My Vision
A world where each person stays connected to their own values and sense of purpose, while holding a sense of awe and respect for others, all living beings and nature.
A world where we experience the richness of living together.
A society where diverse ways of thinking, living and being become a source of strength.
My Mission
To create spaces for learning and dialogue where diverse perspectives, ways of being and ways of participating are truly respected, and where diversity becomes a source of strength.
To support individuals and organisations in taking time to pause and reflect, learning from their feelings, intuition and insights, and reconnecting with their own values.
I believe that these small steps, taken over time, can help create a healthier and more peaceful world.
The Roots of My Work
I Wish I'd Had a Coach!
Humanitarian work takes place in many different settings.
There are refugee emergencies where large numbers of people work at an incredible pace. And there are situations where you work with just a few colleagues, taking time to engage closely with communities and support returning refugees as they rebuild their lives.
There were times when I felt as though I was the only person in this vast world. I mean, quite literally, working in the middle of the African continent, in places where there were hardly any foreigners, let alone Japanese people, within hundreds of kilometres. I sometimes felt a deep, underlying sense of loneliness. (Of course, these were also places where I was deeply moved by the extraordinary beauty that nature would reveal, sometimes just for a moment.)
It was while working in such places that I experienced some of my most difficult moments.
But the loneliness was not so much about being physically alone. It came more from feeling that there was no one around me who shared my values, for example, what it meant to be honest and act with integrity. The values of those around me seemed so different from my own.
There was a deep, unsettling sense of fear and anxiety that I couldn't quite explain.
In those moments, I found myself asking:
Why am I putting myself through so much hardship to do this work, here?
What was it that I had wanted to achieve in the first place? (After all, this was exactly the kind of work I had always dreamed of doing.)
It was only much later, about fifteen years afterwards, when I had become a coach myself, that I realised what I had needed back then was a coach.
Someone who would be there with me, acknowledge how difficult things were, and accept my feelings as they were.
Someone who could help me explore again why I had wanted to do that work, and why I was there in the first place.
Someone who could support me in pausing and reconnecting with what had brought me there.
"If only I had had a coach back then."
That is why I am a coach today.
The Power of Being Heard
Throughout my 25 years working with international organisations, I was consistently involved in creating and facilitating spaces for discussion, from focus groups in local communities to international conferences.
I had been strongly drawn to facilitation long before I even knew that being a facilitator was a profession, or began formally learning how to design and facilitate such spaces as a professional.
Spaces where people can discuss issues affecting their lives and communities are extremely important.
But depending on how these spaces are created, there are people who never even hear about the opportunity, people who know about it but cannot participate, people who participate but cannot express their thoughts, and people who speak but are not listened to.
Even when we make an effort to create a reasonably "inclusive" space, it is rare for participants to be asked "What do you think?" with genuine curiosity — not just casual interest, but a real desire to understand what they think.
I remember a focus group facilitated by a colleague at one of my duty stations.
There was a moment when I was deeply moved by a group of young men who were seriously thinking about the challenges facing their community.
It is the moment captured in the photo above.
What struck me was the power of simply being asked, "What do you think? What would you like to do?" And the sincere, powerful energy that emerges when people try to express what they truly think.
I wanted to create spaces like that.
It was only after I formally studied facilitation as a professional that I came to understand that creating spaces where everyone can truly say what they want to say, and where different perspectives and ways of participating are respected, requires a clear and conscious intention to do so.
This is where my work today as a professional facilitator, specialising in creating such spaces, has its roots.
Choosing to Work as Equals
After many years working in the field with international organisations, I settled in the Netherlands. Although I initially continued working for an international organisation, one of the reasons I eventually started my own business was a growing sense that something was not quite right.
The mandates of international organisations, such as supporting refugees and eliminating weapons of mass destruction, are all extremely important.
But as I continued working within these organisations, I began to feel that much of our work was confined within organisational boundaries. It was what we often call "silos", with little sense of connection between them.
The world's challenges are interconnected.
Environmental issues and refugee displacement. The use of chemicals that could become weapons and their impact on the environment.
Yet international organisations each have their own mandates, and their own organisational priorities inevitably come first. Even though the importance of collaboration is constantly emphasised, organisations sometimes find themselves competing for funding and projects.
Another source of discomfort for me was the hierarchy within organisations.
International organisations have hierarchies based on roles and responsibilities. But when you spend your days in such an environment, you sometimes begin to feel that these hierarchies influence how people relate to one another, beyond their formal roles.
By then, I had already begun studying and deepening my practice as a coach and facilitator. I increasingly wanted to work with people as equals, regardless of their positions or titles, and to work alongside others who shared the same aspirations.
I realised that this was what lay behind my growing sense of discomfort.
And when I recognised this, I felt that my chapter as a staff member of an international organisation had come to an end.
So, in the spring of 2021, I told my supervisor of my decision to resign and registered Synergy Facilitation with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce.
Encountering the Words of David W. Orr
When I was working to develop myself and my newly established business, I came across the words below. They struck me like a flash of lightning running through my body.
Ever since, David W. Orr's words have been an important guiding light for me, both personally and in shaping the direction of my business.
The plain fact is that the planet
does not need more successful people.
But it does desperately need more
peacemakers, healers, restorers,
storytellers, and lovers of every kind.
「地球がもはやこれ以上の「成功者」を必要としていないことは明らかです。
一方で、平和の構築にたずさわる人、癒しや修復をほどこす人、語り手、
そしてあらゆる形で愛をほどこす人を、今地球は切実に必要としています。」
Nature-Conscious Self-Leadership
As I reflected on the words of David W. Orr above, I wanted to put into words a concept that had been taking shape in my mind.
It is a way of thinking that I value deeply in my everyday life and work.
It begins with looking again at our own values and ways of being, and bringing that awareness into how we act in our personal and professional lives. It means making conscious choices, with care for the natural environment, biodiversity, other people and all forms of life.
At the heart of this approach is inclusion. It means respecting diverse voices and enabling people to participate in decisions that affect their lives and society. It also means recognising the interconnectedness of people with one another, and of people with nature, rather than seeing these relationships as separate.
We ourselves are part of nature. As we receive energy, inspiration and a sense of awe from the natural world, I want to keep exploring how to put this understanding into practice in everyday life.
Profile
I was born and raised in Kaisei-machi, a small town in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.
My interest in English and the wider world began at the end of primary school, when I started learning English from a neighbour whom I greatly admired. Raised by a single mother, I grew up encouraged by her optimistic belief that “you never know until you try.”
After graduating from Keio University with a degree in English and American Literature and gaining a few years of professional experience, I moved to the United Kingdom and earned an MA in the Theory and Practice of Human Rights from the University of Essex.
I subsequently worked with organisations such as UNDP, UNOPS, UNHCR, and IOM in the fields of humanitarian assistance, human rights, peacebuilding, and international development. Over the years, I lived and worked in countries including Samoa, Kosovo, Jordan, Zambia, Sri Lanka, Angola, Eritrea, Nepal, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan.
While on special leave without pay, I became a mother and moved to the Netherlands with my infant daughter to complete an LLM in Public International Law at Leiden University. I later returned to UNHCR field operations with my daughter for several years before eventually settling in the Netherlands. After working for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), I officially left UNHCR after approximately fifteen years of service.
Following professional training in facilitation and coaching, I founded Synergy Facilitation in 2021. I also taught at The Hague University of Applied Sciences for five years.
Today, I draw on both my international career and my work as a facilitator and coach to create spaces where people can learn, engage in meaningful dialogue, and realise their potential.