We “GMM” appeared on the Hokuriku Chunichi Shinbun!!

2018年6月4日(月)付けの北陸中日新聞、富山紙面で大きくお取り上げ頂きました!

[The translation] Shiho Nakamura has established the group, which is the only one group of international interaction for moms and children in Toyama. Now It has been in the fifth year since its establishment.
So far, in total 883 participants from over 15 countries havejoined its activities. 
She hopes to let it become the playground which has potentials for moms to consider and find her own comfortable parenting style, having global perspective and global sense, apart from stereotypes surrounding them.
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Having worked for a publishing company and a river cruise company, she has established the group Global Mommies Mingling in September 2013. Just after 911, in Toyama as she had profound relationships with various people from abroad, she has got started to learn English by herself. She is a mom of one child. 
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– what made you establish the group?
In Toyama, as my works, I have interviewed people from abroad what they observe about this Toyama, what they see about this Toyama. During the works, I met a Finnish mom, who gave a birth here. After that, I myself have become a mom too. I realised indeed that it is very hard task for moms to deliver and raise babies even in living their own home countries. In addition to that, I also experienced pregnant women have many restrictions for their daily life, and as they have to concentrate on taking care of babies and children every day, their options to enrich their daily life tend to become limited, it means there becomes fewer options for moms to experience various activities to enrich their daily life.
As I have been interested in international interaction, I wanted to make a playground where moms could enjoy being with babies and kids , having global insights and sense.

– What are your activities like?
I have organized various kinds of activities irregularly. But mochitsuki&miso cooking activity has become our regular yearly event. We enjoy activities of Japanese or other countries’, sometimes we enjoy visiting Toyama sightseeing places.
A mom from Indonesia said “As Indonesian children have many many homeworks than Japanese kids, I thought kids have to study hard before coming here. But now, I think this Japanese style is good because it is not too hard for kids.”
I wish this GMM could be the playground which offer the potential that moms could consider what they choose by themselves for their own parenting style, looking over again their values and stereotypes of communities which they have belong to.

– What do you think about how Japanese dads had better get involved in their parenting?
Many women from abroad tell me that there are still so many glass ceilings to women in Japan. For example, in Finland the ratio of parenting roll of dads and moms is 50:50. Why could they do so? Because dads can go back home around 16:30 or 17:00 when they want/need. I think if the Japanese dads could do the same like them when they need/want, the Japanese moms could make much more achievements among societies, and also at the same time they could enjoy the roll of moms.

what is your next step?
We have now an ongoing project of “World Childcare”, which is a hearing survey style worldwide activity with mom-friends around the world through this GMM. I hope someday we could hold exhibition event here in TOyama to show the collected answers to widen our eyes open more, to connect more moms. And of course I continue to organize various activities for this group.

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