“Kuragaku,” a Learning Space for Understanding Diversity 〜 Toward a Society Where Everyone Respects One Another

Human diversity—how much do we know about it?

Characteristics related to appearance include age, gender, race, height, and weight. Social characteristics may include nationality, place of residence, family structure, occupation, and income.

Characteristics we are born with and characteristics we acquire over the course of our lives shape our personalities, ways of thinking, and values, giving rise to diverse individuality.

It is easy to say, “Accept diverse individuality,” but the reality is that some people are hurt when their individuality is rejected.

Kikutake Yuki experienced what is called poverty and life in a children’s care home between birth and the age of 18.

At times, she was criticized without reason for her living circumstances, but with support from social welfare services, she was able to grow to the point where she could live independently.

After completing the first cohort of Takahashi River Shijuku, a program for considering the SDGs in the Takahashi River Basin, Kikutake launched “Kuragaku,” a place to learn about diversity, to share the fact that people in society come from a wide range of backgrounds.

Then, on Saturday, July 3, 2021, she spoke as a guest lecturer at a class for the second cohort of Takahashi River Shijuku, explaining the background to the establishment of Kuragaku.

We introduce the events that led Kikutake to launch a new venture and her thoughts about the work.

What is “Kuragaku,” a place to learn about diversity?

Yuki Kikutake, representative of Kuragaku

Yuki Kikutake, a graduate of the first cohort of Takahashi River Shijuku, a program for considering the SDGs in the Takahashi River Basin, launched Kuragaku in April 2021 with the aim of creating a society where each person’s circumstances and situation are acknowledged and people respect one another.

From birth until the age of 15, Kikutake lived in what is described as poverty, and then spent the years until she was 18 in a children’s care home.

After starting work as an adult, she took part in community activities such as litter-picking volunteer work, hoping to give back for the support she had received from social welfare services.

Through exchanges with people she met in community activities and what she learned in the first cohort of Takahashi River Shijuku, Kikutake realized that she had grown greatly as a person, regardless of her upbringing.

She decided she wanted to provide society with a place where people can learn regardless of their circumstances or situation, and established Kuragaku.

Takahashi River Shijuku – Takahashi River Basin School

Takahashi River Shijuku was launched after Kurashiki City was selected as an “SDGs Future City.” Hosted by Kurashiki City and operated by Takahashi River Basin School, it has had more than 160 participants to date. This community-focused…

Takahashi River Basin School

Kuragaku’s activities

At Kuragaku events, the instructor chooses a topic and gives a presentation, followed by group work in which participants share their opinions on the topic and their impressions of the presentation.

No special qualifications are required to participate; anyone can join.

Each event lasts two hours and is held mainly at “Sumiyoshicho no Ie Bunbuku,” a coworking space in Kurashiki City.

At past events, not only people active in the community but also university students and people working as freelancers have given presentations as instructors.

Topics include social issues such as poverty and politics, as well as everyday topics such as the difference between a close friend and a friend.

They also held “Kuradoku,” an event where participants introduce books to one another.

Looking back on life in poverty

What is poverty?

Definition of poverty

Behind Kikutake’s decision to launch Kuragaku was her past experience of living in poverty.

Many people know the word poverty, but few know what kind of situation poverty specifically describes.

So, at the beginning of her lecture, Kikutake explained the definition of poverty.

Poverty can apparently be broadly divided into two types.

Absolute poverty means having no clothes or place to live—in other words, being homeless.

Relative poverty is a situation in which a person has little financial leeway. It is comparatively more affluent than absolute poverty, but offers little freedom in daily life.

Child poverty

Because poverty is not visible in an obvious way in Japan, many people are unaware of it, but people living in poverty exist in our communities.

A survey by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare found that approximately 13 to 16 percent of children living in Japan are in relative poverty.

Taking an elementary school class as an example, this means that one or two students in each class are in a state of relative poverty.

Based on Kikutake’s experience, children in relative poverty appear “ordinary” at first glance.

However, she explained that poverty may be apparent from things such as clothing, smell, frequent moves, and the frequency of tooth decay.

The reality of life in poverty

Absolute poverty

Kikutake says that from birth until the age of 15, she was in a state of absolute or relative poverty.

She spoke from personal experience about what absolute poverty was like.

Not only were meals infrequent, but she also rarely had enough to eat. At times, the family of four shared a single convenience-store bento.

She wondered, “Why can’t I eat until I’m full?” “Why don’t we have a home?” and “Is this normal?” But because she had few opportunities to compare her life with other people’s, she said she was unaware that she was living in poverty.

Relative poverty

There was also a period when Kikutake used the public assistance system and lived in relative poverty.

