【YOUTUBE】Living the Gift Economy ギフトエコノミーを生きる

日本語の投稿はここ
＊映像は字幕付き

I had the opportunity to visit Australia at the beginning of this year. I was on my way to Tahiti to teach on Peace Boat (NGO in Japan that does educational cruises and anti-nuclear and peace work). I did a few workshops in my usual donation-without-obligation style, and was rewarded with this lovely video.

Thanks so much to Cecilia Macaulay for organizing the workshops (I appreciated how much you stretched to be an organizer!), and Friendly Farms production for making this video. Hope to visit Australia again!!! Maybe at the end of 2018 or 2019.

Here is more on the gift economy and how I hold it  →  GIFTivim

JULY 24, 2016 Karma Kitchen Tokyo & My mini update

QUICK UPDATE (Karma Kitchen is below)

Hey all
So much to share but just haven't gotten around to posting in English. Sorry! But, if you use google translate and check out Tokyo Urban Permaculture, you might get a glimps....or maybe its finally time to learn Japanese!

I recently visited Satish Kumar at Schumacher College, spent over a week at Plum Village France, went to an AWAKIN CIRCLE in Paris, and finished it off with my first visit to Hunderwasserhaus! So much inspiration.

When I came back the community garden I decided to start the day before I left for my trip was bumpin with food! Yes! How to design yourself out of projects you start, that has been the edge I'm exploring. Nation elections were also happening so I helped anti-war, anti-nuclear power, peace and democracy advocate Miyake Yohei (reggae musician) try to get votes. He didn't make it but he has sparked an interesting youth-centered participatory democracy movement. And and, it looks like we are going to seal the deal soon with the landlord of the future Peace and Permaculture (nonviolence) Dojo in Chiba. Next year I'm hoping to take on some interns, and do a few longer-term workshops like a PDC, nonviolent communication retreat, mindfulness retreat, etc. Japan is happening!!!!!

Oh yeah, Tokyo Urban Permaculture Website is almost in full swing!

Love
Kai

(English below)
カルマキッチンとは、恩送り（ペイフォーワード）が
体験できるランチイベントです。

居合わせた人と交流しながら食事をするイベントですが、
普通のレストランと違うのは、お客さんがお店に着くと、
「あなたの食事のお代は、前の方からいただいています。
ですから、支払う義務はありませんが、
次の人に優しさを送ることもできます」
と言われるところです。

カルマキッチンでは、まず前の参加者からの
「優しさの贈り物」としての食事を楽しんでください。
食事後には、次の人に「優しさ」を送る人もいるし、
ボランティアをする人や自分の特技を見せることで
「優しさ」を次の人に送る人もいます。
それが恩送りの体験になります。

このたび、そんなカルマキッチンを、
手話が公用語のスープカフェ「Sign with Me」で
開催することになりました。
お子様連れも、外国人も、手話が第一言語の人も、大歓迎です。

※予約をいただかないとお入りいただけない可能性があります。下記の予約フォームにてお申込みくださいませ。

カルマキッチンHP　http://karma-kitchen.jimdo.com/

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー
日時　：7月24日（日）

時間帯（2部制）：　
第1部　11:00〜13:00
第2部　13:30〜15:30

場所　： Sign with Me 2号店　
※場所が変更になっております。ご注意下さい！
（都営三田線・大江戸線「春日駅A2出口」徒歩2分、
東京メトロ丸ノ内線「後楽園駅4b出口」徒歩5分
東京メトロ南北線「後楽園駅6番出口」徒歩5分、
JR水道橋駅東口徒歩15分）
地図　： https://goo.gl/maps/f49a4bVoxaQ2

メニュー（お申し込み時に選択してください）　：
1.焦がしペッパーの焼きバーグシチューセット　
2.一日分野菜の北海道スープカレー（肉なし）セット

お申し込み　：
第1部（11:00〜13:00）:
https://ssl.form-mailer.jp/fms/6cc5690a353938
第2部（13:30〜15:30）:
https://ssl.form-mailer.jp/fms/05828054378317

☆お申込みいただいた時間は、あくまでも目安です。
時間帯内で、ゆっくりと来ていただいても問題ありませんので、
当日ご都合のいい時間にお越しください。

☆会場の許容人数の関係上、予約をいただいていない方は
お入りいただけない可能性があります。
ご参加予定の方は、ぜひ予約をお願いします。

☆お席に限りがあります。当日参加できなくなった方は、
キャンセルをしていただけると、
お席を参加できる人に譲っていただくことになるので
ありがたいです。
ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー
Warm greetings! You are cordially invited to join us at the 14th Karma Kitchen event on 24th July. This is a lunch event where guests interact with each other over a meal. Step into the restaurant and you will be treated to a meal, paid by our previous customers. You have no obligations to pay, but you are free to send your kindness and regards to the next customer. Experience “paying forward”.

