The World Spinning Bees
~The future of Kamakura and the world as depicted by Network Weaver~
I had the opportunity to think about a new form of “connection” in the ancient capital of Kamakura. At a lecture entitled “The World Spinning Network Weaver” held in January at the co-living space NIHO, which is a two-minute walk from Kamakura Station, Carolina Carvalho, who came to Japan from Portugal, introduced a new form of occupation that could change our future.
Connecting the world like bees
Have you heard of the term “Network Weaver”? This is a new occupation that connects valuable communities to create new value, just like bees that fly from flower to flower to help with pollination.
Carolina, who gave the lecture, is a researcher who studied environmental biology at the University of Lisbon and has a master’s degree in natural resource management. Her journey, which began with research into pollination activities in the restoration of quarry ecosystems, eventually developed into activities that spin together human connections.
From environmental protection to human connections
“My initial interest was in how to stop environmental destruction and restore the environment,” says Carolina. However, when she encountered permaculture (sustainable agriculture and lifestyle design) at university, her horizons broadened considerably.
“Permaculture not only considers the relationship between humans and the earth, but also the harmony between humans and the way to create a better economy. That’s when I realized — the same principles are at work in the networks of the natural world and in human communities.”
Three ways to weave connections
As specific activities of Network Weaver, Carolina introduced three methods.
- “Closing the triangle”: Deliberately connecting people you know with each other
- “Convening”: Creating opportunities for people with common interests to meet
- “Collaborative projects”: Bringing together diverse people to work towards a specific goal
“In fact, many people are fulfilling the role of Network Weaver without realizing it,” points out Carolina. People who naturally think and act, ‘I think I should introduce this person to that person,’ and people who are relied on in the community as people who ”know who to ask when you need advice. These people are already active as Network Weaver.
Practical example of connecting Kumano and Kamakura
The lecture also introduced a project currently underway in Kumano, Wakayama Prefecture. This is an initiative to restore old private houses that remain in the area, combining the skills of local carpenters with the fresh perspectives of university students.
“It takes time, but the value that comes from it goes far beyond simply fixing up the buildings,” says Carolina. This project, which beautifully harmonizes local traditional techniques, the sensibilities of young people, and environmental considerations, could also be a useful reference for Kamakura.
Things that can only be done in Kamakura
In fact, Kamakura may be the perfect place to put Network Weaving into practice. It has historical buildings and traditional skills, but also attracts many people who move there in search of new values. This diversity is the soil from which new connections are born.
At the workshop after the lecture, the participants came up with a variety of ideas:
- Creating places where children can interact with nature
- Promoting fair trade and ethical consumption
- Developing environmental protection activities such as beach clean-ups
- Creating places where tradition and innovation meet
Unexpected discoveries born of connections
The fun of Network Weaving is that it gives rise to unexpected connections. For example, two people who had met by chance in India were found among the participants of the lecture, and people who had been involved with Kamakura in different contexts met, and new possibilities were opened up one after another.
A vision for the future
Carolina concluded by saying, “We need to change the way we look at the world. We need to move away from a hierarchical, mechanical way of looking at things and move towards a way of seeing the world as a living organism. This is actually the kind of wisdom that cities with a long history like Kamakura have had for a long time.”
This lecture suggested the direction that Kamakura should be heading towards in the lead up to 2025. Connecting the world and Kamakura, tradition and innovation, nature and humans — creating new value by linking these things together. This was an opportunity for each participant to feel the potential of such possibilities.
(This lecture was held under the auspices of Kamakura Gathering, with the cooperation of Kumano Shindo and enmono. For information on the next related event, please see the Kamakura Gathering website.
Full transcript
From Carolina
First of all, thank you all for coming today.
I am very happy that so many people are interested in network weaving today. It may not be well known to many people yet, but in my opinion, it is one of the things we need to create a better future for all of us.
First, I would like to explain how I got here. I started out studying environmental biology and ecology. Many people may be wondering how I got here and how I got involved in this kind of work.
My journey started with an interest in the environment. Seeing the environmental destruction we are facing, I became interested in how we can undo the damage humanity has done to the planet and how we can restore it.
This led me to become interested in restoration ecology, and the university I was studying at had a permaculture garden. In addition to restoration ecology, permaculture also touches on how humans can live in harmony with the Earth, how humans can live in harmony with each other, how humans can live in harmony with animals, and how to create a better economy.
Permaculture is a slightly different field, and since Portugal is a small country with only 10 million people, I quickly got to know everyone. I also created a network of people working on permaculture in Portugal.
