A meeting in Tokio

Grundtvig Society Japan for Folkehoejskole Movement is a network organization of the people who are interested in Danish and Nordic Hoejskole Movements. It is founded in 1994. The Society has ca. 170 members in Japan from Hokkaido to Okinawa. Important is that the three small schools named " Folkehoejskole" take a part in this Society. These are Setana Folkehoejskole in Hokkaido, Hioki Folkehoejskole in Yamaguchi and Izumi Folkehoejskole in Kagoshima.

Setana Folkehoejskole was founded by a farmer Masato Kawamura who had learned in his youth at a Danish Grundtvian Farmer's school, and was inspired by the Danish and Norwegian Folkehoejskole. This boarding school has the one year course gathering 10 - 20 Students and it stresses dairy farming experience in the school life.

Hioki and Izumi Folkehoejskole are not boarding school. They provide opportunities for adult education or environmental education irregularly. Izumi Folkehoejskole is now temporarily closed but 2000 a new Folkehoejskole opened in Yamagata. It is called Oguni Folkehoejskole. Oguni Folkehoejskole is a boarding school for the young people from 16 years old. The founder named Yoshikazu Take is music teacher, and he stayed as a Hoejskole teacher in a Norwegian Folkehoejskole from 1997 to 1998. The background of Setana and Oguni Folkehoejskoler is Christianity. They are influenced by one Japanese Christian stream inspired by Grundtvigian tradition in Meiji era.

The Society is working now mainly for adult education movement took initiative by people, for instance, the people seeking the alternative Japanese education, the Anti-Atomic power plant movements or peace movements etc. The quality of Japanese adult education itself is not inferior to the Danish one, but in Japan always it is oriented to the way so called from the top to the bottom. The Government and local government are willing to take it under their control. So , we became inspired by the Grundtvian liberalism of education as we experience the Danish Folkehoejskole tradition, by which we will proceed an alternative grass movment for adult education.

Of course the alternative movements in the different fields partly by the 68 generation partly by the new generation spreads also in Japan. Grundtvig Society Japan plays a role of coordinating the people's movements in Japan.

The style of boarding school is very important. Drinking, eating and being together makes the atmosphere of a somewhat hygge, strengthens a sort of the solidarity of participants and make possible so called " Living words and Interaction", through which we come to the people's enlightment. From this point of view we organize some seminars in a year with a boarding school style. In fact it is only a few days seminar, but we experience deeply the awakening of our consciousness for life and society.

The organizing of the study tour called reisend Hoejskole is also one of the main activities of the Society. We had already done it 1993, 1994, 1996,1998,with the gareat support of Ry Hoejskole and Kristian Samuelsen. And 2001 we made also a study tour with Bodil Larsen in Hoerdum and Lene Frislund in Ry Hoejskole. 1999 and 2000 we organized the short course seminar for Ry Hoejskole in Japan. We have good conections with the Danish hoejskole people. For instance Ove Korsgarrd, the author of the famous book " Kampen om lyset", also is one of our supporters in Denmark.

Giving information of Follehoejskole movements to the Japanese people is one thing of our activities. We published a comprehensive book about the Danish Folkehoejskole which may be the best guidebook in Japan. Not only the people concering education but also the people in the financial or GOVERNMENTAL world become interested in the Danish Folkehoejskole Movements and Grundtvigian tradition through this book. Through the Society some Japanese TV broadcasting companies or news papers visited many Danish alternative schools, and reported the Danish alternative schools movements in Japan.

The Society is also organizing the meetings and seminars in the whole Japan. Its secretary is situated in Fukuoka in Kyushu, but it has branches in Osaka, Nagoya and Tokio.

Grundtvig Society Japan is indeed a very small scale organization. However, it produces a fairly large influence to Japan, just as Denmark do the same to the world though it is a small country. We think it is one fruit of the Society's activities.(5.21.2002)

"Beyond modern disciplined society toward joy of life"
A meaning of Grundtvigian movement in Japan as an advanced countory