Ibasho project in Nepal

Ibasho team has visited to Nepal in February, 2016, to launch our project with a social venture company, Bihani, founded by Santoshi Rana. It all started with an email from Santoshi, asking us “Nepal needs the Ibasho concept. How can we adapt it here?” Since we did not have resources to kick started at that time, we have kept in touch to explore the possibility for almost one year. During this time, our passion did not disappeared, and we were finally able to visit Kathmandu to plan the Ibasho project together. What I have realized was that there were so much for us (from so called “developed parts of the […]

Mobile Ibasho cafe trial: Philippines

A group of elders in Baragay Bagong Buhay organized a two weeks “mobile Ibasho cafe trial”. As we all expected, there were so many challenges and lessons to learn from this experience, however, they have generated profits and the trial was successful. Now, we know their strength and capacity as well as the limitation and challenges to improve. We are going ahead to move forward the Ibasho cafe idea together, so that elders will have a place where they can find opportunities to contribute to their community in Ormoc, Philippines. There are so much “talk” and “think” about integration of elders into society and multi-generational interactions. Working with elders in […]

Cross-cultural friendships among elders… continues!

“I have learned that we have something we can do to help people in the Philippines. I always thought that helping people in other countries was beyond what we could do. But we don’t have to be in United Nations or international organizations to make difference. We received so much help from others. It is our turn to do something for the people in the Philippines. There is a lot I want to do with them and to learn from them. I hope we can help each other for a long time.” – 74 year old man from Ofunato, Japan Upon learning that the Ibasho concept was being replicated in […]

Elders in Ormoc, Philippines are leading community resilience

In April, 2014, five months after the typhoon Yolanda alit in the Philippines, Ibasho teams and HelpAge-COSE members visited five communities affected by the typhoon, including Barangay Bagong Buhay. The visitors helped assess the communities’ needs and exchanged ideas with local elders about how Ibasho can help elders to develop their livelihood projects that also benefit younger members of community. Ibasho team chose Barangay Bagong Buhay as the site for an Ibasho project in October 2014 and organized a launching workshop with a group of local elders in January 2015. Since then, elders in Barangay Bagong Buhay have made tremendous progress, with the help of a local Ibasho coordinator, a […]

Ibasho in Japan celebrated 2-year anniversary

In 2011, over 18,000 people were killed and more than 65,000 people were displaced when a massive earthquake and tsunami hit northern Japan. Entire communities were devastated, but among the survivors, both older and young spoke of elders who saved younger people’s lives by guiding them to higher ground and teaching them how to survive with extremely limited resources. In turn, older people expressed a great deal of gratitude for the aid they received. Many people of all ages wanted to give back and be useful to others but did not know how. The Ibasho cafe project was initiated in February 2012, and many volunteer experts from around the world […]

Ibasho’s documentary film: Elders leading resilience

Please watch the documentary film that captured the ways in which elders led inclusive community resiliency. This film was created with the generous support from the GFDRR (The World Bank). This documentary shows how community elders were empowered to help the community recover after the great earthquake in Ofunato, Japan in 2011. It assesses the experience of the Ibasho approach on post-disaster recovery and strengthening social capital. This film aims to capture the strength, wisdom, and humanity of elders, which will challenge our current social perception about aging and the role of elders. Although this film focused on the recovery from the natural disasters, we should have this type of […]

Friendship between Japanese and Filipino elders

Elders from Ibasho project in Japan are visiting community members in the prospective Ibasho cafe site in Ormoc, Philippines. We had such an inspiring first day of elders exchanging their ideas and skills to each other. One of the Japanese elders who is a retired carpenter, realized a few useful techniques that could make local homes stronger against to typhoon. Then, the elders picked up the carpentry tools and helped a 84 year old man who were building his home. After their exchange of skills and knowledge in two countries. The Japanese elders said “We have learned so much from the people in Philippines. They may have limited resources, but […]

Ibasho House Article – Silver News

#1 Silver News, a Japanese publication, published a series of five articles about Ibasho House by Dr. Yasuhiro Tanaka, an architect who has been researching the Ibasho cafe in Ofunato. This is the first of his four articles. シルバー新報に、居場所ハウスの記事が掲載されました。５回連載の１回目の記事を以下に紹介しました。次回からの記事も掲載しますので、お楽しみに！現地で頑張って下さっている田中さんの視点、興味深いです。 #2 Learning from each other: Elders and young generations can teach and learn from one another… #3 This is an article about forming meaningful relationships through incidental encounters. Ibasho Cafe strengthens community resiliency by engaging elders in the process of creating a welcoming, informal meeting place where they can act as catalysts, connecting community members of all ages. 「居合わせること」がすべての始まり：場が持つ無限大の可能性 Ibashoが目指す「ゆるやかに、自然に人がつながる場所」、公民館や集会所との違いを通し、上手く表現していただいている文章だと思います。これも、地域の皆さんの理解と努力のおかげです。 「弱くとも広がりのある関係が築かれている地域が、災害時や災害からの立ち直りに強い地域と言えるのではないだろうか」、心に響く表現です。 #4 This article is on reinventing our own community: How elders […]

3rd Anniversary of Japan Earthquake/Tsunami

It has been three years since the day I got up early in the morning and just could not complehend the devestating news broadcasted on the TV. In this three years, we have learn how resilient, wise, and resourceful the elders can be to bring back their community. Their selfless love and strength created such a wonderful place filled with purpose and joy. Thank you.