In March 2019, our knowledge exchange activities kicked off with a trip to Japan. The Oxford Brookes team members - Youngha Cho, Ramin Keivani and Mel Nowicki - spent a week visiting Osaka and Tokyo.
The trip consisted of a mix of workshop and seminar days, and field trips arranged by team members in Osaka and Tokyo. The purpose of the trip was to share information regarding key housing policies in both countries, to begin developing future research plans, and for the Brookes team members to explore some of these issues relating to housing in Japan through a series of field trips.
In Osaka, Dr Emiko Itami and Professor Takashi Yokota organised a day visit to Senri New Town, Japan’s first New Town. Based on the same principles as the post-war New Towns of the UK, Senri is a suburban community originally built in the 1960s that is undergoing dramatic refurbishment and renewal. The team learnt about the challenges created by ageing local populations, from shops and services closing down to elderly care facilities under strain, and the focus of Senri New Town’s renewal centring on attracting younger families into the area by providing high-quality, sizeable and affordable housing with nearby facilities such as child daycare.
The field trip day in Tokyo focused on homelessness services in the city. Dr Yasushi Sukenari (University of Tokyo), arranged for the team to meet with a community officer for the Housing First Japan initiative. Part of the international Housing First approach that started in the USA in the 1990s, Housing First in Tokyo seeks to first and foremost prioritise the provision of long-term, secure housing for homeless people,regardless of their level of need. Following on from this, the team visited Cafe Shio no Michi, a cafe managed by formerly homeless people. The initiative, led by the Tsukuroi Tokyo Fund charity, was a fantastic example of the ways in which non-governmental organisations are working towards providing vulnerable people with autonomy and dignity both during and after the trauma of homelessness.
This first knowledge exchange trip ended with a workshop in Tokyo led by HID and Oxford Brookes, where academics and stakeholders shared ideas around policy initiatives and challenges in both countries, particularly in relation to the growing need for the integration of housing and social care, and the provision of affordable housing for young people.
It was an exciting start to the project, and the team look forward to a follow-on knowledge exchange event this coming September!