Day 5 - Exploring the trade shows & a Gala Dinner...

Hello Everybody, 

As Day 2 of the congress got under way I was in far more of a relaxed mood. I continued to struggle with the humidity and rarely felt comfortable, but I was at least free to make the most of the congress with no presentations of my own to worry about. I was finally getting some decent sleep too and had a nice routine going in the mornings. A 10 minute shower (as per rules of the hostel as 20 rooms had to share one shower) was quickly followed by a short walk down the road, 2 stops on the metro, and a walk with the rest of the Japanese public towards the business centers of town. (A little stop at Starbucks for a cup of English Breakfast tea was also becoming a daily event).

So, to the congress and one of the keynote presentations I was really looking forward to. Disaster Relief - the role of OT's following the Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan. The presentations showed the power of human spirit and the quite amazing work done by several OT associations and communities to help with both the immediate emergency responses, and then the transition into community based recovery and  transitional housing.

Making immediate emergency shelter spaces

 The spaces created in the emergency shelter areas for use directly after the tragedy were well thought out and considered the needs of a variety of people. Consideration was given to private space, accessibility especially considering the injured and elderly who may have had additional requirements post disaster.

 

There was certainly a need for a whole range of expertise needed and as you can see from the photo's the volunteers / professionals came together to share ideas and knowledge with the people in the centres themselves. Supporting others to become leaders and develop their own role and sense of usefulness and create positive identities for people who had felt like they had lost their ow identity and sense of purpose in the disaster. This development was every bit as important as the actual set up of shelters and spaces. (Supporting the survivors soul).

Not everyone was to end up in shelters of course, but there were few people who had not been affected and who could still benefit from the information regarding survival skills in this new and unexpected existence. Information booklets were developed and shared with the community such as the ones seen below. Using visual aids as well as text was critical in reaching all affected peoples. 

A return to the main exhibition centre was needed to begin to process all the information presented by such a unique and surreal key not presentation. Walking around the posters and exhibition stands allowed me to focus on other interesting work and projects, such as this fascinating poster presentation from Brazil.... about Brazilian transvestites... I was amazed at the variety of work and areas of practice that OT's get involved with...

poster presentation from Brazil

Craft Space and shop....

It was not long before I saw (& heard) the laughter of my Taiwanese OT colleagues, who were making sure people knew where they were from. They had been having a great little photo shoot with all the Taiwanese OT's outside on the conference centres. I couldn't resist, (nor could they) a few extra photos and whipped out a great big flag! I loved every minute I spent with my Taiwanese friends, as they were always so friendly, inquisitive and fun. Therefore I though it was a great idea to set some time aside to sit down together instead of having quick 10 minute chats.

Taiwanese OT's & me.

Me, Janelle & Amy relaxing between sessions.

Day 2 was to include the Gala Dinner evening, which quite frankly is always a fun night, especially if you are going to travel all the way to Japan for it! Given the size of the congress, it was not surprising to have a large function area. It was quite a feast for the senses, (if not for the stomach). The food was nice, if you could get some from the main tables. The decorations, colors, drinks (sake) and photo opportunities were endless. The entertainment wasn't too bad either. As you first entered the room you were greeted with these ornaments which made for a nice photo.... 

The venue itself was pretty large, as it needed to be as swarms of people littered the room. There were many a recognizable face in the room (such as Michael Iwana, below). 

Despite the food being as sparse as a swimming pool in the desert, the crumbs I did find kept me going between drinks. The entertainment was what you'd most likely expect. Some understated dancing, and small food and drink stalls to keep the spirits up of such a multi-cultural audience.

The stalls were cute, authentic and certainly different from anything I had seen before at such events, which was after all what I had gone to Japan for.

Japan is known for Sake - and the display on show did not disappoint with a pretty good selection for tasting on display. Of course  it would have been rude not to try at least a few of these flavours, and so I was a good guest and did my best to distinguish between them all! 

Sake...

The reason I have always tried to get to the dinners and so called 'gala' events has always been bout the networking. With a world record 5,000 delegates (not all at the dinner obviously,) I was not going to pass up such an opportunity as this night presented. Whilst it was wonderful to see so many familiar faces, there were few unexpected faces and conversations too! One such surprise was having the chance to speak some Romanian, to a wonderful and friendly OT Ina Stavril (See Below) Ina wasn't the only interesting OT around and a very glamourous OT professor from Israel, was also great company....

