{"id":2153,"date":"2026-01-25T06:27:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T21:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/?p=2153"},"modified":"2026-10-13T14:31:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T05:31:16","slug":"toward-a-year-of-making-the-future-our-own-forum2050-newsletter-january-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/en\/2026\/01\/25\/toward-a-year-of-making-the-future-our-own-forum2050-newsletter-january-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Toward a Year of Making the Future Our Own&#8221; | Forum2050 Newsletter, January 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To all our supporters,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hello. This is Takuzo Komabashiri, PR officer at Forum2050. We look forward to your continued support this year.<br>This is my third New Year since coming to Cambodia. To make the most of it, I went to the Angkor ruins with my family on January 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The photo below shows the central sanctuary of Angkor Wat in the morning sun. We got up at 4 a.m., left the hotel, and entered the site at 5:30 along with many other visitors. We waited more than an hour for the sunrise, but it was well worth it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-1024x768.png\" alt=\"Photo from the Forum2050 newsletter\" class=\"wp-image-1641\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.3333401151553377;width:783px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-1024x768.png 1024w, https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image.png 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the January 2026 newsletter, we share with you, a little ahead of time, our goals and concrete activity plans for the coming fiscal year, focusing on what looks set to be this year&#8217;s main activity, though it is still at the idea stage.<br>If you have any questions or comments about the newsletter, please let us know by email or any other way. Requests such as &#8220;I&#8217;d like to know more about this&#8221; are also very welcome!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2014Topics in this newsletter\u2014<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>[Our Activities]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>[Monthly Report from TODA Takao, President, Forum2050]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>[Messages from Members]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Our Activities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Recent main activities and events<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Dec 22: Talk and dialogue at Wako Kokusai High School<\/li>\n\n\n<li>Jan 13: Exchange of views with Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University \/ IRSA<\/li>\n\n\n<li>Jan 19: Meeting with Urawa High School (part-time evening program)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Monthly Report from TODA Takao, President, Forum2050<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dear all,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once again, I wish you all the best for this year.<br>Forum2050 was founded as a voluntary association in March 2023 and became an NPO in July of the same year, so counting from then, this year marks three full years of activity. We started from nothing at all, but thanks to your warm and valuable support, we are entering our fourth year of activities this year. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I will explain the key points of our goals and concrete activity plans for the coming fiscal year separately, but this time I would like to share with you, a little ahead of time, what looks set to be this year&#8217;s main activity, though it is still at the idea stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is the creation of &#8220;teaching materials&#8221; for thinking with young people about co-creating a peaceful future.<br>Until now, for our talks and dialogues, our vice presidents, Shoji and Komabashiri (who is also the editor-in-chief of this newsletter), and I have each designed the structure and refined the content based on our own experience. From now on, we want to work with the organization&#8217;s young members to put this together as &#8220;teaching materials&#8221; from many angles, and raise the quality of our activities even further. It will only be within what our budget allows, but since the end of last year we have begun seriously considering whether, circumstances permitting, to film next-generation dialogues on co-creating the future, in Japan and abroad, and incorporate them into the materials.<br>What kind of stimulus do young people of the next generation need to start thinking about peace, the future and the world as their own issue? In particular, for young people whose daily lives rarely turn their attention to such things, how can we spark a change in the hearts of as many of them as possible, so that thinking about co-creating a peaceful future becomes fun, or, if not that, so that the future and the world come to matter to them even a little more than now&#8230;? Drawing on the results of these discussions, we intend to start putting this into concrete form from around this spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As part of this, and again this idea came from our young members, one suggestion was that rather than suddenly asking &#8220;What will the future world be like?&#8221; or &#8220;What is peace?&#8221;, we could first give each person a chance to reflect, as their own issue, on what they value in everyday life. Another suggestion was to hold dialogues not only among so-called highly engaged people, but with quite ordinary people who take good care of the things around them in daily life.<br>What kind of &#8220;teaching materials&#8221; move people&#8217;s hearts toward co-creating a peaceful future? Perhaps they are no longer &#8220;teaching materials&#8221; but &#8220;learning materials&#8221; (things that help each person&#8217;s learning)? While thinking about such questions, and while enjoying the process and listening to the views of many people of all ages, we want to give this shape. I will report on progress again (for example, in the April report or so).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A few days after my report last month, on December 22, something very happy happened: a talk and dialogue at Wako Kokusai High School, with which we have had a connection since a whole-school talk in December 2023. The school has an International Understanding Committee, and the event was hosted by this committee; in fact, the person who planned and ran it was Shota Sekino, one of Forum2050&#8217;s young members. I have asked Shota to report on it separately, but let me add a word from my own perspective.