Summary of SEAA READS, session two, 6/2022
Saturday, the 4 th of June, the book group joined Zoom to talk about the book, the methods, and the wider topic of elderly life in Japan. Based on 2009 and 2010 fieldwork in Osaka that resulting in 2019 publication, Making Meaningful Lives by Iza Kavedzija, draws from participant observation at community centers that welcome one and all, but particularly the elderly from nearby. The session host, Bill Kelly, supplied three questions to stir thoughts for sharing. More than ½ of the 16 people present on the screen spoke or used the chat function to share reactions and questions. Some of the point brought up follow. -The community salon in south Osaka is a kind of “3 rd space” that is neither home, nor work. In some respects it compares to coffee shops (kissaten) or karaoke facilities, but not constrained by for-profit concern and not limiting incomers to small rooms. Near the end of the 90-minute Zoom time the question of a USA functional equivalent to the ...