Welcome back to another episode of Ikigai with Jennifer Shinkai. This week I am joined by Michael Walker, Founder and Artistic Director of SheepDog Theatre based in Tokyo, Japan. As a lifelong fan of live theatre I know very well the ikigai of being an audience member, but in this episode Michael shares with us what it's like to be involved in the production side of things. From acting to directing and running his own theatre company, Michael gives us a fascinating glimpse into the magic of theatre production in Japan.

If you enjoyed this episode and it inspired you in some way, we’d love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway.

In this episode you’ll hear:

• What theatre means to Michael in terms of ikigai
• How Michael got bitten by the theatre bug while visiting Edinburgh
• How Michael applies lessons learned from sport to live theatre
• About SheepDog Theatre’s beginnings and its current transition
• Michael’s advice for people wanting to pursue a seemingly impossible dream

Things mentioned in the episode:

THE LITTLE FELLOW

By Kate Hamill

Directed by Michael Walker

Studio Actre, Tokyo

July 3-7, 2024

Sheepdog Theatre returns to Studio Actre for its production of Kate Hamill’s wickedly funny play, The Little Fellow. The story is based on the real life memoirs of 19th century courtesan Harriet Wilson, who entertained the most powerful men in England of the time. When the famous Duke of Wellington breaks a promise that would set her up for life, she seeks out retribution, not just on him, but all the men who’ve crossed her. The play is simultaneously violent and poignant as it explores themes of identity, societal expectations, and personal transformation.

About Michael:

Michael graduated from Sydney’s Theatre Nepean drama program before working as a professional actor for nearly a decade. After moving to Japan, he formed Maidenagoya Productions, Chubu’s first independent theatre company.

In 2019 he moved to Tokyo and formed Sheepdog Theatre. After a slow start (thanks to the pandemic), Sheepdog Theatre found its momentum in 2023 and is now a fully professional company.

When not being creative, Michael enjoys riding his motorcycle through the many beautiful parts of Japan.

Connect with Michael:

Website: http://sheepdogtheatre.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sheepdogtheatre/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sheepdogtheatre/

Connect with Jennifer

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifershinkai/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennifershinkaicoach

Website: https://jennifershinkai.com/

Instagram Coaching and Podcast: https://www.instagram.com/ikigaiwithjennifershinkai/

Instagram Artist: https://www.instagram.com/jennifershinkai/

YouTube:

Welcome to another episode of the Ikigai with Jennifer Shinkai podcast. This week we are talking about yoyu, a Japanese concept conveying one’s capacity to handle or afford something. Author Marci Kobayashi joins us to discuss the concept of yoyu and her upcoming book, "Finding Yoyu: The Japanese Compass for Navigating Overwhelm and Cultivating Abundance in 7 Key Areas of Life." Listen to the episode to hear more about yoyu and how it links to ikigai!

If you enjoyed this episode and it inspired you in some way, we’d love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway.

In this episode you’ll hear:

• What Yoyu is and how Marci came to learn about it
• How Marci applied the concept of Yoyu to a challenging time in her life
• About the importance of proactively taking time for yourself
• About ‘tiny altars’ and how they make claiming space more manageable
• How you can figure out what makes you feel a sense of yoyu

About Marci:

Marci Kobayashi is a writer, teacher, and business owner in Tokyo. Raised in the U.S., she arrived in Japan as a college student in the early ’90s and has lived there ever since. In 2002, she started a company to provide English-conversation programs and study-abroad advising, which evolved into assisting international organizations and entrepreneurs in improving their global reach online through web design and coaching.

Marci also has a dedicated spiritual practice, enjoys studying alternative-healing modalities, cooking a whole-foods flexitarian diet, and exploring Japan. She is the author of the upcoming book, "Finding Yoyu: The Japanese Compass for Navigating Overwhelm and Cultivating Abundance in 7 Key Areas of Life." She's also working on a memoir chronicling the five years she was the primary caregiver for her father-in-law, a WWII Japanese war veteran, as he navigated Alzheimer’s.

Connect with Marci:

Website: https://marcikobayashi.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarciSKobayashi

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marcikobayashi/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marci-kobayashi/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/marcikobayashi

Connect with Jennifer:

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifershinkai/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennifershinkaicoach

Website: https://jennifershinkai.com/

Instagram Coaching and Podcast: https://www.instagram.com/ikigaiwithjennifershinkai/

Instagram Artist: https://www.instagram.com/jennifershinkai/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ikigaiwithjennifershinkai/

This week’s episode contains general discussions of BDSM and torture.

