On Finding Joy at the Margins of Ability: Drawing on Lessons Learnt as a Trans Man to Love my Newly Broken Body (E)

• france rose hartline (Ochanomizu University)

Note: Presentation is held in English but will provide slides with Japanese text. Description: In early 2022, when my body mysteriously gave way to a common chronic illness with an unpronounceable name, the imagined trajectory of my life was suddenly altered beyond fathom. The brain which I had nurtured through many academic degrees and relied on for my ‘livelihood’ as a researcher, and the limbs which I relied on to navigate public life as a social and productive being, became unrecognisable in their new state of variable and reduced function. Moreover, nearly constant pain became my closest acquaintance, tempting me into regular bouts of uncharacteristic pessimism. With a prognosis of ‘miracles can happen, but don’t hold your breath’, I had to learn how to live with a self I had never imagined becoming. In my presentation, I will describe how I have embarked on the journey to accept my futurescape as a disabled person, using lessons learnt through queer- and trans-becoming. From fashioning strategies of resilience to finding kinship through community advocacy, I will reflect on how the tools I developed to find queer/trans joy have transferred over to not only learning to appreciate my brokenness but discovering new abilities of immeasurable value.

Loneliness

• Ibu Hayashi

学生の時、在日韓国人であることから社会における扱いの違いに直面した。長野県南部での暮らしや子育てを通して、“閉鎖的な環境”が意味すること一つ一つが個人の性格や思考までも変えていくことを実感した。職場において、所属・性・背景・習慣から生じる小さな集団の中にいることの安心感、と同時に危険性を日々考えさせられている。 周りと同じでいたくはない自分がいる。自己主張というよりむしろ、違和感を持つことで生きている実感を持とうとしているのかもしれない。それは誰かに対して攻撃的になるというよりは、どうしてなのかを考え続けることが自分の道を繋げてきているような気がする。相手を説得し、自分を理解して欲しいという気持ちはあまりない。いつもどこかで諦めてしまっている自分がいるのかもしれない。しかしこの諦念は決して否定的 なものではない。小さな灯がゆっくりと燃え続けるように、”違い“を感じ続け、誰かの違いや悲しみを想像し、理解しようと努めることで、緩やかでしなやかな繋がりが生まれる。 DeepL:As a student, he faced differences in the way he was treated in society because he is a Korean living in Japan. Through living and raising my children in the southern part of Nagano Prefecture. Through living and raising my children in the southern part of Nagano Prefecture, I realized that each "closed environment" can change an individual's character and thinking. In the workplace, I am reminded daily of the security and danger of being in a small group that is based on affiliation, gender, background, and customs. I don't want to be the same as everyone else. There is a part of me that does not want to be the same as those around me. Rather than asserting myself, I may be trying to feel alive by being uncomfortable. I may be trying to feel alive by being uncomfortable rather than asserting myself. It is not so much that I am aggressive toward someone, but rather that I am trying to connect my path by continuing to think about why. I feel that my path has been connected by continuing to think about why, rather than becoming aggressive toward someone else. I don't have much desire to persuade others to understand me. I don't have much of a desire to persuade others to understand me. Perhaps I am always giving up somewhere. However, this resignation is not a negative thing.

Self-empowerment in Community (Workshop) (E)

• Avril Haye-Matsui (Nagoya City University)

We often feel stuck in our lives and unable to move forward. Questions about what to do to achieve our goals or to lead peaceful and content lives may seem to have no answers, and contemplating them makes us feel overwhelmed and powerless. In this workshop, we will take the time to consider these big questions together and draw strength from one another as a community. We will look at significant life areas, consider how we want to change or improve them and create manageable steps to do so. The workshop will finish with a relaxing guided meditation practice to help you integrate all we have discussed. The goal of this workshop is to remind you that empowerment is a series of small, consistent steps that begins simply with a desire for change.

