News from Japan – Genyukai Stuttering Association
For ISAD 2019, Genyukai members plan to distribute stuttering awareness pocket tissue packs all over the streets of Japan and in front of a major transit station.
Keisuke Saito shares: We will distribute “Stuttering Awareness Pocket Tissue” free of charge on streets all over Japan, as we did last year. (This free distribution of pocket tissue as an advertisement is unique to the culture in Japan!)
Last year, we distributed about 15,000 pocket tissues across Japan. This year we aim to distribute 20,000 pieces. This year GENYUKAI from all over Japan will work together to work on Awareness activities!
This activity is such a good idea – passing out tissue packs is smart advertising, because they are something everyone can use.
I hope you exceed the goal of 20,000.
Great work – thanks for sharing.
Hi Genyukai Stuttering Association — my name is Kunal Mahajan and I am a life long person who stutters and a Vice President who works at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) in New York City in the USA.
Can we connect? I am not sure if you are aware, but we held a Mock Interview Event for the Stuttering Community on January 31st, 2019 at the SMBC NY Headquarters. (see pg. 6 of the attached https://westutter.org/wp-content/uploads/lg-spring-2019.pdf).
We are holding this event again this year on January 21st, 2020 so would love to see if there is a way that we can work together somehow given we are a large Japanese bank.
Below is details on the Disabilities Network I launched at SMBC that I am the head of
https://www.lc-global-us.com/change-talk/unique-change-creating-a-culture-of-inclusion-and-emotional-intelligence
Please feel free to email me directly as well as would love to work with you guys and help out the stutterers there as well through our event and initiatives we are holding here in NYC.
Kunal Mahajan
kunal_mahajan@smbcgroup.com
I think that this is a great way to spread awareness about stuttering! I used to live in Japan for several years and I remember how often pocket tissues were used as a form of advertising in this culture. I hope that you reach your goal of 20,000 and that awareness of stuttering proliferates!