Ina - Romanian

Israel OT

Me & Yvonne Thomas

I'm not sure if other people have the experience of how with some people, you can just bump into them anywhere, anytime..... the next chat I had certainly fitted into that category. Yvonne Thomas and I first met in Vietnam in 2008 when she brought 2 OT students from James Cook Univeristy (Australia) to the NGO I was working in. I then saw her next in Santiago, Chile at the 2010 WFOT Congress. So it was hardly surprising to 'bump' into her and her fine fella here in Japan too. (See Above). The rest of the photo's below gave a good impression of the end of the Gala event and the start to the rest of the evening as spent the night with a group of people (some old, some new) tha will stay with me for the duration of my life, that I am sure of.

OT's from Australia, U.S., Chile and UK!

A real mix of folk... some famous faces in here....

Possibly my favourite photo of the night included great friends and faces from all over the world, with Nick Pollard (UK) (Co-author of Occupational Therapy without Borders), Merrolee Penman (NZ) & Anita Hamilton (Aus) - (OT4OT founder members), Bill Wong (US) and my good friend of 5 years OT Jouyin Teoh (Malaysia)... to name just a few...

A truly memorable night was had by all and I was reminded yet again about what an amazing profession, with such a rich variety of people, I was part of.

Regards from Japan.

Day 4 - Down to business: Poster Presentations & Happy Reunions!

So the conference had been officially opened (yesterday - Tuesday) and today was the first day of presentations, posters, workshops and key note speeches. I'd learned from the previous WFOT congress in Santiago that poster presentations were often the most effective networking opportunity, so despite missing a couple of sessions I had planned on attending, I decided to hang about by my poster. 

There was also the little problem of what to wear. Most people who know me, know I can be a little vain, but it wasn't specifically about how I looked, I was trying to think what clothes would be less likely to show how much I was sweating. My body was made for colder climates, and not only was I really struggling with the humidity, but I was also feeling quite lethargic. My shirt would be wet within 5 minutes of me leaving the hostel. I settled on a little pink number (see below).

Me, my poster & 'random' visitor

The quite ridiculously large program 'book' we were given was about as user friendly as a phone book without an alphabetical order! I had given up on trying to make sense of what was on where for the first day, and gone to the wrong presentations twice already in the first day. The program also suggested that poster presenters should be by their poster for a 20 minute period. I always like to take any suggestion as a 'guide', rather than a 'rule', so I stayed by my poster for a good few hours and improved my 'enticement techniques'.

More Poster Visitors

The trick was really quite simple. As people passed, just catch their eye and say hello. The Japanese folks felt immediately compelled to respond, and then all you had to do was half turn your body towards to the poster. Other passersby required a more direct approach. By simply smiling and asking what country or what area of practice somebody was from, the person would almost certainly then ask about your poster. I met lots of awesome people this way, and heard as much about what they were doing as well as being able to discuss my own poster.

Trade stands.

As with any big congress / conference, there are a multitude of trade stands, and of course this congress was no exception. There were all kinds of assisted living devices mobility aids. Here's a few of the stands that were around...

Mobility devices

There were a few 'cultural' based activities on offer too for the many overseas delegates to enjoy. Traditional dress, origami, arts and crafts were all on show for the four days.

Add caption

Even a game of frisbee????!!!

The day was quickly ticking by, and I'd already met some friendly and funny OT's from all over the world. However the highlight of day one was yet to come. Whilst heading out of the main trade & poster area, I heard a familiar voice with a lovely Chilean accent.

The wonderful OT professor from Santiago and my good friend Erna Navarrete was having an incredibly hard time trying to explain that her she had a poster to present, but her name was missing from the list or pre-assigned spaces. The Japanese staff were not able to understand Erna's issues, but were trying to remain polite and simply kept smiling. Erna is not one to be easily put off, so we took matters into our own hands and found a free space to display her work, and have a great old catch up!

