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About us

OBI is an education-based NGO that provides and practices a program while learning “how to build bridges.” OBI is opening an alternative school“caico”, an alternative place “habel” and Bridge Builder’s School. We are also preparing to offer educational programs at school, local governments, and companies for teachers, students, government officer and corporate managers.

Programs will include workshops, lectures, cultural experiences, artistic activities, cross-cultural exchanges, etc.  All are designed for a wide variety of people regardless of age, nationality, and religion. We also develop teaching materials to be used in learning "how to make peace", research and survey on cross-cultural understanding, support for foreign students and trainees from outside Okinawa, research for fair, democratic regional governance.

 

OBI’s program facilitators are experts in the area who were from Okinawa and other domestic and foreign experts. As facilitators with diverse background and experiences work together,  we expect synergistic effects of cross-cultural understanding. We provide people to acquire skills to solve conflicts that occur in everyday life such as at home, school, and workplace, and also in intercultural and international settings. We interact with people in various regions of Asia including Okinawa, hoping to make the world a bit more peaceful and healthy 

 

OBI is a sister organization of KOPI (Korea Peacebuilding Institute) which was established in Korea in 2012. KOPI is also an educational NGO, provides a place to learn peacebuilding methods of conflict resolution, such as  restorative justice, for families, schools, courts, local communities, etc. In addition, OBI is sponsored and supported by NARPI, which has a strong connection with KOPI. NARPI (Northeast Asia Regional Peacebuilding Institute) holds a summer training program every year for university students and social workers while gathering participants from Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, and Mongol to learn about peacebuilding in Northeast Asia. 

Vision

Bridges which connect one and other are not just there. A bridge is something we build together beyond borders, religious and ideological differences. Bridge builders are doing their activities to make links two or more worlds. One works as a counselor to help to integrate other, who is in a conflict state in his/her mind. One works as a storyteller to convey messages about inconvenience in the world. One works as an educator to teach people with different cultures how to coexist. One works as a conflict settler to end war between ethnic groups. 

 

Many known and unknown people in this world have long engaged in the practice of “building bridges”. Thanks to their practices, various seeds are sown everywhere in the world, they sprout, trees for bridges spread branches, and created a place we can live our lives safely. They may be like oases dotted in a wide desert. While some continue to exist in the desert, others disappear. It may not be easy to build a new bridge. However, we think it is not impossible to build bridges. May this world, miraculously born in this universe, become a better place for everyone and for all the life. We hope more “bridge builders” to be born. 

Programs

  1. Providing a place for learning and practice on cross-cultural understanding
    a. Cultural experience
    b. Artistic activity
    c. International exchange
    d. Workshop
    e. Fieldwork
    f. Lecture
    g. Talk event

  2. Research on cross-cultural understanding

  3. Policy recommendations on cross-cultural understanding

Various “Cross culture"

a) Individual vs. individual

Two or more relationships among individuals, parent-child, partner, friends, intergenerational, teacher -student, inter-coworker, boss-subordinate relationships etc.

b) Individual vs. group

When an individual is in a group - identity crisis, elimination of strangers etc.

c) Group vs. group

Interest-based groups, groups within an organization and a local community, between ethnic groups, between countries

d) Human vs. Nature

　

- Relationship axis
-  Scene axis

  1. indivisual

  2. home

  3. School

  4. Workplace

  5. Third place

  6. Local Community

  7. Iternational community

About Bridge Builder’s School 

For someone, it is a place to turn a square world into a round world. For someone, it is a place where you can be free from preconceptions and stereotypes and start your own life. For others, it is a place where he/she can feel that "the world is not so bad", and for someone else, it will be a platform to connect with people around the world. Regardless of your age, nationality, and religion, it is a place where anyone is welcomed to come in.

- What you can do at Bridge Builder’s School

  • You can get tips and skills to make your life more fun and fulfilling. You can learn from gentle and harsh nature, land-based culture and people’s wisdom. You can also learn through intercultural exchange with others who have lived differently from you. 

  • You can learn and practice methods to transform conflicts and build a healthy relationship with yourself, with someone, between groups within a community, between countries. 

  • You can learn peacebuilding skills in multiple ways from various approaches and methods and technologies to make peace. 

- Bridge Builder’s School is recommended for people… 

  1. who wish to regain their original self

  2. who wish to build good relationships at home families, schools, workplaces

  3. who are involved with people who are not well integrated with society and suffering

  4. who want to acquire social and facilitation skills

  5. who are interested in community building

  6. who are interested in cross-cultural understanding / international exchange

  7. who are involved in policy issues that may cause friction among citizens, such as relocating or newly installing nuisance facilities (such as administrative officials, politicians, NPO staff, citizens)

  8. who wish to work in the field of international cooperation, cultural exchange, peace building, multicultural setting 

  9.  who are already active in the field of international cooperation, cultural exchange, peace building, multicultural setting

- Bridge Builder’s School is recommended for people… 

A) 1 day class

B) Continuing class

C) Summer course

D) Annual course

E) Satellite classroom

F) Study abroad

- Programs provided by Bridge Builder’s School (draft)

  1. Introduction to peace building

  2. conflict management / conflict transformation / conflict resolution

  3. restorative justice
    Mediation, dialogue facilitation, circle process facilitation etc.

  4. Relation building
    Construction and reconstruction of relationships among individuals in a conflict relation, groups with conflicting interests, and between different cultures

  5. Trauma healing

  6. individual identity empowerment

  7. Peace Communication

  8. Peace Education

  9. Intercultural understanding & multicultural coexistence work
    Group: Group (international exchange, cultural exchange), individual: group (ethnography, ethnomethodology), individual: individual (deep listening, Life story interview)

  10. Design and practice of democratic decision making process (3p community governance = self governance of the people for the people by the people)

  11. history studies and community development 

  12. Work to find solution for social problems

OBI

Okinawa Bridge Builders Institute

#301 458 Tamagusuku-Shikenbaru Nanjo-city Okinawa

 901-1407, JAPAN

＋81-(0)70-5417-6342

okinawabridgebuilders@gmail.com

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