The Tokyo Foundation is very grateful for the warm words of sympathy and support that have been conveyed to us from our friends and colleagues around the world in the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami of March 11. They have given us the strength and courage to carry on with our activities.

Aftershocks have largely subsided in Tokyo, where our office is located, and the transportation network has returned to normal. But the situation in the Tohoku region near the quake's epicenter remains grave; nearly 25,000 people have lost their lives or are missing, and over 115,000 people whose homes were destroyed have been forced to move into temporary shelters, often far from home.

The crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant is still ongoing, and radiation levels continue to be a cause of concern for area residents. It has also caused a severe power shortage in eastern Japan, and people in the Tokyo metropolitan area are doing everything they can to save energy. The recovery and reconstruction effort is likely to become a very long process owing to the vast geographical scale and severity of the damage. Continue reading →

From November 2 through 5, 2010, the Sylff Administrators Meeting was convened at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) in Beppu, Oita, on the southern island of Kyushu. APU, the newest member of the Sylff community, hosted this gathering, which was attended by some 100 administrators and faculty members representing 62 (out of 69) Sylff-endowed institutions in 40 countries, as well as 11 Sylff fellows from 8 countries.

The proceedings includes the minutes or summaries of all sessions in Beppu—plus photos—and the dialogue with cabinet ministers during the Tokyo field trip. The Appendix contains a List of Participants, and there is also a group photo taken in Beppu at the end of the file. Please click on the name of the session to view the file.

Administrators Meeting, November2-5,2010, Beppu, Japan

Two Oregon Sylff fellows were selected for a Sylff Leadership Initiatives award in fiscal 2010. Linda Richards is a Sylff fellow studying the history of science, and co-project leader Shangrila Wynn, also a Sylff fellow, is researching environmental sciences, studies, and policy.

Their project involves organizing a forum entitled “Environmental Justice in Arizona and Beyond” in April 2011 in Phoenix, Arizona. It will address environmental justice for the Navajos, whose habitats have been contaminated by uranium mining practices. In October 2011 Richards and Wynn will organize similar forums on the campuses of Oregon Sylff institutions, including Portland State University, University of Oregon, and Southern Oregon University.

The following is an essay on environmental justice by Richards, who shares her plans for the forthcoming forum and reflects on her visit to Hiroshima. This essay is a very timely one in the light of the current nuclear crisis in Japan.

On September 13, 2007, Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, called on civil society to act to make the promise of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples a reality. Currently, the impact of climate change on subsistence communities endangers their survivability. Misunderstandings of subsistence communities’ values and reliance on material resources that are unique to place have increased the difficulty of problem solving within the larger society.

Current indigenous regions particularly affected by contamination from past deleterious uranium mining practices, for example, include the Navajo Nation in the American Southwest, the Lakota of South Dakota, the First Serpent People of Canada, the Bihar in Jadugoda, India, and the aboriginal people of Australia. Currently, China and Russia are developing large areas in Africa for mining that are predominantly occupied by indigenous communities. These cases, while specific to uranium mining, are just a few of the many environmental justice issues that impact traditional subsistence cultures.

As the current nuclear crisis continues to unfold in Japan, the centrality of nuclear history to our lives has been reiterated as well as our connection to one another around the world. Two years ago I was with my environmental history students at the Oregon State University Atomic Energy and Nuclear History Collections when the archivist, Cliff Mead, asked if I had ever been to Hiroshima. When I said no, he said that I should not be teaching a class on nuclear history without going there myself.

This past August I used part of the international fellowship I received from Sylff to attend American University’s 2010 Japan Nuclear Studies Course. As part of the course, students learn by listening to the testimony of the survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings. Students also visit peace parks and museums and attend the official commemorations on August 6 in Hiroshima and August 9 in Nagasaki. After the course, I stayed in Japan to interview survivors (hibakusha) and then I flew from Hiroshima to the Navajo Nation, where 20% of America’s uranium was mined since 1944.

