Our director, Soka Horii, appeared as a commentator at "High School Students Ask Japan's Leaders: Hints for How to Live", held at the Ikeda Civic Cultural Hall.
Before an audience of about a hundred, mostly middle and high school students from Osaka, they spoke with Ryo Harada, Mayor of Minoh, and Koji Morita, Mayor of Miyake. Drawing on what two serving mayors actually do, they discussed how students with few chances to take part in politics can still get heard.
From their own experience, Horii argued that being different from the people around you can be a strength, and that the real substance of growth is inside the setbacks — and the room worked through what to hold onto in an unpredictable time.
10 photos (swipe to change)
A student organization working on civic education and teenage participation in public life, driven by the gap in who gets opportunities. Our mission: every teenager should get to meet the person they have not yet become. Around forty high school and university students from Tokyo and the three neighbouring prefectures run it. Our programs include the Mock Ward Mayoral Election — held in the ward office and the assembly chamber, taking participants from drafting policy through candidacy to the count — and Osouji-tai, which builds a sense of ownership over shared space through cleaning. More than 1,000 people have now learned how democracy feels from the inside.
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