The GLocal

Ethiopia has been in the news lately with reports of armed conflicts around the country in addition to tense relations with some of its neighbors. 

We speak with Braden Fuller, Senior Researcher at the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), to help us shed some light on the country and help us understand the origins of these conflicts. 

Learn more about ACLED and the Ethiopia Peace Observatory (https://epo.acleddata.com) 

We spoke with Megumi Moss, CEO and co-founder of CareFinder, which connects babysitters and parents. Prior to becoming a mother, Megumi worked in Business Planning at Sony and Sony Mobile Communications. She saw co-workers and friends struggle with the challenges of working while raising children. Megumi realized there was a serious lack of childcare services in Japan. Inspired by this experience, Megumi quit her job at Sony and founded CareFinder in May 2013. 

Find out more about CareFinder: https://www.carefinder.jp/ja

We spoke with Malcolm Foster about his recently published article in the New York Times on Japan's digital gender gap. 

Malcolm is a Tokyo-based freelance journalist who has written about business, culture, religion, society, education and travel for a range of publications. 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.

Click to read Malcolm's article: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/01/business/japan-tech-workers-women.html 

Check out the following links for more information: 

Code Chrysalis, a programming boot camp in Japan for both men and women: https://www.codechrysalis.io/

Waffle, offers programming courses for girls to close the gender gap: https://waffle-waffle.org/

Ms. Engineer, a women-only programming boot camp in Japan: https://ms-engineer.jp/

Technovation Girls, "a global tech education nonprofit that empowers girls to become leaders, creators and problem solvers": 

https://technovationchallenge.org/

CareFinder, babysitting matching service: https://www.carefinder.jp/en

Astroscale: https://astroscale.com/

The UNESCO Science Report, chapter on women and technology: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000375429.locale=en.page=4

In celebration of the Paralympics, we invited Mr. Shinji Maeda, a Japanese man who was told he could never accomplish his dream of becoming a pilot due to his blindness in one eye. 

Listen to find out how he proved everyone wrong, and the journey he went through to succeed. 

Click to Learn more about the Paralympic Games (or copy/paste this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paralympic_Games)

Follow Shinji Maeda through his website https://www.aerozypangu.com/ 

We speak with Ernest Ming-tak Leung, a PhD Candidate at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. We discuss his article, The School That Built Asia, which explores the role of Kenkoku University in Japan's wider Pan-Asian ambitions. 

Notes: 

Ernest would like to note that the Edo-era scholar, Sato's given name, should be read instead as 'Nobuhiro', an unusual pronunciation for that word. Also, Tsuji Masanobu died in 1968, not 1961.

We discuss the challenging situation facing refugees in Denmark, where government policy aims to deport them back to their home countries. We spoke with:

Alysia Alexandra, a Danish-American human rights activist and anthropologist. You can follow her updates on Syrian refugees in Denmark on Twitter at @AlysiaAlexndra

Lisbeth Zornig Andersen, a Danish economist, activist, author, and former chair of the Danish Children's Council. Her focus is on marginalized people, especially children. Click to read her article, When Denmark Criminalised Kindness, about her experience with Syrian refugees in Denmark. 

Mikael Lindholm, a Danish business consultant focusing on innovation and growth. He was formerly a journalist and editor.

Find out more about Guernica 37, a a London-based legal organization working to challenge the Danish government's policy on refugees as a violation of the Geneva convention principle of “non-refoulement”.

We interviewed Suzu, a university student fighting anorexia. Her experience dealing with anorexia alone made her realize that young people suffering from eating disorders need more help from others. Since then, she has used Instagram to share her thoughts and experience about how patients and people around them should face eating disorders. 

Now, she is about to launch a new project, “Yorisoiya”, to create a safe place for students who are suffering from eating disorders. She is crowdfunding to start an online salon and set up space for patients to gather. 

Click for Suzu's instagram, fundraising project, and to learn more about the Japan Association for Eating Disorders.

We speak with Haruka Adachi, a student at Kwansei Gakuin University who is passionate about solving environmental problems. While living in Berlin, she was very impressed with the high German environmental awareness, so she decided to study environmental issues at university.

She is very interested in humanitarian activities such as disaster volunteering, international exchange programmes, and acting for social change.

In 2019, she had a chance to learn about nuclear weapons at a youth forum in Hiroshima, and then share her finding with leaders in Geneva, Switzerland: https://www.icrc.org/en/document/nuclear-weapons-appeal-humanity

She is now planning new annual events in Osaka on the elimination nuclear weapons.

Join us for an informative conversation with Ben Silverman, founder of Flx-Fit in Tokyo. Learn valuable tips around the mindset, diet and exercise required to be healthy. 

Find out more at flxfithealth.com and here. 

Ben Silverman is an American who came to Ishikawa, Japan in 2010 to practice Kyokushin Karate. After some success, he moved to Taekwondo where he became the national champion of Japan. He participated in the All Asia Games, where he received a silver medal. He then started his fitness and nutrition business to help people scientifically lose weight and build muscle. 

Ms. Teddy Umurorwa was born and raised in Rwanda. She's a survivor of the Rwandan genocide of Tutsis. She worked for the United Nations in Rwanda before moving permanently to London UK. She's a mother of two.  

Listen to her speak about the status of women in Rwanda, why they consistently rank in the top 10 in the Global Gender Gap Reports, her thoughts on the Rwandan regime, and her own incredible story of survival and resilience. 

In this episode, Natsuki, a student at KG University, joined us for the discussion.