in Kamiyama

(↑ First up on the second day of the seminar, Mr. Satoshi Fujimoto (editor of Re:S) talks about “work” with facilitator Yoshiaki Nishimura)

Recently, I went to the first and second day of a three-day seminar in Nara called “Think Your Work” (Japanese). The seminar is based on the theme of “work” and this was its fourth year running.

As one of eight guest speakers, my role was to talk about,
- What, to me, is “my work?”
- What have I placed importance on up to now, and what from now on?

(Yipes! I didn’t feel qualified to discuss things like “work” from a theoretical perspective, but I figured I could talk a bit about myself, a bit about “things like work,” and tie it all up into a little speech, and so I rashly promised to participate. The other guests were all really spectacular!)

Yoshiaki Nishimura was the facilitator. (Every once in a while this guy comes along with a new challenge for me…(haha))

The venue was the Information Center of the Nara Prefectural Library. This place holds all kinds of wacky events that you wouldn’t expect from a library. It’s a very un-library-like library. Call it library-esque…

Once again they arranged a special accommodation plan in connection with the Hotel Nikko Nara for participants who would be coming from far away, and there was even a service where books selected by the library could be read by guests at the hotel. Such flexibility from a public institution!

For some reason, such stories of cooperation get me excited. Things like “a public institution teaming up with a commercial company” - I can think of a few stubborn organisations that raise my ire (ie. not trying to solve problems creatively) who I’d like to show that to… (haha)

I happened to run into Yasuhiro Kawai and Fumiko Hasebe from the Shikoku Bureau of Economy, Trade, and Industry at the venue. Imagine that, so far away, and during their off-time too…
I felt as if I’d gotten a peep at a source of that particular institution’s “flexibility” too.

Lately, I’m starting to think maybe with all my criticism of public institutions I’ve been failing to “see the trees for the forest.” I’ve got to do some soul-searching here!

(I can see this is going to get long… let’s just say “to be continued” and finish off this story at a later date.)