Hello. This is Takuzo Komabashiri, PR officer at Forum2050.
In Cambodia, April 14 to 16 was the Khmer New Year holiday. I am told that the first day is Moha Songkran, when an angel descends from heaven; the second is Vearak Vanabat, when offerings are made to the ancestors; and the third is Vearak Loeng Sak, when people wash statues of the Buddha and the bodies of their parents and grandparents, asking forgiveness for past wrongs. Its origins lie in ancient Hindu and Buddhist traditions, and it has continued for centuries. During this period, everyone takes time off work, goes back to their home village, and celebrates with family and friends through rituals and games. Incidentally, Cambodia has New Year three times a year: the calendar New Year in January, the lunar New Year in February, and Khmer New Year in April.
In the April 2026 newsletter, our President reports on the annual general meeting, our activities, and a new initiative. If you have any questions or comments about the newsletter, please let us know by email or any other way. Requests such as “I’d like to know more about this” are also very welcome!
- Topics in this newsletter –
- [Our Activities]
- [Report from TODA Takao, President, Forum2050]
- [Messages from Members]
Our Activities
1. [Our Activities]
Recent main activities and events (shared with subscribers only)
- Mar 21: Planning meeting and annual general meeting
- Mar 25: Next-Generation Asia Peacebuilding Program (organized by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, co-organized by Katawara)
(took part as kickoff facilitator)
- Mar 30: Exchange of views with Mutsuya Mori, Vice President, Oriental Consultants Global Co., Ltd.
- Apr 14: Exchange of views with Masae Ninomiya, Social Value Creation Promotion Office, SMBC Nikko Securities Inc.
- Apr 15: Exchange of views with Professor Takayuki Konno, Meisei University
- Apr 15: Exchange of views with Thu, OCG
- Apr 17: Suginami City NPO Grant Program reporting session (report given by Katsuteru Yamagiwa)
- Apr 20: Meeting with Director Makino, Producer Okumura and Chief Producer Konno of Curious Production Inc.
Report from TODA Takao, President, Forum2050
Dear all,
Cherry blossom season has come and gone in the blink of an eye, and summer-like days have already been recorded across Japan. The temperature has been swinging wildly lately; I hope you are all keeping well. As for me, I caught a cold twice this past month 💦
Right now I am sitting at my computer fueled by medicine. Please do take good care of yourselves.
A lot has happened this past month as well. Let me report on the main developments.
■ Our third annual general meeting
On March 21, full members and the management team gathered in Koenji, Suginami, Tokyo, with a few joining remotely, for a planning meeting and our general meeting ahead of the new fiscal year.
At the planning meeting, led by human resource development counselor Katsuteru Yamagiwa (the father of Kanji, who always comes up in these reports), we worked together and reconfirmed the origins of our organization. Forum2050 is a small organization, but it brings together people of many ages and backgrounds. Our ideas and feelings about what the future world should look like vary as well. We don’t usually go deep into it, but our political beliefs, too, probably vary quite a lot.
What we share, however, is the spirit and sense of duty to do our best “now” so that the future world will be a better one for the next generation. And as the direction for that passion, we are working to encourage the next generation to take a greater interest in the future of the world. After Katsuteru Yamagiwa’s facilitation, with Hana Miyoshi as moderator, we discussed our upcoming work, in particular how to run the exchange sessions in which young people have been showing leadership. Time was admittedly limited, but unlike our usual remote meetings, I think we were able to have an in-depth discussion. In particular, I think it was very significant that we settled on a policy of developing our exchange sessions with Georgia into a multilateral framework.
At the general meeting, we reviewed our activity report for fiscal 2025 and discussed the draft activity plan for fiscal 2026. Regarding the activity report, the question of how to secure financial sustainability was also raised. Honestly, this is always a headache. How long can the current situation, in which every member takes part pro bono, be sustained? In a sense, we may also need business-like innovation and marketing. But we also recognized once again that the key is not to treat financial sustainability as an end in itself, but to work out how to take concrete first and second steps toward realizing our ideals, and how far we as members can share a sense of direction and means for doing so.
Two things stood out at this general meeting. The first is that, in the draft annual plan, we discussed not only what to do but also “who” would take the lead on each item, and divided up roles together with our younger members. Until now, it was mostly me, the vice presidents or the board members who took the lead, and our calls to younger members tended to be along the lines of “please join if you can.” This time, for the first time, we tried building a structure that pairs younger and senior members as buddies.
