Professor Haruhiko Tanaka discusses how the concept of ibasho can provide individuals with a powerful source of empowerment and belonging in episode 62 of the Ikigai Podcast.
Professor Tanaka's research spans various fields, including lifelong learning, youth education, development education, and environmental education.
*Watch the full playlist above.
Ibasho Across Different Domains
Aside from its daily use to track a person's whereabouts, Professor Tanaka highlights that ibasho is also incorporated in various fields, particularly in education. In this context, the term is used for policy-making and creating a sense of belonging for students.
Integrating ibasho within the academic realm
Nick: On the subject of writing, I came across your paper titled “Development of the ibasho concept in Japanese education and youth work: Ibasho as a place of refuge and empowerment for excluded people.”
I love this word ibasho, it has become very meaningful to me. I think my community is an ibasho. So it is one of my favourite Japanese words. How would you define ibasho?
Haruhiko: Thank you very much for your attention to ibasho concept. Ibasho is a Japanese word composing of i and basho. I is being and basho is place. So it's very usual, we use it every day. And my definition is that ibasho is a place where community feels at home.
Nick: Yeah, I love this word. And it's very interesting how this word generally means whereabouts or where someone is. But recently, it's become quite a powerful word, meaning your place to be or where you can feel comfortable. And I think everyone wants that in their life.
So I think that drove you to writing your paper, and the aim of your paper was to examine the academic significance of the concept of ibasho. So could you elaborate on how ibasho, a commonly used word came to be used as an academic term?
Haruhiko: The old Japanese word ibasho has been used in everyday situations, like, please tell me his ibasho, his way about. This term ibasho is newly used in policy-making and research in the 1990s.
The background of this is that in 1980s, the Japanese education problem was truancy, those who do not attend schools, and the Minister of Education, the Manbusho in Japan, gave a report or policy of Truancy in 1992.
The subtitle was ‘give them ibasho in schools.’ So ibasho is used in policy-making. And after that, researchers in the field of education, psychology, sociology, and architecture, use the word ibasho as a technical term.
Unveiling the Elements of Ibasho (Sense of Belonging)
How would you know where to find your ibasho, a sense of belonging? Professor Tanaka shares that there are three elements of ibasho: it's a place where you feel accepted, where you have meaningful relationships, and that makes you look forward to the future.
Identifying ibasho
Nick: Let's dive into your paper, I found your paper very helpful. And you mentioned that there are three elements in ibasho. I find these three elements extremely empowering and helpful. So, would you like to explain what these three elements are?
Haruhiko: Yeah, the three elements of ibasho are place, human relations, and time. The first is the spatial element, the word basho is place. So ibasho is a place of community, a comfortable place for the people. And as one feels safe, secure, accepted, and approved, these places are ibasho.
The home is first ibasho for most of the children, and second ibasho should be schools. But schools are not necessarily an ibasho for everyone, because schools are evaluated by grades or sports. Such kind of high grade of sports or literature. So school is not necessarily an ibasho for them.
But for those students or children who do not accept the culture of their schools, they need a third place, aside from home and school — like a youth center, or free school, free space, and so on.
The second element is human relations, it's very important for ibasho, for most of the students do not find an ibasho in schools, due to bad relations with classmates or teachers. So ibasho is a place where a good relationship is guaranteed, or at least no one is a threat. It's the second element of ibasho, human relations.
And the third is very important, it's time — element of time. A place is not an ibasho when there's no perspective for the future. When a student escapes from school, he or she loses not only space, but also prospect of the future: What should I do next? What is my future? If I’m not attending school, what should I do in the future? So there are uncertainties for his or her future. So the timescape is a very important element for ibasho.
Nick: Thank you for sharing those three elements. I've put a lot of reflection on these three elements and my experience of living in Japan. And actually, one of my best friends who I had a business with in Japan, his oldest son really struggled with school, he actually developed mutism at school.
So he just would not talk to anyone. And I guess he didn't feel very comfortable engaging in conversation and talking to people at school. And I think he spent much of his time in sickbay, or in the nurse's station studying by himself.
