We spoke with Dora Tamari-Tutnjević, a Japanese-Croatian intercultural navigator working on building a sustainably multicultural society. With a special emphasis on refugee and migration issues, Dora has educated and engaged both minorities and host communities in dialogue and co-creation through lectures, corporate trainings and events at companies and universities including Aoyama Gakuin, Chuo University, International Masters Program for Managers (IMPM), Yamaha Motors or Konica Minolta. Her passions include civic engagement, and public private partnerships. She firmly believes in the power of ordinary citizens to create lasting change, and lead the way in transforming societies.

Dora grew up in Croatia, and spent 4 years in Japan during the Croatian War of Independence in the 1990s as a child. Together with her family, she was an evacuee (refugee) in Japan though she is a Japanese national. Since her late teens, she has lived in 8 countries, a ship and an island over 10 years - a background relatable to migrants on a short notice and minimal resources. 

Below are some of the Japanese organizations that support asylum seekers: 

Japan Association for Refugees (JAR)

https://www.refugee.or.jp/en/

Help with basic lifeline necessities (shelter, medical care, clothes, food bank tickets, and more)

Japan Evangelical Lutheran Association (JELA)

https://www.jela.or.jp/refugees/

Shelter for asylum seekers until the government support becomes available, scholarship.

WELgee (Welcome + Refugees)

https://www.welgee.jp/about/english

Employment of highly skilled asylum seekers. Switching to stable visa.

Catholic Tokyo International Center (CTIC)

https://ctic.jp/en/activity/self-reliance/#hongo

Daily life consultation, volunteer Japanese lessons for asylum seekers in Japan for less than 1 year.

International Social Services Japan (ISSJ)

https://www.issj.org/en/

International social services (including pregnancy-related matters), counselling on health, welfare, and social integration.

Arrupe Refugee Center

https://arrupe-refugee.jp/english/

Shelter, counseling and cultural services.

For more, please see the full list of organizations here: http://frj.or.jp/member

Ken Persen is the founder and CTO of LIVMOR, an American Digital Health company. Ken has worked nearly his entire career in the medical device industry, working for companies such as Guidant and Boston Scientific before founding LIVMOR.

Ken has a passion for improving health outcomes and reducing healthcare costs through the large scale adoption of digital health technology across the world. 

Erica Baffelli is a Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. Her research covers "new religions" in Japan. You can read some of her publications in the links below. 

Note: at some point, Taro compared Japanese new religions to the American Christian Science. He meant Scientology, not Christian Science. 

Music credit: Ai IMAZATO from the Senri International High School of Kwansei Gakuin. 

Erica Baffelli publications: 

https://online.ucpress.edu/nr/article-abstract/25/3/7/119585/Living-AumAusterities-Emotion-and-the-Feeling?redirectedFrom=fulltext

https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/dynamism-and-the-ageing-of-a-japanese-new-religion-transformations-and-the-founder/introduction

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mono/10.4324/9780203075036/media-new-religions-japan-erica-baffelli

In this episode, we speak with Carolina Zeledon from Costa Rica, about how and why you should make good, simple and tasty food at home whenever you can. 

Music credit: Ai IMAZATO from the Senri International High School of Kwansei Gakuin. Thank you Ai!!!

We spoke with Joseph Kim, an American writer based in Seoul, about refugees in South Korea and why South Korea has the lowest refugee acceptance rate among developed countries.

Joseph Kim has covered the Korean Peninsula for the past 10 years, and was previously a Reuters correspondent. He is now a researcher focusing on climate change. 

We spoke with Luke Lozier about the value of wearable health devices and how to use them to optimize personal health practices. 

Luke has wide knowledge of implantable medical devices, which he gained over 25 years of professional experience. Luke has specific knowledge of the neurological systems related to heart health, breathing and sleep. He is a self-described "geeky engineer", into outdoor fitness like hiking and climbing, and has worn a health/sleep monitoring ring for over 2 yrs

Click to learn more about the The Best Fitness Trackers of 2022: https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-fitness-trackers

We spoke with Sayako Hatano, founder of KidSprout Therapy Tokyo, about occupational therapy for children.

Learn more https://www.kidsprouttherapytokyo.org/

We spoke with Malcolm Foster about Christmas celebrations, Christianity and religion in Japan. 

Malcolm was born and raised in Hokkaido as the son of American missionary parents, he worked as a reporter and editor for 17 years for the Associated Press in Japan (including during the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster), Thailand and the United States. He’s also worked for Reuters and Bloomberg. He also loves to oil paint, and recently started selling his art online (malcolmsart.com). He lives with his wife and son in Mitaka, near Inokashira Park.

Iraq is often in the news, but few understand this ancient society. We spoke with Erik Gustafson, the founder and executive director of Enabling Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC),  an independent non-profit organization in Washington DC, to help us understand some of the dynamics that are rarely reported in the news.  

Learn more and follow updates at https://enablingpeace.org/

The United Nations climate negotiations in Glasgow, Scotland, or COP26, concluded earlier this week. We speak with Molly McGregor, a climate and economics policy specialist formerly with the New Climate Economy (NCE) Project, to help understand the key outcomes from the summit.