How Japan Has Opened the Door to Change
by Bob Stilger
Tadaima! ただいま. That's what is said in Japan when one returns home. "I'm back, I've been out in the world and I am back." And that is exactly how I felt last week during a trip to Japan. I'm a little embarrassed--はずかし--to be writing about what is happening in another country and culture. So just let me be clear--my story is as a foreigner, a visitor, and I speak only from my outsider perspective.
My relationship with Japan started 40 years ago, when I escaped there during my senior year in college. My life and learning in Japan have been a central part of who I am. It is my spiritual home. But I've never been inclined to take my work there until recently.
Last November, at the Pegasus Systems Thinking in Action Conference, I was presenting on behalf of The Berkana Institute. I was amazed to see 25 or so people from Japan. Normally there are just several. I wondered, "What's happening?" and learned that the answer is "a lot." Over the last couple of years in Japan, there has been a tremendous surge of interest in and work with systems thinking, Presencing, World Café, Appreciative Inquiry, and a host of other processes. The people I met have not only embraced these methodologies, they have created a huge opening for new ways of thinking and being. And in Japan, when something begins, it moves quickly!
Conversations soon evolved into an invitation to give a workshop and to participate in an evening Dialogue Bar. The weekend workshop with 20 participants was a combination of my work on Resilient Communities, Enspirited Leadership, Art of Hosting 
sampler, and Art of Change sampler all rolled into one. We met in circle and Open Space and World Café. We walked in silent pairs and in dialogue pairs. We modeled with clay, and the clay was so loved that it became a part of the rest of the World Café sessions. We designed the second day together, and much of the hosting was done by the participants.
Monday night was the "Dialogue Bar." More than 100 people from all walks of life and all ages came. I presented an opening keynote, in which I shared a bit of my life story as well as some of my findings about Enspirited Leadership. But they really came for conversation. Lively, animated, intense conversation about what it takes for social innovation to make enough of a difference to make a difference.
What did I learn from this amazing experience? I learned that World Café is being used extensively in business in Japan these days. People seem comfortable with the World Café format; it is intimate, yet with some protections. It is well documented and not just some "flakey" way of doing things. Heck, the prime minister even has the book The World Café: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter! And the hunger for conversations that matter is inspiring. People know things need to change. And they know they need to be part of that change.
Japanese know how to listen to each other with their whole bodies and to hear far beyond the words. They know how to be silent with each other. They know how to be respectful. They know how to find questions. AND, there is an expression in Japan, "The nail that sticks up is pounded down."
How does one continue to listen with one's whole being AND stick up, stand up, find courage and clarity to offer one's leadership in a time of immense change? This is the question that Japan is ready for and it has been cracking wide open for more than two years. This is why there were 25 people from Japan at the Systems Thinking in Action Conference this past November where there have been four or five in the past. And this is why I'll be back for some work in May and suspect I will be returning more frequently!
Bob Stilger has been engaged in community change work since the mid-1970s. In recent years, much of his work has been in places like South Africa, Zimbabwe, India, and Brazil, where new forms of engagement are being created. He has a PhD in Learning and Change in Human Systems from CIIS and was the co-president of The Berkana Institute from 2005-2009.