グレーゾーンの学生と教員の支援 Students in the Gray Area and Possible Supports from Teachers (Workshop) (J)

• Natsuho Mizoguchi (Nagoya University of Foreign Studies)

Room: Junseikan 4F & 5F 要旨 教室内には様々な児童・生徒・学生がおり、私たち学校関係者は彼らをしばしば「帰国 子女」「外国人児童生徒」「発達障害」等とカテゴライズする。そのどこにも属さず、ま たは複数に属しているのに、生きづらさが周りに認識されないのが「グレーゾーンの子 どもたち」である。彼らは障害や困難の点で周囲に認知されないほどに軽度であること から、より一層の生きづらさを感じ、傷つきながら生きていることが少なくない。まし て、彼ら自身が自分の抱えているものを認識していなくても不思議ではない。このよう な問題は普通思春期までに表れるものであり、大学生が特別苦しんでいるとは考えにく い。反面、思春期に自分の苦しみやその対処法を習得している彼らは、その生きづらさ を見せない術を知っているがために、しばしば周りの人々に「だらしがない」「やる気 がない」と誤解されてしまう。本発表はグレーゾーンの学生が抱える生きづらさの中か ら、教室内でしか関わりのない大学教員が知っておくと良いものと、その潜在的支援の 方法について紹介する。発表の主言語を日本語とするが、発表者は英語での質疑応答や ディスカッションも歓迎する。 PREFERENCE to PRESENT ON SATURDAY DeepL: There are many different kinds of children, students, and young people in the classroom, and we in the school community often categorize them as "returnees," "foreign students," "developmentally disabled," and so on. They are often categorized as "returnee children," "foreign children," "developmentally disabled," etc. The "gray zone children" are those who do not belong to any of these categories or belong to more than one, but whose difficulties in life are not recognized by others. Because their disabilities and difficulties are so mild that they are not recognized by others, they often feel more difficulty and hurt in their lives. It is no wonder that they are not aware of what they are going through. These problems usually appear by adolescence, and it is difficult to believe that college students are particularly suffering from them. On the other hand, they have learned to cope with their suffering during adolescence, and they know how to avoid showing their difficulties, which is often misinterpreted by those around them as "sloppy" or "unmotivated. This presentation will introduce some of the difficulties faced by students in the gray zone that university faculty who only interact with them in the classroom should be aware of, and potential ways to support them. The primary language of the presentation will be Japanese, but presenters are welcome to ask questions and participate in discussions in English.

Faculty Members as Mental Health Liaisons in Japanese Universities (Workshop) (E)

• Peter Lutes (Faculty of Agriculture, Kagawa Univeristy)

The global COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated mental health challenges within Japanese universities. Mental health has been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in terms of increased rates of depression, generalized and social anxiety, hostility, and alcohol abuse (Nagib et al., 2023). Concurrently, Japanese universities face resource constraints in addressing this surge in mental health issues, and even when resources are available, students may encounter difficulties in accessing them. Additionally, public and self-stigma associated with seeking mental counseling act as significant barriers for Japanese university students (Ina & Morita, 2015). Faculty members often maintain direct and frequent interactions with students and, may be called upon to serve as liaisons in facilitating student access to mental health support even though they are not trained mental health professionals. In this session, the presenter will share his experiences in assisting students to access the necessary mental health resources. Participants will be invited to share their experiences and opinions in an open ended discussion.

Pursuing My Own Happiness (E)

• Kana Ozaki (None)

Taking a step into unknown required me to consume a lot of energy and made me anxious about my future. After my study abroad in Canada, I started to long for working at an international organization in overseas. I tried the standard job-hunting, but I could not ignore my inner voice telling me that I do not want to. I decided to look for an opportunity to work overseas and luckily found a position working at diplomatic mission abroad. After my 3 years duty at the embassy of Japan in the Philippines, I set up my next object as working in a multicultural environment. Then, I received an offer from Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic 2020 which opened my door to the most ideal job I have ever dreamed of. At the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee, I met many expats who had worked for previous sporting events and lived in several countries. When I saw them, I began to ask myself “if they can do it, shouldn’t I be able to do it?” – I started to aspire continue working in the international sporting event industry. As I gain more experience in working in several different international sporting event, I feel more comfortable and connect with more people who have the similar value as I have and this makes me feel I found a community I belong and feel the genuine joy and happiness of doing what I love and meeting new people from different part of the world. The experience I have had so far made me realize what I thought I know was only a tiny bit part of the world and the actual world is way bigger than what I could have imagined. The first step to dive into unknown required me to have a huge courage – I cannot thank enough those who encouraged me to pursuit the different way, and, I appreciate my past self who kept challenging. I do not know what and where I will be which of course scares me sometime, but now, I rather feel excitement and thrill of diving into unknown. In this presentation, I would like to tell people, especially those who are struggling to visualize where they want to be and what they want to do, that there are many different career paths that you can always change what you want to do, and most importantly, not to give up on pursuing your own happiness.