The public assistance system is a system through which the government financially guarantees a minimum standard of healthy and culturally fulfilling living, as described below.

This system provides necessary assistance according to the degree of hardship to people who are in financial difficulty even after making full use of their assets and abilities, guarantees a minimum standard of healthy and culturally fulfilling living, and promotes their independence.

Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, “Public Assistance System”

Under the public assistance system, if a person’s income falls below the minimum cost of living set by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the difference is paid as assistance.

However, it is subject to strict conditions: it applies only when a person is still unable to maintain an adequate standard of living after selling all assets, such as a car or house, and using the proceeds for living expenses.

Kikutake gave a detailed account of her life in relative poverty while receiving public assistance.

For financial reasons, Kikutake could not buy uniforms for elementary or junior high school, and once consulted a teacher about it.

However, the teacher replied, “If you can’t buy a uniform, please come in your own clothes.”

When she was in elementary school, there were times when Kikutake was the only one attending school in her own clothes among classmates wearing uniforms.

Experiencing poverty

Now working as an adult, Kikutake does not view every aspect of her past life in poverty negatively.

She says that her experience of living in poverty had positive effects as well as negative ones.

Before Launching “Kuragaku”

Life in a Children’s Home

During high school, Kikutake lived in a children’s home in Kurashiki City.

A children’s home is a facility that accepts children aged 2 to 18 who cannot receive appropriate care due to abuse, neglect, or financial hardship.

It is said that around 30,000 people across Japan live in children’s homes.

Kikutake says that she was mocked simply because she lived in a children’s home.

She told us that, because people did not understand her and she faced prejudice, she could not talk to others about her past until recently.

However, she says that living in a children’s home gave her a safe place to live, where she could devote herself to her studies and extracurricular activities.

She said she came to appreciate the support provided by social welfare.

What She Gained Through Community Activities

After leaving the children’s home and starting work at a company, Kikutake joined volunteer activities, hoping to give back to society for the support she had received through social welfare.

Having no special skills, Kikutake joined the litter-picking activities of the Okayama Team of Certified Specified Nonprofit Organization green bird as an activity anyone could do.

People from diverse backgrounds, regardless of occupation, age, or nationality, took part in the litter-picking activities, and Kikutake says she was inspired by people with a wide range of backgrounds.

At first, she joined with the aim of picking up litter, but says that interacting with the diverse people she worked alongside introduced her to new ways of thinking and values, and she felt her interest growing in things she had never been interested in before.

She came to see litter-picking as a place to meet people and a place where interacting with others can prompt reflection.

Kikutake has continued these activities for many years, engaging with many people, and remains active as the leader of the Okayama Team.

After realizing that meeting people could prompt reflection, Kikutake went on to get involved in a variety of fields and places, including support activities for children with developmental disabilities and activities connecting young people with politics.

She told us that she found her current job at an environmental company, as well as the opportunity to join the first cohort of Takahashi River Shijuku, through connections she had built while working with the green bird Okayama Team.

Launching “Kuragaku”

Through community and social activities, including green bird, and what she learned in the first cohort of Takahashi River Shijuku, Kikutake feels that she was able to grow greatly as a person, regardless of her upbringing.

As a result, she came to want to create a place where people could learn through interacting with others, regardless of their circumstances or situation.

Her life in poverty until the age of 15 and her high school years in a children’s home are also elements that shaped Kikutake’s character and are aspects of her individuality that deserve respect.

She launched a learning space open to everyone, hoping to create a society that recognizes and respects not only her individuality, but also the individuality of people from every kind of background.

After Hearing from Yuki Kikutake, Representative of “Kuragaku”

The majority of people living in modern Japan go about their daily lives surrounded by entertainment, with access to medical care and no difficulty obtaining food, clothing, or shelter.

A look back at history helps us understand that a society in which many people can live securely was built through the free economic competition of capitalism.

However, we must not forget the fact that economic competition has widened the gap between rich and poor.

Poverty from birth is not an individual’s responsibility, and I felt that no one should be criticized for “being unable to afford a school uniform.”

Poverty in Japan is said to be difficult to see.

In fact, although many people receive compulsory education, how many noticed the classmates living in poverty who must have been among the few in each class?

Even if they did notice, they may have recognized them as different, intentionally or unintentionally, and criticized them for circumstances that were not their personal responsibility.

Through her lecture, Kikutake, the speaker, made Japan’s hard-to-see poverty clearly visible.

Kikutake spoke about her past experiences in a bright, clear voice, but it must have taken courage to decide what to cover in the lecture.

I sincerely hope that this lecture will draw many people’s attention to poverty in Japan and bring us closer to a society that recognizes and respects people from every kind of background.

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