Tohoku Youth Venture

Summary

Tohoku Youth Venture (TYV) is an initiative to help young Japanese implement their ideas to rejuvenate the area struck by earthquaque, tsunami and nuclear plant explosion on March 11, 2011. We reached 1800 youths between 12 and 20 years old in 2012. Among them 10 teams passed the panel and recognized as Youth Venturers. They received seed money and are given technical support over the course of one year. We aim at reaching 1800 more youths and helping 10~20 teams launch their ideas in 2013.

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

After almost 20 months since the triple disaster the recovery process has not taken a leap. On the other hand, Japanese youths remain passive, afraid of failing and taking risks.

How will this project solve this problem?

We take this disaster as an opportunity to motivate young people to contribute to the future of their country.

Potential Long Term Impact

We aim at nurturing 250 young changemakers engaged in the recovery of the area by 2016. We believe the network will form a patform of young leaders of Japan.

Project Message

The recovery process in Tohoku is still slow. Our initiative is to find and nurture youths between the age 12 - 20 to become leaders who are engaged in revitalizing the area for many years.
- Nana Watanabe, Founder + Director of Ashoka Japan