While studying for my master’s degree, I started to have specific questions about natural ecology and network theory, such as how animals and nature are connected, and how this helps the environment to thrive.
This led to me being involved in research for about a year. At the same time, I was working for a non-profit organization called the System Change Alliance, helping to build up their membership and name.
Gradually, I began to realize that the laws that apply to the natural world also apply to the building of people’s networks and communities. I then connected this knowledge to my work in the non-profit sector, and realized that they were actually the same principles, the same rules.
One day, I was talking to someone who was doing similar work, and he said, “I’m a network weaver.” I had never heard that term before, and I didn’t know that what I was doing was network weaving.
So I started looking into it, and I realized that network weaving was indeed what I was doing, and that it involved building and supporting networks, especially in this case for positive change.
An important point to note is that many people are network weavers without realizing it. They are not necessarily paid for it or have a job title, but they are always connecting other people and don’t think about it in particular.
They naturally think, “This person should meet that person” or “We should plan something like this to get people together,” and just do it.
In many cases, network weavers are recognized in their communities and workplaces as people who can tell you who to talk to.
The important point I want to emphasize is the difference between networking and network weaving. People tend to think of these as the same thing, but they are different.
Traditional networking focuses on individuals and organizations. You meet people and introduce them for the benefit of yourself and your organization. If it’s not in your own interest, you won’t introduce anyone or connect people.
On the other hand, network weaving focuses on the bigger picture and the bigger goal. Especially if you’re working for a better world, you’re interested in helping the whole network around you to thrive.
Ultimately, when we reach an ideal state, we can create conditions that allow people to connect naturally. We don’t need to connect each person individually, but create a place where people can connect naturally, and the impact will spread throughout the space.
Why is this important? In the modern world, we live in a connected world, and all the problems we are trying to solve are connected. Climate change, dead-end capitalism, the mental health crisis — they are all related. If we are working in our own little bubbles and silos, we are not going to make much progress.
So we need to encourage collaboration between different fields and different organizations, and this can only be done by building strong networks of people who trust each other.
Next, I would like to show you a concrete example. I’d like to explain using the example of Miki, Adam and myself. We are all connected because we are working together on the Kumamoto Story. Please pay attention to the central shape.
Miki is connected to Imoto, who works at the Keio University Contemplative Education Center. Adam knows Aldo, who has a teahouse project in the US about Japanese tea ceremony. I am connected to River, who is interested in regenerative real estate, and Imoto knows Jane, who is researching loneliness and community at Kyoto University.
I’ll tell you how this all came together. Miki-san had spoken to both me and Imoto-san, and as she knew what we were each working on, she thought we should get to know each other. So she introduced us, and we connected.
Adam had been exchanging emails with Aldo recently, and he thought that what Aldo was working on was very relevant to what he was writing about, so he connected me with Aldo.
Then, both Adam and I thought that we should get all five of us together to work on something together. So we invited Aldo, Jane and River to join us on a call and started discussing the project.
In this way, what Miki and Adam started has developed into a network of interconnected people, and they are now able to do things together.
From this example, we can see that there are three different ways of network weaving. The first method is something that you have almost certainly experienced before. It is when you introduce two people you know to each other for their own benefit and for a greater goal, and you “close the triangle”.
Remember when we talked about shapes? This is a triangle. When you draw a line between two people you know, you close the triangle.
Another way of network weaving is to organize a gathering. For example, Adam and Aldo met at the Jewish Community Center in Tokyo because someone organized a gathering. Although it wasn’t planned that Adam and Aldo would meet, they are now connected because they were brought together in a place where they had something in common.
I want to talk a little more about convenings. These are gatherings of people with a common interest or theme. They provide an opportunity for people to meet each other and make meaningful connections.
Rather than introducing each person individually, they create opportunities for people to meet each other naturally. These convenings can be done completely online. You can design them to happen in a digital space.
For example, the network weaving consultancy organization I work for, the SIPA Network, holds an online network festival every year, which is attended by hundreds of people from all over the world. The topics covered range from the technology for networks to how to foster wellbeing in networks and how to present networks to funders. All of these sessions are designed so that participants can interact with each other, exchange ideas and make one-to-one connections, rather than just listening to the speakers.
They can also be held face-to-face. What we are doing here now is one such gathering. I am speaking now, but later there will be opportunities for people to meet.
