Arrival in Tokyo
Door: Jolijn Santegoeds
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Jolijn
16 Juli 2015 | Japan, Tokio
I have arrived in Tokyo!
It was a very long journey (bus, train, airplane, shuttlebus, a walk, 3x metro and a taxi). Now I am at the Suidobashi Richmond Hotel. I was picked up from the airport by Ryugan (Mr. Akihiko Sekiguchi), who is a member of the Japan National Group of Mentally Disabled People, and we spent the afternoon travelling together to the hotel, and we also had a meal together. It was very nice company. Afterwards we briefly met Mr. Yoshikazu Ikehara, a human rights lawyer who is active on the rights of persons with psychosocial disabilities in Japan, and one of the organizers of my trip to Japan. Tomorrow I will also meet Mari Yamamoto again, who I have met before. She is also one of the co-organizers of my trip and a member of the Japan National Group of Mentally Disabled People.
Tomorrow the 4-day training on using Family Group Conferencing (FGC) to avoid forced interventions will start in Tokyo. I am very proud of this, because I “invented” this project of using FGC in mental health care to avoid forced interventions in response to the consultation process of Dutch law reforms on forced treatments. The Dutch laws are still bad, but the pilot project with FGC to avoid forced interventions is ongoing in the Netherlands. And now I am invited together with 2 other persons from the Netherlands (Rob van Pagee and Hedda van Lieshout of the Dutch FGC-organization) to give a 4-day training in Japan on using Family Group Conferencing. It will be very interesting.
It’s a bit uncommon that I don’t have a prepared presentation, but I will be consultant, directly responding to the process. I will go into the room empty-handed, which feels a bit weird. But it is a strategical choice to do it like this. We are not imposing our model in all detail as a fixed way, but we will explain the principles of FGC, and then see if this is considered useful by the Japanese delegation of about 100 persons coming from the mental health and law field. If they wish to use FGC, they should find their own way to do so, because every country has its own challenges and chances. We can support them along the way by sharing our experiences, but we cannot precisely tell how it is done best in Japan. So we will basically aim to empower that delegation during the FGC-training, by giving them the tools to make their own plan for this theme, which is basically what FGC in itself comprises. It is very exciting.
However, I need some rest first. So now I will try the bathtub in my hotel room, and the special Japanese bath salt, and then try to make up for the lack of sleep of the last 48 hours (and get my stomach at peace), because I want to be ready to rock tomorrow.
So far I have only seen a little bit of Tokyo, only had a little walk downtown to the metro station, but it is a very interesting city. It is a true metropole, with a skyline of tall modern buildings, and very friendly people everywhere. Really maximally polite. I like that a lot. I am really looking forward to exploring more of this very interesting country and it’s politics.
And now I will call it a day and relax :)
It was a very long journey (bus, train, airplane, shuttlebus, a walk, 3x metro and a taxi). Now I am at the Suidobashi Richmond Hotel. I was picked up from the airport by Ryugan (Mr. Akihiko Sekiguchi), who is a member of the Japan National Group of Mentally Disabled People, and we spent the afternoon travelling together to the hotel, and we also had a meal together. It was very nice company. Afterwards we briefly met Mr. Yoshikazu Ikehara, a human rights lawyer who is active on the rights of persons with psychosocial disabilities in Japan, and one of the organizers of my trip to Japan. Tomorrow I will also meet Mari Yamamoto again, who I have met before. She is also one of the co-organizers of my trip and a member of the Japan National Group of Mentally Disabled People.
Tomorrow the 4-day training on using Family Group Conferencing (FGC) to avoid forced interventions will start in Tokyo. I am very proud of this, because I “invented” this project of using FGC in mental health care to avoid forced interventions in response to the consultation process of Dutch law reforms on forced treatments. The Dutch laws are still bad, but the pilot project with FGC to avoid forced interventions is ongoing in the Netherlands. And now I am invited together with 2 other persons from the Netherlands (Rob van Pagee and Hedda van Lieshout of the Dutch FGC-organization) to give a 4-day training in Japan on using Family Group Conferencing. It will be very interesting.
It’s a bit uncommon that I don’t have a prepared presentation, but I will be consultant, directly responding to the process. I will go into the room empty-handed, which feels a bit weird. But it is a strategical choice to do it like this. We are not imposing our model in all detail as a fixed way, but we will explain the principles of FGC, and then see if this is considered useful by the Japanese delegation of about 100 persons coming from the mental health and law field. If they wish to use FGC, they should find their own way to do so, because every country has its own challenges and chances. We can support them along the way by sharing our experiences, but we cannot precisely tell how it is done best in Japan. So we will basically aim to empower that delegation during the FGC-training, by giving them the tools to make their own plan for this theme, which is basically what FGC in itself comprises. It is very exciting.
However, I need some rest first. So now I will try the bathtub in my hotel room, and the special Japanese bath salt, and then try to make up for the lack of sleep of the last 48 hours (and get my stomach at peace), because I want to be ready to rock tomorrow.
So far I have only seen a little bit of Tokyo, only had a little walk downtown to the metro station, but it is a very interesting city. It is a true metropole, with a skyline of tall modern buildings, and very friendly people everywhere. Really maximally polite. I like that a lot. I am really looking forward to exploring more of this very interesting country and it’s politics.
And now I will call it a day and relax :)
Reageer op dit reisverslag
Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