Erna Navarrete (Chile)

I have a great deal of respect for Erna and owe her a debt of gratitude as it was at her invitation that I visited and spoke at The Universidad De Chile, Santiago, (which gave me the confidence to start a little tour of South American Universities). Probably more importantly, Erna's invitation to visit and speak at her University led me to make a number of great friendships, that still run strong today.

It would be a miss of me not to show some of the other posters on show from day 1. So here's a little look...

Occupational Profiles of Serial Killers

The day was complete when I bumped into another on of those people who I had only ever known as a facebook contact - Louie Arabit. Louie is on of those genuine friendly people who is always happy to stop and chat and does it with a smile on his face. 

Me with Louie Arabit

The day ended, as all good conference days should, with a walk by the beautiful lit-up waterside and drinks in a nearby bar with a bunch of OT's from all over the world. Australian, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, USA. More social photos to come...
So what did we learn from day one of the conference?
1) If you do a poster presentation - be assertive in engaging with the passing trade,
2) Speak to anyone & everyone, you never know who you may be speaking with and how you can help each other...
3) In the OT world, it's unlikely you'll veer have a 'one-off' meeting.
and finally...
4) Pink isn't a bad colour to wear when you're sweating!

Regards from Japan

Day 3 - Harry Potter Returns, Kawa River Symposium day & Meeting the Emperor of Japan

Well hello again everybody. Here's highlights from day 3 in Japan which was just as eventful and fun as days 1&2. This was the day that the WFOT congress opened officially, with royal approval no less!

Having just about recovered from the past two days adventures: (my Air China nightmare, sleeping in a shoe box and sweating prefusely every time I stepped outside), I decided I needed a day of fun, and no stress about the upcoming presentations. To achieve this I had volunteered my services to my friends who were running the Kawa River Model Workshop day, back the University of Technology, Tokyo. This meant returning to the Harry Potter music at my favorite metro station, where I would constantly look out for kids with owls disappearing into the walls of the station.

The Kawa River Model is one of many Occupational Therapy Models of practice, and not a model that I have used a lot. So I was keen to see how other OT's around the world were using it. This was a truly global event with speakers both present in person and on-line, and the whole day being live-streamed by the truly wonderful OT4OT Team - whom I have had the pleasure to learn from right through my career, even back to my student days.

OT4OT & Michael Iwama

The Kawa River Model Founder - Michael Iwama, is a real gentleman, and having had the pleasure of meeting him on a couple of occasions now I am always impressed by his manner, his approachability and enthusiasm for Occupational Therapy in general.

Having said I was willing to be 'used & abused' anyway that was needed, I was lucky to be given the task of being the greeter and collector of people's details. So, basically networking, my favorite (and arguably best skill). I was joined by a delightful Japanese OT named 'Sayuri' who will appear in later posts as she became part of a multinational group of OT's who spent lots of time during the week doing the most important thing of all - laughing and sharing life stories and experiences.

Conference Venue, Yokohama

 Back in Yokohama preparations were in full swing for the Opening Ceremony, where there was expected to be a full auditorium to receive a welcome form the Emperor and Empress of Japan! Experience has taught me that the best place to be at conferences is the 'tea' room. It was certainly where the 'magic' happened in Chile, and despite a rather small and disappointing space here in Yokohama, I could still find smiley and welcoming faces such as Merrolee and Anita (Below). The  tea was ok too.

'Sandwich ladies in the tea room'

 The Auditorium was pretty big and with 5000, (yes, 5000!) expected delegates over the 4 days, it was officially the largest group of OT's ever gathered in place! (...And not a weaved basket or stuffed bunny in sight!) Trying to find my friends in this crowd was a little hopeless, so I did my usual trick of scanning the crowd, looking for the friendliest faces, and sitting near them! It worked a treat as I ended up sitting next to two awesome Australian OT's who happily chatted away with me until the lights went dark and the ceremony began!

 

The Emperor and Empress made a brief but memorable stop to acknowledge the profession and the congress! A nice tough I thought, and something that allowed for growing sense of pride about our profession, to receive such recognition.

