While I have been diligently twittering away, I have not been such a good blogger. From the tweet I read, I found out Acumen Fund just celebrated its 8th anniversary today! Congratulations! Jacqueline Novogratz was doing a book reading and signing at Tribeca last night. I dropped by to see how it was. There were about 80-90 people in the crowd. I have probably heard her speak more than 10 times, but I am always so impressed by her ability to speak in an articulate and inspiring manner. I am looking forward to her lecture here at JS in May. Prior to that, Alan Webber will be returning to JS on April 22 to speak about his new book Rules of Thumb – 52 truths of winning business without losing yourself – . He is another great speaker, who is a lot of fun and very insightful at the same time. I enjoyed reading his book! Hopefully it will be translated into Japanese. In a couple of weeks, my coworker Betty will be going to Tokyo to organize an exchange titled “Learning from Disaster: Miyakejima and New Orleans”. This is a second part of an exchange program that started last April. Miyakejima is an island about 110 miles off the coast of Tokyo. This small island with several thousand residents has an active volcano. In 2000, the volcano erupted and all residents needed to evacuate. In 2005, after 4 years and 5 months, the residents were allowed to return to their home. A group of people, who were involved with the relief and recovery effort at Miyakejima went to New Orleans last April to meet with like-minded people who are rebuilding the post-Katrina community as members and leaders of the local government and non-profit organizations. The exchange was started as a way to learn from each other’s experience and share wisdom. In turn, this April, a total of 16 Americans including observers, will be visiting Tokyo. Some of them are planning to visit Miyakejima, which is mainly accessible by a ferry. (There are flights, which get canceled frequently due to precarious weather conditions.) There will be a public symposium on April 18 at Meiji University. The outcome of this exchange will be published as a book in Japanese and English. (Fumiko)
New Orleans April 2008
@Ashe Cultural Center April 2008
From 
U.S.-Japan Innovators Network 