So I was quite concerned about my friend's son, whether or not he was happy, and if he was surviving. But actually, he's done quite well, and now he's studying at a University in Tokyo. So it sounds like he got through school, and he's studying engineering, computer engineering.
So I think it was okay in the end for for him. And then I've discovered through my own business that ibasho can be a community. And I guess I've developed ibasho with my community. And that's been through zoom calls, and doing podcasts and things like that.
So I have regular zoom calls with my members in my community. And even though we're not in the same room, we still share and have engaging conversations and share aspects of our personal life. So it has become a virtual ibasho. And that feels really satisfying and really rewarding.
Ibasho: Fostering Safety and Belonging for All
Is it possible for ibasho to serve as your sanctuary? Professor Tanaka shares how ibasho encompasses being part of a group where individuals can experience a sense of safety and empowerment when confronting life's challenges.
Finding empowerment in ibasho
Nick: But moving on, I'd like to quote your paper, you mentioned:
“All humans live in a state of coping with the outside world. However, several external pressures have weakened our original social power and reduced it to the minimal inner circle - deprived person. Creating ibasho is a necessary refuge for the oppressed. The restoration of the social power supposed to be inherent is called ‘empowerment.’ Ibasho functions as a foundation to recover the social power of the oppressed.”
So yeah, would you like to expand on this, Sensei?
Haruhiko: Yes, take an example, in 1980s, free schools and free spaces were refuge for truancy students. In this facility, they could avoid the public cold view, the damage to their mentalities were restored and revitalized in these free schools.
But the turning point came around 2000s, the free school students studied in Europe, they visited European free schools, they found that in European countries, these free schools are situated as formal schooling, and the truant students are very active.
So they found that the Japanese school system is not good. And after coming back to the European tour, they have organized a group to promote the new law or ensuring diverse education opportunities.
So truancy students was once a refuge in such free schools. But after that, they recover, after recovering, they now have some power to change the school system in Japan. And this law was enacted in 2017.
Nick: That's good, that's some progress. My memory of my son’s education at primary school, it was very positive. And he was he was doing things like public speaking, and we had this open-learning plan, and lots of activities related to the real world: they had garden projects, they would make vegetables, and they would either eat them or they could sell vegetables at the school fair.
And then once he went to the same school, once he went to high school, it changed back to that traditional structure of teaching and learning, and he really struggled and didn't like didn't like it. So I do think education is a bit backward and bit old fashioned.
So yeah, an ibasho in a school that would allow this diverse educational opportunities, I think is where education needs to go in all countries.
The Impact of a Lack of Ibasho on Mental Health
What role does ibasho play in the context of mental health? Professor Tanaka explains how the loss of ibasho, a place of belonging, can lead to mental health issues.
Ibasho and mental health
Nick: My other memory is mental health issues, that's another space. I think Japan's a bit slow to counter. In Australia, we have many initiatives for mental health. So we have many organizations and lots of advertising, lots of awareness for mental health. So if you have mental health, you can call someone, you can go to a website, you're encouraged to talk about your mental health.
But my understanding in Japan, it's still a bit backward or a bit slow, that talking about your mental health problems is almost considered troublesome or meiwaku, you're causing trouble. So I guess, people with mental health issues maybe also lack ibasho, whether that's in Australia or in Japan.
What do you think of mental health issues in relation to ibasho or what's happening in Japan?
Haruhiko: The people with hikikomori loses place of recognition. 15 years ago, the Japanese society has many jobs for them. They can work from nine o'clock until five without speaking, talking to everyone, just doing the same thing. Same work, very simple work.
But they are evaluated, and they got a salary before. But these kind of jobs have been gone from Japan to other countries. So the hikikomori type of people cannot survive this globalised Japanese situation.
Nick: I see. So they've lost. I mean, Japan used to have guaranteed life employment with one company.
Haruhiko: So this is not a psychological problem, hikikomoro. It is a social problem.
For the full podcast conversation, go to: Ibasho: Building Connections and Empowerment Through Belonging