Traveller’s Teacup

Here’s our recently completed documentary from the UNU Media Studio and World Health Organisation.

The Wisdom Years: Ageing into the 21st Century (26 minutes)

In Japan, one of the richest, most technological and urbanized countries in the world, more than 20% of the population is now over 65. This is part of a global ageing trend that has serious consequences for our economy and society.

The Wisdom Years documentary offers glimpses into the urban lives of 70, 90 and 100 year old Japanese people and their secrets to maintaining physical, mental and social health.  Through scientific breakthroughs, and these everyday stories, we witness the transformation of the senior citizen in the 21st Century.

The Wisdom Years takes place in Japan, and offers a springboard from which to explore the process of ageing in other cities around the world.

For more clips and case study information visit website at www.wisdom.unu.edu

The premier screening at UNU Tokyo headquarters is pictured below. Photo by Jason Hall.

When you get off the plane in Tashkent, the first thing that hits you is the smell of the desert. Its similar to the experience when you disembark in Alice Springs. A wall of dry, earthy air. A certain smell that you come to know in your hair and clothing.

It’s 4:05am and I’m on the red eye flight from Tokyo to Siberia via Tashkent. My travelling companions are a mixed bunch of Japanese tourists, cologne drenched Uzbeks, and a screaming baby who for hours has been trying to come to terms with ear compression. And then there’s the French tourists, a roly poly crew of “French” dressed gastronmi-philes. Their swollen feet swished into their iconic red and yellow reebok shoes. They were obviously all Japan souvenior-ed out. They slept like stones on the flight.

On the scale of horror aero-journies, this Uzbek airlines flight was painless. I sat next to a fastidious Japanese tour group leader. He spent the majority of the flight neurotically shifting a stack of airline tickets and catering objects around his grafitied tray table. As soon as we got off the plane, his little blue flag popped up and he started ushering his sleepy Japanese flock into the awaiting transit lounge buses. It was quite a sight, and an amusing reminder of my “group experiences” over the last 6 months in Tokyo.

Its nice to be back in Central Asia, even if it is only a transit lounge. My last foray in Uzbekistan had consisted of Dad and I exploring the ancient sites of Bukhara and Samarkhand together. As with most developing countries, tourists are a walking dollar sign and these places are no exception. One day, with our rucksacks secured, we said a stern farewell, turned our backs and walked across the road border to Tajikistan. On the other side, we celebrated with a jolly Tajiki customs official by sipping at a freshly made cuppa under a tree near his demountable.

OK, the Tashkent transit lounge is not Zurich. Its much more a scruffy soviet ballroom. Grand roman columns coated with fake marble wallpaper hold up a ceiling of fluros. In the centre is a grand staircase, where a red Turkmeni design carpet leads you to more chairs. The chairs are the only thing Zurich about the place. In one corner, saloon doors lead to a restaurant – a typical Central Asian affair, a room set up like a mess hall, at the end is a counter and behind it two sleeping dudes. Above them, a rickety shelf with beer, vodka, chocolates and nescafe bottles brightening the scene.

Venturing further, I realised I had completely blotted from my memory the toilet experience. In these parts, toilet paper is like mulched egg carton dried in the sun. The bin next to porcelain squat toilet, is where you put the toilet paper. Although a genius for sewerage, this bin full of stripped paper is a sight and smell to behold for westerners.

Strangely though, I missed this quirky world. Although Tokes has its major pluses, the Central Asian seeming chaos, moments teetering on catastrophe and the chintzy aesthetic has a place in my heart.

Dawn is breaking now and other institutional looking buildings outside the grand hall are starting to take form. I will be here enduring the bad Uzbek popmusic with my other Siber-bound companions till 11am, when we board a plane nose-bent for Novosirbirsk, Russia. Yes, its yet another cosmic solo adventure… this time to Southern Siberia to experience the August 1 solar eclipse with Russian friends at a remote meteorology station deep in the Altai mountains.

As some of you might know, I am now based in Tokyo and working for the United Nations University Media Studio. The work is exciting and I would like to share with you one of the recent events I attended this week with a small podcast crew.

TICAD IV (Tokyo International Conference on African Development), was a high-level summit in Yokohama, Japan. The event, where policies for ecomonic development between Japan and Africa are staked out, was arranged by the Japanese government, UN agencies and World Bank. Its level of importance was clearly seen with over 45 African Presidents, their key foreign ministry, Japanese prime minster and government, UN agencies, World bank, private enterprise, EU reps, NGOs and their goodwill ambassodor rockstars in attendance.