It is also possible to hold large-scale gatherings. I would like to introduce one specific example from Portugal. Since last year, many people who are working on creating different types of society and culture have been gathering in Portugal. People from various fields, such as regenerative agriculture, Web3, organizational re-creation, wellbeing and spirituality, have gathered together, each bringing their own activities and events, and for about a week, around 500 people gathered in one place.
An important point to emphasize is that in order for a network weaving to be established, there must be an interactive element to the gathering. If people are simply gathered together, one speaker talks, and questions are accepted, but the participants do not talk to each other, it cannot be considered a network weaving.
Next, I’d like to explain collaborative projects, which bring together a diverse range of stakeholders to put ideas into action and create or do things together.
I’d like to give two examples. First, I’d like to talk about the Kumano Monogatari project. The Kumano Monogatari project is a revitalization project in the small regional city of Kumano. This area is facing many challenges due to the outflow of young people and the aging of the population.
For example, as you can see in the photo, there was a house on the site that was in a poor state of disrepair. We decided to restore the house, but we decided to try a slightly different approach.
We decided to implement it as a student-led project in partnership with Hyogo University. The students are involved in the restoration of the house and are learning about house restoration in a practical way.
This is being done with the support of two local partners. One is a local carpentry company, which is teaching the students traditional Japanese building techniques. Also, all the materials are being provided by a Japanese timber company (a local timber company), and they are using wood that is unique to the Kumano region. This is a sustainable way of using reclaimed wood that would otherwise have been disposed of.
In this way, we are bringing together many people and doing things in a different way. It takes time, but I think the benefits that are created are far greater.
Next, I would like to talk about my activities in South Africa as an example of a different scale. In South Africa, there is a government program called the Social Employment Fund, which is a government program to address the serious unemployment problem. What I am going to explain is made possible because the government has a certain network-like way of thinking.
The government agency selects 35 organizations from all over the country called social implementation partners. I work for one of these implementation partners, the Greater Stellenbosch Trust.
Each of these implementing partners is responsible for finding community organizations that work in their local communities and implementing the work program. We work with 30 organizations in the country, and the 35 implementing partners as a whole are connected to more than 1,000 community organizations across the country.
In this way, a large network of people is formed through the cooperation of some of our implementing partners and some of our project partners. Our organization employs 1,000 people, and the 35 organizations as a whole employ more than 50,000 people across the country.
In this way, not only the people directly affected, but also their entire families are affected. And because all of these jobs support the community in terms of education and health, the entire community around these 50,000 people is also positively affected.
It is only possible to work on this scale through networks. Trying to control everything in a hierarchical way will not work. Only this kind of approach makes it possible to work on this scale.
Next, I would like to talk about some of the other methods I mentioned. First, I would like to talk about mapping. It may not be immediately obvious why mapping is useful for network weaving, but I will give you a concrete example of two municipalities in Portugal. For example, Todos os Velhas is about 40 minutes by car from the capital and won an award for sustainability a few years ago.
The local government decided that it would become a “green city” and began to create various incubators as places where people with environmentally-friendly projects could come together, receive support, and work together with others.
Today, there are many initiatives underway, such as a composting system for the entire municipality, electric buses, and the procurement of ingredients from local farmers for school lunches. When people have an “environmentally-friendly idea”, they will probably think of trying to make it happen in this municipality.
Italy Nova is also a small municipality known for its progressive nature. If you want to do something sustainable, innovative or a little out there, you can go there. Every two years, they hold a big festival that has won a sustainability award.
It is also a place where you can get permission to build an Earthship (an off-grid house made from recycled materials and equipped with solar panels). People know that this is a place where they can do these kinds of initiatives, so naturally, people with this kind of interest gather in this municipality.
Finally, I would like to talk about people who are working on inclusion and wellbeing. These are the people I think of as the “unsung heroes” of network weaving.
If you want to create a place where people can really connect and where all voices are included, it is also important to create the atmosphere and culture that supports this. This includes thinking about how to create that atmosphere.
These people are all laying the groundwork for bringing in different perspectives. For example, if you have people working on refugee support in a city and you are planning a meeting in that city, it is important to invite these people to the conversation and make sure they feel comfortable raising their voices.
You also need to recognize that not everyone is good at speaking. Some people are better at expressing themselves through art, different forms, or certain types of languages that focus on indigenous people. So you need to make sure you include all of these perspectives.
We try to avoid confusion, but we also mentioned systems thinking, so when you put all these pieces together, you start to think creatively and you can combine everything.
