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!