Kasi-Blog

The idea of a ModelG8, a G8 simulation seems to spread quite rapildy. From the originals in St Petersburg (2006) and Berlin (2007 – www.modelg8.org) to this year’s ModelG8 in Yokohama and another Japan Youth G8 Project organized in June 2008. Apparently the organizers of both are in touch with each other.

One of the big problems in the discussions at this years Model G8 was that the delegates were not all on the same level when it comes to preparation. Some people thought they have to represent their own opinion, some represented their governments opinion, but then sometimes were not aware of what the government is already doing in this specific fields. I have to look into this more in detail: it seems that a lot of activists criticizing the G8 only have a vague idea of what is happening on the international level.

Two interesting weeks in Japan went by really fast. Japanese culture is certainly very interesting. Now I know why in Japan politeness and caution are so important. Otherwise civil living together would be impossible. Imagine 120 million people living in such a small space with the emotional energy of Italians!

The ModelG8 conference was very interesting. The Japanese organizing team did an amazing job and there were some really good discussions about the problems. The only problem that I saw was that this ModelG8 departed a little bit too much from reality. I think last year in Berlin we managed to get all delegates on the same level of preparation. But the negotiations this year were very good and very intense.

Tom and I made a trip to Mount Fuji as well. The mountain was covered in clouds, the busses did not drive up and the town at the foot of the mountain was almost completely deserted. We hiked a little bit into the woods, but next time we’ll come back in the summer.

Tokyo is a fascinating city. But unlike Singapor or Kuala Lumpur, it somehow has lost its cultural charme. There is no local Tokyo anymore, it’s just a cluster of city centres with shopping malls and ramen shops. Next time I am in Japan, I will try to have a look at Kyoto as well.