Here is an example of bringing together many different actors to achieve something. There was a network of South African organizations in a small municipality in South Africa that were already working together to some extent in the education system.
Then a private funder called the Omidya Group got involved, and the SIPA network supported this whole group to create a map together so that they could better understand the context in which they were working.
We also worked with a group called Only Mapping, who are creating a digital version of the map, and they are supported by different funders. So there are two different streams of funding going into the organization.
By doing this mapping together, we were able to understand what we needed to do to better serve these schools and this community, and we decided to do a pilot event together.
After deciding what we wanted to do, we were able to utilize funding from the government for staff support and funding from another private donor for event support.
Overall, we were able to bring together children from 10 different schools in one day. One of our partners brought in a mobile clinic, and over 400 children had their eyesight checked, with many of them actually receiving glasses. They also received reading presents, and we had lots of fun activities related to stories and plays.
These children come from very disadvantaged backgrounds, and normally no one pays any attention to them. By bringing all these people together, we were able to achieve so much in just one day.
The point is not simple, but the network exists everywhere. I would like to bring up the term “interbeing” here, because I think that many people interested in the Mindful City are also interested in Buddhism.
This word “interbeing”, which Thich Nhat Hanh often used, is a Buddhist concept that expresses exactly the same thing. Everything is connected. We are all connected. What happens somewhere will have an impact on many other things. Wherever you are, you are in a network.
I think the next exercise will demonstrate this. We will be looking at the network of the world. Many of us may be connected to each other through other people. You may have connections that you don’t know about that can change the way your acquaintances operate or really improve things.
Ultimately, this is all about changing the way we look at the world. It’s a shift from a hierarchical, mechanical, all-things-are-things way of thinking to seeing the world as a living, interconnected organism, a web of interactions.
And as I said at the beginning, it is not about focusing on our own organization, but on the goals we are trying to achieve together with others. It is about ensuring that power is distributed and decisions are made together, rather than a small group of people trying to control others within a hierarchical structure.
We also need to change the way we share information. We need to share more about how we work and the lessons we have learned in different parts of the world, and we need to change our focus from “we need to achieve this” to “the relationships we are building to achieve something”. And instead of trying to control everything hierarchically, we need to allow things to emerge naturally from what people are feeling and experiencing, so that everything becomes more harmonious.
To help you experience this, I would like to ask you to do a small exercise. I will give you two sticky notes each, so please write your name and what you would like to explore on each one. Please do not write paragraphs. Write the same thing on both notes.
Questions from participants
Q: When introducing people, is it better to use a theoretical or intuitive approach? Is there a standard for making connections?
Answer: I use a combination of both approaches. Sometimes I have a kind of “library” of people I’ve met in my head, and I make connections deliberately, thinking “this person has this kind of problem” or “this person has an innovative solution”.
Also, it’s common for me to have similar conversations with different people. Sometimes I’ll be talking to someone and realize “I’ve had this conversation with someone else before”. If they are working on the same issue, bringing them together will probably lead to a mutually beneficial conversation.
This is a bit of a non-specialist topic, but after doing this kind of work for a long time, your intuition starts to work. When you are talking to someone, you sometimes get the feeling that “this person should meet that person”, even though you don’t know why. As you ask more questions, you start to understand why you felt that way. However, when you actually introduce them, it is important to be clear about the reasons for your intuition.
Question
- In your network weaving activities, do you have a vision of the kind of society or community you are aiming for?
- As a more practical question, how do you make a living from this work?
Answer: First of all, regarding the first question, when you are working as an entrepreneur, values are more important than a specific vision of society. No one can know the perfect shape of society, but we can have values such as peace, wealth distribution, and decentralized governance.
This is a difficult question, but for example, if you have a person from a major oil company and a person from a chemical company with a bad reputation, and you feel that bringing the two together might lead to some kind of good connection, you may refrain from introducing them because it could lead to a bad outcome for the world.
As for your second question about making a living, I have been paid for this work for a long time. It is not a job that you can find anywhere, but for example, the SIPA network is a team of five people, and all of us are paid for work related to the network. We undertake work such as supporting the engagement activities of other networks, supporting the implementation of technical systems, and mapping networks.
Other jobs that can be paid for include event planning and management, and group facilitation. Network weaving jobs are sometimes advertised under different job titles, such as community organizer or community manager.
The SIPA Network website (SIPA.network) lists job vacancies, but actually 80% of the jobs are not advertised. It is important to get to know people and make connections.