Before I even left, my trip became an accidental public history project. Oregon residents folded a thousand origami peace cranes for me to take to Japan as a symbol of condolence and hope. The paper cranes led to invitations to discuss nuclear history at city council meetings, nonprofits, churches, and on campus. I represented two Oregon cities, Ashland and Corvallis, at the official ceremonies and to the mayor of Hiroshima, Tadatoshi Akiba. Mayor Akiba is president of the Mayors for Peace, an organization that has 4,301 member cities. Half the world’s people now live in a city that has a Mayor for Peace, and three-fourths of the world’s landmass is a nuclear-weapons-free zone. The Mayors for Peace and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon endorsed at the commemorations an international convention to ban nuclear weapons.

The guest lecturer for the nuclear studies course was Koko Kondo, the daughter of Reverend Tanimoto, whose experiences are told in John Hersey’s Hiroshima. Koko retraced for us the events recorded in the book. We also went to the former Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC; now the Radiation Effects Research Foundation, or RERF), where Koko was examined regularly as she grew up.

The environmental history of the bombings continues to be contested. Black rain, for example, is the dark-colored precipitation that fell in Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the bombing. At RERF scientists presented data that black rain contained only slightly radioactive ash and that some health effects attributed to radioactivity, such as hair loss and nausea, were caused by starvation and stress. However, some survivors, including Dr. Shoji Sawada, dispute this. Not only was the rain radioactive but the Hiroshima bomb cloud may have been twice as large as official US government estimates claim. Dr. Sawada's research suggests the internal dose from residual radiation was disregarded by ABCC/RERF and the actual effects of the bomb may have been underestimated by a 200 to 1 ratio.

Health and environmental effects caused by uranium mining are also disputed on the Navajo Nation. Estimates are that 80% of the mining, milling, production, testing, and storage of nuclear materials occur on remaining indigenous communities worldwide, creating disproportionate exposure. This history of resource extraction and environmental justice on the Navajo Nation will be the focus of a forum, “Environmental Justice in Arizona and Beyond” at the American Society for Environmental History annual meeting on Friday, April 15 from 8:30 to noon in Room 6 of the Wyndham Hotel, 50 East Adams Street, Phoenix, Arizona. The workshop was made possible by the generous support of a Sylff Leadership Initiatives grant. At the workshop we will view the film The Return of Navajo Boy about the Navajo experience and then discuss these issues with the filmmaker, traditional and environmental justice scholars, and Navajo Nation elders (refer to http://navajoboy.com/webisodes/).

Like the experience in Japan, hearing firsthand accounts of the Navajo (Diné in their language) will provide the opportunity to learn experientially. Addressing environmental justice also provides an opportunity to educate about traditional cultures and sustainability. The forum will share indigenous values and experiences while building relationships between academics and tribal members for cooperation and exchange across existing cultural and socioeconomic barriers.

Excerpts of the forum in Phoenix will be posted online so Sylff fellows can follow our progress, and information will be shared on how Sylff members can copy and adjust the model to create similar workshops (updates will be available at http://navajoboy.com/). In October 2011 the forum will travel to four Oregon universities. It is my hope that by reaching out to people who often do not have a voice, we can understand more of the full spectrum of the issues raised by environmental justice and broaden the discourse in climate change and energy policy decisions to act on the promises of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Dear Members of the Sylff community and NF-JLEP community,

Please find the following call from the Nippon Foundation to collect donations to help victims of the tsunami/earthquake disaster in Japan. I would greatly appreciate your kindly sharing this with your colleagues and friends.

Thank you very much in advance for your cooperation!

Takashi Suzuki Director for Leadership Development The Tokyo Foundation =======================================================================

The Nippon Foundation is at the forefront of assistance activities in support of those affected by the earthquake/tsunami of 11 March 2011 that hit the northern part of Japan.

We are now accepting donations to establish a fund for the emergency relief/reconstruction projects. The donations can be made online by credit card on our following website below:

(English) http://members.canpan.info/kikin/products/detail.php?product_id=1080

(Chinese) http://members.canpan.info/kikin/products/detail.php?product_id=1082

It would be highly appreciated if the above information should be circulated among your colleagues and friends as widely as possible.

