Sarajean's notes

On Nov 23 and 24, I joined the annual NPO forum coordinated by the Japan NPO forum. The three key themes were: 民間　focused on inclusion of the public 変革　looking at social change 連携　addressing organizational collaboration Tajima from the PSC also joined on Friday and we met up for lunch. On Thursday, I joined the intro session and part one was a good napping time, so no need to report anything. The Second part was an introduction to the three key themes around which on Friday there were 3 separate 9:30- 4:30 workshops. Katsuji Imata , Co-Director of CSO Network and former director of the white band campaign in Japan , coordinated the 連携　workshop and gave a good intro. He talked about how we often overwhelm people who want to come in with some interest in volunteering. We give them too much info and ask more than they can give – in effect killing off their interest. Kat also addresses the White band Campaign and the bashing they experienced. I liked his point about the white being a small

It is upon us again - World AIDS Day. So much going on - what are you joining? where can you get the info on events? Glad you asked! YDP has a good page with info on all types of events going on. http://www.ydpjapan.net/wads2006/ AIDS Prevention Information Network - AIP-Net also has a decent listing of events: http://api-net.jfap.or.jp/ also visit the site of the PLACE Tokyo about the AIDS Gakkai - They will have some interesting topics and speakers on Dec 1 and 2 h ttp://www.ptokyo.com/20gakkai/mainpgm.html Hope to see you there!

The US thanksgiving is tomorrow and often around this time I start to reflect on how lucky most of us here in Japan are. our lives are soft and around many people there is little profound debate on world affairs and what we need to do. I read something recently that the reason why people are so active socially in the US is because there are so many problems but since japan has not had any serious trouble - people do not need to get involved. 『Oh come on - give me a break』 is the response I print for all to read. might it have something to do with seeing how lucky we are and not thinking of those who are less fortunate as just weak. I better not get started. Back to the issue at hand - we can all do a wee bit to make things better by giving just a small bit of our time. Get out there and get involved - you can make a difference. choose an issue you are interested in. do some research. get in touch with and visit a bunch of groups and then commit your time. If you need help on getting