Let’s get Glocal at the UNESCO Symposium!

One of the words that I really like to use and consider as my personal theme is:

glocal

According to the Oxford Dictionary this word means, “Reflecting or characterized by both local and global considerations.”

So in essence it means that something, place, thing, and etc. can have the characteristics of both something global and local at the same time.

Well… what does this actually mean?

Good question, I think a good way of trying to understand this topic is to stop thinking that “local”and “global” are mutually exclusive concepts. That there is some hierarchy of what is considered “global” and “local”, one being better than the other. The fact of the matter is that they are essentially the opposite sides of the same coin, where you need one for the other to exist. Global is essentially the accumulation of local and the concept of local is understandable because there is global.

It’s almost like Anthropology and Sociology with the whole inductive and deductive reasoning thing. In Anthropology we try to study society from the small to large, the qualitative to the quantitative. By studying a small group of people we can make generalizations about society at large. Sociology with the large to small, the quantitate to the qualitative is all about taking lots of samples and trying to say something at the individual level. However, when you get to higher level discussions and studies in these departments they start to blend together and you get Social Anthropology. The two ways of studying are kinda considered the opposite of each other, but they also are sort of the same when you look at it from a different perspective… I feel like I confused more people, I’m just hoping all of my social scientist homies get my jist…

I’m personally interested in this discourse because I’ve lived in the NJ and NY area, went college in California, and now living in the countrysides of Shimane, and I feel like no matter where I go I see similar themes in each place I am in. Now I think this depends on your point of view, but for me it all connects. Take the SDG’s or the Sustainable Development Goals. A topic that is super relevant in places like California, NY or just in America, but also in a small town like Omori. No matter where you go, these universal themes are relevant and can be applied in one form or the other.

the concept of glocal allows small towns like omori to be at the forefront on the world stage

With how interconnected we are right now with the internet and transportation among the things, the possibility to be at the front runners of global topics can be possible even at the local level. That’s why I’m living in Omori, because it is super local. Whenever I take a step forward in Omori, I feel like I’m taking a step forward in the world stage.

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One of the reasons why I wrote my thesis is because I felt that even in such a small town, something cutting edge was being realized here in Omori. The hints to the new “hope” of Japan and even for the world can be found here in the town of Omori.

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the unesco conference

So what was this about, why did it happen, and will you stop going on and on about glocal we get it Shun. Get to point!

Is what I am thinking to myself as I write…

From March 13-15th we held the first UNESCO Leadership Symposium on Education for Sustainable Development here in Omori. We actually had another UNESCO conference in 2016 for ESD (Education for Sustainable Development) where you can read the article here: Japan: it takes a (small) village. I wasn’t here for that symposium so I’m not gonna take up your reading time with that (not like I already haven’t).

Oh also as just an FYI, Education for Sustainable Development essentially means education that teaches the necessary skills and knowledge to promote sustainable development for the next generation. So it’s about creating and promoting quality education systems that teach people about the importance of sustainability and how to go about it. As such, for this symposium held in March we had various high-level education policy makers (fancy word for education ministers) from about 9 different Asian countries to come learn something about ESD from our town of Omori. From the UNESCO side, their motive for this symposium was to:

“provide them(high-level education policy ministers) with a rare opportunity to have an immersive experience with sustainability principles and reflect upon them in view of the respective national contexts."

The UNESCO participants walking to our company

Some of the questions they were trying to answer by coming to Omori was

1. What does a a truly sustainable lifestyle in a modern society look like?

2. What makes people act for sustainable development?

3. What are the roles of the community?

4. How can education help make the transformation possible?

From my understanding, the UNESCO team found that Omori had important qualities that promoted ESD and wanted the participants to not just read about it in an article, but to experience it by being in the field and on the ground.

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So what was shun doing to prepare?

Yup in Gungendo fashion, I was collecting plum blossom branches to decorate the various facilities that were going to be used. Super glad that we have the local mountains for these types of events. Imagine buying large branches like this in the city, it would cost a lot of money. All those flowers you see in department stores cost money, especially branches. I digress…

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On the first night, dinner was being served at Abeke. The participants seemed impressed by the 230 year old samurai residence that was renovated to be one of Gungendo’s inns. Personally, I think the UNESCO team wanted the participants to eat at Abeke because of the themes that are present in the house. Instead of razing the old house to the ground and building something new, Tomi-san painstakingly took the time and effort to recreate the Abeke House using traditional craftsmanship all the while including modern accommodations, blending the past, present, and the future into the design. Through this atmosphere that was designed by Tomi-san, I think UNESCO was trying to convey the message that we need to change the connotation to what is considered as development. That development can be achieved while protecting and maintaining history and tradition.

My college education also came in handy Mom!

