As you can see in the photos, people of a wide range of ages took part, and seeing each of them respect one another and voice their opinions as equals, I felt sure that the direction we are aiming for was not wrong. Watching this, I also felt hopeful that the generational handover, one of our challenges, may come sooner than I had thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe general meeting. The meeting was held in hybrid format, in person and online, so members also joined from Cambodia, the United States and Bangladesh (on the PC screen at the bottom of the photo).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The organizational development session using SOUND cards<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the March 2026 newsletter, we bring you an activity report from our President and a message from a member who serves as a school principal. 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!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recent main activities and events<\/p>\n\n\n\n Feb 21 – Mar 21<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dear all,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yesterday (March 19), cherry blossoms were reported to have opened in Tokyo and Hiroshima. By the time this letter reaches you, I imagine they will be blooming one after another across Japan, and it will truly feel like spring. How are you all doing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n This past month, too, Forum2050 has been fortunate to experience some new activities. Let me give you an overview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On March 8, at the invitation of Yokohama City, with whom we have worked for nearly three years, we took part in an event called the Yokohama Peace Circle. The event is part of a United Nations initiative to bring the voices of young people around the world to the UN Secretary-General, and Yokohama City is the first Japanese local government to take it up. With an eye on the Green Expo (International Horticultural Expo) to be held in Yokohama in 2027, the theme was a challenging one: “Peace \u00d7 Green (a sustainable society).”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kaoru Nemoto, Director of the United Nations Information Centre Tokyo, gave a talk surveying the turbulent state of the world with a broad perspective, and Yuta Takahashi, head of the general incorporated association Katawara, drew on Takahashi’s own life story to explain, from a young person’s viewpoint, why working for peace matters. Sparked by these two stimulating talks, more than 80 young people split into groups for discussion. From our organization, three members took an active part in the discussions: Ryusei Nozaki (a technical college student in Nagaoka), Maaya Fujimoto (a Yokohama resident) and Akari Itaya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I (Toda) served as overall facilitator, but to be honest, thanks to the careful preparation of the Yokohama City team and, above all, the highly engaged and lively young people, the program went ahead without much effort on my part, and I could only marvel at everyone’s presentations at the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Three things in their discussions left a particular impression on me. The first was their meta-awareness of “being earnest is fine.” They were aware that they are a highly motivated group in a privileged position, and they had the mature question of how to involve many more people. The second was “enjoy it to the fullest.” People will not move and the world will not change just by discussing peace or global warming in deadly earnest. I found their mindset, that fun is what sparks movements for social change, very encouraging. And finally, their idea: what if we created “a chat system that people all over the world can freely come and go from”? In fact, this idea is exactly what we have held up as our North Star since the founding of our organization, and what we call “Imagine2050.” There are quite a few people in the world thinking along the same lines; if we could connect and combine their strength, what might happen? Listening to them, I felt they were giving me a push forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In our organization’s framework, this event was also a valuable step as part of the third of our three pillars (1. Imagine2050, 2. Kizuki Project and 3. VOGA), namely Voices to Global Agenda (VOGA, “Bringing the voices of the next generation to the world”).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Akari Itaya, Maaya Fujimoto and Ryusei Nozaki also played active roles in the group presentations. For more details on this event, please also see: https:\/\/forum2050.com\/2026\/03\/08\/yokohama-peace-circle-2026\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n On March 14, we took part for the first time in Suginami City’s Machihaku, a traditional event now in its 30th edition. As we were a new participating group, we were given the chance to introduce our organization first thing in the morning and again in the afternoon, and here, too, Kanji Yamagiwa and Akari Itaya explained our work fluently. Since the other groups were mostly made up of senior citizens, we drew a lot of attention for our Suginami debut. Of course, there is plenty to reflect on. In a word, we lacked playfulness. I felt that serious explanations and displays alone make it very hard to attract many people, especially the young people and children we want to connect with. Worried about having nothing to offer, I hastily proposed a game in which anyone who beat me at rock-paper-scissors would receive a copy of my book, and seven copies went home with visitors. But I keenly felt that if we have a chance like this again, we need to come up with better ways to draw people in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kanji introducing our organization, with great poise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Losing at rock-paper-scissors is harder than it looks 💦<\/p>\n\n\n\n Book successfully won. The large panel in the back is Akari’s work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “What do you do?” “What are you aiming for?” The most basic questions are the hardest to answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On March 18, we had the opportunity to hold a dialogue with 2nd-year students of the part-time evening program at Urawa High School. This was part of the JICA outreach lecture program run by JICA Tokyo: Urawa High School asked JICA for an outreach lecture, and JICA asked our organization to take on the dialogue. The theme was how Japanese society and foreign residents can live together. Fortunately, the students included two from Nepal, one from Egypt and one from China, so the dialogue drew on many different perspectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our member Hana Miyoshi joined the dialogue from Osaka. She majored in Burmese at a university in Osaka and has experience in NGO work in Cambodia. She now lives in a share house with people from India and other countries, and she joined because she is deeply interested in this theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Afterward I also spoke with the vice principal, and I came away with the impression that part-time students have a great deal of life