Yoga with Ellie Smith 2

• Ellie Smith (Aichi University)

Beginner Yoga session, no gear needed! She will offer one 30 minute class at this time.

Reflections of a Non-Japanese Japanese High School Homeroom Teacher (E)

• Michael Ellis (International Christian University High School)

In 2022, I (American) obtained a special Japanese teaching license (特別免許状). This has enabled me to step out of the traditional “native” teacher role and do various jobs and tasks at school which were not accessible to me in the past. This year I am trying my hand at first year high school (10th grade) homeroom teaching. Homeroom in Japan is bigger than my own experience as a student in America. The teachers are more deeply involved with students’ school lives, both academically and non-academically, and this makes the job much heavier but also more rewarding. In this interactive presentation, I will share stories and reflections from a weekly journal about my interactions as a non-Japanese homeroom teacher with students, parents and colleagues. These entries include topics like breaking linguistic boundaries, subverting expectations and juggling professional teacher development with new responsibilities. As the school year is still in progress, some of these reflections might be characterized better as raw observations than meaningful lessons, but I hope that through this session we can open a dialog to find meaning by coming together and sharing similar experiences of fostering positive relationships and healthy communication in any and all teaching contexts in Japan.

Improve your Intercultural Communication Competence by Embracing Self-Acceptance Ð a Personal Assessment Guide (Workshop) (E/J) 自分を知る、相手の違いを受け入れる〜異文化理解力のセルフチェック

• Michi Saki (Doshisha Women's College of LIberal Arts)

The purpose of this interactive workshop is as follows: 1) to explain the reasons why learning about intercultural communication is so important but so difficult to attain; 2) to offer some ideas, definitions and perspectives on intercultural understanding and communication; 3) to discuss together about our past intercultural experiences and talk about the ways that we can learn from them in order to improve our intercultural intelligence, agility and communication competence; 4) To do a short self-assessment exercise together using the Intercultural Adjustment Potential Scale (Matsumoto,1990) to measure our potential for improving our intercultural communication competence. このインタラクティブワークショップの目的は以下の通りである： １）異文化間コミュニケーションについて学ぶことがなぜ重要でありながら難しいのか、その理由を説明すること。 ２）異文化理解とコミュニケーションについての考え方、定義、視点を提供すること。 ３）私たちの異文化間知性、敏捷性、コミュニケーション能力を向上させるために、過去の異文化間経験について一緒に話し合い、そこから学ぶ方法について話し合うこと。 ４）私たちの異文化間コミュニケーション能力を向上させる可能性を測るために、簡単な自己チェック（日本人の国際適応力診断テスト (ICAPS) （Intercultural Adjustment Potential Scale)（デヴィド・マツモト、1999年） を一緒に行うこと。異文化間コミュニケーション能力を向上させるための潜在能力を測定する。

Reconstructing Mother-Daughter Relationships After My Study Abroad and Revisiting the Senses of Home: A Reflection on Two Collaborative Autoethnography Projects (Long Presentation) (E)

• Aya Hayasaki (Waseda University)

In this presentation, I will present two projects using collaborative autoethnography. Autoethnography is a form of qualitative research in which personal experiences are used to explore the meanings and understanding of wider cultural, political, and social contexts. The first project revolves around a three-minute story I wrote reflecting on a dialogue with my mother about my study abroad and the impact it had on our relationship. The background of this story highlights the challenges I encountered in convincing my mother to allow me to study abroad due to our major differences in what an ideal woman's happiness should be. Throughout the story, my mother and I delve into our hidden emotions through the most honest dialogue we have ever had in our 33 years together. Next, I will report on a study conducted with four other researchers, in which I brought my findings from this mother-daughter story. We, the five researchers from different universities, explored our respective stories under the common theme of what care means to us. Through the project, we came away with a deeper understanding of different senses of care, home, feeding, and ultimately love. This is a sequel to my "Finding Home” story presented online at LOTE2022, and I hope to give back to the LOTE community by expanding the collaborative dialogue further with participants in person.