At this Karma Kitchen event, all you need to do is to receive a gift to you from previous participants and enjoy your meal. After your meal, you will be given an envelope. You are free to put in any amount of money you wish to pass on, or you could express your gratitude in any shapes and sizes, by performing a song, doing a good deed and so on.

The 14th Karma Kitchen event will be held at a soup café called “Sign with Me”, where the lingua franca is Japanese Sign Language. Don’t worry, of course, if you don’t know sign language. It is also an opportunity to experience diversity. Anyone and everyone is welcome! 

(Please note that you are required to fill up the form below for official registration.)

Karma Kitchen Homepage: http://karma-kitchen.jimdo.com/

Date: 24 July (Sunday)
Time:
Early Lunch: 11:00 ~ 13:00
Late Lunch: 13:30 ~ 15:30
Venue: Sign with Me second branch
※ The Place has been changed.
2 min walk from Kasuga Station A2 exit (Toei Mita Line, Oedo Line)
5 min walk from Korakuen Station 4b exit(Marunouchi Line)
5 min walk from Korakuen Station 6 exit(Nanboku Line)
Map: https://goo.gl/maps/f49a4bVoxaQ2

Please choose your menu when you sign up for the event:
1. Grilled pepper patty stew set
2. Hokkaido vegetables soup curry set (Vegetarian)

Sign up by choosing early or late lunch and fill up the form below.
Early Lunch（11:00〜13:00）:
https://ssl.form-mailer.jp/fms/6cc5690a353938
Late Lunch（13:30〜15:30）:
https://ssl.form-mailer.jp/fms/05828054378317

The time stated above is for general reference.
Feel free to drop by any time of your convenience once you have signed up.

Do note that you may not be allowed entrance without reservations, due to the limited space in the restaurant. We highly recommend you to sign up if you wish to participate.

Please cancel your reservation if you are not able to make it due to any reason, so that we can allow more participants to join us.

Hope to see you on 24 July!

Gift Ecology Pilgrimage (updated)

日本語はこちら
*this article is being edited so it is impermanent. Please do check out the links!

The Great Adventure begins!

A pilgrimage of 14 Japanese adventurers to places founded on the principles of ecology, compassion, and social transformation in the magical Bay Area. An experiment that will change our lives in some way, and shine light on what is possible. This will be a journey of hope and inspiration, full of cross-cultural pollination.

WHAT I DO (for context)

These visits to the West Coast are an important source of inspiration for my “work” in Japan. In Japan, the title that I go by (and that people know me by) is 共生革命家 (Kyoosei kakumeeka).  First two characters mean co-existence or inter-being, next two mean revolution, the last is home. My purpose in life has increasingly become focused on figuring out how I can best serve humanity and the earth. I love it, what could be more meaningful than that?!!! More and more, I feel guided on this path of interdependence and liberation.

My work consists of a variety of experiments in and around Tokyo that include guerilla seed planting,  guerrilla gardening, meditation flash mobs..... I also teach permaculture, compassionate communication (based on Nonviolent Communication), mindfulness, facilitation skills, gift ecology, etc. I've been experimenting with a gift economy based livelihood and that has been a really interesting journey. Almost all my workshops/presentations have no price set, there is no obligation to pay, its my gift. In fact, I want everybody to know how to live ecologically and compassionately, so I'm trying to remove as many barriers to that knowledge as possible. Money is often a major divider, so without a price, I'll get people who lost their jobs, students, professionals, and even bankers! But, I do invite people to support me if they like what I teach, what I do, or just are inspired to contribute. I was transformed by Goenka's vipassana meditation centers. They practice a pay-it-forward system, and so your 10-day meditation retreat (clean sleeping space, food, service) is already paid for! Definitely try it out! 

