Hokkaido Day 17
The sad one - the last one.
Today, Day 17 in Hokkaido - I have to say goodbye for the time being. I traveled south from Asahikawa all the way to Shin Hakodate where I took the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo. It felt bittersweet to leave, given all of the wonderful memories I have made over the past few weeks, but I am glad to have experienced so much in such a short period of time.
From the first moment I touched down in Japan and got picked up by a camera crew, through all of the festivals I attended, to each and every public servant I sat down and talked with about the way they support their disabled residents, I have had nonstop, time-after-time fun and deep learning. The conclusions still need to be drawn - but I’m excited to think more about what I’ve learned over the coming weeks and share them with you all.
One thing I can say for sure is that what I have witnessed has not been some aberration or impossible standard, but can be achieved through effort and care. The people here in Hokkaido put together these festivals as a testament to their strengths, yes, but as an exercise of those strengths as well. The processes by which people in Hokkaido have created and implemented programs like what I’ve described these past few weeks are processes we can undertake in our humble city of Seattle, and I’m super, duper, duper excited to think about where those lessons can apply at Garfield Community Center.
To that end, I want to thank everyone who supports and subscribes to my newsletter, The Lanyard Board (www.thelanyardboard.com), and I will continue to produce more as the weeks go on. Tomorrow? Tokyo Day 1.
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