Quickly at this point i want to add… Africa is a very special continent. It contains the world’s second largest forest “lung” and carbon sink (Congo Basin), is extremely rich in bio-diversity, has Indigenous cultures and languages, untold histories and of course yields a highly coveted treasure trove of natural resources. In theory, the United countries of Africa should be an economic powerhouse, with ample ability to feed, educate, and create a healthy wellbeing for its many peoples and eco-systems.

In the past, the continent has been witness to a resource scab-grab, where the developed world have reaped resources (whether it be botancial, mineral, vegetable or slave) and in return have given money, guns or “aid” but little else in return. Often, with the money going into the pockets of the corrupt, many local populations stay impoverished by lack of infrastructure, education and support…

At TICAD, it became very clear that the collective voice of the African delegation was saying – we also want to sit self-empowered at the “global market” table with the other superpowers, and very clearly “own” and sustainably manage our own resources. Instead of “aid”, the key message was “capacity building” and “industry investment”.

It may seem obvious but imagine an Africa, full of bright educated individuals… not impoverished by political conflict but regionally governed by men and women towards a healthy future with peace and prosperity. An Africa, that can adequately face the challenges of rising food insecurity and water quality. An Africa, that in the face of Climate change, leads the way in sustainable resource management practices. An Africa, that with time, can support itself with a vibrant small, medium and export size business sector coupled with key academic R&D institutes.

Its going to take time, but the recent global shift to this kind of thinking is what is important. Furthermore, in these times of the inevitable military-industrial complex, suddenly light has come to an even newer paradigm. Climate Change and sustainable development.

Perhaps, the real and simple question is buried under layers of “Yokohama declaration” paperwork. Can Africa mobilise sustainable and eco-infrastructures whilst still nurturing industrial development? Will its other trading partners, like the USA, China, Russia and the Europeans also adhere to these policies? Is this an oxymoron? One thing is clear, there is a new elephant in the room of international politics… the pressure and the moral obligation of the global community to maintain global survival.

Stay tuned for the UNU podcasts…

Konichiwa!
Nee-ha!
San-baino!
Privet!
Salaam Allay-coom!
Guten Tag!
Hello!

In Kyoto on Friday, i got to meet the real deal…a real silk road merchant. Enter stage left, Mr Yamaguchi aged 103. He is the best silk kimono and obi maker in Japan… did i mention he was 103! Born in 1904, there is no cuppa deep enough to hear all he has seen and experienced. My friend Andreina and i got to spend a whole hour with the old champion.

Over a cup of fine green tea, he layed out his exquisite silk wears (like a true textile maker) and nimbly got up to show us around his workshop, his kimono reference books, postcards, and his photo with Lady Di and Prince Chuck. As it turns out, the old gentleman and his wife had travelled quite a lot of the silk road, including a hair-raising bus ride from Islamabad to Kabul in the 1970’s!

Upon asking the secret of his long and healthy life, he told us, home grown food and a religious belief. So there you have it: eat well and believe in something great. I would also presume being surrounded by family and being engaged physically and mentally helped. Here he is today still working his loom, a skill handed down when he was 12.

Well, all this old age stuff has made me start thinking about whether i would make it that far. My bodhisattvas, what will life be like in 2079?? Have you actually thought about it and whether you would make it to be a Yamaguchi??

I guess the biggest thing that comes to mind is the weather, and this crazy higgledy piggledy global warming, that is today, fast changing the world as we know it. Its all so crazy and confusing. I feel quite lost, apathetic and disempowered about what I am suppose to be doing.

To find a handbar, I recently read a little book called “The Global Warming survival handbook”. It was a good read and helped me find a roadmap. Its for this reason, and I have decided to adopt 5 of their achievable pledges. I’m going to call them my “Yamaguchi pledge”.

.1. Adopting a glacier . I am now adopting the Akkem glacier at the base of Mt Beluka in Russia. I will regularly monitor and try to publish its recession or progression to document & track the real effects of the global warming.
2 Saying no to disposable cups, plastic bags and water bottles – i now carry with me a travel mug, a cloth bag and a water bottle to reduce my landfill and carbon footprint
3. Having a 5 minute shower (its going to be hard but i am going to turn off the water when i wash and condition my hair, soap up and brush my teeth for that matter)
4.Putting on a sweater on when its cold or turning the air conditioning down 2 degrees… not a hard one but saves a heap of electricity and $.
5. Walk, ride my bike or catch local transport everywhere (it worked for thousands of miles across the silk road so why not now, besides this it will help me stay fitter and nimbler when I’m a Yamaguchi)

Its the first step for me, a public one to say the least but i have to do something. My apathy towards the future of this beautiful world of ours is disgusting, and i cannot live with it any longer. I can only hope my Yamaguchi pledge resonates with you. Please have a green tea with me at 103!!

To find your own Yamaguchi pledge, click here