Since I stopped living on farms, and now do my social change experiments in Tokyo and across the Pacific, I've moved back to a higher consumption (lower material production) life-style. (if you are interested in how I used to live, click here) But, I have this belief that if the work I do is meaningful, somehow I will be supported to do it. It's been 2 years, I'm thriving, and I have a diverse global support network! So this gift economy works, or more accurately, I am alive and it is the path I am now on. I'm meeting more and more people who live and practice the gift economy, like Mark Boyle in England, Pancho in Oakland, Nipun Mehta in Santa Clara, and numerous more. My brother just moved to the Possibility Alliance, which seems to be a major hub for gift economics. Exciting!!!

*more on my experiments and books

THE TOUR

With my friend Eri Suzuki, we planned a tour to meet amazing sustainability activists and experience life-regenerating sites. The tour was primarily focused on urban permaculture, but then I added in agroecology, and then just had to integrate the gift economy. There is a lot of overlap here, and for me these are the foundations for the next era of humanity. The tour is also a "gift" in itself to the participants. 12 Japanese have come together to visit these sites with us and explore the gift economy, or as I now refer to it, the gift ecology. Its not just an economy. Life is a gift, air is a gift, water is a gift, sun is a gift, trees are a gift. Without these gifts, our lives would not be possible. Our economy needs these foundational "free" inputs. Without the ecosystem, our economy would not exist. So we all live in a gift ecology, but often our minds are heavily focused on the conventional economy, and one-on-one exchange. People are always giving us things too, and we are always giving others things, no matter how "poor" we are. In fact, our parents (and/or care-givers) give us so much for us to be alive today. Our life is a gift or the Earth and our human family.

Back to the tour. So, we took a leap of faith, and while there are real costs that require money, we decided to gift it to the tour participants in a similar manner as my workshops. They have no obligation to pay, but they are invited to contribute if their heart is inspired. And we extended the invitation to everybody. Lots of people are contributing to us for this experiment, people who have generously donated money, people who have offered their homes, people who are excited to make us a delicious meal, people who are in Japan helping coordinate logistics and media. It's quite the trip! It really feels like an ecology of goodness.

Our hope is that this will create a solid ripple in our consciousness. The tour is just one experiment in a larger global movement. Eri and I are changing, the participants will probably be transformed, those that give to the tour will probably experience something special, and the story will spread beyond our imagination. We are creating a new reality together. Join us! You can contribute to this experiment, start your own, or join one of the amazing people/places in the links below. The transformation comes from giving. We live in a gift ecology. Yay!

Contact us if you are wanting to be involved in someway (or leave a comment). Our response might be a bit slow but we'll make sure to get back. And if you want to contribute financially, you can donate to the experiment too! Click on the Donate button on the right of the blog and please leave a comment (we want to know what moved you!)

tup2015baytour(a)gmail.com  change the (a) to @

Below is the schedule for our pilgrimage. All are super highly recommended places (with beautiful people), so if you are in the area (or even if you are not), please go visit and experience them. These are places that demonstrate solutions. And the people are dedicated to revolutionary sustainable living and radical social change. We're all in this together.

THE PILGRIMAGE

May 31 ARRIVAL

• 1~3pm Karma Kitchen in Berkley 
• Head to Los Gatos to stay with Plum Village friends Sally and Beem
• Sangha meditation at Sally and Beems

JUNE 1 AGROECOLOGY@University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC)

• 10:30 Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems with Tim Galarneau
• 12:30 Alan Chadwick garden with former apprentice Ben Kutcher
• 3:30 Kresge Garden and Common Ground Center tour with Dave Shaw
• 5pm World Cafe with students on the gift economy 
• 7pm Kai will present at UCSC's Education for Sustainable Living Program on the Fukushima nuclear crisis, sustainable living, gift ecology.
• 8:30 pm Back to Sally and Beems with natural farming giftivists Suhee and Patrik http://www.finalstraw.org

JUNE 2 Alternative Santa Cruz & PICA

• 10 - 1pm Alternative Santa Cruz tour (e.g. Bike Santa Cruz County, Bike Church, Santa Cruz Fruit Tree Project) with Tawn Kennedy
• 4 - 5pm Program in Community and Agroecology (PICA) tour with Mira Michelle
• 6pm Potluck at PICA with sustainability activists!