As you may expect from the Japanese, the entertainment would be reflective of their culture and we were not disappointed at all with drummers and musicians that added a real sense of Japan to proceedings! (See videos below)

Now the ceremony was over it was time to relax, kick back, grab a beer and mingle! The first friend I met was non other than Caroline - my American colleague who works with me in Wellington, NZ. Caroline is a pretty inspiring 'think out of the box' kind of OT that I'm proud to say I know, and the very next person to 'clink a glass' was non other than Ritchard Ledgerd - a guy who I met back in 2000, when I was a first year OT Student at Salford University. Richard had was the student representative for the College of OT in the UK. Now he's on the WFOT committee, and well deserved too!

Me and Caroline

The entertainment continued during the welcome drinks as you can see from the pictures below...

Caroline talking dragon...

At the opening Ceremony a group of loudly laughing Taiwanese OT's caught my eye, not simply because they were laughing away, but because a couple of them looked vaguely familiar and I definitely recognized the laughter. Some 4 years ago in Santiago, Chile I remembered these Taiwanese Students roaming around and placing as many Taiwan flags on people as they could. Was this really the same group 4 years on and around the other side of the world?? It certainly was! Amy, Szu-fan and Janelle were another group of people who were going to become a familiar part of the week and lead to some funny cow-related stories! I was also able to describe the death defying drive I had endured on my way through Taiwan to get me here in the first place!

Reunion with Janelle, Szu-Fan & Amy from Taiwan

I began to wonder could this day get any better? Meeting old friends, meeting new friends, an Emperor's visit, and free drinks. Then I heard a voice that I could not mistake, a voice of a Professor from the Unviersidad De Chile - Diego. Diego Cifuentes. 

Diego, Juan Pablo & Me!

Diego has been many things to me, a colleague, an interpreter, a teacher, but also a great friend. I have spent time with Diego at his work place, in funky little Santiago bars, he's even stayed in my home in Manchester, UK, and now here we were in Yokohama Japan. My career and profession has brought me many great things in life, things I am grateful for like: travel, opportunities to learn about other cultures first hand, helping people less fortunate than myself, to name a few. The one thing I am most grateful is the friendships and human connections.

A very happy Dan signing off from Day 3 in Japan!

Days 1&2 - Twitchy Taiwan, arrival in Japan & Teaching in Tokyo!

Yokohama City

Hello Everybody,
.... and welcome to the adventure that was the 16th World Occupational Therapy Congress held in the beautiful city of Yokohama Japan.
The most obvious place to start such an adventure would indeed be at the beginning, but given the fact I needed 4 FLIGHTS (Wellington-Auckland-Sydney-Taipei-Tokyo) to get from New Zealand to Japan, and some divine intervention to get me across Taipei (in Taiwan), this could be a long long start!
I'd not even arrived in Japan when I was faced with the first challenge of having no more than 2 hours to touch down, collect luggage and pass through immigration from Airport 'A' in Taipei, and then get to airport 'B' - a 50 minute bus ride away. Having been refused my request to be seated at the front of the plane on a pretty empty flight (to allow me to get off quickly), I was told I had to sit in the back of the plane with almost every single other passenger. The reason for refusing me a move to the front of the plane??? - Weight!!! - yes they said the plane was too empty so the weight needed to be distributed properly. Quite an insult!
I eventually required the intervention an airport security guard who let me use the 'diplomatic express channel', then some generous taxi passengers who let me jump to the front of the queue, and then an old Taiwanese taxi driver who drove like this was the last fare of his life - getting me to airport 'B' in 25 mins. Needless to say I tipped him well!

On arriving in Yokohama, already sweaty and dehydrated I did not need long to find my first on-street vending machine! I  had heard all kinds of stories about what you can find in these kind of machines (including women's used underwear - not sure how true that is!?) but I was simply glad for a cold drink!

After a shower and little sleep lifted my spirits and got me re-energized despite a little disappointment when I arrived at the hostel to find a hobbit sized Japanese room ,with no bed and one shower for 20 rooms, on the 5th floor (with no lift). Still I'd been to worse places, and it was sure better than a kitchen in Argentina!
I was delighted to find that Yokohama was a very tourist friendly city. My habit of wandering in a direction I know I need to go in served me well as I found the metro station just down the road. Two Japanese school kids showed me how to purchase a ticket - I found on my travels that kids are always more willing to try and communicate than adults - ad this proved to be the case here too!

