Women's Initiative for Sustainable Empowerment

We are so grateful for your continued support. We are fully prepared for our flagship social innovation program, 2023 WISE in Saku-Karuizawa in Nagano, with talented mentors and facilitators. For example, our mentors include a globally-active robot designer, an IT boot camp co-founder from Silicon valley and the owner of Kurabito stay where travelers can try sake-brewery experience. We just opened registration for 30-35 capacity (first-come, first-serve) and participants can join our workshop at a beautiful garden stay in Karuizawa to share valuable time together. The total number of WISE fellows reached more than 240, and we strongly feel that such a small scale of our WISE program will make an impact on participants and eventually create a ripple effect in the society. Please circulate workshop info for those who may be interested in. The program is in English so that participants can freely discuss ideas in a frank manner. We have gained local support from Karuizawa village and Saku city municipalities and supporters like you from GlobalGiving.

In Japan's rural areas like Nagano, younger generations and women continue to suffer from unconscious bias or traditional gender-based roles pressed upon them. The biggest hurdle for them is to break the mind-set chain of a conservative community of tight knitted values. JSIE continues to provide opportunities for those younger generations and females to unlock their full potential. Thanks again for your support. We will keep you updated for the 2023 WISE program in Saku-Karuizawa.

Links:

• WISE in Saku-Karuizawa
• WISE program overview
• 2019 report of WISE in Beppu, Oita prefecture

Dear supporters:

We are so grateful for your continued support. After a long period of COVID-19 struggle, we are finally resuming our flagship program of WISE2023 in Nagano, Japan!

We strongly feel that even if it is a small scale, our WISE program will make an impact on participants and eventually create a ripple effect in the society. The total number of WISE fellows reached more than 240, and we are very proud of what we've done. This year, we visited Saku and Karuizawa areas in Nagano, discussed with local leaders and school teachers, and secured talented mentors. 

In Japan's rural areas like Nagano, younger generations and women continue to suffer from unconscious bias or traditional female roles pressed upon them. The biggest hurdle for them is to break from a conservative community of tight knitted values. JSIE continues to provide opportunities for those younger generations and females to unlock their full potential. 

Thanks again for your support. We will keep you updated for the 2023 WISE program in Saku-Karuizawa.

Dear supporters:

We are so grateful for your continued support. As the gender gap report 2022 says, Japan continued to rank the lowest #116th among developed nations. Traditional values continue to put constraints on women to play a major role in society. 

Because of the unforeseeable COVID situation, we postponed our flagship program, Women's initiative for sustainable empowerment (WISE) to the following year. We strongly feel that even if it is small, our WISE program will make an impact on participants and eventually create a ripple effect in the society. We have so many challenges ahead:  we've got a question from a 7th grade female student "why female descrimination in Japan continues to exist despite there are laws in place and social activities to eliminate such discriminations?" One positive news is -- as a result of internal rule change after the scandal, this year in Japan, for the first time, the number of female students accepted to medical schools exceeded the number of male students. 

This summer, JSIE staff are exploring Nagano area as a potential venue to conduct the WISE program 2023. In rural areas of Japan, it is still pervasive to find that younger generations especially girls continue to suffer from unconscious bias or traditional female roles pressed upon them. The biggest hurdle for them is to convince parents or relatives to break from such a community of tight knitted values. JSIE continues to provide opportunities for those younger generations and females to unlock their full potential. 

Thanks again for your support. We are hoping to hold an in-person event soon. We will keep you updated.

Dear Supporters:

We are so grateful for your continued support. We have just finished holding a collaborative panel discussion online at Tomodachi Metlife program 2022, under the title "Exploring Global Pathways: Unlock Your Full Potential to Lead". We welcomed three wonderful guests from Washington, D.C., Ms. Yuka Hayashi, Ms. Maki Hishikawa,  and Ms. Kazuyo Kato to share their views and experience. We welcomed approx. fifty Japanese female college students who participated from Japan, and they actively asked questions to panelists, regarding various aspects of finding paths to respective careers. It is surprising to find that younger generations in the rural side of Japan today continue to suffer from unconscious bias or traditional female roles pressed upon them. The biggest hurdle for them is to convince parents or relatives to break from such a community of tight knitted values. JSIE continues to provide opportunities for those younger generations and females to open eyes to unlock their full potential. 

Thanks again for your support. We are hoping to hold an in-person event soon. We will keep you updated.

All the best,

Hiromi Murakami

Links:

• Tomodachi panel session 2022

Dear Supporters:

The COVID-19 pandemic has been the defining global crisis of our time and the greatest challenge we have faced. In 2021 JSIE continued its online programs “Global Career Series” and “Peer Roundtable discussion” for junior/high school students. Also, the summer program, which used to be held in person, was held online as “WISE Youth Global”, mainly for high school students. In 2022, we would like to take on new challenges while coexisting with the Covid. We plan new exciting programs. JSIE wishes all of you good health and happiness for the coming year!

Links:

• Stop Child Abuse and Bullying project
• Caitlin's interview by Beacon Report