JUNE 3 Food and Meditation

• 10 - 2pm Homeless Garden Project with Jes Walton
• 2:30 Downtown Farmers Market with foodies of Santa Cruz
• 5pm talk with Nipun Mehta (check out his evolutionary TEDx talk)

7 pm Awakin Santa Clara community meditation and meal with the Mehtas

11 pm Casa De Paz / Canticle Farm

JUNE 4 Canticle Farm (Meditation, Farm work, Food prep)

• Meditation
• Casa de Paz/Canticle Farm tour and presentation of the project 
• All day do things with Pancho and Sam

JUNE 5 Canticle Farm

• Meditation
• All day preparation for Awakin at Casa de Paz 
• 19:00 ~ Awakin circle@Casa De Paz

JUNE 6 EAST BAY PERMACULTURE

• 7:00am Meditation
• 10am~ at A Place for Sustainable Living Tour and garden project
• 14:30 ~ Bioasis 
• 16:00 ~ Ashby community garden
• 18:00 ~ Sustainability agents, potluck BBQ at Ayakos

JUNE 7 EAST BAY PERMACULTURE 2

• 10am ~ Gill tract farm with Allison Shiozaki
• Lunch at Bay Edo Wakana Kawamura’s place with revolutionary Japanese women
• 1pm ~ Transition Town Albany garden tour 
• 3pm ~ Edible Schoolyard tour
• 4:50pm~ Berkley Food Forest

JUNE 8 Occidental Arts and Ecology (OAEC & Sebastopol)

• 11am ~ 12:30pm OAEC tour
• Sebastopol Community Market 
• Sebastopol Permaculture Skills Center tour

JUNE 9 San Francisco

• 10:00 All In Common Garden and talk to Tree

JUNE 10 Each on their own path


After that, some will visit the magnificent Giant Sequoias and I will head to the Nonviolent Communication Leadership Program retreat (NVC). NVC has been an integral part in helping me understand the gift ecology, and committing deeper to this path.

I also want to super highly recommend Vinoba Bhave's book, "Moved by Love." He is a remarkable man that I am surprised I never knew. I heard about him from Nipun, Pancho, Satish Kumar, and a friend who started the Sloth Club in Japan, gave me this book.

More ripples to come.
Step by step, as we kiss the Earth
We can heal our hearts
and be moved a little more by love

Love life
Love people
Love the Earth

Student of life
Kai

Updates and Invitation to participate on our Gift Ecology experiment!

日本語は下のリンクをクリック！（写真と映像付きだよ〜）

http://tokyourbanpermaculture.blogspot.jp/2015/05/tup_26.html

Below is a write up from Eri since I'm snailing with all my tasks! Lots more details I want to add so I will do that in the next few days. The link above has pictures and videos of me explaining my understanding of the gift ecology (starting from our breath), and an explanation about how this tour came about.

-----------below is my super organizer partner Eri Suzuki-------------

Updates and Invitation to participate on our Gift Ecology experiment!

It’s been two months since we embarked on this experimental project. Here are some updates on our gift ecology based “Life Transforming California permaculture tour.” In this project we are offering an experiential tour showcasing Bay Area’s leading models of urban permaculture, agroecology and concrete examples of life in the gift ecology.

Here are some updates and reflection so far from Eri.

We received over 40 applications and we have selected 12 participants!

It’s been quite exciting but also challenge to make this a reality. I’ve been learning what it really means to make the tour as a gift and what it takes to make this a successful project.

I participated at Karma Kitchen and here is what I’ve learned as a key. The most important thing is to cultivate the sense of abundance. A gift becomes the true gift when it is given without expectations and this shift the mentality from transaction and what is exchanged no longer becomes a commodity. The receivers of the gifts are then moved to pay forward the gifts that they have received, and this is how the community of gifts spreads.

My experience with Karma kitchen made me want to make our tour to be the trigger of the ripple effects of gift community in Japan. The Karma kitchen started with the group of people who believed in the vision and contributed in the way then can providing resources like initial funding, ingredients for food, location for the restaurant, and man power for cooking, and serving etc. and the cycle of gifts all started.

This tour is at this first stage for the cycle of gifts! It’s been incredible how much support and encouraging word I have received from people that I shared the story with. I have been learning so much through this experience and I wish to share this experience with others. I would like too invite people to join in so we can all feel the sense of abundance we can create together in resources and in capital (both monetary and socially).

It was so inspiring for me to see people approaching us offering a support. For me, getting more and more people coming to us offering help is the proof of the power of gift ecology. Through this attempts, we are creating an ecosystem of support. I am so grateful and excited to share this experience with them.

In this perfect timing, a wonderful support came from Rie in Japan.