[Personal thoughts] I love Kamakura and feel like it is my home in Japan. I have gained international experience in Pennsylvania, USA, but I feel a special attachment to Kamakura. I am happy to be able to make new connections in Kamakura, transcending my past experiences and cultural differences.
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Sharing after the workshop
Under the theme of “Mindful City Kamakura”, each person had the following themes: — How to create a place for children to play in Kamakura — The role of Kamakura in the world — Kamakura as a city of wellbeing — A society where anyone can drop in and live — Modernization in the Kamakura style We introduced people who would be suitable for each theme. For example, in the case of the modernization of Kamakura, there is an example of Nashville in the United States, which is a sister city of Kamakura. There is a specialist in geographic information, Professor Wang Xin, at the University of Nashville. Also, since Manhattan was the capital of the Edo Shogunate, there is a possibility of being able to make connections with the people at the city hall, just like in Kamakura. Furthermore, there is a sister city relationship with Ashikaga, and there is also a connection with Mr. Osawa, a researcher at Ashikaga Gakko. Regarding the well-being city, there was also a suggestion that we should hear from Director Senhira Yokota. First of all, it is important to take action against global warming. The discussion broadened from a simple exploration of the nature of Kamakura to a discussion of how to prevent global warming and what kind of network we can create for a sustainable earth. From the perspective that if children have the experience of playing in nature, they will be able to take better care of the earth, the discussion developed into a discussion of providing children with nature experiences. There are groups in Haruma that provide children with nature experiences, and it is important to have connections with such places. We have various connections, including with the people who are promoting Fair Trade Town Kamakura, stores that promote ethical products, and print boards. People involved in activities such as beach clean-ups also want to expand their activities in places like this. It is not just about individual activities, but also about making appeals to the government and large companies. It is important to act with an eye on the future, five or seventy years down the line. In Zaimokuza, as a measure against plastic waste, we have set up a place where people can throw away plastic waste so that everyone can pick it up, and we are carrying out daily cleaning activities. We are also working with high school students, but further efforts are needed. From a landscape perspective, culture, lifestyle, architecture, water systems, and water areas are important elements. Practitioners of permaculture design are active in Fujino and Ochiai, and various initiatives are being developed while connecting with Mr. Shida of Fujino and other local practitioners. At the current stage, there may be issues with disaster response, so it is important to consider how to refine the system. We need to think about a system that can be sustained as a single landscape even in the event of a disaster. For example, we also need to think about it from the perspective of train equipment and systems. While it is important to connect various fields, there are still not many people who are actually doing this. It is precisely because we are living in the modern age that there is the potential for living and issues to become connected.
As we discussed in small groups of around five people, we began to see unexpected connections. For example, there were two people who had met by chance in India, and there was someone who had been involved with Kamakura for some time. There was also someone who had worked with me at my previous company, and it was as if we had known each other from a previous life.
In activities with the theme of wellbeing, the theme was too broad to make it easy to have specific conversations, but there were also new discoveries, such as connecting with Amma through another connection in India.
Recently, the G20 Young Leaders’ Meeting was held online, and one of the participants, an Indonesian national, was coming to Kamakura for another project, so I was able to actually introduce her to the people I was meeting. Kamakura and Bali have unexpectedly become connected, and a project is planned for March to July next year.
I am also involved in Patagonia’s activities, and we are developing retreat programs. I also have a connection with the people who run the environmental school called Nourthers at Shuri-no-miya, and there is a possibility of creating a new program.
There are also people in the area, such as a 90-year-old grandmother, who are willing to share their experiences. By introducing these activities, we are creating overlaps and expanding the connections between individuals. We hope to be able to further develop these connections over time.
There are also activities to pass on traditional events, and by connecting these to the mirror, there is the potential for further connections to be created.
There is also a group interested in food, and plans are underway for things like publishing and creating places where people can gather.
Kumano Shindo from Adam
Now I would like to move on to the Kumano Shindo. We are currently restoring a traditional Japanese house from the Taisho period (1930s) using crowdfunding. This project involves students from Hyogo University, Mr. Nonaka (who has renovated traditional Japanese houses in Fuji), and Yoshinari, a local lumber mill.
Interestingly, through this project I also found some unexpected connections. My great-grandfather-in-law was the first principal of the local high school from 1920, and the school still exists today as Kiyomoto High School. Through this networking event, my family connections became clear.
The reason I became involved with Kumano was because I received a notice from Kumano City in 2020. It said that my father-in-law’s house was not being managed. I had been married for 12 years, but I didn’t know that my father-in-law had a house in Kumano.
