Sarajean's notes

On July 29 we did a preview of one of the films for　UN refugee agency and it was really moving - almost 30 people from very different backgrounds and lost of good discussion afterwards. will post some photos later on. i would encourage everyone in tokyo to make to at least one film this summer - but get there early - it gets crowded! July 18-26 *** 2nd International UNHCR Refugee Film Festival 2007 Locations: Institut Franco-Japonais de Tokyo: (Iidabashi Station) Goethe-Institut Japan: (Aoyama Itchome Station) Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Tokyo: (Kudanshita Station) Embassy of Sweden: (Kamiyacho Station) For more information: http://www.refugeefilm.org/

This training today was very interesting - very different to work with government people from so many different countries. some were doctors - some were from the health ministries and others were in health care supprot services. They came from Uganda, Bolivia, China, Tanzania, Cambodia, Jamaica and many others. What a great experience. I am used to NGO people who have less confidence and are less sure about thier position in society. I hope that I was able instill in them some positive ideas about working with citizens and NGOs in order to make their projects more effective. And if they could see any hope for changing or molding policy in their countries then it was worth me doing the workshop.

I just finished working on this project - JICa training program focused on PWDs (person with disabilities) I did 2 1/2 days focusing on action plan development - writing it out and presenting it. today they did practice presentations - they were much better than i expected. have a look at the group: http://www.jicafriends.jp/vocational/gi2007/training/v0612.html interesting idea ... bringing groups of people to japan to train them in different skills sets and then send them back home to get new projects off the ground. some people are able to do good - even just by seeing some new things and/or sharing ideas with participants from other countries.

Join the PSC for a special preview People for Social Change in collaboration with Democrats Abroad Japan, the UNHCR and RBR Center for Creative Arts present: Refugee Film Festival Special Preview "Invisible Children" * A film about children who are internally-displaced in the Northern part of Uganda. * The film is in English and has Japanese subtitles. Friday, June 29, 7-9:00pm Venue and access information: RBR Center for Creative Arts in Roppongi/Azabu Juban Approx. 15 min walk from both Roppongi and Azabu Juban stations. http://www.rbr-art.com/Moving 1-23 Moto-Azabu 3-Chome, Minato Ku, Tokyo 03-5770-7401 Advanced registration by June 27, requested but not mandatory. * Due to space restrictions, attendance is limited to the first 40 people who sign up. FREE but donations will be encouraged

I went last year and there were 300 people - lots of fun! NetTokyo 3 Summer Charity Networking Event » Saturday, July 21, 2007 » 12:30 pm - 4:30 pm » 4,000 Yen in advance, 5,000 Yen at the door. http://www.nettokyo.jp/

Good to share some links - shows it is not all bad news - many people are doing good things everywhere. Women’s Human Rights Net http://www.whrnet.org/ MADRE http://www.madre.org/ SVRI http://www.svri.org/ CSVR http://www.csvr.org.za/gender/ Rape crisis cape town http://www.rapecrisis.org.za/ Amnesty Stop Violence Campaign http://web.amnesty.org/actforwomen/index-eng Resilience - Japanese only http://www.resilience.jp/index2.html Freedom 21 - Japanese only http://freedom21.jp/index.php?cmd=read&page=DV 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence - NGO Campaign http://www.whrnet.org/days_activism_en.php Family Violence Prevention Fund http://www.endabuse.org/ PATHS http://www.abusehelplines.org/ Clothesline project http://home.cybergrrl.com/dv/orgs/cp.html Clothesline project Japan http://www.purple.dti.ne.jp/tshirt/index.html

i never think of my self as a feminist - but maybe i am just because i feel so stronly about being equal. read a few of these articles and get motivated to do something ... Local issues - info in English about Japan: Domestic violence in Japan . www.unifem-eseasia.org/resources/others/domesticviolence/PDF/Japan.pdf Domestic Violence in Japan www.tokyoprogressive.org.uk/gale/articles/dv-in-japan.html II Journal: Japanese women confront domestic violence www.umich.edu/~iinet/journal/vol3no1/jpndv.html These resources have info on a lot more than gender based violence but good references for details and stats: UNIFEM Articles and resources http://www.unifem.org/resources/listing_by_section.php?WebSectionID=3 The World’s Women 2005 http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/indwm/wwpub.htm.unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/indwm/ww_specialRep.pdf

I rarely see this type of stuff locked in my very Japanese world .... there are many people involved in law suits. Debito is keeping track of cases and incidents and these records will help us all in the future. Interesting for anyone wanting to know what is going on with anti-discrimination work in Japan. "THE COMMUNITY" ISSUES AND PROPOSALS CONCERNING NON-JAPANESE IN JAPAN http://www.debito.org/TheCommunity/communityissues.html