The Collaborative Nature of Filmmaking (Workshop) (E)

• Felicity Tillack (Kyoto International School)

Filmmaking is one of the most collaborative forms of creation. In the 15-minute presentation section, I will highlight the different ways that filmmaking brings people together through personal examples from my own work, including YouTube interviews with 3rd Culture Kids, a narrative feature film exploring the concept of mixed identity, and even a musical TikTok series. Then, I will outline the process of film creation we will use in the workshop, providing a handout to participants to refer to. During the workshop portion, participants will form small teams to consider and brainstorm ideas connected to the theme, “Coming Together” and then experience the collaborative nature of film first-hand experience as they film and edit a 3-minute film, using iPads or similar devices, with support from Kyoto International School students. Time permitting, we will perform a gallery walk, and engage in giving constructive feedback to each other. Alternatively, post-production may be completed later and uploaded for general viewing.

TELL information session

• Kulsoom Ahmad

女性の貧困を考える Considering Women's Poverty (J)

• Rin Hamamoto (Doshisha Women's College of LIberal Arts)

当研究会はSHAREを理念に掲げSDGsに基づいた活動から、生きづらさの背後にある貧困に対してアプローチすることで、幸せと心の健康をもたらすことを目的としています。 初めに、女性を取り巻く貧困問題の現状を示し、それに対する二つの活動（フードドライブ・生理の貧困）の報告を行います。学内では年に２回、各期間は１週間ほどで、フードドライブを行っています。１００点以上集まる食料品は京田辺のフードバンクを通して、必要な施設や家庭に届けられています。なぜ食の支援が必要なのか。貧困の社会的背景を紐解き、フードドライブがもたらす社会への好影響についてお話します。次に、女性に焦点を当て生理に関する貧困問題に言及します。生理は女性の健康を維持する上でも、無視できない体の機能です。すべての人が健康をあたりまえに享受するにはどうすればよいか。女子大生の私たちだからこそ、考え、行動すべきだと感じています。本プレゼンテーションでは、私たちがこれまでに行ったイベント活動の報告に加え、最終的に研究会が目指すビジョンについてお話します。 DeepL:The purpose of this study group is to bring happiness and mental health by approaching poverty behind the difficulties of life through activities based on the SDGs with the philosophy of SHARE. First, we will present the current situation of poverty issues surrounding women and report on two activities (food drive and physiological poverty) in response to these issues. On campus, we hold food drives twice a year, each lasting about a week, and the food items we collect (over 100) are delivered to institutions and families in need through the Food Bank in Kyotanabe. Why is food assistance necessary? We will discuss the social background of poverty and the positive impact food drives can have on society. Next, I will focus on women and mention poverty issues related to menstruation. Menstruation is a bodily function that cannot be ignored in maintaining women's health. How can we ensure that all people enjoy good health as a matter of course? I feel that we, as women's college students, should think and act on this issue. In this presentation, in addition to reporting on the event activities we have conducted so far, we will talk about the vision that the study group ultimately aims to achieve.

Writing for Peace; or, Ally Is a Verb (E)

• Gerry Yokota (Osaka University, Professor Emerita)

Online social media can give a false illusion of unity. It’s so gratifying to get all those Likes! But deep down we know, that shot of dopamine is not true connection; we must go beyond optical allyship and follow through with concerted action to break links in oppressive chains and forge stronger chains of peace and compassionate justice. In this session, I hope to connect with like-minded spirits who share my passion to promote the responsible use of online social media for peace and justice, with mindful awareness of the connection between responsibility and responsiveness as opposed to reactivity. I will share experiences both in the classroom, promoting media literacy among my students as an essential competency for global citizenship, and outside the classroom in my peace activism. I will refer especially to the work of Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa (journalist and author of How To Stand Up to a Dictator) and Rivera Sun (poet and novelist, author of Skylandia, Billionaire Buddha, and The Dandelion Insurrection) and facilitate discussion about ways to develop a habit of constant, sustained and sustainable peacemaking effort on a daily basis through social media and various genres of writing in various venues.

Yoga with Ellie Smith 4

• Ellie Smith (Aichi University)

Room: Junseikan 4F & 5F Beginner Yoga session, no gear needed!