<br>Shota&#8217;s original aim was not a one-off event, but an activity that might somehow lead to a new tradition at the school. The event had two parts: in the first half, I gave a talk, with Shota as committee chair running the session, and in the second half we had a free exchange of views in small groups. While centering on the theme of how each person can think about the future of the world and peace as their own issue, we talked freely about other things as well. For the dialogue session, members of the student council were also invited, and from our organization Katsuteru Yamagiwa, a human resource development counselor, also took part. In the exchange, there was talk of turning one&#8217;s own weaknesses into strengths: one&#8217;s weaknesses may become a strength for understanding the weaknesses of others and the pain that comes with them. A student with one foreign parent also opened up about struggles with identity, and in response someone suggested that, rather than which nationality you are, you could hold as your identity first and foremost the fact that we are all the same human beings.<br>Now, I will watch with anticipation to see how this event may lead to a new tradition at the school. And &#8220;saying \u2260 putting into practice.&#8221; I want to express my heartfelt respect to my young colleague, Shota Sekino.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-1-1024x768.png\" alt=\"Photo: Monthly Report from TODA Takao, President, Forum2050\" class=\"wp-image-1642\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.3333401151553377;width:815px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-1-1024x768.png 1024w, https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-1-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-1-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-1.png 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was deeply moving to share the stage with our member Shota Sekino, chair of the International Understanding Committee at Wako Kokusai High School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-2-1024x768.png\" alt=\"Photo: Monthly Report from TODA Takao, President, Forum2050\" class=\"wp-image-1643\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.3333401151553377;width:813px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-2-1024x768.png 1024w, https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-2-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-2-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-2.png 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My first talk at Wako Kokusai High School in two years. This time for 2nd-year students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-3-1024x768.png\" alt=\"Photo: Monthly Report from TODA Takao, President, Forum2050\" class=\"wp-image-1644\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.3333401151553377;width:817px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-3-1024x768.png 1024w, https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-3-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-3-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-3.png 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the talk, dialogue in small groups. The student next to me opened up about his struggles with his identity.<br>On the far right, the teacher in charge of the student council, listening intently. Not in the photo, on the left, are the student council officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This month, too, something happy happened. One of the universities where I teach a course is Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, and a group of international relations students there (IRSA \/ International Relations Students Association) asked whether we would like to work together. In fact, the head of the group is a student in my course, from Vietnam. I didn&#8217;t particularly promote our organization during my lectures, but it seems they had read our website carefully. When they said, &#8220;What you want to do resonates with what we want to do. Why don&#8217;t we do something together?&#8221;, I was truly happy, as it felt like our aspirations were in tune. I hope we can make something happen, even something small to begin with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"761\" src=\"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-4-1024x761.png\" alt=\"Photo: Monthly Report from TODA Takao, President, Forum2050\" class=\"wp-image-1645\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.3456049935322258;width:824px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-4-1024x761.png 1024w, https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-4-300x223.png 300w, https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-4-768x571.png 768w, https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-4.png 1088w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A fun meeting with Duc, head of APU\/IRSA, after class!<br>From teacher and student to a conversation between partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also, last week, Yokohama City contacted us for the first time in a while to ask whether we could collaborate on an event for the city&#8217;s peace program in March. We have worked with Yokohama City for three fiscal years, since December 2023, and this time they seem to have the theme &#8220;Peace \u00d7 Green&#8221; in mind. The United Nations office in Tokyo is also getting involved, so this looks set to be interesting too. I will report on it again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finally, a severe cold wave is set to hit Japan from tomorrow. As winter sets in in earnest, please do take good care of yourselves.<br>And I look forward with all my heart to seeing you again on many occasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jan 20, 2026<br>Koenji, Suginami City<br>TODA Takao<br>Email: <a href=\"mailto:toda@forum2050.com\">toda@forum2050.com<\/a><br>Facebook: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/takao.toda.54\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/takao.toda.54<\/a><br>X: <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/forum2050?s=21&amp;t=-jQeTjzOoHjrmEbKJvNwNg\">https:\/\/x.com\/forum2050?s=21&amp;t=-jQeTjzOoHjrmEbKJvNwNg<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Messages from Members<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To everyone: it has been a while since I last wrote in the newsletter.<br>I&#8217;m Shota Sekino, a 2nd-year high school student and young member of Forum2050.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Recently I&#8217;ve been thinking about something. Taking an interest in peace is a bit like trying to drink water with chopsticks. Especially from the standpoint of us young people, it is not only particularly difficult, but if you try, you may also draw cold looks. The world can be a cold place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How can we naturally bring people&#8217;s interest closer to world peace, without them being conscious of the concept of &#8220;peace&#8221;?<br>I shared one idea about this at a Forum regular meeting.<br>I then wrote it up, putting the parts that were hard to get across orally into a clearer form.<br>That is the subject of this piece. What follows is my answer to the question I set myself. I&#8217;d be happy if you would read what I&#8217;ve been thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015<br>&#8220;Coming to Love the Creature Called a Human Being&#8221;<br>I have lived only a little over 17 years, and I think I have nowhere near enough experience to talk to others about my outlook on life.