Here are some messages from her to invite more people to join her!

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Hi, this is Rie. I am starting to support the operation in Japan. Here is a little about me and the reason why I wanted to join to support.

I work for a company in Tokyo. Whenever I interact with young people lately, I feel they have so much potential but no energy. I think it may be due to some distrust to the society and the inter-generational conflicts that became more pronounced in Japan after the earthquake and increased unemployment. Whatever the reason may be, I want them to have more hope and create the world they want to live. As a way to start supporting this vision, I decided to help this tour.

I have received many gifts in my life. I am in contact with Kai and Eri who have the wonderful vision and courageously putting it into action. Having to work with them itself is a gift for me. To connect with others and create a future together is a wonderful gift. Whether you give or receive, it is a gift of exciting experience regardless of the involvement. Come join me to the world of gift!

The gifts offered to us so far

＊Kai: Community building in Japan, desing and coordinate tour, interpreting, providing workshop during the tour

＊Eri: Community building in Bay area, communication in Japan and Bay area, tour arrangement, interpreting, translating,

＊Rie: Tour operational support in Japan, communication in Japan

＊Pancho and Sam: East Bay accomodation and guide

＊Ayako: East Bay accomodation

＊Bonnie, Allison, Wakana:     East Bay guide

＊Wakana, Yuka,  Bill:  East Bay meals

Our Needs: Costs to cover

	Cost
Accomodation	$2,100	$50 per nights ×3 nights ×14people
Car rental	$1,800	$90× 2 mini van ×10 days
Gas etc	$500	$50×10days
For tour guide	$600	$100 per person per day x 6
Flight for Kai	$1000

• Eri and Kai are working to get accommodation from friends, many started to offer to be the guide as a gift and we are looking for innovative ways to reduce our cost.

Three of us have worked really hard and enjoyed the process to meet the challenge to practice gift ecology. We are inviting more people to join this trial as a gift supporter!

We are mainly looking for a support in Japan but wherever you are, if you wish to contribute, please let us know.

Please fill in the following form if you want to join us as a supporter.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1CzNAnoB8-0_YjINUduiU_qx_Rhbe1RlQRs_oO651BXk/viewform

①    Funding support

For those who wish to support the tour and the gift ecology project beyond the tour, please let us know. Those in Japan can deposit the money in the following account. Please send us your message, too!

From Yucho bank:

■Bank	Yucho bank
■Account name	ティーユーピーパーマカルチャードウノカイ （TUP パーマカルチャー道の会）
■Kigo	１０２１０
■Number	１６７６５２１１

From the bank other than Yucho bank

■Bank	Yucho bank
■Account name	ティーユーピーパーマカルチャードウノカイ （TUP パーマカルチャー道の会）
■Code for bank type	９９００
■Brunch number	０２８
■Brunch name	〇二八 店（ゼロニハチ店）
■Type	普通預金
■Account number	１６７６５２１

②    Operational support → Starting with running the tour and other projects beyond

No needs for professional experience if you have a heart to help! But if you have any, please let us know if you have any area of expertise that you want to contribute.

③　Program/Project support → Starting the tour, we would like to spread the community of gift ecology. If you like to go for the journey for the gift world in hosting the event for us, in PR, in support for event planning and management, please let us know!

For questions, please contact us here (to Rie) tup2015gift@gmail.com

Thank you so much!!!

TUP 2015 Bay Area Urban Permaculture Gift Ecology experient

Hello~

I'm currently touring around Japan with my all time hero Satish Kumar and his wife June. What a super special treat. I first met him in college around 2004. And now I am hanging out with him everyday, translating for him and asking him all sorts of questions. Even hanging out in the hot springs! Very exciting.

Soon to do the same with the Plum Village monastics (unfortunately Thich Naht Hanh had a medical emergency) who will come to Japan in May.

My next big project:

Tokyo Urban Permaculture’s new (r)Evolutionary project has started.
It took us both a long time to decide but we finally committed ourselves to make our “Life Transforming California permaculture tour” we host in June to be based in gift ecology (aka gift economy).

Our feelings go up and down almost every single day between getting super nervous about our decision and super excited about it. But we want do something with an edge to shift our world and help us grow! Our fellow giftivists helped us take the next step.

Gift Ecology - the ecosystem based on trust and mutual support, the world of abundance with gift and love. A difference of paradigm from out exchange and scarcity based economic system.