Downtown Yokohama

The central city was easy to navigate as you just head to the 'big wheel' in the picture above and the conference centre as directly behind that! I was quick to enjoy the feeling of walking around the city in a short sleeve t-shirt as it was much warmer than in NZ! the local street food I bought may have looked a bit like dodgy, but it tasted great!

Hungry Dan

Here's a few more pictures from downtown...

After a really lovely evening of walking around the city, eating in china town - which included another funny game of lets converse without words by pointing, nodding and smiling and hope we understand each other - I ended up being forced to eat 6 small dishes of food, - They insisted I order 6 dishes despite me pleading with them to order only 4! And being the only person in the restaurant as the staff waited politely for me to finish the food. If you are wondering why I waited to eat all 6 dishes, it was because there was genuinely a sign on the table that said, 'order as much as you like, but eat it all, because you will pay for what you don't eat' - explain that to me!!!!

MONDAY - TEACHING IN TOKOYO

I was joined in Yokohama by my long time on-line friend Jouyin Teoh, an OT from Malaysia who I was meeting in the flesh for the first time in Japan. Jouyin is an even bigger 'net-worker' than I am through social media. She had invited me to join her speaking to some first Year OT students at the Tokyo University of Technology, under the wonderfully wise teaching of Professor Nara.
Before heading to the University we decided to have a little look around Tokyo which as you can see from the photos below included some shopping fun - much to the amusement of the locals sat having coffee watching us pose in the 'beautiful people' section!   

Taking in some more Historic Tokyo scenes, we were able to find such famous landmarks as this theatre below, amid the tall and modern towers that surrounded this vast and huge city!

The Royal Gardens found just across the way from the pretty central Royal Palace were as pretty and well maintained as you might expect. There was a real sense of tranquility in these little gardens as you can clearly see from the very chilled out wildlife on the rocks!

The Emperor's Palace was in an equally beautiful setting and yet so close the the bustle of central Tokyo.

Food in a new country is always a challenge as my next attempt to purchase food in a Japanese food establishment proved. It was here I was introduced to the concept of buying my food ticket from a machine outside of the restaurant (I was thankful for pictures to guide me), before walking into the restaurant and handing the tickets to a waiter and crossing your fingers hoping that whatever is brought out to you, looks something like the picture on the machine you ordered from!

We made our way to the metro station by the University at 4pm as agreed. This was by far my favorite metro station in all of Tokyo & Yokohama because the music they played on the platform as trains were leaving was the theme music from Harry Potter! (Well it may not have been exactly, but in my head I was as Hogwarts!) I thought the music played on stations was just a nice touch until it was pointed out to me, that the tempo slowly increases the closer the train gets to leaving - to subconsciously encourage people to move quickly onto the train.... now that's clever right!?

Anyway, having actually dragged myself away from my own fantasy land we required some help to get to the University. A woman passing by stopped to help and went beyond attempting to give us directions, but insisted on actually walking us to our destination! (Memories of Vietnam came flooding back - whereby people want to actively help you, even if they aren't sure how to help, as she actually took us the wrong way before stopping to ask for directions herself) 

We were greeted by the inspirational Professor Nara, who had assembled relatively large group of students in a room for us. I was quite nervous prior to the presentation. Not about talking - that I can do in my sleep, but more about being a sweaty and disheveled looking mess as my body was not adapting well to the humidity and heat. I had brought a change of clothes, which at least gave me the appearance of something other than a raving madman!

Riveting Presentations...

The students were... well as you'd expect, polite courteous and needed a fair bit of prompting to ask questions. I wondered if like in Vietnam and other countries, they were not wanting to make mistakes with their English to a native speaker.  Dr Nara made us very welcome and after sweating a bit more and a few photographs with the students it was time to help prepare a room to be set up for the next day's Kawa Symposium day which I had volunteered to help out with!

With the 1st Year OT students from Tokyo University of Technology

On returning to Yokohama with the Harry Potter theme tune now firmly stuck in my head, we were greeted with the wonderful sight of Yokohama by night and the glow from the big wheel by the conference centre. Despite the heat in the 'shoebox' room I slept soundly with the excitement of seeing old friends the following day and the opening ceremony - which was going to be attended the the Emperor and Empress of Japan! - Now that's what I call magic....

Yokohama by night

Regards from Japan!