Hello, everyone,

It's been a challenging summer for me due to roasting heat waves in Japan. I usually stay abroad for two months, from June to July, which gives me a sanctuary from the excessively hot and sticky weather in Japan. But this summer is very different: I have been in Kyoto for these two months and experienced a hot spell for the first time. Alas, I am dazed and groggy.

Volunteer of the Year 07 was announced to be given to Oriana of Mie University Village. She participated Pangaea in last two years. At the end of July, she completed her job with Mie City to teach children English at schools, and returned back to US to attend PhD program in University. When she joined, she could not speak much Japanese, and experienced difficult times to communicate with children. However,
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Hello. My name is Miwa Omori.

My encounter with Pangaea was an electrifying experience. Two years ago, on one morning, I was watching NHK and suddenly the title "NPO Pangaea's approach - Simultaneous activity between Japan and Korea" caught my eyes and then I found myself exclaiming, "This is it!"
I could not believe what was being broadcasted on TV. What I saw was exactly the kind of activity that I had always wanted to take part in - the activity to create the bond between the children all around the world. I made friends with a Czechoslovakian
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Today we held an activity at Mie University. The numbers have increased here since last month, and there are now 25 children actively participating. Newcomers joined the regulars in their creative projects, and the environment warmed gradually as everyone's shyness faded.

One great thing about the activities at Mie is that ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers) from the city of Tsu participate as facilitators. Indeed, intercultural communication is possible right here in Mie! So far, six ALTs have participated as facilitators and provided support for our children.

Today was also the last day for one of these facilitators, an ALT named Oriana Gatta. She is returning to the United States after two years in Japan, but has not missed a single day of activities since we began Pangaea in Mie. She has always used her exceptionally gentle demeanor and smile to bridge linguistic and cultural differences, showing kindness and compassion not only to students, but to the entire staff.
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Hello, everyone,

Within two months, powerful earthquakes rocked in China and Japan. To make matters worse, the monsoon season has started in Japan. We are now concerned with landsliding in the areas affected by the earthquake. My prayers and condolences go out to the victims of the earthquake.

Well, now for the good news: the content and design of our website are renewed! Our translation volunteers in Japan, as well as Pangaeans in Europe, devoted their time and skills to get our work done. We all worked together to improve our website more informative and understandable. Please take a look at our refreshed website!!!

Our facilitator training sessions were held in Kyoto, Seoul, Mie, and Tokyo. I am very proud that one of our staff, Hana-pooh, became a great lecturer!
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I'm Hiroshi Shimamura of Elab-experience Inc. I have founded my company in December 2003 and our mission is to provide the customer with the new designs and experiences using ubiquitous network. I was going through a deliberation period in search of a way to proceed right after founding my company when I have first met Yumi and Toshi through e-mails. Both were traveling all around the world trying to establish NPO Pangaea at that time. I have learned the significance of playing one's role in the society and realized my own source of motivation in a deeper sense when establishing my company. Both Yumi and Toshi always inspire me with their imagination and technical ability, making the best out of their own background of having been MIT researchers, to realize their own goal of peace engineering by providing the children with the activity opportunities and places in order for them to communicate and build understanding with each other as well as to grow their inner self.
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A facilitator training was held in Tokyo today. Participants this time included Pangaea Net, members participating in the development of tactile worksheets for children, and facilitators originally from Kyoto who moved to the Kanto region. It was not just a warm reunion of course. Some new faces interested in participating also attended, and we had a productive four hours. I am looking forward to our activities starting next month!

Since the beginning of the year, we have held trainings in four locations: Korea and Kyoto in April, Mie in May, and Tokyo in June. There are now over 100 facilitators certified by Pangaea. We hope to continue to foster environments in which everyone can feel connected with children.

Takekazu "Hana-pooh" Hanada
Chief Administrative Officer

Every year I usually have several chances to meet with the Club of Amsterdam and the Waag Society (two Dutch organizations) and this time I was asked to give a speech at their event "The Future of Children." In the past, I have experienced web conferences where you can see everyone talking to you, but this was the first time I had ever participated in a meeting with so many people in Amsterdam and talked over a television broadcast viewable by countries of the EU. The session began at 7 PM their time, which is 2 AM in the morning for us...so that night at 12:30, Toshi and I were alone in the office preparing for the conference, and until the time came, we sat and drank too much coffee and ended up giving ourselves hearburn. When it was time, it was hard to imagine that I was actually on Webcam and that there were people watching me in my office, and halfway through the session I even forgot I was visible at all and scratched my back.
At the Amsterdam location, Simon came to the rescue around 4 AM when the discussion section started - I'd asked him to help since my mind was really starting to slow down with sleep. » MORE

Hello, everyone,

I got back from Amsterdam during the Golden Week, the week-long spring holiday in Japan (April 29 through May 5). As soon as I unpacked my suitcase, I put myself into "activity mode." On May 10th, we set up a webcam connection between Tokyo and Seoul for our webcam activity. This time the MIZY Center, operated by the Korean National Commissions for UNESCO, shot and edited a video to introduce our activities. The very well done video brought the recorded voices of Korean children, their parents, our facilitators, and the MIZY staff members. You can feel the excitement of the children through the video. Actually, some Korean children reported that they had negative images of Japan before attending our webcam activity. However, the Korean staff captured the interesting moments on video: all Korean kids attending the webcam activity, including those children who had negative feelings toward Japan, had so much fun with their Japanese teammates by playing webcam games together. The video also shows some similarities and differences between Korean and Japanese cultures. We posted the video on our blog, so please check it out. After the activity, Korean facilitators in Seoul left their feedback on our multilingual community site supported by Language Grid: "I had a heartfelt connection by participating in the webcam activity." We deeply appreciate Microsoft Corp., awarding us grants to successfully get through our webcam activity this time.
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Any great movement needs a strong vision, and Pangaea is about the boldness of a vision. When I first met Yumi and Toshi, I was fascinated by the story of Pangaea's birth ? from the ashes of a terrible tragedy based on misunderstanding and distrust ? but I was even more impressed by their unshakable belief in the power of humanity to create understanding across borders and cultures and the quite amazing drive which takes them across continents, through endless waiting rooms and bureaucratic frustrations, in their quest to achieve their vision.

There is no better way to use technology than as a means to achieve this vision of global, human understanding. The Pangaea network unites kids in different countries across the world, whether in Africa, Asia or Europe, but it is equally important that this "global" understanding is then applied locally, in cities and neighbourhoods, where the "kid next door" is increasingly of a different nationality, culture or background.
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We wrote previously about the May 10th webcam activity connecting children in Tokyo and Korea, but we also wanted to let you know that the activities for that day have been posted on the Mizy Center website!

In a wonderful video taken during the activity registration and check-in, you can see the happy children who came to check out the webcam. Enjoy!

The video can be viewed here.
(Video courtesy of the UNESCO Korea Mizy Center)