I feel like I was able to talk with all the participants on fairly equal footing and provide my own insights to sustainable development ad how it relates to Omori. Who said a social science degree doesn’t come in handy!

I wanted to convey to the participants that we should rethink how we approach development. Instead of thinking of development in terms of 5 years or 10 years, by planning for 100 years we start to not think of what we can make, but it becomes more realistic and important to think of what to maintain. I believe this is the fundamental part of what sustainability and sustainable development is. This also means changing the meaning of what happiness is as well since we need to feel fulfillment and joy from development. I was glad to see that the various participants seemed interested in what I was saying and proceeded to add on their own opinions and expanded the discussion. Hey, even if you work in the countrysides you can still keep up with big global topics as well, #Glocal!

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So this was essentially my job and role for the UNESCO conference, the guy who can speak English, have higher level discussions with the participants , and explain how Omori fit into the larger picture of sustainable development. This I think is going to be my long term role in both Gungendo and Omori, especially as the town and the company start to attract more international attention. Remember how I wrote in the previous blog that I was training as a tour guide? Well it was for this, to be able to explain the town’s history as well as how it affects our daily lives. To put it simply an Omori exclusive glocal tour guide!

For me this was a perfect job because I think it’s really important to maintain that glocal perspective when you are in a small town like Omori so that you don’t get naturalized into just simply the “local”. When you simply go local instead of glocal you lose that perspective, that little sense of wonder that drives innovation in the countryside. Through the tool of tourism I hope to have others see that glocal side of Omori and through that shared perspective have discussions to what may be the next step for the town, and also for myself. You have to grow together with the town and that’s what I think town development is supposed to be like, or the style I want to go for at least. Not treating the town as a separate organism from yourself, but in a good way, a part of you an extension of yourself. I’ve never really had too much attachment to one place, I’ve always been moving from one location to another my whole life, but Omori is a town I feel like I am really part of. It’s my home.

This all connects to the whole UNESCO topic because it is in popular discussion that when a place gets named as a World Heritage Site things get kinda out of hand. With the massive increase in tourists means a lot of unwanted businesses, the disruption of daily life, and the eventual decrease of economic activity as people get bored of the location. Now I’m not slamming UNESCO or anything, it’s more about the fact that the townspeople and UNESCO both need to make more joint concrete efforts into coming up with what sustainable tourism looks like. It’s about taking long term responsibility for what we create. That’s the other meaning of sustainable development I think that should be considered is not just simply maintaining something but also taking responsibility for what we make. It’s sustainable development and not just sustainability. There is that dialectical relationship between sustainability and development.

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So what was the outcome?

There were lots of things I learned from being part of this conference. One being that we are not doing enough in this town to really be considered a “sustainable success story”. Yes we may have that whole maintaining tradition and moving forward part down, but we have SO MUCH to do for the physical sustainability of the town. The old houses are aesthetically pleasing but they have such bad insulation, which means heat escapes super easily. People around here joke around saying you will never get carbon monoxide poisoning because of how porous the houses are, but that also means having to use more energy to keep warm or cool during the summer and winter. The townscape might be maintained but those old looking single panel windows are not helping with the whole sustainability of the environment thing. Not to mention the natural disasters that can happen because we are not maintaining our mountains and rivers too well.

It was really interesting to hear from one of the participants that Japan seems to be really technologically advanced in terms of hygiene, but not so much in the energy consumption part. He was pointing out how the toilet in his hotel room was almost like a spaceship (its one of those robotic toilets that open and close, have seat warmers, a built in bidets, and etc.), but the town hasn’t still found out how to put in double paned windows. So true, Japan has some amazing things for hygiene but are weirdly lacking in other things, maybe it’s something cultural…

On the things that we were doing right, the participants pointed out how they were amazed that the town had included the traditional architecture while having modern accommodations like wifi, heated floors, air-conditioning and etc. It seems like they have only seen black and white examples in the past where either you go fully modern or fully traditional, no middle ground. The other thing that they seemed impressed was how the young leaders of the town were taking matters into their own hands and bringing the town into the next generation. Not only that, the fact that the young leaders are protecting the past, incorporating it into the present by transforming it, and all the while moving into the future. I guess that because a lot of us find this very important in our lifestyles, there is some form of education being performed here in Omori that may be a good example for Education for Sustainable Development.

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So all in all this conference was a great opportunity to rethink what we are doing and should be doing in our town of Omori in very wide ranging topics. From tourism, environment, history, lifestyle, glocal, international exchange, I can go on and on. These sort of things though is what makes me glad that I moved to Omori, and I hope I can continue sharing all my findings here to a wide range of audiences through English. It assures me that even though for some, seeing me live and work here may not be the obvious answer to what I was previously trying to achieve in my college career, but I know I’m slowly getting somewhere even in a small town of 400.

In the end it’s all about perspective and for me that’s the glocal one.