{"id":4545,"date":"2014-10-14T06:00:46","date_gmt":"2014-10-13T21:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jambointernational.org\/?p=4545"},"modified":"2014-10-14T06:00:46","modified_gmt":"2014-10-13T21:00:46","slug":"%e4%b8%8e%e3%81%88%e3%82%8b%e5%96%9c%e3%81%b3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jambointernational.org\/en\/%e4%b8%8e%e3%81%88%e3%82%8b%e5%96%9c%e3%81%b3\/","title":{"rendered":"The Joy of Giving"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/jambointernational.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/OkutamaAug31-2873.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/jambointernational.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/OkutamaAug31-2873-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"OkutamaAug31 - 2873\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-4546\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jambointernational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/OkutamaAug31-2873-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/jambointernational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/OkutamaAug31-2873-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nImage being forced to leave your home because there is war all around you, or because your children are starving to death, or because the government wants to kill you for standing up for your rights.  You go to another country where you don\u2019t know the language, any people, and have no idea what the future holds. Pretty frightening, huh?  How fortunate most of us are not to go through such an ordeal. <\/p>\n<p>Yet, that is the life of many refugees around the world.  I had the opportunity to go to Icho Apartments (\u30a4\u30c1\u30e7\u30a6\u56e3\u5730\uff09in Kanagawa, where many refugees (mainly from Southeast Asia and South America) live together with Japanese.  Despite their difficult circumstances, they were full of life and the spirit of giving, offering food (for free) and holding performances of their respective countries at their multi-cultural festival \uff08\u591a\u6587\u5316\u796d\u308a\uff09.  What a beautiful thing to see &#8211; the \u201cpoor volunteering for the rich.\u201d  We usually assume it\u2019s the other way around.  <\/p>\n<p>It goes to show that all of us have something worthwhile to give.  You, too, can find your gift and something you enjoy doing, and share that with others &#8211; this has a boomerang effect with others wishing to share with you, and everyone benefits.  The people\u2019s spirit of sharing and caring at Icho Apartments has brought in many volunteers from outside (to teach Japanese, play with the kids, etc. &#8211; http:\/\/www.tmkobo.com\/join.html ) , and it is in making and deepening such relationships that everyone can lead more fulfilling lives.  <\/p>\n<p>Be good to yourself &#8211; doing something you enjoy and are good at, sharing it with others, and experiencing the joy of connecting! <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Image being forced to leave your home because there is war all around you, or because your children are starving to death, or because the government wants to kill you for standing up for your rights. You go to another country where you don\u2019t know the language, any people, and have no idea what the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jambointernational.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jambointernational.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jambointernational.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jambointernational.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jambointernational.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jambointernational.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4545\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jambointernational.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jambointernational.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jambointernational.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}