Welcome to the latest episode of the Ikigai with Jennifer Shinkai podcast. This week we talk to author Elizabeth Hendrick about her book EXODAI, a memoir about her struggles with her sexuality and the story of how she eventually learnt to love herself after a particularly toxic BDSM relationship with a Japanese dominatrix. For over a decade Elizabeth’s ikigai compelled her to write about her own experiences in order to help others who have been ostracised for being part of the LGBTQ+ community, and who have struggled with self acceptance, self love and healing.

If you enjoyed this episode and it inspired you in some way, we’d love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway.

In this episode you’ll hear:

• About Elizabeth’s memoir EXODAI and what compelled her to write it
• How Elizabeth felt ostracised as a young LGBTQ+ person and struggled to reconcile her sexuality with her Christian beliefs
• What made Elizabeth realise she lacked self love and how she decided to heal herself
• How Elizabeth ended up in a torturous relationship with a Japanese dominatrix
• About the dark side of ikigai and how it can be an obsession or addiction

Things mentioned in the episode:

FEW Japan June Conference:

https://fewjapan.com/css-2024-the-fewture-conference/

Buy the EXODAI book here:

https://exodai.co.uk/

About Elizabeth:

ELIZABETH HENDRICK published her debut work, EXODAI, in September 2023. She was compelled to write about her struggles with her sexuality and narrate the story of how she eventually learnt to love herself as a lesbian woman, placing particular emphasis on her BDSM relationship with a Japanese dominatrix. Elizabeth believes her story will be of value not just to LGBTQ+ and BDSM/fetish communities, but to all individuals who have been ostracised during their adolescence and whose lack of self-love is sabotaging their adult lives. EXODAI is also an intriguing peek behind the curtain of Tokyo’s exotic and sometimes shocking BDSM underworld.

Elizabeth was born and raised in East Anglia. She graduated in mathematics from Durham University in 1994 and began a career in financial services in London. In 2004, she left finance to enter the risky world of entrepreneurial start-ups. During her first project to launch a film magazine, she developed the practice of keeping a diary of events. It was her cathartic response to dealing with the stress of heading up an underfunded start-up. Since then, she has kept records and written memoirs covering all her remarkable life experiences, including being a contestant on a reality TV show. In 2016, Elizabeth retired from the corporate world and moved into part-time business education, specifically to focus on her career as a writer. Over the course of her life, she has lived and worked in London, Paris, Tokyo, and Dubai. She currently works and resides in Tokyo, and she doesn't stop writing!

Ultimately, Elizabeth is keen to promote self-awareness in the realm of sexuality and bring solace to those who have been ostracised or who lack self-love and acceptance.

Connect with Elizabeth:

Website: https://www.exodai.co.uk/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@exodai

Instagram:

Welcome to another episode of season three of the Ikigai with Jennifer Shinkai podcast. On the podcast this week I got to sit down with Tengyo Kura, a self professed vagabond. Tengyo has a beautiful outlook on life that has propelled him around the world to connect with many people from different cultures, countries and experiences. Vagabondism is how Tengyo lives his life and is directly connected to his ikigai, and is a way for him to experience true connection to other people. Tengyo has some amazing insights to share with you all that will leave you truly inspired to seek out more true connection in your own life!

If you enjoyed this episode and it inspired you in some way, we’d love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway.

In this episode you’ll hear:

• How teaching languages to students made Tengyo realise he was a storyteller at heart
• Why we can never truly understand each other completely, but how love and respect lead to true connection
• What vagabondism means to Tengyo & what we can learn from people living a vagabond life
• Tengyo’s advice for those interested in experiencing vagabondism for themselves

About Tengyo Kura:

Tengyo was born in 1972, and studied anthropology at a university in Tokyo.

Since 2001, Tengyo has been living as a vagabond (stranger) in various parts of the world.

Tengyo taught English at a university in Mongolia, was a language teacher at a law school in Sri Lanka and encountered the Tsunami in 2004. He was a lecturer of Contemporary Japanese Culture at a university college in Norway (2005-2009), and organized the Hiroshima A-bomb exhibition in cooperation with the City of Hiroshima and the Nobel Peace Committee in 2008. He was a Japanese language and cultural teacher at a secondary school in Latvia (2011-2012), and was nominated for the Best Teacher Award in the capital city of Riga in 2011.