We believe in it, we want to show that it is possible, so here we go entering into this new experiment!!!


****************** Project Announcement *********************************

TUP 2015 Bay Area Urban Permaculture Gift Ecology experiment
2015/5/31~2015/6/10
San Francisco, Santa Cruz, East Bay

In this project we are offering an experiential tour showcasing Bay Area’s leading models of urban permaculture, agroecology and concrete examples of life in the gift ecology.

Here is the story behind this crazy project.

It all started from the conversation between Kai Saywer (Tokyo Urban Permaculture) and his brothers, Pancho and Sam at Casa de Paz (Fruitvale). Pancho and Sam are incredible giftivists (gift activists) who are doing (r)Evolutionary works in Oakland, CA. Kai went to their house to ask if we can show their place and their experiment at Casa de Paz as a model for gift economy. They told Kai that what they are trying to embody is not mealy a gift economy but is to live in the ecosystem of abundance based on mutually supporting human relationship that does not rely on money. They call it gift ecology. We were hoping to introduce their philosophy as a model but they encouraged us to see this as an opportunity to practice gift ecology ourselves.

Kai got really inspired by this conversation and brought this idea to Eri. After multiple discussions and self questioning, we have decided to do the tour with gift ecology principles. We are thrilled at our adventure ahead and also quite nervous not knowing how this will turn out. Originally, our conventional thinking lead us to offer a tour for $1500 per person aside from the flight cost to cover the cost of rental car, lodging, tour fee for guides, Kai’s flight and coordinating fee for both of us. We had a practical concern for how to pay for the car rental, lodging, flight, and our rent, so then we thought of having a fee to cover just the basics (rentals, lodging) and our time and efforts as a gift. But that complicated matters in us when we started talking about to what extent we include to be the fee. Since we are aiming for a shift in consciousness, it seemed like mixing conventional economics and gift ecology wouldn’t manifest the highest potential of this project. In the end, we told ourselves “let’s just make it all a gift and see what happens!” We believe in the power of the relationship that gifts generates and we wanted to have participants feel what it is all about not just by learning conceptually but to experience it. Being the change we wish to see in the world!

It is our invitation to the world to experience what soulful giving bring to us. We want to share how relationship can be cultivated when money is not the bottom-line of exchange and giving. Besides, we cannot put a price tag on people we think are super inspiring urban permaculturists and places that we think are incredible. We wanted participants to see the value and decide the value themselves.

We also shifted how we chose participants from first-come-first-serve basis to more involved selection process. It takes more time and effort in our part but we wanted to know more about who they are.

What’s amazing is that once we decided to make this tour into a gift, we already started to receive gifts. Pancho and Sam gifted us with housing and food for three days and our new friend Ayako invited us to her house for three days in East Bay.

We want to pay forward these gifts we are receiving to the participants as gifts.

Let’s make the “impossible”, possible.

Life is a gift, and nature provides us with abundance.

Each of us have so much to give.

We just have to circulate these gifts.


Love
Kai and Eri


* To know more about giftivsm, please see below

About Pancho
http://www.dailygood.org/story/127/if-you-want-to-be-a-rebel-be-kind/

About Casa De Paz
http://www.awakin.org/local/oakland/

About Canticle Farm (Urban Permaculture Garden run by Casa de Paz)
http://www.awakin.org/local/oakland/

Nipun Mehta Super inspiring giftvist who has started Service space and Karma Kitchen
http://nipun.servicespace.org/about/


* If you would like to support/contribute/participate in this experiment in anyway, please contact us at tup2015baytour(a)gmail.com   

Japanese Urban Permaculture Guidebook is published!!!!

本が遂にできました〜！！！

東京アーバンパーマカルチャーのブログに

今から詳細を書く予定。

FINALLY

Tokyo Urban Permaculture's first book is out!!!

!WoW!

This experiment in permaculture designing an urban permaculture book was an amazing success. The design challenge was how to make a Japanese urban permaculture book without actually writing it! And how to design a situation where people would share their gifts freely, and receive joy from it. This book was a way to put my experiences from permaculture, nonviolent communication, and gift economics to practice. I don't fully understand how it all happened but now there is an amazing book, crowd-sourced, crowd-funded, and exceptionally beautiful. A glorified zine!