<br>But I think I&#8217;ve had quite a few experiences for my age.<br>For example, on a study program in the UK I learned firsthand to open up about myself without fear; through English and French contests in my extracurricular activities I gained the nerve to speak confidently in front of others; and at a global leader training program organized by Saitama Prefecture, I learned the weight of taking part from a position of responsibility as team leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Beyond these, as an ordinary high school student, I have also experienced the fun of hanging out with friends, relationships with all kinds of people, the pain of heartbreak, and the frustration of losing in competition.<br>What I&#8217;ve felt from these experiences is that &#8220;one person&#8217;s strength is really small. However hard you try on your own, you are still just one human being.&#8221; In other words, &#8220;the joy, sadness, suffering and happiness that I or anyone experience are not something we can choose whether to receive; they are given to us by other people whether we like it or not.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Good things, painful things: people bring them all. That is how I see it now. To put it together with the example above: for a study program in the UK to exist, the country called Britain has to exist through its people; I couldn&#8217;t go unless there were people in the host family and the school who welcomed me; and organizing the program also takes people.<br>My experience in the UK is only one part of my high school life, yet it could only exist because so many people were involved. Their number is immeasurable: in total, trillions, no, countless people&#8217;s work, sweat and effort created my experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That means those people brought me the fun experiences and the hard experiences I had in the UK.<br>The same can be said of my other experiences, such as the contests: the organizers, the staff, the teachers who coached me, and so on.<br>As I was immersed in this feeling again and again, I became interested in the creature called a &#8220;human being.&#8221;<br>The people who gave me such irreplaceable experiences must also have had struggles and things they cherished, just like me. When I thought of that, I came to want to know more about other people, and more about life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before I knew it, I had come to love talking with people, and to love watching nonfiction stories about famous people. I began spending more time in contact with &#8220;people.&#8221;<br>Connected to this, I came to love studying languages and world history. If you learn languages, you can directly understand the lives, ways of thinking and interesting stories of many more people, not just in Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you learn world history, you can understand what people, not only of the present but of the past, achieved, experienced and thought. For me, these two subjects are wonderful because they let me learn more about the creature called a &#8220;human being.&#8221;<br>Today, conflict never ends in the world. In wars, people take each other&#8217;s lives; around us, someone is complaining again today, and many people frown on the train.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As one way of dealing with all this, I believe it is important to &#8220;come to love the creature called a human being.&#8221;<br>If you store up the experiences and thoughts of truly many people inside yourself, mix them with your own, and let your own philosophy mature, you arrive at your ideal self.<br>Surely that self is not a selfish one that only cares about itself, but one that has a good influence on others: making people happy, putting them at ease, wanting to repay those who were kind to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That&#8217;s how it was for me. Once this way of thinking is deeply engraved in you, I think the world you see will surely change greatly.<br>Everyone gives to the things they like and love without asking for anything in return. I want to connect more with people. I want to make people laugh. I want to make them smile. That is why I think up jokes and study manzai comedy.<br>This is what it means to &#8220;come to love the creature called a human being.&#8221; Surely, if more people around the world came to &#8220;love the creature called a human being,&#8221; the world could gradually change into a brighter, more peaceful place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015\u2015<br>That&#8217;s all. Thank you for reading. As a young member, I will keep working energetically, making the most of what I have, and I look forward to your continued support.<br>Shota Sekino, Forum2050<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"p-blogParts post_content\" data-partsID=\"582\">\n<div class=\"swell-block-fullWide pc-py-40 sp-py-40 alignfull\" style=\"background-color:#f7f7f7\"><div class=\"swell-block-fullWide__inner l-container\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column has-swl-main-thin-background-color has-background\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center is-style-stitch has-swl-main-thin-background-color has-background wp-block-paragraph\"><span class=\"swl-fz u-fz-l\"><strong>Inquiries and Consultations | Newsletter Registration<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Forum2050 operates under the concept of &#8216;Children of the World: Each Child&#8217;s Vision for the Future Shapes Humanity&#8217;s Destiny,&#8217; 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<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<div class=\"swell-block-button is-style-btn_normal\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forum2050.com\/en\/contact\/\" class=\"swell-block-button__link\"><span>Inquiries and Consultations<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<div class=\"swell-block-button is-style-btn_normal\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forum2050.com\/en\/newsletter\/\" class=\"swell-block-button__link\"><span>Newsletter Registration<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To all our supporters, Hello. This is Takuzo Komabashiri, PR officer at Forum2050. We look forward to your continued support this year.This is my third New Year since coming to Cambodia. To make the most of it, I went to the Angkor ruins with my family on January 1. The photo below shows the central [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"swell_btn_cv_data":"","_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/?p=1640","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-notice","en-US"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2153"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2213,"href":"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2153\/revisions\/2213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forum2050.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}