2519 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20008-1520 Enter through the offices of LeadingAge, on the corner of Connecticut Ave and Calvert St.. diagonally across from red line metro stop @ Woodley Park-Zoo. Ibasho is an innovative new organization that seeks to create places for elders to live in safety, comfort and dignity, where they are valued as people full of history and experience. The concept is simple: […]

Wisdom from Bhutan

In this time of modernization, when so many of us are so focused on material things, the people of Bhutan recognize the increasing need for deeper values to foster wellbeing, security, and happiness. When I was in Bhutan for the project to create a community for elderly monks, I encountered a short description that captures that spirit at a small village elementary school. The time to be happy is now The place to happy is here The way to be happy is to make other people happy   What a beautiful message for children to learn at school. People in Bhutan did not have much in the way of material […]