Tengyo lived in India and other Asian countries and wrote stories for his storytelling work “Chronicle of Vagabondism” in 2013. He collaborated with Latvian artists for the EU Capital of Culture Commemorative Event in Riga, Latvia in 2014. He lived in several countries in South America and wrote stories for his storytelling work “Chronicle of Vagabondism” from 2014 to 2016. Tengyo also created a storytelling artwork "The Tokyo Vagabond x Ueno" in 2017. Tengyo was a storyteller of an exchange program for TURN, a big cultural project initiated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (2017-2020). He also worked with Cocoroom, an art NPO in the biggest Japanese homelessness community in Osaka City (2020-2022), and was appointed as a chief member of the NPO in 2022.

Tengyo resumed activities in Africa in November 2022, and introduced a Japanese concept of social inclusive programs to countries in the southern part of Africa. Tengyo is now carrying out various activities called African Jamboree 2025 that emphasize cultural exchange between Japan and some African nations until 2025.

Connect with Tengyo:

Website: https://vagabond.link/

Connect with Jennifer:

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifershinkai/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennifershinkaicoach

Website: https://jennifershinkai.com/

Instagram Coaching and Podcast:

Welcome to Season 3 of Ikigai with Jennifer Shinkai!

Adrian Francis is the filmmaker behind the powerful documentary Paper City, exploring the impact of the firebombing of Tokyo in 1945 and the ongoing struggle for it to be acknowledged and remembered. Adrian was brave enough to come on the show at a point where he has not figured out his next steps yet. I thought this was an opportunity not to be missed: to hear from someone in the midst of a transition after completing a major project. If you are also going through a period of transition and haven’t got it all figured out, I think you will find much solace and inspiration in this episode. All those questions? Those hard to grasp ideas and concepts that feel so murky right now? Totally normal…in fact, an essential part of the process!

If you enjoyed this episode and it inspired you in some way, we’d love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway.

In this episode you’ll hear:

• How Adrian came to make a film about the firebombing of Tokyo
• What happens when you finish a project that has been the main focus of your life
• How you can find meaning for your next challenge
• Flashing forward and backward in our lives to see what our values are independent of current circumstances

About Adrian

Originally from Australia, Adrian Francis has lived in Tokyo for 17 years, working as a teacher, writer, and documentary filmmaker. He majored in documentary film at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne University. Francis directed the award-winning documentary short, Lessons from the Night, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival. He was invited to participate in the Berlinale Talents program at the Berlin Film Festival, where he began developing the project that would become Paper City—his first feature-length film. Paper City premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2021 and has screened theatrically in Japan, and internationally at festivals and through Al Jazeera's Witness series. It has won numerous awards, including the Audience Award at the Tokyo Documentary Film Festival, an ATOM (Australian Teachers of Media) Award for Best History Documentary, and Best Emerging Director at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival. He recently gave a TEDxWasedaU talk on the bombing of civilians, Paper City: Memory, Forgetting, and the Firebombing of Tokyo. Most recently, Adrian has become interested in what we can do to take climate change action.

Things mentioned in the episode:

Paper City Screening:

March 1-7 at Eigakan Stranger

Screening daily at 11:20 (with English subtitles)

3 Chome-7-1 Kikukawa, Sumida City, Tokyo 130-0024

https://stranger.jp/movie/2541/

TEDxWasedaU Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFr3U3bbuMg

Connect with Adrian and find out more about Paper City:

Paper City Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/papercitytokyo/

Paper City Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/papercitytokyo

Paper City X: https://twitter.com/papercitytokyo

Paper City Website: papercityfilm.com

Adrian’s Instagram:

Happy Holidays everyone! This can be a time that tests our health and wellness goals, so this episode’s guest is here to help. Menya Hinga is an online health and fitness coach and co-founder of SOGO Fitness—Japan’s largest non-profit fitness community. Menya has helped hundreds of individuals and numerous organizations make better decisions related to fitness, habits and health. Listen to the episode to feel more empowered and confident in your ability to make changes in your life!

If you enjoyed this episode and it inspired you in some way, we’d love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway. 

In this episode you’ll hear:

• How an online health and fitness coach is different to a personal trainer
• What fitness autonomy is and why Menya strives to help his clients achieve it
• What made Menya reassess his relationship to alcohol and drinking
• The importance of your environment when making big changes in your life
• How Menya empowers people to believe in their own ability to change

About Menya:

Menya helps high-performers who are struggling to manage stress and weight gain, learn to stress less, move more, and eat better in order to transform their health and performance.

As an expat, father of 3 (soon to be 4!), and personal trainer turned online health and fitness coach, Menya knows how difficult it can be to create work-life balance while wearing many different hats.

