The GLocal

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)

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: 

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

Sayako has over 15 years of clinical experience in a variety of fields, including occupational therapy for children diagnosed with developmental delays, physical and congenital diseases, acquired diseases, cerebral palsy, gray zones and developmental disorders.

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

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

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. 

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

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. 

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.

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.  

In this episode, we interview two Japanese women working for organizations involved in issues related to SDGs. 

We speak with a researcher inside Myanmar, Mr Sai Tun Aung Lwin, and with Victor Maung, a journalist from Myanmar based in Washington DC. 

Learn about current events in Myanmar, how the generals are reacting to the popular uprising, and whether Myanmar will see a resolution to the conflict or become another Syria. 

In this episode, we speak with Carolina Zeledon, of Tamarindo Coffee Roasters in Costa Rica.  

Fun Fact: Japan is the 5th coffee consumer per person in the world. 

Carolina is a native Costa Rican who is a Certified Culinarian, Certified Health & Life Coach, business administrator, consultant and fully bilingual in both Spanish and English. She understands the multicultural experience of living abroad very well as she has spent time living in Costa Rica, Italy, Hawaii, Colorado and New York City. Places that not only gave her an 20 year long career in Culinary Arts and other different types of business, but also invaluable personal insight on how the world works from different perspectives.

She is an avid cook, fitness enthusiast, nature lover, lifelong learner enjoys all things nerdy in wellness, travel, film and reading. When she isn’t passionately working on her professional projects, she enjoys cooking for and being with her friends and family. Her cooking style gravitates towards wholesome, fresh, real food with strong Mediterranean accents.

Join us for a conversation with Samia Alduaij, a senior environmental specialist from Kuwait with almost 20 years experience in international development, environmental management, policy analysis and in scientific/ research institutions. 

Samia has worked for the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, as well as the Scientific Center in Kuwait. Her work focuses on the sustainable management of natural resources, pollution control, environmental legislation, marine conservation and sustainable development in Kuwait and across the Middle East. She recently launched an initiative to promote sustainable and ethical consumption in the region which highlights some of the negative impacts of certain consumer choices while offering more sustainable alternatives.

Martin Tilman is a nationally recognized author, thought leader and expert on the linkage of education abroad to student career development and employability. He is President of Global Career Compass, an international consulting practice and an Affiliate to the Gateway International Group.  Previously, he retired as Associate Director of Career Services at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. In his distinguished career over a forty year period as an international educator, he has held senior leadership positions with pioneering international education programs in the U.S.  He is the recipient of a prestigious Fulbright Award to Japan for international education administrators.

Join us for an informative discussion with entrepreneur Teresa Ha, founder of Basis Nuts. 

Based in Copenhagen, Denmark, Basis Nuts sources and imports unique varieties of nuts - like almonds and pine nuts -  that have been carefully cultivated for centuries in Central Asia. Find out why Teresa chose to work with farmers in Afghanistan and how her business helps them export their unique products to Europe. 

In our first podcast episode, Taro was in Washington DC this week. Tamago called to learn about DC during the corona pandemic. 

Later, Taro and Tamago call award winning American journalist, Mark Tarallo, to talk about the US elections and much more. As they were talking, the New York Times announced that Joe Biden had won the US presidential election. 

Sound Editor: Natsuki Ueda