What is Miacis?

Miacis is a Youth Community Hub that is run by NPO Kawarabe-sha with the help of Nirasaki city (Yamanashi prefecture). Miacis was funded in 2016 and has been organizing both recreational and skill-building programs and events for those youth in Nirasaki and outside. We have welcomed and supported countless youth to be part of the community in the hopes of a better future for all youth.

We believe in:

• young people's uniqueness and authenticity.

• developing young people's spark (skill, passion and interest).

• being part of young people's lives and the community by building relationships.

• caring adults who understand young people's needs and challenges.

• creating physically and psychologically safe spaces for all. 

How Miacis works 

Carrer Education Program 

Involving more than 200 students annually, Miacis provides workshops to help local middle school students gain career awareness as well as finding and maintaining relationships with companies that are willing to accept students for work experience. Through working with local companies and schools, Miacis aims to create a community that cares and understands youth in Nirasaki. 

Hub 

There are about 3000 middle and high school students annually in Nirasaki city and roughly 1500 - 2000 students have memberships to use Miacis. Miacis is a home for young people to socialize and engage with other peers and adults. The place offers opportunities for young people to meet other peers who are from different schools and other areas.

Young people get to decide how to utilize this place. Some people hang out with friends and work on school projects together, while others play instruments or converse with stationed staff. 

Events

Miacis has hosted a wide variety of events including both recreational and skills-building domains. Examples of recreational events are Christmas parties, video game completion and board game competition. Skills-building events include video editing, graphic design, make-up classes, sports, debate competitions and so on.

Collaborative Events 

Miacis works with local organizations and local government entities to create opportunities for youth to participate in engaging and empowering events.
Such events include volunteering at a child and parenting support center, including young people's voices in the policy-making process and interacting with youth in other prefectures. Examples include many others. 

Plans for the future 

Proposal for a youth-friendly policy 

Miacis hosted an event where young people in Nirasaki voice their opinion regarding school, community, public infrastructure, public transportation and other areas of topics. As a result, young people were able to quickly identify specific concerns and challenges in their life. Miacis values this intrinsic motivation of youth and plans to empower them by creating and submitting a policy draft which meant to reflect their voice in policy making process for better inclusivity.  

Creating a more effective program 

Miacis has been providing engaging events and programs for young people. However, there is room for improvement. Miacis plans to incorporate the Positive Youth Development approach which allows Miacis to plan, implement and evaluate programs more effectively in a sustainable way. Focusing on young people's assets, agency, enabling environment and opportunities for contribution, the future program aims to ensure the young people to become more healthy, productive and engaging. 

Message

Japanese students are expected to perform in accordance with the cultural expectation of Japanese society which often comes with tremendous cultural and academic expectations, and they require a caring and supportive environment to tackle these challenges. 

Preparation for the middle school entrance exams, high school entrance exams and university entrance exams as well as after-school club activities which they are required to put enormous effort into throughout the duration of their study, these are what most Japanese school students go through during their adolescence.  Although the middle school entrance exam is not quite prominent in Yamanashi, high school and university entrance exams are still major events they experience which impose significant challenges and stress on young people. Not to mention, they are expected to perform well in these events while having extremely complex relationships among their peers and families.

It is crucial that young people are surrounded by caring and understanding adults and organizations that provide strong and firm relationships in order for them to manage these hefty expectations. In Japanese education and society, the term "resilience" has been gaining popularity in the past few years as the overall mental health of young people seems to be deteriorating. However, there seems to be a lack of understanding of resilience, as some believe that resilience simply comes from educating young people on how to overcome obstacles and challenges.  In reality, resilience is more than just skills. Resilience also comes from the relationships that they form with adults which allows young people to rely on, in case of difficulties. For young people to be truly resilient, they require a sense of belonging where they feel deeply cared for and understood. 

At Miacis, the staff member attempts to establish relationships with young people by simply conversing with them or encouraging them to participate in events where they might create new connections with staff members and others. By this, a quite few individuals end up forming very profound relationships with the staff members. There are countless instances where young people who used to come to the facility as students come back when they become adults, and tell the staff members how Miacis supported them during the hardships. Miacis offers opportunities for young people to build caring and understanding relationships that they need to embark on their journey.

It is hard to describe the pleasure of working with young people. They are one of the most authentic and hard-working groups of people who deserve great respect and the presence of caring adults. 

Miacis is open to new ideas and potential partnerships with those people who possess similar values toward young people.