experience. In what they said, I could also sense their care for their classmates with foreign roots. When we talk about “living together with foreign residents,” we often hear comments these days, even among young people, such as “I’m worried that public safety will get worse as the number of foreigners increases,” “we shouldn’t accept any more,” or “will they respect Japanese customs and culture?” On this occasion, however, we were able to go deeper into questions such as “What are the facts?” and “Which parts do the news and social media tend to report?”, using crime rates in particular as our material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think we will keep digging into this theme on many occasions. If you take “thinking about peace as your own issue” all the way, in the end you cannot talk about it while ignoring how we live together with the foreign residents around us. On the other hand, it is hard to deny that discussions about “peace” and discussions about “multicultural coexistence” have tended to be treated separately. For example, in many local governments, the department in charge of peace programs and the department handling multicultural coexistence are different. We now want to focus on, and act on, the importance of building a bridge between these two themes, working with schools, of course, as well as with local governments and civil society groups in many places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Living together with foreign residents is a theme Hana Miyoshi especially wants to explore further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course there are worries too. But it is heartening to see their willingness to face them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thank you for reading this far. 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mar 20, 2026 This time, we have a report from Akinori Kajita, a school principal in Aichi Prefecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connecting: The “World” and the “Self” as Seen by Children<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u25c7 Holding the “Ways of Living” lecture for 2nd-year junior high school students \u25c7 Encountering the realities of the world \u25c7 The “real voices” of Rwanda and Cambodia \u25c7 A message connecting to the future Inquiries and Consultations | Newsletter Registration<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_1034-1-1024x768.jpg\")
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Our Activities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Report from TODA Takao, President, Forum2050<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u25a0 From Yokohama City to the world<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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“Usually it’s hard work being on the organizer side, but today I can just enjoy it,” said Fujimoto, relaxed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u25a0 Suginami “Kodomo Mannaka Machihaku 2026”<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The venue was Suginami Collaboration Plaza, which always helps us so much. I had been thinking of not taking part, since an elderly person like me sitting alone in a booth would hardly suit the theme, but then Akari Itaya, our longest-standing young member, and Kanji Yamagiwa (6th grade), our youngest, were able to come, so we decided to go for it.
For this, we made a display panel for the first time as an organization, and Akari Itaya took charge of the design. Ordering it through Raksul was a bit pricey, but it is a lovely glossy panel. We want to use it at every event from now on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the whole day we had only a dozen or so groups of visitors, but we received serious questions from each of them, and I found it reassuring to see our two young members answer them with confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Photo:](\"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_1039.jpg\")
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u25a0 Our first challenge at a part-time high school<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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I look forward with all my heart to seeing you again on many occasions. Tomorrow, the 21st, our full members and management team will gather for our annual general meeting as an NPO. In the next issue, I will report on how it went and what came out of it. As an organization we still have many shortcomings, but we will keep moving forward humbly and with all our effort, so we would be grateful for your continued advice and support. If you have any questions or doubts, please feel free to reach out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Koenji, Suginami City
TODA Takao
Email: toda@forum2050.com<\/a>
Facebook: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/takao.toda.54<\/a>
X: https:\/\/x.com\/forum2050?s=21&t=-jQeTjzOoHjrmEbKJvNwNg<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nMessages from Members<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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On Friday, January 30, in the 5th and 6th periods, we held the “Ways of Living” lecture for 2nd-year students. We hold it every year as part of career education, at this time when students have finished their workplace experience and must start thinking seriously about their future paths. The lecturer, for the third year now, was President TODA Takao.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The title of the lecture was “The Future ‘Me’ and the Future ‘World.'” It gave the students many prompts for thinking about this hard-to-predict era: how the society they will live in is going to change, and how they will live in it.
In the first half, the students deepened their knowledge of various situations happening in the world today: conflicts and wars, children who cannot go to school, children supporting their families through child labor, and the realities of countries where water and electricity are not easy to get. Learning that situations unimaginable in Japan are happening at this very moment, the children looked surprised and bewildered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second half was about Rwanda in Africa: the tragedy of 1994, when ethnic conflict escalated and many lives were lost. President Toda spoke, with photos and episodes, about events in a country where he had been involved in relief work on the ground and had been deeply engaged. He also told the story of child soldiers in Cambodia in the late 1970s, guiding the children to think about it as their own issue.
Having heard these “real voices” directly, I think the children seriously faced questions such as “What is peace?”, “What is normal?” and “What is happiness?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, President Toda gave the children this message:
“Each of our ‘feelings’ transcends time and space, and connects to the future and to the world. How do we connect so that each one of us can be happy?”
I sincerely hope that the children who will shape the society of the future will cross borders, join hands under the same sky and connect with one another, and that the day will come when this spreads and smiles full of happiness can be seen all over the world.<\/p>\n\n\n