With many thanks and best regards,

The Nippon Foundation =======================================================================

We have received many emails from our friends and colleagues at institutions around the world offering condolences in the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on Friday.

We are very grateful for the warm messages of sympathy and support. Although the heaviest damage has been in northern Japan, we in Tokyo have also been affected. Train and subway networks have been disrupted, a rolling blackout is being implemented in the greater Tokyo area, and there are areas within commuting distance of the city that are without running water.

Although transport and other infrastructure limitations have forced us to cancel a number of events over this week and next, the situation in Tokyo is very orderly, and our operations are continuing as usual.

Japan is now in grief; it may take years or even decades until the most seriously affected areas fully recover, but the nation is united in spirit and poised to overcome this unprecedented disaster. We at the Tokyo Foundation will be actively involved in offering relief and assisting with the recovery as part of our efforts to create a better society.

We hope to continue working with all of our overseas partners in the months and years ahead.

Hideki Kato
President, Tokyo Foundation

The Sylff Fellows of Jadavpur University (JU), India, recently paid a visit to leprosy patients at the Leprosy Mission Hospital in Kolkata, India. This is one of the annual social work activities of the JU-Sylff Association. Here is a brief report by Rimple Mehta and other members of the Association who visited the hospital.

“The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted.” ~ Mother Teresa

Leprosy

India continues to record the highest number of new leprosy cases in the world followed by Brazil and Indonesia. While globally in 2008, 2.5 lakh new cases of leprosy were recorded, India accounted for 1.37 lakh of those cases. According to WHO's latest estimate, around 35% of new leprosy cases in India — 48,000 — are women. India also recorded the highest number of children newly detected with leprosy — 13,610. India, which is home to over 700 leper colonies, was also ahead of all other countries in the number of relapse cases at 325.

Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease which is curable and treatment provided in the early stages averts disability. The majority of cases (mainly clinically diagnosed) are treated with antibiotics. The recommended antibiotics, their dosages, and length of time of administration are based on the form or classification of the disease and whether or not the patient is supervised by a medical professional. The curable disease of Leprosy suffers from the misfortune of being associated with many baseless prejudices leading the victims to be socially ostracized. The fear of being unwanted looms large in every human being and if you are someone affected by a chronic disease this fear turns into an everyday reality. Social stigma, fear of death and alienation are reasons connected to the initial hiding of this disease by patients. Leprosy is not hereditary, but recent findings suggest susceptibility to the disease may have a genetic basis. Many people get exposed to leprosy throughout the world, but the disease is not highly contagious; researchers suggest that over 95% of exposures result in no disease, and further studies suggest that susceptibility may be based, in part, by a person's genetic makeup. Therefore, this cannot be fixed entirely as a poor man's disease but something whose triggers are still at least medically indeterminate. Nonetheless, the question of stigma is very closely related to the issues of poverty.

JU-SYLFF Associaton and the Premananda Leprosy Mission of Kolkata

The Jadavpur University SYLFF Association envisaged with great enthusiasm and sinceritythe Social Action Program under the provision of ‘Social Network Program’ of Tokyo Foundation. Since its inception, the Social Action Program has aimed at bringing about a qualitative change in the lives of the underprivileged and those afflicted by physical and mental problems through innovative ideas, sustained action and definite interactional engagement along with certain token material contributions. The members of the JU-SYLFF Association were deeply moved by the untiring efforts of Mr. Sasakawa to fight the curse of Leprosy and were inspired by his speech at Jadavpur University in 2005 urging all to join him in this noble mission. For the last six years, the Association has been trying to, in their own small way, work for the cause of the leprosy patients. It has tried to engage in quality interaction with the patients, bringing some relief to their otherwise routine life confined within the medical wards and largely writ by social stigma. The fellows of the Association were brought in contact with the ‘Premananda Leprosy Mission’ of Kolkata (in association with The Leprosy Mission in Canada which is a nongovernmentorganization) which has taken up the cudgel to banish such prejudices and render comfort and cure to the hapless patients suffering from this disease. Over the last two decades, The Leprosy Mission has been working to decrease the prevalence of leprosy in Kolkata, India through providing care at Premananda Memorial Leprosy Hospital. This community based hospital cares for leprosy complications, deformity prevention and surgical correction of deformation. It is the only hospital in Kolkata that focuses on the prevention and correction of deformity and rehabilitation of leprosy patients.