The second is Plan A and Plan B. For the fiscal 2026 implementation plan, we drew up two versions, one for if the Children’s Dream Fund grant (described below) was approved and one for if it was not, and both were approved. This may be unusual for an annual general meeting, but in the end I think it was a good thing, because it made clear what we can do and what we want to do, with or without a large grant. In conclusion, for fiscal 2026 we decided that, while continuing and developing our exchange sessions and various talks and classes, we would aim to benefit more children and do our best to turn the messages we have been sharing into “teaching materials.”
“Back to our origins,” facilitated by Katsuteru Yamagiwa
Valuing relationships where we can speak our minds freely
Even at the party afterward, still talking about the future and peace?
Here we go: let’s give it our all in the coming year!
■ Next-Generation Asia Peacebuilding Program
As our last activity of fiscal 2025, on Mar 25 I took on the role of encouraging young people at the Next-Generation Asia Peacebuilding Forum (organized by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, co-organized by the general incorporated association Katawara). It was a reunion after 12 years with Mr. Yunus (Nobel Peace Prize laureate), who until last month served as head of Bangladesh’s interim government, and with Lamiya, Yunus’s right hand. Thank you to Takahashi of Katawara for inviting me, and to Kobayashi of the foundation for giving me this opportunity! Mr. Yunus is 84, and Mr. Wirajuda (former Foreign Minister of Indonesia) is 77. The complementarity of the two, who pursued social change through contrasting bottom-up and top-down approaches, was wonderful. The only difficulty was that once they started talking in front of young people, they seemed unable to stop, but the facilitator, Takahashi, kept things on track superbly.
In today’s increasingly chaotic world, can the next generation hold a firm compass toward the future? What is right and what is not, in the first place? Nothing will begin by simply affirming or simply rejecting “peace through strength.” In such a limited dialogue, I cannot know everything the young people took home with them. But I believe that having as many such opportunities as possible, and having multiple generations keep facing the future and thinking together there, must be what matters.
A message to the young people before welcoming the wise elders
Mr. Yunus is 84, Mr. Wirajuda is 77. Once they start talking in front of young people, they can’t stop.
A tough job for the facilitator, Takahashi (head of Katawara) (lol)
Reunion with my old friend Mr. Yunus
■ Children’s Dream Fund grant approved
On April 7, we were notified by the secretariat of the Children’s Dream Fund (https://yumekikin.niye.go.jp/about/index.html) that our grant had been approved. This fund supports projects in which the national government and the private sector work together to foster children’s development. Forum2050 applied under the teaching-materials development category, proposing to develop materials that help children come to think about “peace as their own issue.” Developing teaching materials is usually done by school teachers, education experts, textbook companies and the like, but we emphasized that Forum2050’s materials development would be quite different. Forum2050 has serving teachers, but also parents and children. We also have members who have lived for many years in developing countries far away (our two vice presidents).
We want to make the most of these diverse perspectives to create materials that resonate in children’s hearts. To be honest, the word “teaching materials” doesn’t quite sit right with me. What truly matters is not what teachers and schools “teach” but what students and young people “learn,” and rather than materials for teaching, we want to develop “learning materials” that support learning.
However, a few days after the grant was approved, I discovered a problem. The overseas travel costs needed to film videos as content for the materials, especially airfare, had been assessed at zero. This would have been clear had I read the “Implementation Guide” thoroughly beforehand, and it was entirely due to my own carelessness, so I have no excuse 💦 After much agonizing, we decided to reduce the number of people traveling overseas and to cover the necessary airfare with funds the organization has steadily saved up. As with last year’s Suginami City grant, I was reminded of something veteran NGO people often told me: receiving a grant never makes an organization’s finances flush; rather, it means the organization’s own spending speeds up to match the grant.
But we are not ones to be discouraged by this. Whatever the circumstances, we want to release this year teaching materials (learning materials) that only we could create. Through them, we hope to reach more children and young people than before and to light more fires in their hearts.
We sincerely ask for your continued support.
We’ll keep going strong in fiscal 2026 too!
Thank you, as always, for reading our newsletter.
That said, I am quite unsure whether this newsletter alone answers your interests and questions. Please feel free to send us your questions and comments. We want to move forward while making good use of your words.
Finally, here in Japan the temperature has been swinging back and forth between cold and warm spells, so please do take good care of yourselves.
Apr 20, 2026
Koenji, Suginami City
TODA Takao
Email: toda@forum2050.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/takao.toda.54
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Forum2050 operates under the concept of ‘Children of the World: Each Child’s Vision for the Future Shapes Humanity’s Destiny,’ collaborating with businesses, schools, educational institutions, and others. Together with children, we create opportunities for them to contemplate peace and development in the future human society, fostering partnerships.