Over 20 professional editors, writers, and illustrators were involved in this project, many who gifted their work, and about 380 people funded this project. It is a 400 person book project. And, while the book is self-published, my friends at MM books are leveraging their social capital to place our books at sympathetic (empathetic?) stores! Not only that, we are asking the stores to buy the books from us, meaning before its on the shelves, we've already sold them! I don't even know who is involved and doing what anymore. Its a project that keeps giving. And isn't that the world we want to live in? To plant seeds and harvest abundance? Thats the world I want to live in.

I hope this will revolutionize the Japanese permaculture movement, and transform the urban cultural landscape. The party continues....

PS If you want to learn about my ideas on gift economy and giftivism click here

PPS I'm doing an impromptu book release party in the Bay Area at the beginning of February 2015. I'm bringing about 15 copies.

(R)evolution

 Picture from my first book publishing party at a straw-bale temple

that will be one of the many examples for Japanese urban permaculture.

Here are some samples from the book.

*there are a total of 184 pages.....Wow!

Illustration by fellow Bullocks intern Paul Kearsley from Terra Phoenix Design

Below is what I wrote on 11/11/2014 in the midst of the crowd-funding campaign for my/our book. It gives some context about what this was all about. 

Hi all,
this is one of my most exciting projects that I have embarked on. A crowd-sourced, crowd-funded, gift economy style urban permaculture book. The main goal was to create a book through permaculture design about urban permaculture and cultural change. As co-existence revolutionary (my title in Japanese), I'm really trying to find ways to inspire people to live compassionately and creatively so that we can care for all beings. I want to present it attractively, I want it to be oozing with FUN, and I want people to know that its happening!!!

The chapters are EDIBLE, DIY, EDGE, GIFT, STOP. These are the hot topics of my work and what I see in the sphere of global activism. From guerrilla seed planting to burning man to meditation flash mobs. All the fun but deeply meaningful sprouts of hope that I see all over the world. I want to share it far and wide, and I'm starting with Japanese in urban contexts. Its such an untapped resource!

If you want to support me to make this book happen, we are currently trying to raise 2,000,000 yen, roughly $20,000, to self-publish. We reached our first goal of 1,500,000 yen a couple of weeks ago (woohoo!), but realized that the total cost is closer to 2,000,000 yen (thats why it says we are beyond 100% of our goal). Just a week left to go!!!

The crowd-funding site unfortunately has no easy way for non-Japanese contributions so if you want to support me, please send me a donation via paypal. If you would like to contribute to the  and receive a book, please send me $35+ and your address! I'll send it by mid-Febuary.

TOKYO URBAN PERMACULTURE BOOK PROJECT

-over 30 people involved, most are professional gifting their time and skills
-includes all the solutions that I'm spreading, permaculture, mindfulness, Nonviolent Communication, gift economy, and political activism
-conversations with leading activists in each of those fields in Japan
-we will self-publish with the support of crowd-funders to make this a people's project and keep the gifts flowing. 

Book Intro 

(the actual book is in Japanese)

This book is an invitation to change the world that we live in. It was not created to merely be a consumable product, but designed as a tool to inspire compassionate action.  I want you to join me, and the millions of people around the world, who are dedicating their lives to practicing compassion for all beings. Our goal is to co-create a future where all people and all life matters—a world that is ecologically sustainable, socially just, and spiritually fulfilling.  I want each reader to know that you are invited on this exciting adventure, and that your diverse gifts are essential for this movement of love to flourish. And, we’re going to have fun!

The following pages are a collection of “seeds” with an enormous amount of potential to grow. In order to unleash that potential, the seeds need to planted, the sprouts to be watered, and the fruits to be celebrated. It’s all experimental and if things don’t go exactly as expected, let’s harvest the learning! This process of cultivating our consciousness is at the heart of our (r)evolution.  

CROWDFUNDING FOR MY 
URBAN PERMACULTURE BOOK

official site for the crowd funding in Japanese
https://motion-gallery.net/projects/TUPcrowdfunding


*click above to see sample pages

GIFTS for support (aka perks)
500 yen : electronic updates

3000 yen : + The Book

5000 yen : + a special message thanks card

10,000 yen : + select seed pack and invitation to the publishing party (Jan 2015)!

30,000 yen : + your name in the book as honorary supporters

50,000 yen : + personal 1h workshop / consultation via Skype (permaculture, NVC, gift economy)

150,000 yen : + full workshop or presentation (*venue and transportation costs must be provided)
  and 5 recommended book set

300,000 yen : + Tomohiko Murakami's limited edition designer book case