Creating Socially Integrated and Sustainable Communities that Value Their Elders
URA(Urban Redevelopment Authority) in Singapore has published an article about our Ibasho projects. I am so grateful to all who have been generously supporting and promoting Ibasho… It is our hope to work with more elders from various parts of the world, and learn from them… Click here to read the article.
I was invited to “Aging 2.0 Washington DC” to describe about our effort in relation to the Intergenerational activities. Below is my brief talk. I hope our society will realize that “what makes people happy is not about the luxury but the meaningful life and relationships…” Before sharing what we do and why we do our work, I would like to share a quote that I found in an elementary school in Bhutan. “The time to be happy is now, the place to be happy is here, the way to be happy is to make other people happy.” Everybody wants to be useful to others, regardless of their age. And […]
I have watched the film Alive Inside, a documentary that depicts the impact of music on the life of individuals with dementia. It was a lovely and inspiring film that reminded us that “there is a whole person behind the disease, which can be awakened by the right emotional connections.” Watching the film, I felt the importance of a person’s connection to normal/familiar life. As we all know, individuals with dementia are constantly suffering from confusion about the world in front of them. Unfamiliar lifestyles and environments may add even to their confusion and anxiety, leading to behaviors that make their family caregivers or staff in the elder care facilities where they live […]
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” ~ Henry Ford Such a powerful quote when we try to to bring about “innovative approach” to how we care for elders in our society. Do we want to keep building “better institutions” or to create an “ibasho” where elders are valued as a asset of their communities? In ibasho projects, elders are not considered as someone who are “cared for” by younger people, but “care for others” to strengthen their community. Elders in the “Ibasho house” in Japan celebrated the 1st anniversary event o July 13th 2014. During the first year of operation, they have […]
My beloved Mac started to act very strange and give me headaches, so I decided to repair it. This symptom started more than one month ago. I made an appointment, and waited for several days before I was able to see a “genius” at the genius bar in Apple store. Then, had my computer diagnosed by them. The person asked me what the symptom was, so I explained all the experience I had and shared my ideas about what seemed to be the problem. He took notes (less than half of the things that I had explained to him), and said “Here is what I think the problem is.” I […]
Age segregated elder housing options are not preferred by elders, and also expensive. This building type actually creates (sometimes exacerbates) social stigma toward elders. I have been advocating “multi-generational housing development where people can age in place within their familiar community.” There are many articles and discussions generated lately that “we need to design mix use housing where people of all ages reside.” I have seen some housing developments and elder care facilities that are connected to childcare or schools. The intention is to enhance the multi-generational interactions. However, most of those places are still segregated, and I rarely see constant interactions between different generations. I have been asked so […]
When we decide to create a “community driven” project, it naturally leads us to face complex issues. During the process, we empowered elders to voice their opinions and come up with concensus among other members of the community. Which means that we just have to trust elders to lead and community members to collaborate together to make decisions. As we all know, there is no such a thing as “perfect community.” Some may not get along with others, people from outside of the community move in, some are wealther than others, and etc… Operating a small place like a “Ibasho cafe” in a real community, there are still a lot […]
I do care about someone, that is why I like to support the person. When we care too much, our emotion takes over our behavior. We tend to impose our idea of “this is the way we should provide care” and sometimes forget about “what support the person would like to obtain.” How can we maintain the balance between care and support? I would say “Directly ask the person who you care for.” We often overlook the importance of “ones’ making own decision” in elder care settings. We all like to make our own decision about our life. We can simply see that when we observe children. Why do we […]
I was just told by a research that “To evaluate the effectiveness of ibasho cafe, you have to deliver a perfect ibasho cafe within 5 months.” I was trained as a researcher, spent many years of learning and conducting researches. Now, I choose to be a practitioner to apply my idea of ibsho. I struggle to understand the researchers who want to impose their agenda and timeline on the projects that have a critical impact on the life of elders. When we allow evaluations to determine how and when the projects to be delivered, we will completely miss out the true beautify of community initiative project. This researcher will never […]
Ibasho cafe in the disaster area is supposed to be a straightforward project, yet there are many issues and challenges arise, especially when we feel that it is making progress. Yes, I am frustrated by the layers of bureaucracy that have to give us reasons to slow down and discourage us. I am sure that this situation happens to many projects for disaster relief globally. When I visit the disaster area and see how people live, I feel so frustrated by how things are in Japan. There are so many “talking” but so little “doing” from both central and local governments in the current situation. When we try to take […]
I often question whether or not I am doing a right thing for elders through my work. Although I am (so as many others) genuinely interested in improving the life of growing number of elders who deserve to have a normal life in the place where they feel accepted. However, we might also help to create (without knowing) an unfortunate social situation where elders are treated as commodity of “silver business” or “elder care business,” if we are not careful. We cannot ignore the economical impact caused by “aging society,” however, when we loose the sight of “honoring elders”, we all become a victim of our own fault in the near future. […]
I have been reading news paper articles about lonely death among elderly persons and discussions regarding how to treat mothers with baby cart in public transportation in Japan, and gained serious concerns toward how selfish we have become in our modern society. These articles make me think why we have so many “unhappy” people in one of the richest countries like Japan. So, where is the “unhappiness” coming from? What can we do to be simply “happy”? I found a Dalai Lama’s quote about compassion being helpful. “The ultimate source of a happy life is warm-heartedness. This means extending to others the kind of concern we have for ourselves. On […]