The Leprosy Mission took over and built the hospital in the year 1987. Before that it was run as Premananda Leprosy Dispensary by Oxford Mission. It started as 35 bedded hospital, now its 78 bedded. It has specialised departments for leprosy as well as some general treatments. The situation in West Bengal is such that they still see a number of untreated leprosy cases and most of them come with deformities, some among them have a very infective type of the disease. The leprosy mission as part of its initiatives has community development projects adjacent to the hospital in the slums to create awareness (which also includes other people with disabilities) to uplift their lives and get rid of the stigma associated with leprosy.

They also have some community projects in the Sunderbans. They also have different rehabilitation programs for the children who are for example not able to go to school because of their financial situation and a history of leprosy. They are provided aid through the ‘Catch them Young Project’. Micro credit finance is also given to economically weak people for pursuing small scale business. There is also a scheme called ‘Reuniting with Families’ for people who are not being taken care of by their families. Sometimes, families with small houses may have a problem to keep the patients especially with deformities comfortably. If there is land the mission builds them a no cost house with all the provisions for handicapped persons providing them with wheelchairs and all also with small amount of pension so that the family members may take care of them.

The Leprosy Mission helps leprosy patients find solutions to physical problems faced because of their disease. By providing out-patient services in dermatology, ophthalmology and surgery, more patients will receive help for their physical ailments. It provides remarkable medical and social service for patients afflicted by acquired and congenital deformities, dermatological difficulties and problems in vision. They have well-equipped wards in Leprosy, Dermatology, Surgery, Ophthalmology and Physiotherapy which accommodate ‘out patients’ and ‘in patients’. These are supplemented by Leprosy clinics, general medical and surgical clinics, eye clinics and foot clinic. In addition to providing treatment, the Leprosy Mission is also focusing on increasing awareness and knowledge of leprosy in the medical community. A team of professionals with a greater depth of knowledge in the field of leprosy will allow for better care for those affected by leprosy. While much has been done, many major challenges still exist. A large number of patients have deformities and disabilities. Many of these patients simply cannot afford investigations and treatment elsewhere for associated illnesses such as severe anemia, tuberculosis and diabetes. Many are uneducated and live in poor conditions in communities that still impose stigma against those with leprosy.

The patients come more or less from all over India but apart from patients in West Bengal it is mostly the migrant populations from Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand etc. Except for very few isolated cases the family members of the patients do come to visit them and take them back home when they are to be released from the hospital. A lot of things have changed over the years. Earlier they had to go from house to house to find out cases but now people are more aware. Yet sometimes the patients themselves do feel hesitant to reveal their disease and come directly to a Leprosy Hospital especially if it’s near their homes or also in their hometowns.

During the Jadavpur University SYLFF Regional Forum 2007, the SYLFF Fellows from different institutions were escorted to the Leprosy Mission on the day of Social Action. Medical briefing about the disease of leprosy by the doctors was followed by a detailed and a very insightful interactive session. The discussion was made extremely vibrant by the exchange of information about the countries from where the Fellows hailed ideas about dealing with the physical and social constraints in life, and even sharing of personal experiences. Thereafter, the Association wanted to help them build an asset. When asked what asset could be the best suited for this need, the patients wanted a television. In February, 2008, the Fellows conducted a function at the Leprosy Mission where they presented a colour television to the patients. It was installed at the male ward of the hospital which was shared by around eight patients.

The sustained efforts by the Fellows have included visits to the Leprosy Mission each year to reach out to the people affected by leprosy and to allay their insecurities about being unwanted. The visit is usually made in the month of December, prior to Christmas in order to evoke a sense of festivities among the patients affected by leprosy. In 2010 we made the visit on the 6th of December. There were about 65 patients who we interacted with. We distributed cakes, biscuits, toffees and some savouries among the patients who expressed their delight and gratefulness towards the gesture.