So for more than a decade he’s helped hundreds of individuals and numerous organizations make better decisions related to fitness, habits and health as a health and fitness coach, personal trainer, and co-founder of SOGO Fitness—Japan’s largest non-profit fitness community.

Connect with Menya:

Website: www.menyahinga.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/menyahinga/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/menyahinga

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/menyahinga/

Connect with Jennifer

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifershinkai/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennifershinkaicoach 

Website: https://jennifershinkai.com/ 

Instagram Coaching and Podcast: https://www.instagram.com/ikigaiwithjennifershinkai/

Instagram Artist: https://www.instagram.com/jennifershinkai/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ikigaiwithjennifershinkai/

On this latest episode of Ikigai with Jennifer Shinkai I talk to Rionne McAvoy who I first came into contact with through their documentary film “The Ones Left Behind: The Plight of Single Mothers in Japan.” The film is an incredibly moving look at an often ignored aspect of life in Japan for many mothers and their children, as well as helping to improve their living conditions. 

Listen to the episode to hear more about the documentary, as well as learning how Rionne found his ikigai in filmmaking, martial arts and pro wrestling!

If you enjoyed this episode and it inspired you in some way, we’d love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway. 

In this episode you’ll hear:

• How Rionne got started in martial arts
• What brought Rionne to Japan
• About becoming a pro wrestler in his thirties
• About Rionne’s love of filmmaking
• What led Rionne to make The Ones Left Behind, a documentary on single mothers in Japan

About Rionne:

Rionne McAvoy is a documentary filmmaker originally hailing from the Gold Coast in Australia. Residing in Tokyo for almost 20 years, his documentary "The Ones Left Behind: The Plight of Single Mothers in Japan" is a shining light down the path of improving the living conditions for single parents both in Japan and around the world. His documentary delves deep into Japanese society culture and history to expose a side of Japan that many refuse to admit exists. 

Connect with Rionne:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/IamRionne

Website: https://japanmediaservices.com/

Film Twitter: https://twitter.com/singlemomjapan

Film Instagram: instagram.com/onesleftbehind

Film Website: onesleftbehind.com

Trailer for film: https://vimeo.com/772395650

Connect with Jennifer:

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifershinkai/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennifershinkaicoach 

Website: https://jennifershinkai.com/ 

Instagram Coaching and Podcast: https://www.instagram.com/ikigaiwithjennifershinkai/

Instagram Artist: https://www.instagram.com/jennifershinkai/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ikigaiwithjennifershinkai/

The COVID-19 lockdowns across the world were a very stressful time for a lot of us, but there were also a lot of stories of positive community building and support that came out of that time. One of those stories was that of Frock Up Friday, a facebook group started by friends Bev and Suzie in the UK. The page started as a place where they and their friends could get dressed up on a Friday night  and post pictures of their fabulous outfits! After a few weeks the page had amassed thousands of members, well beyond Bev and Suzie’s intended group of friends and family. On the podcast I talk to Bev and Suzie about Frock Up Friday, the ways the group has promoted values like inclusion, compassion and self care, and how this all relates to their ikigai.

If you enjoyed this episode and it inspired you in some way, we’d love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway. 

In this episode you’ll hear:

• What led Bev and Suzie to start Frock Up Friday
• How the group has helped people feel more connected and less lonely
• About how dressing up for fun on Fridays has led people to be more confident and creative
• How the group brings different types of people together and lets them learn from one another

About  Frock Up Friday:

In March 2020 during the lockdowns at the beginning of the COVID 19, two friends Bev and Suzie decided to dress up on Fridays, pretend like they were going out, and post their photos on a Facebook group page they created called Frock Up Friday. They invited their friends to join the group and share photos of their Friday outfits. 

After just a few weeks the group had over 13,000 members worldwide.

Initially the group was just about dressing creatively and sharing styles but it’s become something so much more. Frock Up Friday for many people became an escape from the virus; from the impact of lockdown; from politics; and from anxieties of personal battles in health, mental health, body image and gender issues to suggest a few. 

Frock Up Friday is about promoting inclusion and self care, sharing compassion, encouraging zero negativity, frocking up without costing the earth, and encouraging people to dress for dopamine!  

Connect with Frock Up Friday:

Website: https://www.frockupfriday.com/

Book: https://www.frockupfriday.com/the-book

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/222855365767059/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frockupfriday/

Connect with Jennifer

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifershinkai/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennifershinkaicoach 

Website: https://jennifershinkai.com/ 

Instagram Coaching and Podcast: https://www.instagram.com/ikigaiwithjennifershinkai/

Instagram Artist: https://www.instagram.com/jennifershinkai/

YouTube: