Monthly Sashiko Gathering in English

My dream has come true! I am very happy to announce this trial of “Monthly Sashiko Gathering in English”, starting September 2022. One of my dream in sharing the Sashiko Stories is to create a “place” for anyone to feel “being belonged”: “Ibasho (居場所)” as I name it after Japanese word (which has more meaning than a place to be – but the closest one). Weekly Sashiko Live Streaming on Youtube has become a great Ibasho for me as well as many Sashiko friends across the world. However, the Live Streaming tend to be one-direction communication: I talk, the audience reply in the comment section. It is great, but the best place to make it “Place to be”. So, I tried to arrange occasional gathering here and there… but it has been very challenging to keep offering due to my financial & time restriction. After sharing our Sashiko to a Japanese who lives in San Francisco Bay Area, Maiko-san, we are finally offering this monthly Sashiko Gathering where anyone can join.

*Anyone can join for free of charge. However, there are some rules to make this place safe & comforatble. Please read the agreement carefully on the registration page.

Maiko’s Dream through Monthly Sashiko Gathering

Maiko has a dream to be a bridge of Japaneseculture and other cultures (in English). It isn’t really only about translating the voices: it is more like “sharing” the experience. In order to fully understand the Japanese culture, I believe the fluent Japanese language skill is necessary. However, it is not fair to ask everyone to be fluent in Japanese to “appreciate” the Japanese culture. So, Maiko’s dream and my dream met there. We sincerely hope that Sashiko will be a medium to encourage Japanese to learn English, and English speakers to talk to the Japanese people in sharing the same passion: Sashiko.

Maiko is in charge of the gathering. I will be just an assistant. Alghouth it has been challenging for us to set up the best comfortable time to join (especially those in Europe time-zone), I hope you can join one gathering at some point. We plan to offer 2 kinds of Sashiko Gathering. Please read the description carefully, and register it on Maiko’s website.

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Monthly Sashiko Gathering (Stitch, Chat and Learn)

This is a monthly discussion group open to anyone who is INTERESTED IN JAPANESE CULTURE AND LOVES SASHIKO. Our discussion will revolve around the topic presented by the facilitator of the meeting.

In our online meeting, we will share thoughts and deepen our understanding of Japan and its culture while individually working on our own sashiko projects.

There is no fee to attend this meeting but registration is required.

• The language used in this group is ENGLISH.
• This is a friendly discussion group and NOT a place to learn sashiko skills OR do show-and-tell of your projects.
• Atsushi may not be present in this gathering. Maiko will be always there to facilitate the gathering.

Schedule:

• Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022 at 10.30 pm (EDT)

Sashiko Idobatakai in English

This is a monthly, PRIVATE discussion group for Atsushi Futatsuya’s current and/or past students and his active Patreon supporters.

There is no fee to attend this meeting but registration is required.

It’s an online group to share thoughts and deepen our understanding of sashiko as well as Japan and its culture while doing sashiko (unshin) together.

• The language used in this group is ENGLISH.
• This is a friendly discussion group and NOT a place to learn sashiko skills OR do show-and-tell of your projects.
• Atsushi will be there (I will do my best).
• Please consider supporting Atsushi & Keiko in Patreon where we offer 150+ articles for you to read to understand what is Sashiko for us.
• Please use the email address you sign-up for the Online Sashiko Class or other In-Person Sashiko Workshops. We will check the eligibility before the each session.
• I you are looking for a class to learn how to do sashiko or improve your sashiko skills, please consider learning from Atsushi: A Summary of Links @sashikostory

Is really Sashiko introduced in English “insufficient”?

When I say the key phrase for 2022 regarding our Sashiko: “Sashiko introduced in English is NOT wrong, but insufficient”, I understand some feels offended. However, I do not mean to judge or criticize those who do not understand Japanese with insufficient understanding of Sashiko. In other words, how would one understand a culture fully without talking to those who lives in the culture (here, Japanese who live in Japan). I hope that this gathering will be an opportunity for anyone to feel how “Japanese Culture” is different from our (your) ordinary & expectation. It requires to read between lines, and we will try our best to facilitate as if it is happening in Japanese manner setting.

I hope to see/meet you there.