The counsellor of the hospital took us around to the different wards where the patients were stationed based on the type of ailment they had. There were separate wards for men and women. Their facial expressions revealed the deep sense of loneliness that marks their life as a result of the chronic disease that they have acquired. It seemed as if each face had a different story to tell us. Their struggles and remarkable ability to endure pain has a lesson for each one of us. However, as a society we have a long way to go before these people are integrated as acceptable members of a community. The hospital staff and the doctors seemed to be sensitive to the needs of the patients. After the initial round of interaction with the patients, a Hindi film was screened for the outpatients. Apart from this, we donated some DVDs with a combination of Hindi and Bengali comedy films, to the leprosy mission so that the patients can get some time off from their daily mundane routine. We did this after enquiring at the hospital about the availability of a DVD player. This was a small step towards making a sustainable contribution for the patients.

The Association is continuously thinking of such sustainable plans and hopes to contribute on a bigger scale in its future visits. The patients look forward to our annual visit as it gives them a sense of acceptance in society and a reason to move on. A day from our study/work schedules means a lot to them and works as an energy booster for the patients who spend most of the time in isolation from family and friends. We believe that as social scientists it’s our responsibility to not only report facts but to also envision sustainable solutions for social problems. As social scientists we owe this to the society and we need to channelize our efforts through appropriate social action projects. The Association pledges to work in earnest to nurture the ties with the Leprosy Mission and continue to contribute responsibly in the future to the mission of building Social Networks through the Social Action Program.

The Association would like to thank Dr. Fehlena Roberts at the Premananda Memorial Leprosy Hospital for taking some time off and talking to us with regard to the brief history of the hospital, the various initiatives taken and the present situation of Leprosy in West Bengal.

Mr. Khinvraj Jangid is a Sylff fellow of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), India. After completing the master’s program in politics with a special focus on international relations at JNU’s School of International Studies, he is now pursuing his Ph.D. at the JNU’s Centre of West Asian Studies.

On December 21-22, 2010, Mr. Khinvraj was invited to National Seminar on "Conflicts in South & West Asia: Prospects of Peace" to present a paper at the Center for West Asian Studies, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India. The title of his paper was “Israel-Palestine Peace: The Problem of Narratives.” In this paper, Mr. Khinvraj addresses one of the most controversial conflicts of the present time. The present conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and the peace deadlock is attributed to a disagreement on the understanding of what had happened in the 1948 war between Israel and the five Arab states of Egypt, Syria, Jordan (then Transjordan), Iraq, and Lebanon. Regarding this war, perceptions of the two parties on the issue of Palestine refugees and elusive peace are of critical difference, which makes it difficult to construct a common understanding of the past; this is why the current conflict and disagreement remain unresolved. Continue reading →

The Tokyo Foundation is happy to report updates on the following two Sylff fellows.

The Pillars of Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R) award was granted to Ms. Amal Matar, a Sylff fellow at the American University in Cairo. Ms. Matar is currently completing her dual Master's in Biotechnology and Mass Communication & Journalism. The award was given for her thesis project titled “Assessment of the Perspectives of Chairs of Research Ethics Committees (REC) in Egypt,” in which Ms. Matar interviews chairs of REC of research institutes and university hospitals in Egypt. She hopes to promote the equitable performance of clinical trials in the developing world by uncovering barriers/obstacles as well as key ethical issues REC chairs encounter when reviewing international protocols, in addition to enhancing the communication process through research between Institutional Review Boards (IRBs), investigators and international sponsors. She will be presenting her project at the international conference held annually by PRIM&R. This year, the conference will be taking place in December in Washington DC, USA. You can learn more about the award via this link www.primr.org/AboutUs.aspx?id=2428 Amal can be reached at mollyzak[at]aucegypt.edu ([at] should be replaced by @) Continue reading →

The Tokyo Foundation is happy to report updates on the following two Sylff fellows.