At UC Berkeley, there are many people researching ecosystems. In particular, Bota’s team has created a new interdisciplinary department that incorporates ecosystem theory. I myself was enrolled in a master’s course at the Urban University (Musashi Institute of Technology) in Japan, and was involved in satoyama management activities with Yokohama citizens and students on the theme of satoyama regeneration.
At the same time, I was developing various activities using the concept of an ecosystem borg. I was also interested in distributed networks, and in November 2008 I conducted research at the Institute for Future Engineering. They are developing activities based on a network platform, and are taking into account the existence of entities other than their own organization.
There are similarities with the film production process, and the method of hiring people to work towards short-term goals is an interesting way of looking at the future of society. Based on this, we developed the concept of an ecosystem economy in New York for about eight years. We also obtained a patent, but we were unable to come to an agreement with the market, and we are currently considering restarting the project with our former partners.
We are trying to test the potential of decentralized gatherings, and in particular, a cross-organizational approach to complex environmental issues. This application won the New Business Innovation Award from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and in June 2020, we found a run-down empty house in Kumano and decided to use it as a base for our networked learning program.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications approved the vacant house as an operating organization, and Kumano Shindo was born. This name was proposed by Dr. Kawamura, who was involved in the project, and it is meant to be a “new path” in reference to the Kumano Kodo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The project began in October 2020, and we received the cooperation of many people. In order to build connections with the local people, we sent handwritten letters to about 10 people, relying only on the names and addresses of the people living in the area. We received a reply from only one person, and a new story began with our encounter with Kazuhisa Matsuno.
When we visited during the winter solstice, we found a house that had been abandoned in a place that was almost like a juvenile delinquent’s hangout. We began to use it as a network agreement for the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications’ New Business Innovation Program, and during the pandemic we also collaborated with the distributed human resource network launched by the people of Berkeley.
We first visited Kumano in 2022, and after going through Miki-san’s school, we incorporated Kumano Shindo in February 2021. We aim to innovate by mixing the old and the new, and harnessing the spirit of Kumano.
We started full-scale activities in June 2021, aiming to create a regenerative society and increase the number of people with a connection to the area. For example, we are working on projects to create a population of people with a connection to the area using digital tools without actually having to come to Kumano, as well as projects in collaboration with universities and the development of outdoor programs for children with developmental disorders and children from different cultures as inclusive education.
One reason why this area is suitable for innovation is that it is possible to expect interesting synergistic effects from the mixing of old and new elements and Japanese and foreign cultures.
One of our recent important initiatives is the creation of a 20-day e-learning course for Japanese national and public universities on the JBCAMPUS platform run by Score University. This course is free to take, and we have produced a substantial amount of content, including interviews with various university professors and NPO members, from winter 2020 to March 2022.
In 2022, we also carried out environmentally friendly initiatives such as food activities and the production of biochar. By planting trees together with the charcoal, we are making use of the mechanism whereby charcoal becomes a source of nutrients.
In cooperation with students from Hyogo University, we are sorting through thousands of old building materials and gradually restoring old houses that were originally thought to be beyond repair by replacing the flooring and installing new beams. We hope that not only people from Kumano, but also everyone will get involved as a related population of Kumano and support the Kumano Shindo.
Kumano Shindo Crowdfunding project
https://motion-gallery.net/projects/sotononono
From the organizer (Mr. Shishido)
The word “gathering” is important in relation to the Kamakura Gathering. The significance of diverse people gathering together is profound, and diverse connections are becoming extremely important for people within companies, even for things like company visits. Kamakura is a rich place surrounded by the sea and mountains, and there is the potential for various connections to be born while feeling the history of the place.
The venue for this event, Niho, was created in Kamakura as a new place where various people can gather together as a shared living space.
Finally, as the background to the Mindful City Kamakura, we aim to create a culture where people from overseas can gather and engage in dialogue, while also conveying the spirituality of Japan to the world. We hope to further develop the initiatives that have been ongoing since around 2001.
Gathering together has meaning regardless of the theme, and in the spiritual culture of Japan, the meaning of fate is very profound. While cherishing this moment of gathering, we would like to develop our activities in various forms.
From left to right: Zen2.0 Co-representative Director: Mikio Shishido, Kumano Shindo Representative Director:Adam Lobel, Kumano Shindo Director: Carolina Carvalho, Zen2.0 Co-representative Director and Kumano Shindo Director: Kouji Miki