A research article by a Sylff fellow from Slovakia was published in a prestigious journal of foreign policy, Yearbook of Slovakia's Foreign Policy 2009. Mr. Ondrej Gazovic, a Ph.D. student of the faculty of Social and Economic Sciences at Comenius University in Bratislava, writes in his article that the year 2009 could be a breakthrough in terms of Slovak public diplomacy. The article presents extensive and critical reviews of the activities of public diplomacy by the government and identifies the potential areas to develop a positive perception of the country. Refer to the following website for more information about the Yearbook: http://www.sfpa.sk/en/publikacie/rocenka-zahranicnej-politiky/ (Ondrej recently married Ms. Tina Gyarfasova, who happens to be another Sylff fellow at the same university. Congratulations to both of you!) Continue reading →

From November 2 through 5, 2010, the Sylff Administrators Meeting was convened at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) in Beppu, on the southern island of Japan. APU, the newest member of the Sylff community, hosted this gathering, which was attended by some 100 administrators and faculty members representing 62 (out of 69) Sylff-endowed institutions in 40 countries, as well as 11 Sylff fellows from 8 countries. The Tokyo Foundation worked closely with APU on the contents of the meeting as well as the logistic and other administrative matters.

The meeting started with a welcome speech by Mr. Yohei Sasakawa, Chairman of The Nippon Foundation, the donor of the Sylff endowments; opening remarks by Mr. Hideki Kato, President of the Tokyo Foundation; followed by a welcoming address by Mr. Shun Korenaga, President of APU.

Over the three days, the participants were actively engaged in presentations and discussions—both plenary and in small groups—regarding such topics as “Identifying and Nurturing Outstanding Future Leaders through Effective Program Administration.” The participants were reminded of the basic roles and responsibilities for managing the Sylff program at respective institutions, and renewed their commitments to identifying and nurturing future leaders.

One session featured some of the invited Sylff fellows who are the beneficiaries of Sylff Plus programs. They each shared with participants their experiences and accomplishments achieved through the Sylff Plus support provided by the Tokyo Foundation. Other Sylff fellows served on the panel of a thematic session entitled “Global vs. Local Values: Beyond Dichotomy.” Also, a special lecture was delivered by Dr. Monte Cassim, ex-President of APU, under the title “Sound, Science, New Technology and Emerging Nations.”

APU is one of the most internationalized universities in Japan, with a special emphasis on Asia-Pacific studies. Half of the 6,000 plus students, as well as faculty members, come from abroad (over 90 countries), and both English and Japanese are the official languages on campus. This was reflected in the range of performances by APU students during the welcome reception, namely, Korean drum performance, Chinese traditional string performance, and Noh, a Japanese traditional theater performance, which were presented by students of diverse nationalities.

Among the invited Sylff fellows were four musician fellows from the Juilliard School in New York, who gave a beautiful music performance on the second evening of the Meeting. This concert was a joint event featuring the Juilliard fellows and Ms. Toshie Suzuki, an APU graduate and professional shamisen player, and her troupe. The full-house audience, including the Meeting participants, APU students, faculty, and administrators, as well as the citizens of Beppu where APU is located, was very moved by the performance from East and West.

The final morning was dedicated to a session for intellectual entertainment. This experimental endeavor was to provide an opportunity for the participants to “speak their minds and hearts” in a purely private capacity on issues that are close to their hearts, setting aside their positions and responsibilities at work. Thirteen pre-selected participants made presentations, and six others, who were chosen on the spot, commented on the presentations. They were joined by two invited speakers: Dr. Mariko Hasegawa, Professor, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, and Dr. Yoshikazu Takaya, Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University.

On November 5, the day following the end of the sessions, the participants divided into two groups for optional field trips: about half of them toured around Beppu and its vicinity and enjoyed the cultural heritage of the region, while the other half went to Tokyo for a half-day dialogue at the Tokyo Foundation with Japanese Diet members on specific policy issues, followed by a half-day sightseeing tour of Tokyo.

The Tokyo Foundation extends its sincere gratitude and appreciation to the Sylff colleagues and Sylff fellows who took the time to participate in the meeting, to APU colleagues for their dedicated work and hospitality, and the Nippon Foundation for its generous support.